“Three?”
“It was because parts of your dimension are still divided by culture. When they went into an opening and saw the way people lived, the tone of their skin, and the way they spoke – they took that as one dimension. Then they’d leave and find a passage a few feet away that was completely different.”
“How did Ashten figure it out?”
Landen grinned and looked down at me.“Television.”
“Seriously?” I thought, laughing out loud.
“Yep. That’s how they came to understand how large it really was,” Landen thought.
I realized then how it was a small miracle in itself that Ashten had found my Dad; people lose one another in that dimension every day. We pushed past the turbulent energy of Donalt’s dimension and several other dimensions. I recognized that we were getting closer to the dimension I knew; the green passages I’d made were everywhere.
The string seemed to go still; the current could barely be felt. The walls of the string grew whiter with each step we took, then it was silent; the hum that always lingered in the background vanished. August looked back in our direction, his excitement growing. I assumed we were almost there. Landen squeezed my hand. In the distance, I could see the entire string turning a light magnificent yellow, and inside the yellow were tiny twinkles of white light...it was breathtaking. When the yellow had surrounded us completely August stopped and extended his arm for Landen to lead. Preston and Libby were sat down so they could come to our side. I took Libby’s hand, and Landen held Preston’s. I watched Landen take a deep breath and close his eyes. He stepped forward, opening his eyes, and we stepped with him - then everything around us changed.
The grass was so green and vibrant, outlined with a sparkling white line. The trees stretched out wide in every direction, offering an inviting shade. They all had flower blooms on them that were every color of the rainbow. The white energy danced around them as they swayed in the wind. The sky was amazing; it looked like a sea of tiny blue pearls with gleams of every color imaginable to the mind. Birds and butterflies danced through the sky; they were so beautiful, majestic. I couldn’t move. The beauty had captured me completely.
Standing just feet in front of us were three beautiful women. One was very old, and the other two were much younger. Their dresses where so white, I had to squint to let my eyes adjust. They had the most beautiful yellow Aura, which seemed to give them a perfect halo before it fading into pure white. They smiled and bowed, then extended their arms for us follow them. The emotion of this place was nothing less than peace. It was more peaceful than the dimension in which I now lived. There wasn’t a worry or concern from any of them; just bliss.
I looked back to make sure the others were behind us, and my eyes were met with wide smiles. We walked down yellow streets with white sparkles that looked like diamonds. There were beautiful buildings made in every way imaginable, reminding me of a palace in a fairy tale. There were several people all dressed in vibrant colors passing through, and they all stopped and bowed to us. I felt heat rise in my cheeks; I didn’t know how to respond to that.
Was I supposed to bow back, smile – what I did I know? I followed Landen’s lead and nodded with a modest smile to everyone I passed. As we passed more people, I noticed that they all gave way to our Aura as if they thought it rude to walk through it.
At the end of this road was a large, stunning white home. Beautiful flowers grew from the rooftop, and the trees reached out to touch the house, making it look as if it were part of nature. A sudden rush of déjà vu came over me. I was sure that I had been here; in some way, it felt like I’d come home.
“I feel it, too,” Landen thought.
I swallowed hard as we began to climb the steps that led to a wide doorway. The glass around the entrance was colored, and the sun reflected a rainbow that mingled in with the Auras around them. Inside, there was a vast open space, and wide columns with trees sculpted into them were scattered all throughout the room. The ceiling was open in the middle of the room, and sunlight outlined a square arrangement of pillows. Incense burned on the table that centered them. The right side of the room opened up into a breathtaking courtyard.
It was there that a very small old man wearing all white turned to look at us. His Aura was almost completely white and stretched well over his small frame. He smiled proudly, and a numbing sense of peace filled me and Landen. He walked to the center of the room, and we slowly passed across the room to meet him.
“You look well,” the man said, looking up at Landen, then to me
“Is this Pelhan?” I thought.
The man smiled. “My apologies for not introducing myself; I forget that the memory of me is taken from you,” Pelhan said, looking at me.
I looked up nervously at Landen, not sure if Pelhan was intuitive or could read my mind.
“My, you have grown. Your father told us how brave you are,” Pelhan said, looking down at Preston.
Landen pulled Preston a little closer. Preston had never really grieved over losing his father; we were all sure that something would trigger it one day, and today would not be a good day for that. Pelhan smiled at Preston, then nodded his head to the open doorway that led to the courtyard. A rush of excitement rushed through Preston, and he let go of Landen’s hand and grabbed Libby’s, pulling her outside. Landen started to protest, but Pelhan raised his hand to stop him.
“Please, have a seat,” Pelhan said.
Landen pulled me a little closer and walked to one of the square pillows. As I was sitting down, I looked back to see where my father was. He nodded in my direction, still standing in the doorway with Ashten and August.“We’ll be out here,” August said into the room.
Pelhan waved his hand, then looked at Landen. His eyes carefully studied every feature on Landen’s young, perfect face. “Ask,” Pelhan said, still smiling.
“What did you mean? Memory is taken from us?” Landen asked, leaning forward, anxious for his answer.
“The memory of your past lives must be taken in order for you to see the next life experience in its own light,” Pelhan said slowly, smiling widely.
“You knew us then?” Landen asked.
Pelhan chuckled under his breath. “I am only two hundred and ninety. I have only known you for your last three lives,” he said in a causal tone.
I gasped upon hearing his words. This man was old, but not that old - he barely had any wrinkles in his skin. What was this place? Three lives – how many were there? It is bad enough to know that you lived four million years ago, to find a photo of yourself just a few hundred years ago? My eyes raced back and forth, and my heart beat rose in my ears. Landen squeezed my hand, pushing a calm through me.
“Ahh...I presume that you only know of the one,” Pelhan said to me.
“Actually, we don’t know enough about any of this. Will you tell us what you know?” Landen asked.
Pelhan crossed his small legs and took in a deep breath. He then raised his hands, and the smoke from the incense burning between us started to turn and grow wider. Suddenly, the white glow that connected me and Landen reached out to meet the smoke, and images of me and Landen flashed across the smoke canvas. Everyone around us was nothing more than a blur.
“Your first life was over four million years ago. As young souls, you faced evil and created Chara, a dimension of peace,” Pelhan said, watching the canvas with us. The images of me and Landen moved forward in time.“You see, you had found the problem in the first life, but the solution would run through many. You have ruled kingdoms, lived in poverty, inspired revolutions, discovered new lands. You have played every role and taken something from those lives to help you today.”
“Why us?” Landen said in a whisper as he gazed at himself living lives that were oblivious to him.
“We all have a purpose, a gift. Your task is not any greater than anyone else’s. It is simply...your time.”
I shook my head in disapproval. “It’s our time for what? It seems like t
he object is just to tear us apart.”
Pelhan lowered his hand, and the smoke canvas fell. He smiled softly. “There are some that pass through our lives with a given purpose, at a given time...then there is the one that is meant to spend all of eternity with us. Our soulmates are a life source; once joined, they cannot ever really be taken from one another,” he said tenderly. Taking comfort in his words, I let out a small gasp of air; Landen and I would always be one. “I heard that you mastered leaving your bodies before you ever met?” Pelhan said adoringly.
We smiled. “We have to be in deep mediation,” Landen added.
“Finding mediation in an instant will come to you soon. Heed my caution - when you leave, asleep or awake, you must make sure your bodies are safe, that they are not moved. When your soul rushes back, it comes to the last place it remembers. If you are moved, and your soul comes back - it will remain lost,” Pelhan warned.
Landen and I both felt nervous; we’d never given much thought to where we slept, and it was miracle that we hadn’t made that mistake already. Landen nodded to Pelhan, letting him know that we understood and would be cautious. “Could you tell us what it is that we’re supposed to do with all of these insights?” Landen asked
“Your destiny is always yours to choose. I can tell you that in each life of yours that I know, you have always chosen the path to help those who have forgotten to remember again. That quest has given you the insight you have today.” Silence fell in the large room as we tried to
understand what he was telling us. “Do you choose this destiny again?” Pelhan asked moments
later.
Landen looked at me. I smiled, encouraging him. “We do,” he answered, still looking at me. “Can you help us?”
“I can only teach you what you have taught me,” Pelhan said, smiling widely. “The first lesson you taught me – when I was only a child – was that ‘there are no straight lines in nature; every part of life on this earth must blossom toward its life force.’”
As we let Pelhan’s words sink in, my eyes looked to the columns with trees carved into them, then to the doorway that led to the courtyard. I didn’t think I’d ever heard a philosophy that was so clear before. Pelhan tilted his head, gazing at Landen and me in absolute wonder.
“You see the beauty in the trees, the flowers, in the world around you? That beauty was created by the energy inside of them, stretching to find its life source, the sun. As souls, we, too, must stretch and find our life force – the soul that completes us. It is a journey that will take us in many directions, giving us our own beauty,” Pelhan said.
Landen looked at me and smiled warmly. I knew he was my life force. If it weren’t for the dreams that connected us before we’d met, I don’t think I would have survived as long as
I did.
“Have we always been connected to Esterious?” Landen asked, looking at Pelhan again.
“Every life you have lived is a part of you – they live in those moments where a chill crosses your skin, in that brush of déjà vu. I know you have not lived in that dimension since you were cast out four million years ago.”
“But, in this life we’re meant to release those people from Donalt – Drake,” I said, wanting to be clear.
“You are never, per se, ‘meant’ for anything. You chose this path, and it chose you,” Pelhan said, winking at me.
That was the second time that I’d been told that. Rose had told me the same thing the night I had my one and only fight with Landen. I just wanted to remember when I’d supposedly chose this.
“Donalt is aging more rapidly now than ever before, and as the two of you grasp your power, he loses his energy; soon there will be little left of the powerful man he once was,” Pelhan said
“Drake will continue in his footsteps,” I promised Pelhan.
Landen looked to his side at me. I could feel his dread building.
“Drake is just as human as the rest of us. At any moment, he can change his path. From my conversations with Livingston, I can tell you that Drake has a desire beyond what the mind could imagine; to see across every dimension, to have Willow’s love.”
“And if he sees, the universe will be as he wishes,” Landen said.
Pelhan nodded, then waved his hand over the incense. On a white canvas, an image appeared. It looked like three large rings encircled inside one another; they were spinning wildly over what looked that a starlight sky. “This is a looking glass,” Pelhan said, watching the rings. “The one with Willow’s heart who stands in the center can see the universe as he intends it to be.
Today, you carry her heart. If you were to stand inside the rings and harness their power, the
universe would be as you wanted it to be.”
“He has my heart today, and for all of eternity,” I corrected, finding fault in Palhan’s words. Pelhan smiled and bowed his head in my direction.
Landen stared at the rings. I could feel his fear; he had no desire to be the one to see the universe. “I am nothing more than a man,” he said, still staring at the looking glass.
“Your words are true,” Pelhan said in a proud tone. “If your intent were good, the universe would have harmony, but people could still choose to have hardship. If your intent were bad, the universe would be in turmoil, but people could choose to have a peace inside themselves. This power only controls the circumstances around us; as beings, we control how we react to them,” Pelhan said, staring at Landen.
“So, if Drake somehow finds a way to control that looking glass – people could still have the will to fight against what his intent is?” I asked.
Pelhan’s eyes moved to me. “The only way he could gain control over this looking glass is with your heart, and yes, souls can always fight.”
“I will never love him, Landen – I promise,” I thought.
Landen looked at me and smiled. “I know,” he thought softly.
“The love you share is frightening to those who seek to support Drake. They know that it’s true, that it has given you power that cannot be countered with any spell.”
“What would happen if I just destroyed those rings? Would that hurt the universe?” Landen asked Pelhan.
“Everything that is created can be destroyed, just as everything that is destroyed can come alive again. It will be created again,” Pelhan warned.
Landen looked at me, then down at my necklace, and then back to Pelhan.
“What about the star he holds? The one that belongs to Willow?” Landen asked.
“The star is what gives the power to the looking glass. The only way to take the power from the star is to place it behind the sun and moon.”
“Do you know what we’ll face when Mercury orbits?” Landen asked.
Pelhan shook his head no. “No one does - not even Drake,” he said in a sorrowful tone.
“He knew when we faced the moon. He took Willow’s friends...lives were lost,” Landen said in a defensive tone.
“Drake only knew which moon would trigger the trials. The events that occurred beyond that were the result of thoughts and actions taken by several others. Drake is just as much at the mercy of these trials as the two of you,” Pelhan said.
“Mercy? He didn’t lose anyone he didn’t care to lose,” I argued.
“Did he not?” Pelhan said, looking at me.
“Why are you defending him?” I almost yelled.
Landen squeezed my hand and sent a peaceful emotion through me.
Pelhan smiled. “Forgive me. I have forgotten the scorn of the Scorpio in you. I did not mean to seem as if I were defending him. I only want you to see the circumstances from an outside point of view.”
“Did Livingston tell you Drake’s side of what happened?” Landen asked.
Pelhan nodded. “Livingston’s soul will remain in this dimension until he sees that each of his sons - including Drake - find their peace,” Pelhan said, smiling.
“And what peace does he want Drake to have?” I asked with a sting in my
voice.
Pelhan’s eyes smiled as he heard my sharp words. Landen squeezed my hand again, doing everything in his power to calm me.
“There is a soul waiting for Drake...the time will come,” Pelhan said. He then unfolded his legs and stood; I was afraid that I’d offended him and that he was casually asking us to leave.
“Do you wish to see Livingston?” Pelhan said in an excited tone.
Landen looked at me, and fear soared through the both of us. We had laid Livingston in the ground; we knew his body was gone.
“There is no reason for fear; his soul is only watching,” Pelhan said, looking to the doorway that led to the courtyard. He walked to the door, and Landen and I followed him slowly.
When we stepped through to the courtyard, the energy of the beautiful flowers rushed around us. It was so amazing...absolutely breathtaking. We could feel Libby, Preston, our fathers, and August. It was unmistakable: Livingston was with them. I felt my body tremble. Landen wrapped his arm tightly around me. We walked slowly through the beautiful pathway, and at the end it opened into a stunning, lush green field. Preston’s body was sitting in mediation, and his soul danced around a breathtaking white glow. Within the glow, I could see Livingston’s eyes laughing as he played with Preston. Libby was sitting in my father’s lap, watching. August and Ashten looked on in wonder, and their eyes found us as Pelhan led us to them.
“Are you seeing this?” I asked my father.
He nodded. “Livingston showed us how. We can see the Auras as you can, and they’re incredible,” my father answered.
“Livingston,” Landen said, stepping in front of Pelhan to look closer.
Livingston looked up from Preston. The light around him seemed to shine a little bit brighter.
“I’m sorry; I couldn’t see that you were protecting us...I didn’t mean to be so harsh to you,” Landen said in a cracked voice.
“Words are for the body; he cannot speak to you - but he wants you to know that you were more calm through his last days than he could have asked you to be,” Pelhan said in a low tone.
“Does he have to stay here like this? He has other sons - Marc and Chrispin - they need to see him like this...to see him at peace,” Landen said, reaching back to find me.