The Heart Fountain

 
Free for a Moment
I love flying.
Even with all the thoughts of loss and doubt that drag me down.

Keela is annoyed with me.

She wants me to fly quickly and directly with her to the cave of the old ones.

Is she afraid of this strange child’s body that I have?

If the armband fails, my eyes will destroy everything for a 100 feet in all directions.
I am dangerous.

And she takes me to a place of legend, where no one has gone for a thousand years.
My presence in this form promises the fulfillment of prophecies of war and struggle.

Still, I think that it’s my carefree, childlike attitude that bothers her more than all the rest.

I let my joy and love of flying roam free.
And I fly in patterns that ride on the energy of my emotions.

“Master Yagrin!” she says at last.
“We must hurry to the cave.”
“I fear that we are being followed.”

I can’t bend the energy web to my will in this form.
But I can still see the energy world as clearly as ever.

I spread my energy sight in all directions.

Far in the distance behind us, I feel the presence of a dozen energy masters.
They are following us.

“You’re right, Keela.”
“We’re being followed.”

“They’re far away, but If I can feel them, they can probably see us.”

“It’s good that they’re far away,” she says.

“And it doesn’t matter if they can see us now.”
“When we get closer to the hills, we’ll vanish from their energy sight.”

“This place was built so that energy masters can’t find it, only old ones.”

We approach the seven hills of Tshuan, and we land in a small clearing.
It’s covered with tall, golden grasses that blow in the wind.

The wind makes a pleasant whistling sound as it finds its way through the grass.

There’s a peaceful feeling in this place.
It feels like home.

And, there’s a strange humming.

I follow the humming, and it grows louder.
The sound leads me to a small red bush with purple berries.

I feel driven to brush aside some dirt near its base.
There is a small blue stone with an engraved picture of a child with dark eyes.

“Excellent Master Yagrin,” she says.
“You have found the entrance stone.”

“This proves that you are worthy to enter.”

“Stand back,” she says, “so I can open the cave.”

She touches the stone with her hand, and the world grows dark.

We’re standing in a perfectly round cave, about 16 feet in diameter.
There is a soft bluish green glow.

“What now, Keela?”

“Now master, I leave you.”
“Please close your eyes.”

I close my eyes, and feel the armband being opened and taken off.

“In a moment,” she says, “I’ll return to the entrance without you.”

“You’ll feel when I’m gone.
“Then, just open your eyes.”
“The light from your eyes will bring you to the old ones.”

“Will I see you again, Keela?”

“I don’t know, Master Yagrin.”
“Who knows how long you will stay in the cave?”

“It may be a few months, or another thousand years.”

I start to speak again, but she cuts me off.
“I’m not permitted to remain here for more than a few minutes.”

She gives me a brief hug.
And then, she is gone.

A wave of sadness comes over me.
It’s not that I miss Keela.

But with her gone, the outside world fades away.

 
Sleep
I open my eyes.

There is a brief flash of light.
Then I find myself in another place.

I’m standing in a mostly circular room, about 30 feet wide.

There are twelve metal vats with steam rising above them.
Each vat is about five feet long, and two feet taller than the top of my head.

The vats are arranged in a circle, and each vat has a ladder.

I climb one of the ladders to look inside.

There is an old one, wearing a colorful robe, floating on some thick warm liquid.
Colored light and waves of energy pass over her body.
The robe looks completely dry, and sparkles in the waves of energy.

The old one’s eyes are open, but she is sleeping.

I check the other vats.
A few are empty.
The other vats are filled with sleeping old ones.

All of the old ones are women.

The circular shape of the room is cut off on one side with a wall that has only a slight curve.
In the center of that wall is a large wooden door.

I touch the door, and it opens.
Another old one, also female, is standing there, waiting for me.

She smiles.
“I’m Niyta, the leader of the old ones.”
“Welcome Yagrin.”
She takes my hand and leads me toward the center of an enormous room.

I hear the door close behind us.

 
The Temple of Song

The closed wooden door is one of twelve doors.
The doors are evenly spaced around the edge of a perfectly round room.
A path leads from each door, toward the center of the room.

The room is hundreds of feet across.
And the ceiling rises hundreds of feet high.

There is soft music that reminds me vaguely of the Kishla’s song.
But no one is singing.

The walls, floors, and ceiling are made of a beautiful, polished crystal.
As I walk on the crystal path, I feel its energy pouring into me.

Niyta stops at the edge of a great sunken area.
It looks like a theater, or a temple.

There are twelve circular rows within the temple.
Each row is closer to the center, and several feet below the prior row.

There is a column of colored light at the center of the room.
It rises from the bottom of the temple to the ceiling.

Patches of color, and fleeting images drift upward through the column.

There are hundreds of old ones waiting quietly, filling the rows of the temple.

“In our place, we have no need for food or sleep.”
“But the mind and heart need to rest and to learn.”

“The side rooms,” Niyta says, “are for traveling.”

“The bodies sleep.”
“But the spirit travels to places where we each learn what we need to learn.”

“Between travels, we come together each day in song.”
“This refreshes us, and gives us strength to continue the long years.”

“Am I the only male old one?” I ask.

She laughs.
“You are the first,” she says.

“Most of the masters wanted to leave this world.”
“They sought to live out their lives according to their own will.”
“And let the future take care of itself.”

“Some were allowed to stay as sleepers.”
“The people of Tshuan imagine that the sleepers are soldiers who will blindly serve the king.”
“What fools!”

“The sleepers were chosen carefully.”
“Their job is to protect the world in the coming chaos.”

“We are the balancers.”
“We look to become whole and balanced, that we can give that balance to the world.”

“To find this balance, we travel, and live out many lives.”
“Few men chose this way, and the Bizra rejected them.”

“How long will I be here?”

“Only a few months will pass in the waking world,” she says.
“But your travels fill many lifetimes.”

 
A Song
“Now come,” she says.
“You cannot travel until you become one with us.”
“Until you sing with us.”

She interrupts me as I start to ask a question.
“Don’t worry,” she says.
“You’ll know what to do.”

She gives me a robe which I put on.
Then she brings me to an empty spot in the top circle.
“This place,” she says, “has been waiting for you for a long time.”

Then she takes her place at the lowest circle.

Circle by circle, the singers begin.
The tones seem random, yet they somehow fit together.

I look at the song with energy eyes and it seems that each one sings their own unique song.
Each energy body resonates with the song that is only theirs.

When the song reaches the top circle, each of us finds our own song.
And with all the circles full, we begin to rise and dance in the air.

I realize with excitement, that I can ride the energy web again, at least here, in the temple.

The song continues for days.
Then those of us in the top circle stop singing and settle back to our places.
Slowly, the other circles finish.

“Now Yagrin!” says Niyta.
“Let your heart quickly choose one of the twelve directions.”

“Go to that room and lay down in a vat.”
“You will find your way to a place of learning.”

“The travels will be different than you have experienced.”
“Here you will be a witness.”

“You will see, hear, and feel all that takes place as an observer.”
“You will not take over the life of the one whose body you live in.”

One of the paths seems to glow within my energy sight.
I walk that path, and enter the corresponding side room.

The first vat I choose is empty.
I lay down in the thick warm liquid.

In a few moments, I feel the world fading away.
My last thought is to wonder how I will awake.

“ 
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