Page 60 of The Discovered
I know!I interrupted him.Stop worrying, please.
I’m never going to stop worrying about you.
I lay down the blanket in the center of the clearing and sat down with a sigh. I mentally cut off our connection, sort of like hanging up the psychic telephone.
I heard the faint chirping of birds, and I breathed in the earthen, woodsy air of the forest, which was tinged with the faint, but unmistakable scent of snow and cold. I practiced the technique Daelon taught me where I locked away my racing thoughts for later, envisioning them disappearing into a locked safe.
I began calling on the raw power that sat in wait, feeling it rush toward my body and send tingles along my skin. Wind whipped in circular movements around me as I channeled, thinking of all things safe, all things stable and impenetrable, all things warm and light and good. I made a circular motion with my fingers, and when I opened my eyes a bright white fire had moved along the perimeter of the clearing, just as Daelon had likely done many times before.
I scanned the area, tuning in to its energies, and when I was satisfied that it was stable, I closed my eyes again and dove inward. I opened the safe, unleashing all of my thoughts once more.
At some point during my trance-like state I’d entered my psychic ocean of energy, feeling the water lap around me as if I were really there. It wasn’t quite on the level of reality as astral projection, as I knew I was still within my own mind, but in some ways, it was hard to tell the difference. Reality as I knew it on Earth simply could not account for how things worked in Aradia. Honestly, if I thought about it too hard my head hurt.
I lay on my back, reaching my hand toward the sky to shift its enchanting, deep blue, into a breathtakingly clear night sky. Now, under the sparkling stars and the varied hues of the Milky Way, I could finally think. I was grounded in the deepest core of myself, the part of myself that felt eternal, connected to people I’d never met and places I’d never seen.
Who am I?
I gave into the pull at my back, letting my body fall below the surface. The stars above distorted and blurred as I was pulled deeper underwater. I reminded myself I could breathe, and I stilled as I gazed around at the murky blue surrounding me.
The energy answered my question, but not in words. It answered in its usual storytelling style of esoteric glimpses into the beyond—all that lay outside of my own personal knowledge and experience. It was the energetic pool of all of existence, and it was unfocused and hard to discern.
Visions of my mothers began to play out in front of me in hazy projections. Momma Celeste clutched her pregnant stomach, and Momma Jane kissed her cheek. As the imagery panned out, I saw others surrounding them, all dressed in white. They were the same people I saw before during my near-death experience. They were chanting in a foreign tongue, a language I knew was connected to the intrinsic fibers of my being.
One of them stepped toward my mothers. Her gaze was focused beyond them, her eyes glassy and white. She looked entranced, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that she was staring straight at me.
“You will be our salvation from the greed and cruelty of witches disconnected from themselves, so that we may have hope, so that we may preserve the natural power and fabric of this realm, the one below and the ones above, so that we may once again live in peace on our sacred lands, so that we may honor the Goddess, representing balance, compassion, truth, and unity—our guiding light through the darkness and the essential wholeness of the Universe.”
Her voice trailed off. The more I tried to hold on to the vision, the quicker it disappeared. A cascade of chills ran over my body. This was another piece of the puzzle of who I was, and I couldn’t shake the warmth and serenity that radiated out from these people—my people. My heart ached knowing that they were all most likely dead, slaughtered by the forces that led my mothers to flee to Earth.
I wondered if the woman was referencing Lucius and his people when she mentioned witches who weredisconnected from themselves.The cruelty sure met the description, and Daelon seemed to imply he was at least as powerful as I was, if not more. Was I the Universe’s way of maintaining balance, just as my mothers said? Just as Daelon hinted at? But then how did Lucius disrupt that balance, and how was I to restore it?
There were just so many questions. I needed to learn who my people were, where they came from, and what happened to them. I knew this was key to unlocking my fate. I wouldn’t let anyone get in the way of fulfilling the purpose they’d instilled in me, not even Daelon.
But I didn’t want to consider the idea that Daelon was somehow keeping me from this grand plan. Not yet. It was far too painful. I wanted to believe his intentions were honorable until he gave me a reason not to, consequences be damned.
In an act of desperation, hoping that my power would once again confirm that Daelon was who he appeared to be, I asked:Who is Daelon? Can I trust him?
I sent my intention out into the water, then watched as an image began to take shape. I just hoped it was something helpful.
The projection that emerged was of a young boy running through the streets of a vaguely European-style village, ashes falling all around him like snow. The buildings were scorched and crumbling as if rampaged by a great fire or an explosion.
“Mom!” the boy screamed, his voice hoarse. His face was covered in soot, his clothing tattered.
At this point I knew it was a young Daelon, and the image broke my heart.
He frantically searched and called for his mother. Tears streamed down his face. He couldn’t have been more than eight years old.
“Hello there,” a woman’s voice called.
I watched as the boy halted and turned around, but I couldn’t see who he was looking at. He looked petrified, backing up slowly with his eyes wide.
“I think they killed my dad,” he said, sniffling. “Who are you? Will you help me find my mom?”
A second voice spoke, but it was warped and distorted. The vision went black suddenly, and a strong force pushed me back toward the sky.
In my confusion I breathed in some water, spluttering and coughing when I breached the surface. I sucked in fresh air, centering myself.
I wasn’t sure what the Universe was trying to show me with that vision, other than a glimpse into what appeared to be a traumatic childhood. Hot tears slid down my cheeks as I was overwhelmed with sadness for him. I almost felt guilty for intruding on something so private, so tragic, that he himself wasn’t able to tell me. Then again, it wasn’t like I consciously went looking for it. Something beyond my understanding wanted me to see this memory fragment.
