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Series: Traveling Home -- 3: Visions

The Edge of Darkness

 
In the Dark
I awake, dizzy, on a cold, hard floor.
My head spins and throbs, my body nauseous, stiff and strange.
It takes all my strength to sit up slowly, and open my eyes.

The world stays dark, with no trace of light anywhere around me.
Am I blind?

I struggle to stay conscious, and fight to open my energy sight.
I push through the dull darkness, and the energy world flashes into place, but not as I’ve seen it before.
Blinding light assaults me, and I slump to the floor, too dizzy now to even raise my … Read more

Exile

 
Isolated
Awake again, still surrounded by darkness.
My physical eyes are sealed and useless.
Was the last awakening real, or only a dream?

I turn my inner eyes to the energy world.
I see myself, a body of fire, on a platform, in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by a crystal sphere, with no land in sight.

My energy body is strange.
Too small, and the patterns are all wrong.
The eyes of an energy body always burn bright, but these eyes are like suns.

My room looks exactly like my dream, with walls, floor, and ceiling of … Read more

Ghosts of the Future

 
Eyes Open
I love the feeling of falling free.
The air rushes by me as I fall, and the world comes up to greet me.
The six hundred feet to the ocean will vanish in seconds.

This small body is strong, but I won’t survive the fall.
I push aside the thoughts of death, the fear of pain, and the urge to hide from the end.
These moments are too precious to waste.
I open my energy eyes to see the beauty of the ocean and sky, and taste the world one last time.

There’s movement one hundred feet … Read more

Welcome

 
Free for a Moment
I love flying, being light and strong and free.
It brings me joy, even with all the thoughts of loss and doubt that drag me down.

Keela is annoyed with me.
She tries to hide it, but I feel it.
She wants us to fly fast and straight to the cave of the old ones, so she can be done with this errand.
I ignore her, and let my joy and love of flying guide us, following twisted curves that ride the energy of my emotions.

Is it impatience that drives her, or is … Read more

Forest – A Chief’s Heart

 
The Forest: Prologue
The fog in my mind lifts slowly, and I find myself in a young boy’s body.

I hear Jaina’s thoughts louder than my own, and feel his emotions.
His senses are now mine, but he does not hear my thoughts, or feel me.

I am a ghost with no power to act.
The old ones call this “traveling as a witness.”

Will it drive me mad to watch him for a lifetime of years, unable to act?
My answer comes in a few days.
I get lost in Jaina’s thoughts, emotions, and dreams, and forget myself.… Read more

Forest – Death Climb

 
Death, Feelings, and Fire
The climb lasts five to ten hours, for those who come out of the hole.

We wear strong, thin leather on our hands and feet.

We rub our skin with the bark of the felik bush.
It toughens the skin for a few days, but we still bleed.
Felik also has a good scent which hides the smell of blood.

It is forbidden to practice the climb in the hole, but there are other places with sharp rocks to cut us.
We climb and crawl through narrow spaces without water or food, and learn to … Read more

Forest – Hunting Strength

 
Five Days
Light wind to tame the heat, and a clear sky.
A good day.

This is the most important hunt of my life.
It comes to all boys at the age of fourteen suns.

Five of us go to the low country, to hunt Vigla.
We must bring home five spears or knives with Vigla blood.
Five boys, five days, five strikes of blood.

Vigla are strong and wild.
They run on four legs, and walk on two.
When they stand, they are twice the height of a man.

Vigla do not fear us, and have a … Read more

Forest – Kindness and Killing

 
The Love of Chiefs
Our chief is a great man, powerful and smart.
He loves children, and fights for his people like each one is his child.
I am his nephew, but he treats me like a son.
Every chief is commanded to see his people as children, but this chief lives it.

Tonight I am fifteen.
We feast after a great hunt.
I think of another feast to come.
In a month, we gather with the people of the low country.
I will take Nanik as my first mate.

Tonight, I drink too much, and go a short … Read more

Forest – Change

 
Shanir
Fifty suns gone.
The years run quickly, and the village changes.
So big, and filled with children.

Soon the village will split.
Villages must stay small, so everyone is known.
This is our way.

My sister, Shanir, is in both councils.
Like elder mother before her.
Elder mother left this world two suns ago, and Shanir is sick.
Her days fade.
I whisper to Shanir that we must go climbing together, become children, again.

She laughs, and then the smile turns sad, and fades.
“We lead now, Jaina,” she says.
“Our days belong to the village.”

“Who … Read more

The Tower and the Well

 
Return
My mind slips back from Jaina’s world, falling down an endless hole.
Soon the body lands, solid again in my awareness.
Warmth surrounds me and supports me.

How long have I been in the vat?
No way to tell yet.

Is this the same world and the same room?
The vat is smaller than before, and the room feels different.
I slowly stretch my muscles, waiting for them to protest their long sleep.

Instead, I find my body relaxed, strong, and well rested, not sore or weak.
I look at the liquid with energy eyes.
Energy covers … Read more