Page 52 of The Discovered
I soared through the air so quickly that it was uncomfortable, the rushing sound of wind assaulting my eardrums. The house became a blip and then disappeared, and soon I knew I was far above the atmosphere. I was moving too fast to see anything now.
There was apopas my movement came to an abrupt stop. I was dizzy with whiplash. It felt like I was wading through a pool, but when my vision finally came into focus, I gasped at the sight of a giant blue mass below me.
It was Earth, but it was also Aradia—like two overlapping dimensions existing in the same space.
I gazed all around at the twinkling stars forming constellations, and as I did, entire galaxies took shape in the darkness like ethereal landscapes—shimmering blues, purples, reds, and yellows that spread out before me. I grew lost in this celestial showcase, forgetting who I was or how I got here.
Here among the stars, I was everything again. I was Magick itself.
Áine,the hundreds of voices called, and like the flip of a switch I was back in my own consciousness.
The galaxies and constellations dimmed until there was just nothing but darkness and the bright blue sphere of a planet below. I felt a tugging sensation, stronger than gravity, and soon I was plummeting back down into the atmosphere like a meteor.
I passed through clouds in a haze of white, and in the distance, I could vaguely make out a towering castle. Below me lay scores of trees, barren and blackened as if burned. This was my trajectory. Moving too quickly, I flailed my arms in any attempt to slow my descent.
Stop,I yelled to anyone who was listening.
Just before I collided with the hard dirt, I halted, my face mere inches from the ground. From there, I reached out my hands, dug my fingers into the soil, and then fell to the barren ground.
After a moment to catch my breath, I pushed myself up and stood. The trees around me were tall and dark, with long, curving branches. The few leaves they held were black and shriveled. The ground was largely devoid of life, muddy and abysmal, and the plants that did exist were adorned with dead and rotting foliage. Thorny vines crept over the soil and up the trunks of the barren trees. The air smelled of death.
The energy here was as unbearable as Lucius’s, or like what Daelon channeled through me in the clearing. It was unnatural—it didn’t belong in this realm or any other.
“Áine,” I heard outside my mind, coming from my left. It was my mothers’ again.
I walked quickly in that direction, trying my hardest to block out the unnerving energy of this lifeless forest. I started picking up on a din of whispers, wincing as the energy only got stronger around me the closer I got.
A mist began to spread out over the land, obscuring my vision. A shiver crept down the length of my spine, and I began to feel like I was in a horror movie.
Maybe it was time to go back to my body… especially since I wasn’t sure it was my mothers I was hearing at all.
My heart leapt out of my chest as I stumbled into a circular clearing, surrounded by a natural barrier of tall trees with branches that wrapped around each other to form a wall. I watched as a tree sprung up at my point of entry, branches growing rapidly out of its sides to connect to the others.
“What are you doing here?”
I jumped. My heart pounded harder, sounding loud inside my ears.
I spun around to see the old man from the castle standing in the middle of the circle, just in front of a large slab of stone. The earth was scorched from its center.
The energy of this place leapt up and assaulted my senses, bringing pain to my every nerve. I fell to my knees, crying out. “Where am I?” I called to him.
“Somewhere neither of us should be, I’m afraid,” he responded, regarding me with renewed interest.
I took a deep breath, drawing up my defensive wall as Daelon had taught me. My clairsentience was far more of a hindrance than an aid right now.
The discomfort subsided, and I got back to my feet. I walked closer to the peculiar formation of stone.
“I’m so glad I can see you now. I was wondering when I finally would,” he said, his body outlined by a nearly translucent bluish glow.
So, we were both astral projecting.But why? Why here?
He smiled at me, his eyes crinkling. I let down my guard for a moment to find that his energy was serene… and far from threatening.
“Who are you? Were you calling to me?” I asked. Was this all some sort of trick? A trap?
“I’m Amos.” He stroked his beard. “And no. How peculiar…” He was lookingatme andthroughme at the same time.
“Is this an altar?” But my intuition knew the answer from the dark shadows of magick that breathed through the stone.
