The Secret of Namana (The Arnaka Saga Book 2)

by Lucia Ashta

  As they did every morning, they connected with Mother Earth who supported life, with the sun and the air that fueled existence, and with the waters that nourished. They spoke with Creator, and with their spirit guides and angels, and then they grew quiet and still. They listened, because they could not hear guidance if they prayed without listening.

  This beginning was the most important part of their day. When the twins felt complete, they rose and turned away from the river. They did not have to speak. Their guidance had directed them to find Thom, and Thom was somewhere ahead of them.

  They strapped satchels to their backs, belted swords to their hips, and resumed their journey. In the distance, the gentle Thom was doing a similar thing. He continued on his quest, now intent on finding the twins of prophecy. He was excited at the upcoming reunion.

  Ashta and Anak crossed the expanse of desert that stretched out before them, seemingly without end. But from their previous travels, they knew water lay beyond their line of sight. They walked at a rapid pace, hoping to traverse the desert before the sun climbed directly overhead. The blood pumped through their bodies as they went from resting to active. Ashta loved the sensation. Her legs and arms tingled with new energy as the blood moved to the surface of her skin.

  Ashta smiled. The day was a gift from Creator. Everywhere around them were the sights and sounds of vibrant life. Today, she was also excited by something else. Even though the threat of darkness lurked in the uncharted, she was eager to see what this quest would bring. Much of what they had set off to accomplish was shrouded in the unknown.

  What dimension had Baldub and Carn traveled to, and what would it be like to help them wherever they were? Would she and Anak also have to travel through a portal to another world? What was Dann’s final prophecy, and why had Kaanra dreaded fulfilling his role in it? What was the doman? And what did Thom have to do with all of this?

  Since she did not find answers to her many questions, she admired her surroundings instead. They walked upon parched dirt, hardened and baked by the sun. Hard, jagged lines slashed through the earth, reminding Ashta of the way lightning struck down from the sky. Her eyes fixed on the patterns and scars. They provided a microcosm of endless fascination, until Ashta pulled her eyes up, when her visual world expanded instantly, the microcosm temporarily forgotten.

  I look forward to seeing Thom. I miss his gentle spirit, even though we left him a short time ago. Ashta spoke to Anak the way they usually spoke to each other. In the recesses of their minds, they understood each other perfectly; there was a purity and simplicity of expression that was guileless.

  He is a beautiful brother, Anak responded. I will be happy to see him as well. And I think that we will find him soon. He is probably looking for us, as we search for him.

  Ashta nodded. What Anak said was true. Thom was connected to the All of Everything, as they were. If the twins’ guidance was leading them to Thom, then Thom’s guides were likely leading him to them. They could meet anywhere; they were heading toward each other.

  They had parted ways with Thom immediately after the deaths of Mana, Dahn, and Marn. He transformed the wooden shovels they had used to bury the three cousins back into the branches they had been, and then the remaining light warriors embraced and walked off in different directions. Emotions were raw and shock prevalent. But whereas Area and Arien had each other for support, as did Ashta and Anak, and even Baldub and Carn, who had leapt together through the closing portal, Thom walked off alone into the forest.

  Thom chose the solitary life because he did not feel alone. He had the forest as his companion. He carried the essence of the forest within him, so forest creatures were drawn to him, and he often walked with animals humans rarely saw. Thom was strong. Albeit quiet and mysterious in his wisdom, he understood the magic of this and other worlds.

  Ashta’s musings and observations carried her through the desert swiftly. Time warped for her as they emerged from the desert earlier than she anticipated. The ground began to show signs of nearby water. Grasses dotted the land, until they finally grew thicker and more abundant, building a desire within Ashta to feel them against her bare feet. She slowed, and Anak, profoundly connected to her and her ways, wordlessly bent over to untie his moccasins alongside her.

  Anak’s feet touched the grass first, and he sighed, long and drawn out. The feel of grass under his feet had always been comforting. He held his moccasins in one hand, smiled at his twin with a twinkle in his eye, and took off at a run, Ashta, close behind him. They both knew where they were going, and they enjoyed the cool, padded sensation of grass beneath their feet as they ran there, satchels and swords bouncing in their wake.

  As always, the water beckoned Ashta and Anak. All waters on the planet were connected, and this flowing water called to them in a way similar to the River Haakal—it was as if they felt the River Haakal’s particular melody also vibrating through this water.

  The twins’ energy turned playful as they ran. They edged toward each other teasingly, and then rushed ahead, tauntingly. Laughter trailed behind them, nudging flowers into bloom with its vibration. The joy of light warriors illuminated a path of brightness and life. The plants they passed became more luminous, and the flowers stretched further open. Curious animals looked up, trying to discover what had caused the change they sensed in the air.

  The twins of prophecy finally arrived at the water. The sound of its rushing flow was loud. As was their way, they did not slow. Instead, they intensified their pace to reach the bright green reeds that edged the calling water. They dropped their satchels and moccasins to the ground. Their swords followed.

  Their clothes were still airborne when their feet connected with the cool dampness of the river shore. In two more breaths, they dove. Their fingertips touched the water at precisely the same instant. The water spread out in undulating ripples that lapped upon the riverbank as their bodies went under. In that crisp, wet world, the twins found each other, and they came up out of the water together, embracing, mouths connected in a kiss that transcended awareness.

  Hair slicked back, bodies cool and refreshed after the long walk through the heat of the desert, they pressed together. Ashta’s breasts flattened against Anak’s chest. They stilled. This one kiss contained within it all that ever was and all that ever would be, all in shared breath and twisted tongues. Ashta felt as if even her heart stilled; she was aware only of the opposing sensations of outer coolness and inner heat, of destiny discovered and fulfilled in this one shared moment in time.

  Their eyes remained closed, shutting out everything other than this wet kiss, until it was time to open them. And when it was time to allow the outside world in again, the twins detected the presence of another, waiting for them. It was the one they were looking for.

  The twins turned toward Thom, who stood by their discarded clothes, contentedly waiting for them. Anak smiled brilliantly at the sight of his soul brother. Ashta, bare breasts floating on the water’s surface as a beautiful example of the feminine aspect of creation, smiled an equally brilliant smile.

  -----

  Elena thought Sitting Bear’s name described him well. He sat, stoic and resolute, with the dignity and underlying strength of a bear, his eyes on the pyramid.

  “Do you know why you are here?” Sitting Bear asked Elena and Marco.

  That was a multifaceted question, and many possible responses swirled through Elena’s mind. Was Sitting Bear asking the obvious: Did they know why they were standing before him right now, with the pyramid across the way? Or did he mean, Did they know why they were on the earth at this time in the planet’s history?

  Did she believe in destiny now? Yes, she did, absolutely. Did she trust in the destiny that was unfolding for her? Did she accept that she was an angel incarnated as Elena, who also took the form of Ashta and perhaps others? Did she believe she and Marco, and she as Ashta and he as Anak, were meant to change the world somehow? Did they have a divine destiny?

  Her answers to thes
e questions surprised her. Yes, she believed in her destiny, fully. She accepted that she was the same soul as was within Ashta’s body, and that it was the soul of an angel. She knew she and Marco, in whichever of their incarnations, would find a way to transform the world.

  She was amazed. She genuinely believed these truths now; she had evolved through many stages of disbelief until arriving at full acceptance. The former architect and attorney, the previous white-sheep daughter and wife, now believed in the outlandish and outrageous—because these truths were, in reality, none of those things.

  Her measured reply came out slowly, with a mild tone of surprise. Accepting what she needed to understand to embody the human being she was meant to be was both incredible and very, very exciting. Now that she believed this at the core of her being, magic could really begin to unfold.

  “We are here to fulfill our earthly destinies to help transform the world. This pyramid plays a part somehow, just as I am thinking you likely do as well.” There was no point to giving an answer of empty platitudes to a man as concise and aware as this one.

  Marco had also been lost in thought at Sitting Bear’s question and all its possible answers. Now, he nodded to affirm Elena’s reply. He would have said something similar.

  Sitting Bear was impressed. He had grown weary of the superficiality that plagued most of humanity. He found it difficult to understand how people took trivialities of the human experience so seriously. Why did people not realize they were souls having a human experience, and that only the well-being and evolution of their souls mattered?

  But Elena and Marco seemed different. They piqued Sitting Bear’s interest. Since his father died, he had been wandering these lands alone. Very few people gave him reason to interact with them, asleep to the world and to their origins so that anything they said or did held no importance for Sitting Bear. Now, a long-forgotten enthusiasm ran through him. Perhaps these were people deserving of his energy.

  Elena had given time and consideration to his question. That had also been the way with his people, but now, very few living members of his tribe still practiced the ways of their elders and ancestors. That was why, when Sitting Bear was a young boy, his father left the reservation to raise his son on the land, just as his own father had done before.

  On the reservation, Sitting Bear’s father met his wife, and that was a good thing. But on the reservation Sitting Bear’s father had watched his people’s traditions distorted, corrupted, and lost, and he knew them to be too powerful to allow them to fade into oblivion. And so he chose to give his son the great gift of teaching and tradition, even when his wife refused to abandon the comforts of indoor plumbing and electricity.

  His father meant everything to Sitting Bear, and he was grateful for his father’s difficult choice. Because of his father, Sitting Bear was leading a life of connection to Spirit that would have been impossible had he grown up on the reservation. His tribe could not lead a pure life there. It was there that the intrinsic sense of respect and dignity his people had held so strongly was fading into memory.

  Sitting Bear appreciated his life under the wild skies of Mother Nature. He was grateful to experience her warmth and her cold, her rains and her droughts, and he was grateful for all his relations, his brother and sister creatures that swam, flew, and walked the earth with him. He appreciated the courage to see life for what it really was and the honesty the two people sitting on either side of him embodied. Life had just taken an interesting turn. He wondered what part he would play in events as they unfolded.

  “The pyramid has been around as long as my people have history, and that is a very long time. We do not know who built it. It was already here when my people began walking these lands.

  “But there was one person in our history who learned to use it. He was one of my ancestors, long before my father’s time. His name was Thunder Gods because he worked with the pyramid to send lightning into the skies.”

  Elena and Marco exchanged meaningful glances. Using the pyramid to send lightning into the skies could very well be the same thing they saw in their visions. A people that associated everything with the natural processes of Mother Earth and the mystical elements of Great Spirit could interpret bright blue light shooting out of the cusp of the pyramid as lightning.

  “I like to look at it,” Sitting Bear continued. “It reminds me of the power and magic of my people.”

  Elena and Marco exchanged looks again, and then Marco said, “We have had visions of something like what you describe Thunder Gods did. We see ourselves, in other bodies, coming together inside the pyramid. A blue light emits from our chests and shoots out of the top of the pyramid, filling the world with light.

  “We have wondered if we are still able to do this. That is why we are here.”

  Sitting Bear’s eyes grew wide. This was incredible. He was ready for the time of magic and power to return. He had waited his entire life for it, always growing and learning. Sitting Bear stood to face the pyramid. The grin on his face transformed him, making him look congenial. A slight breeze picked up the long braid at his back, and it hovered, suspended for a few eternal seconds.

  “Then I will be your steward. What you speak of is very important. The Mother needs it.”

  Elena and Marco sat looking at him, and then they looked at each other. They smiled. This man believed in them and what they were here to do, and he brought with him a wisdom the twins did not possess.

  “What are you waiting for?” Sitting Bear asked them over his shoulder.

  “We are going to the pyramid?” Elena asked, her voice faltering a bit. “Now?”

  “Is there ever a better time than now?” Sitting Bear said.

  Elena and Marco stood and moved just behind Sitting Bear. Three warriors looked across at an ancient pyramid bridging the gap between then and now.

  15 Times of the Thunder Gods

  My brother! How good it is to see you! Anak said within the echoing waves of his mind. He stepped out of the river, water rolling down his body, and walked straight into Thom’s open arms. The two men held each other in a long embrace, Anak almost a head taller than the petite Thom. In a world where anything could happen in any given moment, the two men were elated to see each other, even if it had been days since they last met.

  They pulled back to look into each other’s eyes. Their smiles grew wider, and they hugged again. The day was hot, and Anak was unconcerned by the moisture his wet body left on Thom’s shirt; it would dry quickly.

  Ashta waited behind Anak for her turn to greet the gentle Thom, and when Thom finished with Anak, he looked to her. Ashta stepped forward. Like Anak, she was unconcerned with her nakedness, and she pulled Thom into her arms. For these light warriors who appreciated the beauty in everything, the human body was perfectly created and nothing to hide. They dressed in accord with the conventions of their people, but they saw no need to interrupt the joyful moment of reunion to clothe.

  After embracing, they felt complete, and the twins stepped away to dress. Ashta pulled on knee-length pants and a loose shirt that tied around her waist, both chosen for their freedom of movement over the more restrictive robes they wore at the temple.

  Must we leave right away? asked Anak. Ashta looked up. Thom stood, leaning on his wooden staff, ready to continue walking.

  He nodded, wishing it were not the case, but knowing better than to lament. He profoundly believed that when he was aligned with the universe’s ebbs and flows, everything was always perfect, whether it initially felt that way or not.

  We must hurry. We are not the only ones looking for the doman. The darkness is searching for it as well, and we must find it first, Thom said.

  Do you know what the doman is? asked Anak, because we do not.

  No, my guides have only told me that I will know it when I see it. That is all.

  Do you know where the doman is? said Anak.

  No.

  Anak locked eyes with Ashta. So Thom did not know much about the doman ei
ther. But just like them, he knew it was important without knowing what it was.

  The temple master who raised us left Arnaka to search for the doman. He knows what the doman is, and he told us the doman is part of a lost prophecy made by a great prophet. It would also be good to find the master, Ashta said.

  The twins relayed the events of the past few days while they walked. Even though Thom had never been to Arnaka, the attacks that had infiltrated the normally peaceful setting of temple life surprised him. When the twins finished their story, the light warriors walked on in silence so they could hear the call of the doman.

  The twins let Thom lead the way, and they followed in complete trust in the direction he set. Thom had one of those rare human hearts that was incorruptible. The twins would follow him anywhere without question, and now they followed him into the burgeoning forest.

  -----

  The three warriors had substantially closed the distance between Sitting Bear’s cave dwelling and the pyramid when Marco started feeling ill. Embarrassed without reason, Marco kept quiet for some time, convinced he could urge his body to push the sickness away. But before long, Marco realized he could not continue.

  His feet weighed heavily, like lead, plodding back to the ground every time he lifted them to step. He felt too hot and too cold at once, drenched in sweat that chilled him whenever a breeze blew. He leaned against a tree for a moment to catch his breath, and he prepared to call to Elena who continued ahead.

  But he did not get a chance; Elena sensed him reaching out to her and turned. When she saw him, she shouted to Sitting Bear to stop, and then she ran to Marco. She didn’t need to ask what was going on. She understood perhaps better than Marco did. It was more challenging for Marco than Elena to identify what afflicted him; she had the advantage of greater objectivity.

  She helped him to sit under the tree, propping him against its trunk, and then held water to his lips, encouraging him to drink. She unlaced his sneakers, removed them and his socks, and placed his bare feet on the earth.