by Lucia Ashta
Her phone showed four voicemails, all from Paolo since no one but he had called. From a place of empowerment, Lena wanted to delete the voicemails without listening to them, but in the end, she didn’t. The truth was that her heart denied the evidence that she’d seen with her own two eyes. Her heart had felt Paolo’s love. She couldn’t bring herself to erase the messages without hearing his voice one more time.
She listened to each recording before deleting it. Each of the four messages said nearly the same thing. Call me. It’s urgent. I need to know that you’re okay. That was it. There were no apologies or explanations other than a mention that his sister was fine. He sounded panicked to be found out.
She’d do what she came to Sedona to do. She’d make this a positive experience, she’d make all of her life experiences positive: her divorce, her misguided love for Paolo, and all the other mistakes she’d made. She’d find what was right for her, learn the lessons from her past, then leave it behind.
She dialed Victor. Lena didn’t know if he would pick up, but he did. He could see her. They agreed to meet in a few hours. As soon as Lena disconnected, tears overwhelmed her. She flung the phone to the floor, victim to powerful and confusing emotions. The phone’s battery popped out from the impact, but she left it where it fell. She drew a bath and stepped into scalding hot water.
She hoped the bath would help her to forget. She submerged her whole head in the water, and left her body, journeying to places that were disconcertingly familiar, yet still foreign. She gave herself over to the vision, losing all sense of her body and the passing of time.
Chapter 42
It was time for a new lesson. The message had come in clearly as Asara lay in bed stirring from the previous night’s dreams. Before she even opened her eyes that morning, she heard it. There, bursting through the lazy happiness of a peaceful night’s sleep, came the message that she was to learn to fly. Asara’s eyes darted open.
Excited and motivated, Asara flung herself out of bed. She dropped a bright violet tunic over her head, swept her long hair from her face, and pinned it up so that it didn’t touch her neck. Though the day was young, it already felt hot. She splashed water on her face from the bowl she brought in the night before. As she returned the bowl to the table next to her bed, her eyes flickered over the few treasures she kept in this world.
On the small, unadorned table sat a mother of pearl comb that had belonged to her mother. The white and golden swirl of the comb stood out against the dark wood grain. A small, wooden statue of the goddess mother sat next to the comb. It was a gift made for her by her father. Next to the figurine was a single flower.
The flower had once been a bright and vibrant red, but it faded as it withered and dried. Her youngest sister gave her the flower on Asara’s seventh birthday, the day their parents brought Asara to the Temple of Laresu’u Kal. Her sister was just a baby then, barely able to totter around, but she stumbled over to a flowering bush and picked a flower for Asara. It was bruised from being held tightly in a little hand, and Asara treasured it.
Asara missed her three older brothers and two younger sisters. Among them, she’d felt a sense of companionship and freedom from responsibility. Their parents had let them run untamed, and she had fond memories of the times they spent playing together. By now she’d spent more time away from them than with them. Her parents brought her to the temple over fifteen years ago. A single tear slid down her cheek as she noticed that all of her treasures were from her home. There were times when she still missed her family greatly, though having Anak with her was a great comfort.
But not all of her treasures were from home. The ruby red jewel she was given at the underwater pyramid rested between her breasts, fastened to a leather cord, just as it had been since the day she received it. It was a welcome reminder of the importance of what she was doing. It reminded her that she lived in a world of real enchantment. Yes, she missed home, but she lived in a world she had only imagined before. Her experiences were like those from the tales her parents had told her as a child. Lighthearted once more, she ran out the door.
Asara stood in a sea of sand. She could glimpse the pyramids far away on the horizon, but little else. It was just her and endless sand. A snake moved in front of her leaving an undulating pattern in a trail behind it. Snakes were powerful in the practices of magic and wizardry. They brought the message that transformation and new beginnings were at hand. Asara thanked the snake for its presence.
Alone out in the expanse, Asara experienced the infinity of time and space. She felt the endless granules of sand slide under her toes. She stood at peace under a bright sun that wasn’t yet overhead. Then, the angels came to Asara and spoke to her of their knowing. They rode in on that infinity of space and whispered softly, “It’s time to fly.” Asara waited, expecting more direction, but received none. She was bewildered, as she’d never seen another human being take flight.
When Asara realized that no more guidance would come, she decided that she’d just try to fly. She pushed away any thoughts of disbelief that would cause failure and willed herself to fly. She knew in her heart that she could. She’d flown as an angel, and her human body was ultimately an illusion.
Asara shut her eyes and believed with every part of her being that she’d fly. Then she tried, but nothing happened. She tried again. Still, nothing happened. Just in the moment that she decided to stop trying and simply allowed herself to be who she was truly meant to be, all doubt left her. A force propelled her, and she took off in flight.
She shot straight up into the sky as if it were the most natural thing in the world. After all, it was. Her human mind registered it as bizarre that learning to fly was the easiest skill she’d acquired so far, something that most people viewed as an impossible feat. But the impossible was achievable!
Asara flew as if she were part of the air, just as she’d been one with the water. Perhaps that was it, that was the lesson. All she had to do was learn to be one with the element, whether it be air, water, fire, or earth. She focused on the immensity of what she was doing. She was flying! She could do anything! A perfect child of Creator could do anything. Any perceived limitations were strictly that—only a perception.
Beliefs were what limited possibilities. Because humans carried the essence of Creator within, she could do anything that she believed in full faith. Human beings were as free as their convictions.
Asara immersed herself in the sensations of flying. A swift breeze caressed her skin. The ground whirled by in a blur beneath her. Her body was light as it glided effortlessly. She felt the magic tingling within and all around her.
There was no confusion. There was only the freeing sensation of being one with Creator, a perfect balance between the Divine and the divine creation. Asara was the divine creation, perfectly designed. She flew. She twisted. She flipped. She did it all with ease and grace. All were fluid motions.
Finally, she returned to the ground. As her feet first touched land, it felt strange after having been so free of the pull of the earth. She began to walk until the motion of placing one foot in front of the other felt just as comfortable to her as flying. She eased back into the earthly world. She began her long walk back toward the temple, her mind free of cluttering thoughts. She was elated!
Chapter 43
When Lena finally came back from the vision, she found herself in frigid water. Goose bumps covered her body. Despite that, she felt invigorated. She’d just seen the woman in her visions fly, and Lena felt her power. It was gradually becoming easier for her to accept that she was experiencing herself in another lifetime. In this other life, she was capable of performing unfathomable feats.
Lena turned on the hot water. As she waited for her body temperature to normalize, she remembered her appointment with Victor. She ran out to the bedroom and saw in the red digital numbers of the bedside clock that she had to leave right away. She pulled clothes out of her suitcase in a mad rush, leaving the remainder strewn about to either side of
the open luggage. She found something that suited her mood, a teal dress. She slipped it on, added her favorite yellow feather earrings, and pulled her long hair up into a ponytail as she ran out the door.
Two seconds later, she came back. She’d left without sandals and without car keys. She found both and scrambled out the door, forgetting to lock the door as she pulled it shut. It bounced open against the frame and stood ajar an inch. Lena didn’t even notice her carelessness as she backed out in Paolo’s rental car and pulled away. Her phone lay forgotten on the floor, the battery still dislodged, all calls going straight to voicemail.
Chapter 44
At twenty-two, the twins were not aging like the others around them. Although they no longer looked like children, their faces were unlined, unmarked, and shone with great vitality. Their bodies possessed youthful limberness and energy. Their angelic essence affected their looks and illuminated their bodies, slowing the ageing process.
They lay, sprawled, soaking up the sun. Anak woke Asara with a gentle kiss to the forehead. His lips were smooth; they felt soft against her skin. Asara had fallen asleep next to the river in the shade of a great, ancient tree. The flowing sound of the water had lulled her and sleep came easily. Anak lay next to Asara and she rolled into him lazily, unwilling to wake right away. He wrapped his arms around her as she nestled into him, and he kissed her on the mouth.
His full lips, so much like hers, awakened passion within Asara and roused her out of sleep. Anak felt her against him and sensed her energy shift. They both knew the time was coming. The excitement had been building steadily. Since the first time they kissed in the pyramid, when they were only thirteen, they’d known the time would come when they would merge as man and woman in divine sexual communion.
Asara felt her heart beat excitedly as she realized that this would be the moment when they would allow it to happen. Finally, after waiting for the right moment to make love for so long, it had arrived. She knew it, she could feel it in the core of her being, and her entire body softened and surrendered in response. The love that she longed to share with Anak would reach its culmination. The pulsing sound of her rapidly beating heart drowned out every thought.
Asara turned her body fully up against Anak and, through closed eyelids, knew he was ready for her. Asara tugged at her tunic, wriggling it up the length of her body, and whipped it off her head. She flung the tunic without care and didn’t look to see it land amongst the tangled limbs of an outstretched bush, purple and green intermingling.
Anak moved even more quickly than she had, and he lay naked, waiting for her. Anak could also feel what was coming. His excitement was palpable. Then, with her eyes exploring the depths of his, Asara ended their agonizing wait. Asara directed Anak inside her, and their breath escaped their bodies in a united gasp.
They made love and Asara recognized it as exactly that. They were creating love of such an intense energy that it actually became a source of power, a very real and tangible energy that contributed to the world with its high vibration. Asara was surprised at the feel of Anak within her, at how much he filled her, at how much she felt the need for him in that moment. It was a need she hadn’t even known she had until she felt him within her and understood what she’d been missing, yearning for, all the many years since she’d realized this would happen.
Anak gave Asara back every breath that had ever escaped her body. She understood then, with an overwhelming certainty, that only he was for her. Their connection was divine, the perfect balance of male and female. She could lose herself in him, in the being that was already her in so many ways. In that moment, they were the only two on this earth.
Anak was the final component, the final piece to make Asara whole. Their lovemaking was the ultimate connection that led them to human completion. They both knew that there could have been no other way for them. They needed to connect in every way possible. They needed to feel each other in every way that Creator had made for man and woman to experience each other. They allowed their souls to live the human experience fully.
They were twin souls. Both Asara and Anak knew it. Asara could feel it in Anak’s loss of breath when he entered her. Asara could feel it in the way Anak looked at her, as if he were unable to grasp the beauty of what they shared. Anak loved Asara with every part of his being. The man filling the woman and the woman enveloping the man—it was perfected balance, just as Creator intended it to be.
Anak began to move inside Asara. There was ecstasy in every movement. There was rapture in every breath and every emotion that passed between their eyes until a culmination of sensations and blinding light brought them to rest. Then there was complete silence and stillness, just the rising and falling of chests in heavy breath. There were no words to express the beauty of what they shared there that day, at the bank of the River Haakal.
Asara and Anak collapsed in each other’s embrace, each of them the match and perfect counterpart to the other. Ah-né Asara. Ah-né Anak. I am Asara. I am Anak. They were one and the same.
Chapter 45
The moment the airplane touched down on the tarmac in Phoenix, Paolo took out his cell phone and turned it on. He waited impatiently as the device searched for a service provider. Since his phone was off for the entire flight, he didn’t know if Lena had called, but he’d soon be receiving any voicemails she left him. He waited for the minute it took for voicemails to come in after he powered the phone on—nothing. Lena hadn’t called. He dialed her again, and this time her phone didn’t even ring. Her recorded voice prompted him to leave a message right away. He didn’t want to leave another message! Where was she?
Paolo was almost frantic and unusually rude as he edged his way to the front of the plane to disembark first. He mumbled apologies to everyone as he went, explaining that he had an emergency. The other passengers looked at him dubiously but moved out of the way.
Paolo remembered Lena’s difficulty in renting a car at the Phoenix Airport and had called the car rental agencies while he waited for his plane to take off in Rome. He was in luck as he reserved the last available car without even asking what kind it was. Anything would be fine. Paolo hadn’t checked baggage. He carried all of his belongings with him and was the first to run down the jet bridge once the flight attendant opened the plane’s doors. If any of the doubting passengers had seen him run, they would have been convinced of his emergency. Paolo ran as if his life depended on it.
Paolo cleared Customs as quickly as possible and twenty-five minutes later was merging onto the I-17 heading toward Sedona. The rental clerk had explained that the only car left was a subcompact. Paolo nodded, took the keys, and ran. Once he cleared the Phoenix city boundary and began to climb mountains, he pushed the little car to its limits. Its engine roared in exertion but kept on going. Paolo continued to call Lena each time his phone picked up reception through the winding mountains. There was no answer. Paolo left Lena one final, panicked message. Call right away. I’m worried sick about you. I need to know that you’re all right.
Chapter 46
Times were becoming more intense and charged. There was something crackling in the air—a sense of urgency. The twins knew something would happen soon though they didn’t understand exactly what. Even Kaanra felt it. It was time for the twins to learn all they could to prepare themselves for what loomed ahead.
Consequently it was no surprise to Asara when the day arrived for her to learn how to harness the universe’s energy through the movements of her body. She knew where she needed to go. She lay on the ground by the river, the haven to which she always returned. The earth was damp beneath her, and she closed her eyes to hear the soothing melody of the water’s current.
Abruptly, everything in her mind went blank. Nothing remained but a view of the night sky within her consciousness. There was no Asara. There was no blade of grass or gentle breeze. There was just one—one existence, one consciousness, one energy, one collective breath—one single moment that held everyone and everything for all time
.
Behind her closed eyes, Asara saw the entire universe stretching out before her. It was as if she were lying on the grasses staring up at the night sky, stars blinking at her though she held her eyes shut tight. She was suspended in time, in that moment of being, of perfect nothingness.
Her body no longer seemed real. There was just her soul in perfect connection to all creation. There were only stars in the dark night sky. There was only one second in time—the present one. Asara felt her consciousness expand beyond the limits she’d thought possible. She merged with the night, with infinite space, and held the stars within her heart as she would a treasured memory.
Slowly, deliberately, her body began to move. Asara surrendered to her instincts. Her body wanted to arch, to curve, to shift. She found herself pushing up off from her back. She folded her arms and placed her hands by her shoulders. She bent her knees and planted her bare feet. Then she arched her stomach forward and pulled up into a bridge posture.
She felt the muscles in her stomach lengthen. Her legs and arms were strong and firm beneath her, holding her body up. She pushed into the stretch even further. She brought her forearms down to the floor; now her hands and forearms both pressed against the ground. She twisted her head back and pushed her forehead against the grass. She kept her eyes closed. The positioning of her body allowed for the experience within her inner consciousness to grow even deeper.
A different kind of force started streaming in through her forehead. Pressing her brow into the ground allowed her to absorb the earth’s energy directly. The mother’s power entered her head and supported the vision of the expansive universe Asara held within her mind.