by Lucia Ashta
Asara chose clothes that would allow her to move freely. She dismissed her usual tunic that was the temple’s basic attire as too restrictive for running. She selected pants that came to her knees and a loose shirt instead. She put one set on and stuffed a couple of spare sets into the bottom of her bag. She grabbed leather slippers to protect her feet on the long trek that awaited them. The slippers were pliable and wouldn’t interfere with her agility.
She grabbed her bow and quiver, packed her knife, which she always kept sharpened, and a canteen made from animal hide that held water well. She made a mental note to ask Kaanra if she could also take his. It would be good to have two water containers for the trip. She’d make a visit to the temple food storage and take some goat cheese and the dried fruits and nuts that could be spared. It would be nice to have some hearty reserves since they didn’t know where they were going or what would be available to them on their journey.
She looked around her little room and grabbed the blanket that covered her bed. It didn’t weigh much, and she’d appreciate its warmth. She was grateful that the temperatures were mild, even at night. That would make the trip much easier on them.
There was nothing else she needed. Her gaze traveled to the treasures on the little table next to her bed. It held her mother’s comb, her father’s goddess statue, and the flower her sister gave her. Asara decided not to take them, though they were small and light enough to carry. She carried her family’s love for her within her heart.
She touched the ever-present necklace that hung at her chest. It was such a familiar weight there that she mostly forgot that she wore it. She would bring the ruby red jewel from the underwater pyramid of the sweet waters of her land. Worn over her heart, it helped to remind her of her soul purpose. Asara imagined it also held other powers she hadn’t yet discovered.
As she grabbed her cloak and strapped the bag and quiver to her back, she felt herself stepping into her role as a light warrior as tangibly as if she were stepping into another body. She walked quietly from her room and pulled the door closed behind her. She again reached out to touch the wood of the door. She placed the palm of her hand flat against it. She felt the softness of the old, dark wood and the memories that it held within. She recalled the joy of life she experienced over the twenty-two years of her life, fifteen of those spent in this room. She touched her forehead to the door and then spun around with wide eyes to embrace the life that stretched out before her.
Chapter 55
I was so worried about you,” Paolo murmured with the voice of a lover. He held Lena, not wanting to be separated from her ever again.
Now that Paolo was with her, Lena understood that he was incapable of lying and deceiving her. She recognized that everything she sensed about him was true. They stood holding each other for the longest time, until eventually, Paolo reached over and closed the door to give them privacy.
When they finally did release each other, they sat on the bed, holding hands, legs touching. Lena leaned her head on Paolo’s shoulder. Though neither of them wanted to break the spell, there was much to clarify between them.
Paolo began. “I heard you calling me just now. I could hear you, but I couldn’t tell if you were asking for help. I didn’t know if you were okay. I didn’t know what to do. I was beside myself. So I just stayed here and prayed.”
“You were worried about me?”
“I was out of my mind! I called you so many times. You didn’t answer. You never called back. I thought something had happened to you. I arrived in Rome to find my sister well and surprised to see me. The phone message was a hoax. My family knew nothing about it. I don’t understand why anyone would play such a cruel joke on me.”
Paolo glanced at Lena meaningfully. He’d told her how Angela’s death had affected him just before he rushed off to Rome. “As soon as I realized it was all a ruse, I started calling you. I was going crazy thinking something might happen to you. I think that lie was meant to separate us.”
Lena nodded. She knew that was it.
“I wasn’t in Rome but for a few hours. I took the next available flight to return here to find you. When I finally arrived at the room, I became even more worried. You weren’t here, and the door was ajar. All of your things were strewn about. Your clothes were everywhere, and your phone was broken, thrown on the floor. The bathtub was full of water as if you’d just been taken from it.”
Lena looked around the room. She realized how Paolo could have interpreted the mess she left behind in her haste as evidence of struggle.
“Why didn’t you answer my calls or call me back? Did your phone break?” Paolo asked. Lena’s phone, with its battery next to it, was still abandoned on the floor of the room.
Lena looked at Paolo, feeling absurd for believing he was capable of the accusations in the note. But with distance between them so soon after their first meeting, she had questioned everything. Could this miracle really be happening to her? Was it possible that she’d finally found the man with whom she was meant to share her life? Had she met the twin of her own soul? Was the world really such a wondrous place? Now she had the answers to all of those questions. Yes, it was all real. Yes, it was all possible. Yes, it was all happening for her.
Lena got up from the bed and retrieved the pieces of the torn note from the wastebasket. Silently, she assembled the note on the bed in between them, facing the words toward Paolo so he could read them. Lena didn’t say anything as Paolo read the scrawled handwriting.
She waited until Paolo looked up, then she gazed into his deep, sincere eyes that revealed everything to her in a single instant. She was suddenly embarrassed to admit that she’d believed he was capable of such deception and glanced downward to avoid his eyes.
“Paolo, I believed that you’d betrayed me. I’m sorry.” She looked up at him and saw hurt in his eyes. “I feared that our love was too good to be true. I felt the fear that came from the hurt and betrayal of my past relationships, and I allowed myself to believe the worst with what seemed like physical proof in my hands.”
“Lena, amore, although we’ve just met, we’ve known each other forever. Always trust me. Always know that I’m your faithful twin, and I’ll do anything for you. I’ve never been married. I haven’t even had anyone significant in my life until you. I’ve been waiting for you, all this time. I knew you were out there somewhere, and so I waited. And now that I’ve found you, I’ll hold on to you until my last breath. There’s no other way for me now.”
Paolo watched tears of emotion well up in Lena’s eyes. She tried to answer him and give him the assurance he’d just given her, but she couldn’t speak. Instead, she nodded and held him tightly to her chest.
When she was finally able to compose herself, Lena asked the important question that was on her mind, “So, what do we do now?”
Paolo’s face changed when Lena asked the question. In it, there was determination and ferocity. “We find out who’s doing this to us and why and then we stop them from ever doing it to us again. And until we figure this out, we stay together all the time. They already separated us once in an attempt to breed confusion and force us apart. We can’t give them that opportunity again.”
Paolo’s voice softened. “And you can never believe anything like that of me. It won’t be true, ever.”
Lena nodded and smiled at him. “How is it that you’re so amazing?”
A mischievous smile spread across his face. “My Lena, I’m amazing in many ways. In fact, I think I’d like to show you one thing that I’m particularly good at,” he murmured, his voice and eyes already smoky.
Lena and Paolo made love for hours and, as the sun edged closer to the horizon, Lena agreed that this was one thing that he was very, very good at. For now, she’d forget the outside world and whatever crazy persons engineered the charade that forced them an ocean apart so they might be easier prey.
She felt safe with Paolo. Nestled in his arms, she allowed herself to drift off into a light sleep. As soon as she
did, the vision came to life behind her closed eyelids.
Chapter 56
Asara headed down the hallway past many doors just like hers. These were the rooms where the pupils slept, and it was quiet. Asara went straight to the door of Anak’s room, though at first glance there was nothing to distinguish it from the others. She paused a moment before entering. She anticipated waking him and telling him of their imminent departure. With her hand pulled back to rap softly on his door, she had a sudden change of mind. Before waking him, there was one place she wanted to visit first.
She left the dormitory hall and walked down a long corridor to the old library that the temple masters had transformed into a marital bedroom for her and Anak. Asara reached out to push the door open, and an unexpected rush of emotion ran through her. Determined to honor her duty to humanity, she’d accepted Archangel Michael’s command without question, but she regretted that she and Anak wouldn’t marry the next day. She had no idea when they might be able to return home and resume their wedding plans. There was completion in this union between man and woman. She and Anak would come together symbolically representing the feminine and masculine aspects of the Divine, both present in equal parts.
With a deep breath of resignation, she gingerly opened the door to the room. What she saw there wasn’t what she expected at all. Her heart tugged at the scene before her. Anak was already inside the room. He sat in the middle of the bed, on top of an exquisite violet bed cover that Kaanra had made for them as a wedding gift. Anak cried quietly. Tears rolled down his cheeks and streaks marked his face where the tears had already begun to dry on his skin. He looked up at Asara, and she felt everything he felt; her own tears came instantly.
Anak had a small bag with him. Asara knew that his own mother, Pers’ho, also made this bag for him when his parents took him to the Temple of Na’anesh Kal. Anak’s sword, given to him by Kaanra when he was seventeen, leaned against the wall in its worn leather sheath. It was apparent that Anak, too, had received the call to duty. Asara wasn’t surprised. She and Anak were deeply connected to each other, and also to their spirit guides.
Asara dropped her cloak and unfastened the quiver and bag from her shoulders. She unstrapped the sword from her waist. Then she walked toward Anak. She climbed onto the bed and sat across from him, in the same pose he was in, in the center of the bed. She crossed her legs and moved a little closer to him so their knees touched. She reached out and placed one hand on his chest over his heart center and the other hand over her own heart center. They sat that way, with their eyes closed, while the tears continued to spill down their cheeks.
With their eyes still closed, Anak leaned in to kiss Asara. They kissed with delicate tenderness, but that tenderness soon transformed into passion. Everything awakened and became magnified. In seconds, Anak’s hands were all over Asara’s body, trying to touch her everywhere at once, frustrated at the impossibility of it. They would consummate their marriage despite the change in plans.
Anak guided Asara back onto the bed and forced himself to slow down and undress her with appreciation. He removed all of her clothing and, as she laid there vulnerable and exposed for him, he forgot his sense of urgency and the pressing mission they were embarking upon, if only for an eternal instant. He stood transfixed, staring at his future wife, seeing both her inner and outer beauty in full splendor. Two more tears escaped as he reflected on his blessings.
With hot tears all over his cheeks, Anak undressed and lowered himself onto the bed. He felt Asara shudder beneath him at the feel of his bare skin against hers. Then, he became one with her. Asara’s eyelids swung open to find Anak already staring into her eyes, but then her eyelids slid back down halfway in an expression of unbridled ecstasy.
In that moment, there was only the two of them. They were in love. There was no urgency anymore. They were connected in every way they could be, and a sense of calm overtook them both. They enjoyed feeling each other. In that perfect expression of the Divine, their responsibility to humanity and to the planet fell away. Not a single thought hampered their minds. They found freedom in their love for each other.
Through that intense connection, experiencing the shattering of light and pleasure at the same moment, Asara knew that she could have conceived their child. If the circumstances were different, Asara would have welcomed everything about it. As it was, she felt the gasp of a passing soul and the divine intervention that prevented conception until they completed their mission and the time was right for it. The private consummation of their vows that night wouldn’t bear fruit. That would have to wait.
Anak lay on top of Asara, still joined with her, and they slept in this togetherness for a moment under the ripe moon. Then they kissed once more—it was a kiss full of the love they didn’t need to voice—and pulled apart, but only in the physical sense. They dressed, strapped bags and quivers to their backs, fastened swords to their belts, stepped into their shoes, and grabbed their bows and cloaks. They walked out the door without a backward glance and, as Asara pulled the door closed, the weathered wooden door sang to her.
Chapter 57
Lena woke with a sudden start. It happened again. But this time, she understood more. She surrendered more to the vision, resisting it less. She’d begun to give herself over to the intangible. This time, she knew the visions were no accident. She now believed they were about her and allowed herself to entertain ideas that would’ve been unthinkable a week before.
The young woman Lena saw in her visions even looked like her. The resemblance wasn’t perfect in every aspect, but the similarity was undeniable. And one essential feature was exact: Lena and the woman of her visions shared the same amber, lioness eyes. Lena felt a knowing that Asara was the same soul in a different time and body.
Lena stirred against Paolo’s warm, unclothed body. She already loved every inch of him. She already knew every mark and contour of his body. Paolo hadn’t slept while Lena rested. He stared at her now, waiting.
“I had another vision,” Lena told him.
“I know, I could feel it coursing through you. What was it about this time?”
Lena shared the details of her vision. Meanwhile, Paolo’s eyes lit up progressively more and more. Finally, Lena couldn’t continue with her story without knowing. “What is it?”
“I’m your twin in that life. I’ve felt it too,” he said.
“You have?”
He nodded. “I haven’t seen it as you have. But I’ve felt it. I think I probably knew it the second I saw you.”
Lena looked back at him, into those eyes that were so similar to hers. “You have the same eyes you had then.”
“As do you.”
“Yes,” she said, somehow still surprised that he would know this.
“So, have we stepped into some parallel universe or what?” Lena asked.
Paolo smiled at her. He knew it was difficult for Lena to digest all of this information in such a compressed amount of time. For him, it’d been very different, a gradual learning. He always knew to some degree that the world was an astonishing place where miracles happened continually.
“Perhaps,” he said and pulled her to him again. He kissed her on the forehead. “Shall we start giving the bad guys a run for it? Figure out who did this to us?”
“Yes!” she answered. Fired up, she scooted out of bed and headed toward the shower.
Chapter 58
The twins set off, navigating the halls hand in hand until they reached Kaanra’s room. The temple life taught them to be unattached to material things so even the masters’ rooms were simple and modest. Freedom from attachment brought freedom from pain and suffering. The twins rapped lightly on the door. Everyone in the temple slept, but they wouldn’t leave without speaking with the master. He was like a father to them and had guided them much of their lives.
Kaanra opened the door straight away. He was awake, alert, and waiting for them to arrive. Two small bundles of food and two canteens filled with water sat on the t
able behind him. Asara also noticed two small vials of liquid, which she knew were the powerful herbal medicines that Kaanra made. One vial contained his anti-infective and the other his pain reliever.
Like the twins, Kaanra didn’t know exactly where they were going or for how long or why, but he did know they’d be leaving that night. Kaanra’s angel guides had told him that Asara and Anak were being called away to battle. Neither the twins nor Kaanra made mention of the need to postpone the wedding. They all understood it was unavoidable because it was imperative that they depart at once.
Behind Kaanra, tendrils of smoke rose up lazily and floated out the open window, rising like the enchanted snakes in the marketplace. The master was waiting to perform a blessing ceremony with sacred herbs. Kaanra gestured to Asara to step forward first. He picked up a fan made from hawk feathers that Asara had known since her childhood.
One day, a hawk had come to Kaanra. She perched herself on his bedroom window, looking in at him. She sat with Kaanra for several hours while he looked into her eyes. When he sang to her, she swayed to the soothing tones of his lullabies. Kaanra had never had a bird come so close to him and stay for so long. He dared not move for fear that she would leave, but finally, exhaustion took hold of Kaanra, and he lay down in his bed. He fell asleep looking at the hawk from his bed while she remained perched on his windowsill.
Kaanra woke several hours later and his first waking thoughts were of her, the hawk. His eyes scanned to the windowsill. He was relieved to see she still stood there. But in that very moment when he locked eyes with her again, she drew her last breath. She shut her eyes forever and let herself fall. For an instant, her body lay precariously balanced on the sill, but then gravity took hold, and she tumbled to the ground.