The Secret of Namana (The Arnaka Saga Book 2)

by Lucia Ashta

  He thought back to the words of Dann’s final prophecy that he had memorized at Master Sina’s request. There was more to the prophecy and to the doman than his role. Now that he had found the doman, he needed someone else to play his part. Kaanra recited the first half of the prophecy aloud to the moonlit forest:

  Master of the isle will follow the stars to it. Master of the forest will cradle it, hidden in the womb of the world.

  Kaanra knew he was the “Master of the isle.” Although he often did not feel like a master of anything within a human experience that entailed constant learning, he knew he was the master of the prophecy. He just knew, and he had lived enough already to trust this knowing. He realized it when Sina first shared the words of the prophecy with him, after she inherited them from her mother. The earth had traveled around the sun eleven times since then.

  Kaanra held the title of master within the Arnaka temples, but he understood that Dann’s use of the word was more important. “Master” meant something much more profound to the great prophet than a mere form of address. It referred to true mastery.

  Kaanra also believed the “isle” of Dann’s prophecy referred to Arnaka—it was an island after all—and so he had set off in search of the doman, the orphic it of the prophecy. Identifying the doman was the single piece Dann purposefully omitted from the written prophecy in order to protect it.

  Oral knowledge of the doman had almost been irretrievably lost, but the universe interfered just in time. The universe was caring and tried to help humanity when it could.

  Just when Dann’s spirit was about to release its hold on this world, Dann’s sister reached the shallow graves of her brother and niece. The spirit of Dann’s daughter saw her aunt coming, but could not hold onto her physical body any longer. She left this world for the next. But that did not matter. She did not hold the secret that was essential to humanity’s survival.

  It did, however, matter that her father’s spirit remain tethered to his body for just a few moments longer, and that feat was the most difficult of Dann’s human life. He could never have imagined how difficult it would be to stay behind when his soul was ready to go. But he knew he had to. More than anything else, he knew he had to stay long enough to see his sister one final time. He placed all of his will, all of his focus, on delivering one final message, perhaps more important than any other he had ever given.

  Dann’s sister ran to their graves and immediately began to dig away the dirt that loosely blanketed their bodies. Dann’s spirit began to slip away, despite his struggle to remain. Before she was fully able to uncover their bodies, father and daughter had left their human forms behind, returned to the earth for her use.

  But, as Dann’s spirit rose toward the heavens, his message trailed behind.

  Dann’s sister, connected to the world of spirit as much as her brother had been, only in different ways, heard the echo before it followed her brother’s spirit out of this world. The doman. The doman can save the world.

  Dann’s sister passed down the living message of the doman through her descendants until it reached Kaanra’s ears. Now, although unaware of it, Kaanra was the only one left to carry this surviving piece of information. He did not know what the doman was, but he knew it was more important than few other objects.

  He allowed the stars to lead him toward the doman, just as the prophecy stated. It had been a long time since he had wandered with nothing more to guide him than the heavens. He had enjoyed blissful days of little thought; the stillness in his mind allowed for much peace. The love of all creation was within him now.

  Transformed for the better one more time in his long life, Kaanra prepared a bed in front of the tree that marked the spot. He had no idea who the master of the forest was, or what he would tell him once he arrived, since he did not know exactly where the doman was, or even what it was. But Kaanra trusted that he had done his part, and he settled onto his blanket for a deep and dream-filled sleep.

  The forest would speak to him that night. Dancing trees, flowers, fairies and talking animals would inhabit his dreams. Upon waking in the forest, Kaanra would know little difference between his dreams and the reality he was used to, and he would allow the dream and the real to merge, becoming one in his consciousness.

  18 Green-Eyed Stare

  The adventurers had advanced to the base of the pyramid when Sitting Bear suggested they put up camp. Plenty of daylight remained in the sky, but they set about preparing their sleeping arrangements anyway. In truth, neither Elena nor Marco had any idea of how to proceed now that they had finally reached the pyramid, so they agreed with Sitting Bear’s proposal. What the twins did not realize was that Sitting Bear made his suggestion for the same reason. He didn’t know what to do in this unique situation either.

  It didn’t take Elena and Marco long to set up their minimalist tent and lay out their sleeping bags, and Sitting Bear did nothing to fix a bed for himself. Instead, he dug out a fire pit and built a wall of stones around it to contain the fire. Elena and Marco joined him in collecting fallen firewood.

  “Let’s rest now. We can begin tomorrow morning with the sun,” Sitting Bear said.

  They remained mostly quiet into the evening, all of them wondering what exactly they would be doing the next day. Lost in thoughts and musings of the unknown, the explorers enjoyed the subtleties of their surroundings, until darkness eventually took over the skies, obscuring colors and details.

  Elena stared into the hypnotic flames until her eyes grew heavy with sleep. She removed her sleeping bag from the tent and pulled it up to the fire. It didn’t feel right to put anything between her and the stars, not even the thin fabric of their tent. Especially here, at the base of a pyramid that may be the realization of her visions, she wanted to be as open to the murmurings of the heavens as she could be.

  Between the crackling of the fire and its mesmerizing flames, the glittering stars, and the pyramid covered in millennia of flora, Elena was primed to receive the message she needed to retrieve from the dream world that night. She did so just in time.

  Elena saw herself in a body that was neither hers nor Ashta’s, yet she understood that somehow it was them both. A young woman ran playfully through a glade. Red hair twisted in undulating curls and movement all the way down to her waist, where it lost itself in the tendrils of flowers patterning the folds of full skirt she gathered in her hands as she ran. A soft morning glow illuminated the forest that surrounded her.

  She had loosened her bodice so she could breathe easily as she moved through the trees. Over the years, she had learned to do this at every opportunity, whenever no one was looking. The corsets then in fashion, which her mother forced her to wear, were insufferable.

  Elena felt she was a welcome observer of this young woman’s world, even though the young woman seemed unaware of Elena’s presence, and Elena happily followed along. She felt drawn to this woman she had never seen before. There was something incredibly familiar about her. Elena watched the woman in her natural state and felt great love for her. Her grace and beauty were genuine. She was at ease with herself.

  The woman’s surroundings also liked her. Elena watched trees shift in the woman’s direction; their movement was almost indiscernible, but still, it was there. Birds and animals turned to watch the woman as she passed, and some followed along the sidelines, becoming a part of the unidentified game.

  The young woman’s skirts were becoming muddied at the hems. When she noticed this, it seemed to delight her.

  The woman now slowed and came to a stop. She looked all around her, as if to make sure a secret were safe. She threw furtive glances to each side. Whatever she was about to reveal was important.

  In the sunlit clearing of the forest, she looked around one last time. Then, she reached a hand toward the tree in front of her. The trunk, ancient and strong, gnarled with the growth and experiences of life, parted for this young, graceful woman.

  From within the trunk of the tree, the woman pulled something
and shielded it within her arms with the care one took with a newborn infant. She wrapped her arms protectively around it, and her puffed sleeves hid it almost entirely from view.

  After, with a sudden movement, the young woman turned to look directly at Elena. She turned her body to meet Elena squarely and tilted her pale face slightly up toward the sky. Now the young woman met Elena’s vantage point exactly. Green eyes stared straight into Elena’s yellow ones and held.

  Elena was suspended there, lost in those eyes that were all at once a mixture of power and innocence. She held the young woman’s gaze, unwavering, until the woman spoke. It was only then that Elena lost her grasp.

  It was the haunting sound of the young woman’s voice that made Elena lose her footing. She could tell the woman had spoken in her normal, pleasant voice. But because it crossed over lifetimes, dimensions, and worlds, it carried an unsettling echo.

  The young woman whispered across time, but Elena got the message: “The doman is a treasure of the forest. Look to the heart of the trees.”

  Next, Elena’s view of the young woman blurred and began to fade. Just before the young woman vanished entirely, she held up her secret treasure for Elena to see. Even then, Elena could not tell what it was. It appeared to be a large, misshapen acorn. It was clearly an organic form, but what was it? And why was it so important?

  Elena released her hold on the young woman’s world entirely when she opened her eyes. It was dark. Only a cloud-covered moon and the dying embers of the fire illuminated the scene. She looked at Marco. He had also chosen to sleep under the open sky, and he was just a few feet away from her. He slept. Elena searched the area for Sitting Bear. He lay on the ground opposite the fading fire. He appeared to be asleep as well.

  As quietly as she could, Elena unzipped her sleeping bag and reached for her backpack. She rummaged carefully until she found pencil and paper. Then she tiptoed back to the fireside, but tripped over a stone and stumbled. Immediately, she looked to Marco and Sitting Bear to check if they stirred. When they both appeared to sleep still, Elena sighed in relief. She didn’t want to wake anyone.

  She sat on a stone right next to the fire, tilting her paper so the dim light flickered and illuminated the drawing surface with its orange glow. She drew the doman as best she could since she was unsure of what it was. Beside the sketch, she transcribed the young woman’s words: “The doman is a treasure of the forest. Look to the heart of the trees.”

  Then Elena sat, completely still. She was an open vessel to divine workings. She focused on the image and the words beside it. Once they were ingrained in her consciousness, she allowed her eyes to lose their focus and, without rational thought, she did what she felt she should.

  Silently, she detached the page from her sketchbook. She left both pencil and pad on the rock where she sat and leaned forward over the fire. She lit the corner of the paper and watched the flame hungrily lick at the sheet. She gave the fire what it yearned for and let the fire do what it did best. It consumed the paper, and in its smoke and its flame, it carried Elena’s message—that itself had come from another time—to Ashta.

  Elena watched until the paper faded into ashes, then put away all other evidence of her nightly activity. She climbed back into her sleeping bag, turning her body toward Marco. She eased into the sleep world easily. She had barely been away from it.

  And Sitting Bear, a trained light sleeper from the necessities of living out in nature, had witnessed it all. He didn’t know that Elena had delivered a message, but he had sensed the power coursing through her. Now he better understood why Creator arranged for Elena and Marco’s paths to intersect his. Their meeting was one of mutual benefit. They would show him things of great value that he could not yet anticipate. Sitting Bear closed his eyes again to the lure of sleep.

  Elena kept no copy of the drawing or of the young woman’s words. They were not meant for her world. And just as Elena’s eyes closed, Ashta’s popped open. Image and words carried on flame and smoke arrived at their intended destination.

  -----

  When Ashta received Elena’s message, her eyes popped open, and they did not close again for the night. She had never received a message like this before, and, for some time, she debated whether it was a dream or not. Once she decided, she was certain of her conclusion; this was not a dream. It was a deliberate message from another plane, delivered in images and understandings unencumbered by the barrier of language.

  She left the blankets she shared with Anak to sit beneath a tree. There, she went over the details of the message time and again. She had seen the woman who delivered the message. The woman looked very much like her, with only slight differences in their appearance. The woman seemed peaceful and calm, with a latent power coursing through her. Ashta had recognized the woman’s energy. It felt like her own in many ways, although Ashta was much stronger than this woman was.

  Ashta was speculating whether this woman she had seen could somehow be her. She did not know of something like this ever happening to anyone. She had not heard of it at the temple or in the stories her family shared with her before her parents dedicated her to temple life. Still, this is what she felt. There was something about this woman that Ashta connected with in an unearthly way.

  Ashta knew the soul reincarnated until such time as it completed its evolution. Could this woman be another incarnation of her soul? Had this woman figured out a way to reach through space to contact Ashta? And if this woman could do it, could Ashta as well? Ashta did not shy away from challenges, and she imagined that she could do this just as well as anyone else—if it was possible.

  Had this woman warped time? Or did she and Ashta coexist during one same moment? Ashta knew that time was an illusion anyway, existing in a different way than most people believed it did. It was possible that she and this woman were living separate incarnations of the same soul, just in different planes. This inter-dimensional message suggested exhilarating possibilities.

  And the message itself, how exciting it was! Even though Ashta did not understand all that it meant, it provided her and her companions with additional guidance, and she was grateful for it. The drawing was incomprehensible, but Ashta knew there must be meaning behind what looked like a giant, malformed acorn. The woman did not reach through space to deliver unimportant content.

  Ashta was eager to start the day. When Anak and Thom finally stirred with the birthing sun, she began circling the glade. She had to do something to keep her excitement manageable. She wanted to respect her companions’ need for rest to fuel their bodies, but she was anxious to share the new information.

  Good morning, my loves. What a glorious morning it is! Are you ready to begin the day? Ashta said to them within her mind, her words rushed together in excitement. Last night, a most incredible thing occurred, something that has never happened before, something magical. I am eager to share it with you!

  Ashta waited to ensure that her companions were fully alert to receive this message of utmost importance. She looked to Anak. He was wide-awake, intrigued by what she had to say. Thom also gave Ashta his full attention. The lives they led were already incredible. For Ashta to be so worked up about something could only mean that whatever she wanted to tell them was amazing. Thom’s curiosity was aroused.

  This woman, who I think may be another incarnation of me, told me about the doman. She showed me a drawing of it. I could not tell exactly what it was from her sketch, but I do not think she knew either. It looked like a gargantuan acorn, one that was melted or affected in some way.

  Thom and Anak shook their heads as Ashta described the acorn-like object. They did not know what it could be any more than she did.

  Then she told me: “The doman is a treasure of the forest. Look to the heart of the trees.”

  Ashta looked out at Anak and Thom triumphantly. It was quite a message, and she would not hold back her exhilaration.

  She understood then why their guidance had led the twins and Thom to reunite. Thom was a w
izard of the forest. He communed with woodland life in a delightful way that made what he did look easy. Yet, Ashta and Anak, both linked deeply to everything around them, had not witnessed the level of connectedness that Thom shared with the forest in anyone else.

  Thom could transform all plant life into another form. He could work with any part of the forest, and it happily cooperated with him, complying with whatever loving request he had. The forest spoke to Thom, inviting him to become part of its underlying song. Thom was the ideal choice for this mission. If anyone could discover a treasure of the forest by looking to the heart of the trees, it was Thom.

  Although the message was mysterious and none of them understood it fully, this new source of information reinvigorated them. It was more than they had to go on before, when all they had known was that they were seeking the doman, without knowing what it was.

  Shall we go and look to the heart of the trees now? Ashta asked, brilliant exuberance shining through her eyes.

  The bubbling Ashta restrained her enthusiasm for their morning ritual of prayer and connectedness, but immediately after, they set off in the direction their guidance gave them: further into the surrounding woodlands. If the doman was a treasure of the forest, then they would immerse themselves in the woods. This was an enjoyable prospect. Despite the looming threat of darkness, within the forest, they could easily push thoughts of danger aside.

  Leaves rustled and danced in the sun’s flickering beam. Flowers and grasses swayed in time with the wind. Animals made their wild sounds, and birds chirped their ancient songs. Fairies flitted playfully in and out of the dimension. It was a beautiful morning for the intrepid explorers, and they made good time toward their unknown destination.

  A smile traced Thom’s face. He was glad his skills would be used to support light on the planet, and he enjoyed the company of friends whom he considered more like brother and sister. But neither Thom nor his companions realized there was a desperate urgency that they reach the doman before the dark illusionist could. Thom must be the one to retrieve the treasure of the forest from the heart of the trees. If the dark sorcerer attempted it first, as was his intention, he would destroy the doman forever. Then it could never fulfill its purpose.