The Secret of Namana (The Arnaka Saga Book 2)

by Lucia Ashta

After years of disuse, nature claimed what man had built, and the pyramid was overgrown with mature trees and sprawling plants. The explorers kept as close as they could to the pyramid base, but it was not an easy task. They had to edge around trees and spiny bushes that had made their home nestled in the pyramid’s energy. After a few minutes, they got a better handle on the necessary evasive movements, and they were able to pick up speed.

  Speed would prove to be a crucial element with this particular pyramid. Sitting Bear led the way, Elena walked in between the two men, and Marco brought up the rear. They walked in silence. Their focus was on the pyramid and not on each other.

  It was Elena who caused the effect that would leave them reeling and wondering for days, though they didn’t realize it had been her. The pyramid was still too mysterious for them to understand how it did what it would do next.

  As they walked, Elena felt herself drifting off into the dream world. She had often wondered if her ability to float into other worlds so readily was a blessing or a curse, and today she received her long-awaited answer. Her ability revealed itself as a great blessing, because it was this very thing that established her connection to the pyramid.

  Elena found herself imagining a time when magic existed openly. Before her eyes, a way of life that resonated strongly with her spirit came to be once more. When she looked to either side of her as she walked, things were changed, but not completely so. The landscape varied from the one she had awoken to this morning, but it was clear she was walking the same earth, only one that was yet unmarred by contemporary society.

  She looked ahead of her at Sitting Bear and noticed he was also transformed. He wore an animal skin loincloth that exposed his buttocks and hide moccasins on his feet. His hair was a deep, dark black with a sheen of blue in the glaring sun. Sitting Bear’s hair remained unchanged; it hung long to his waist, braided tightly, turquoise earrings standing out in contrast to either side of his head.

  Sitting Bear’s body was lean and muscular, the result of a life on the land. His step and gait were strong, well balanced, and efficient. He moved like an instinctive animal, with sharpened proficiency.

  What Elena observed was suspended in the slow motion of heightened detail. She herself was in a daze, immersed in the gentle fog of the dream world. Things swirled around her, beckoning her, engaging her, and then passing on, giving mystical importance to the little and to the subtle. It was only while Elena was admiring Sitting Bear’s tall, straight posture and his strong shoulders that the thought drifted mistily through her mind: she might also have transformed.

  In this haze, Elena shifted her attention to her own lithe body. She was by no means clumsy, but athletic and fit. However, the grace and fluidity she experienced now confirmed her suspicion: she too was changed.

  Her feet came down gently, as if they barely skimmed the earth. Her footsteps were mute, yet they carried her forward strongly and surely. This was not Elena’s usual gait. This form of walking was the result of precise training from an early age, when moving silently through the woods was already a matter of great importance. After her metamorphosis, Elena’s body possessed the ability to move stealthily at great speeds.

  Elena glanced down at her feet. Again, she felt as if she were observing herself, her mind hazy, yet fully alert in all its senses. Gone were her fluorescent green and purple hiking sneakers. Instead, she discovered moccasins on her feet. They were well worn but well crafted, and the soles of her feet molded around the loose rock covering of the ground as she stepped forward.

  Her skin was darker than the usual olive-rose color. Gone too was the scar on her left knee leftover from joyful play with her childhood best friend. Elena didn’t readily understand it, although it was obvious that she was in a different body. She chose not to question the situation in the moment. She didn’t want to risk losing the connection to whatever had transformed them.

  As she continued to walk, Elena raised her arms, exploring differences. Her shoulders were limber, and her wrists wore thickly woven reed bracelets, accented with turquoise highlights. She held up her hands. They too were changed. Elena had inherited her mother’s hands, but the hands she looked at now were neither hers nor her mother’s. Still, they were strong, young hands.

  She raised them to explore her face. Predictably, her face was also transformed. In place of her straight, unobtrusive nose, she found a more prominent one. Her lips were similar—full, soft, and curved. Her eyes were still big and open, and Elena longed to know what color they were. Her hair, now black, hung like Sitting Bear’s, long and braided to her waist, ending just above her exposed buttocks. She too was dressed for the scorching temperatures of the desert in a loincloth; her breasts were tied up loosely with a woven cloth reminiscent of a modern day scarf.

  Witnessing such pronounced change in herself and in Sitting Bear, Elena now struggled against her desire to examine Marco. She was certain he must have also changed, but preserving this amazing connection was more important than her curiosity. She resisted the urge to turn around, continuing to look forward instead.

  Sitting Bear increased the pace, and Elena and Marco followed. In these more skilled bodies, they could move faster and more ably, skirting the obstructive brush. They walked faster and faster still around the pyramid. And when they were about to complete one full counter-clockwise circuit around it, Elena reached out her hand to skim its wall, just as she had seen Ashta do many times in her visions.

  Elena touched the stonewall of the pyramid with the tips of the three longest fingers of her left hand. She trailed her fingers against the wall while they stepped, skimming the surface tenderly, gingerly. She let the love she felt in her heart pass through her fingers, into the ancient stone.

  What happened next occurred in the flash of an instant. It was not so much that their surroundings changed from the landscape of one time to that of another, but that everything around them began to move, and it accelerated rapidly. Everything in Elena’s vision moved so quickly that she couldn’t focus on anything around her. All she could make out were colors that bled together in a blur of streaming motion.

  The green of plant life, the red and orange of the rocks, and the blue of the sky streaked by her until they sped up so much that they transformed into the colors of other worlds. They became the black of the midnight sky, the purple of galaxies, and the glowing white of stars that rushed by Elena as if they carried the strength of a hurricane. Elena felt as if she were advancing with gale force winds at her back. She dug her feet into the ground with each step to keep the current from carrying her away from the earth.

  Before long, Elena feared the force of the blurring colors might actually lift her away. She stopped walking all together and turned to face the pyramid. She stopped directly in front of a corner of the pyramid, the one that marked the completion of one full circuit around the base. She let her hand that had before only skimmed the wall now grip it, holding onto it to the left of the pyramid’s corner. She clutched the wall to the right of the edge with her other hand. She reclined her body flat against the right side wall.

  With her face pressed against the stone surface, Elena saw Sitting Bear discontinue his progress to flatten himself against the pyramid also. Elena attempted to connect to Marco, but there was too much going on around her that impeded her ability to focus. It was as if she were standing on a precipice with a dizzying and intense wind whipping around her, toying with her, threatening to take her with it at any moment. Even though Marco was only a body’s length behind her, he felt miles away, and Elena could not reach him.

  She pried her head away from the stone to look over her right shoulder. The dizzying colors whipped by still. Elena could see only stripes of black, purple, and white encircling them, all with the sensation of infinite expansion and space. Somehow, she was connecting to the greater universe, to the larger consciousness of everything and all. She intuitively knew this. She could feel this expansion coursing through every bit of her being. She became awa
re of it only after her instinct for survival forcibly pulled her away from any distraction.

  In the precise moment she came to this realization, when she felt how closely tied she was to everything that pulsed and contributed its energy to the universal whole, the world that had been rushing by her suddenly stilled, as if it had never been in motion at all. The abrupt silence and stillness in the air was so thick that it was palpable, dense and light at once.

  The entire universe spread out before her in the infinite void of sound and movement that could only be associated with outer space. Everything was boundless, eternal, and unaffected by the trivial happenings of humanity. Here, everything was grander, more important, simpler, and truer. There was a simultaneous sense of nothingness and fullness.

  Elena was cognizant of her immortal vastness—she was a part of every single thing that had ever lived and that ever would—and of her comparative smallness—she was a mere speck in an eternal universe. Elena kept her senses alert to ensure she could take in all the richness Great Spirit was gifting her.

  It was an astonishingly beautiful place, one that Elena had never seen before while in her body. But she had witnessed it once before through Ashta’s consciousness. In one of the first visions Elena had of Ashta’s time, Elena shared in Ashta’s experience. Elena had seen this same infinite universal vastness open up behind Ashta’s closed eyes. Ashta had reacted with a similar feeling of connectedness to the limitless whole.

  Elena chanced a look at Marco, her eternal beloved, the man who incarnated over and again to share in sacred, destined love with her. They were the twins of prophecy, then and also now. Deep within them, the knowledge necessary to work with the pyramids slept. It was time for it to awaken. It had just been stirred from a deep slumber, beginning to remember its long-forgotten power.

  As he so often did, Marco took Elena’s breath away. He had transformed just as she and Sitting Bear had. He was again her twin. He was the divine masculine to her divine feminine counterpart, just as he always was.

  Elena recognized the longer, more conspicuous nose she had touched on her own face, the still curvaceous, full lips, and the big, round eyes. Marco’s body was strong and limber, agile with long muscles, adapted to a life in harmony with the earth’s cycles. A loincloth similar to hers clothed him in front and moccasins protected his feet. His hair and skin color were the same as hers. His jet black, braided hair hung limply to his waist in the aftermath of the rushing activity that ceased so suddenly.

  He turned his head to meet her gaze, and Elena’s face grew slack in astonishment. Coarse turquoise earrings framed his face, just as they did Sitting Bear’s, but the effect with Marco was startling. The contrasting turquoise, dark skin, and bright yellow eyes all played off each other, making Marco the most stunning creature Elena had ever seen.

  Just then, Marco smiled at her with all the love he held for her within his heart. This love traversed centuries, incarnations, and time lines. This love was constant, strong, and long lasting. It was a thing of magic and divinity, intricately tied to their destinies. Marco was the only one for her—no matter what shell housed his soul in the moment.

  Elena smiled into eyes that were mirrors to her own. She held the gaze of an amber-eyed lion. She held it steady. Within those eyes, she saw a power capable of transforming the world.

  And with this, Elena saw the last of all she was meant to see then. The illusion vanished around them just as suddenly as it had appeared. The sights of a different time dissolved as if they had been illusions projected on mist, disappearing slowly but steadily, until a single breath dissolved what remained of the clouds, and they simply floated away.

  As their view to another world retreated, Elena, Marco, and Sitting Bear crumpled to the ground. Their backs leaned against the pyramid wall. It was not exhaustion that brought them to their seats, but stunned amazement. They were speechless for a very long time. The only thing that seemed to move around them was the sun. The sun continued its travels across the sky while they sat limply, entrusting the pyramid and the earth with the entire weight of their bodies and their destinies.

  21 The Vessels of Souls

  When they were finally able to speak again, the sun had already passed through its highest point in the sky and was creeping in gradual descent back toward the horizon. They had sat in stillness for a very long time. Even so, they managed to process very little of what had happened.

  Of the three of them, Elena was the one with a history of frequent life-like visions, but even she had never experienced anything like this before. Even after hours of silent reflection, she was still unsure what to make of it all.

  Similarly, Marco had no framework with which to analyze the transformation the pyramid led them through. He had seen a few visions before, but they were more abstract than what Elena saw and did nothing to prepare him for this morning’s events.

  Sitting Bear felt even more bewildered. He had received abundant guidance from Great Spirit throughout his life, but vision was not a gift he had developed. He now reeled at the potential he had denied himself. An exhaustive exposure to the traditions and teachings of his elders could have afforded him a better understanding of the power he could access while in his body. But all that Sitting Bear accomplished he either taught himself or learned from his father.

  For all Sitting Bear admired his father, he had been just one man. It took the full range of talents and the wisdom of a tribe to raise a well-rounded child, fully aware of himself in all aspects. For the umpteenth time, Sitting Bear regretted what had become of his people. But on this occasion, he followed this sorrow with something new.

  The transformation at the pyramid, a vivid reminder of humanity’s true capacity, allowed Sitting Bear to hold hope for a miracle. Then, he released his wish to the air, so that it may go where it belonged. Sitting Bear prayed that the peoples of the planet might once again be in harmony with all creation.

  Elena, who was vibrating with a depth of connection she hoped would last, detected Sitting Bear’s quiet prayer go out into the stillness that enveloped them. While she didn’t know his prayer’s specific request, she could feel its energy, and she knew it to be honorable. To affirm Sitting Bear’s entreaty and to add her support to it, she said aloud, “Aho Mitakuye Oyasin.”

  Sitting Bear still hadn’t said which tribe he descended from, but these were all the native affirmations Victor taught her while training at Marian’s complex. Elena hoped one of them would help Sitting Bear feel supported and respected.

  Sitting Bear’s head snapped up in surprise. He did not say a word, but only nodded at Elena. He did feel respected and moved by the beauty of life, and that brought the first tears of his adult life to his eyes.

  Later that night around the fire, the three of them attempted to discuss the other world they had glimpsed, but made little headway. Finally, they decided some things were better left untouched by words. They were unable to describe what the experience meant to them anyway.

  However, there was one thing they did need to discuss, one that didn’t have as much to do with what world they entered as with who they became in it.

  “I was Thunder Gods, and you were my younger twin brother and sister,” Sitting Bear said in his usual straight-to-the-point manner.

  Even though Sitting Bear’s statement was succinct, Elena and Marco knew what it meant. Sitting Bear carried the knowledge he gained during his life as Thunder Gods within his soul. It was no coincidence that Sitting Bear had been drawn to Elena and Marco at this time. They had been linked to one another before.

  These circumstances implied that, somewhere within Sitting Bear, information about Elena and Marco’s lives as his twin sister and brother was stored.

  “Do you know what our names were?” Elena asked.

  Sitting Bear nodded. Even this gesture was concise and to the point.

  “You were Sky Elk,” he said while pointing his head in Elena’s direction, “and you were Swift Horse.” He gestured toward Ma
rco.

  “Did you already know that you were Thunder Gods?” Marco asked.

  Sitting Bear shook his head no. “My father did not tell me how closely related I was to Thunder Gods. I don’t know whether he knew or not. At least now I know.

  “I am a direct descendant of Thunder Gods. I carry his blood within the blood of this shell.” He pounded his flat palm against his chest.

  “I also carry his soul within this vessel. His soul is my soul.”

  Then Sitting Bear trailed off to stare into the fire. He had received this information from a deep knowing, one that he had long ago learned not to question. To him, this was fact. To Sitting Bear, his past incarnation as Thunder Gods meant that he had an important destiny to fulfill this time around as well. It was a life-changing realization, and he allowed its impact to find a place within him.

  Elena was trying very hard to be patient. She wanted to respect Sitting Bear’s process. She could see this knowledge was meaningful to him. But after watching Sitting Bear stare at the flickering flames for several beats, Elena had to ask the question that was forefront on her mind.

  “Were Sky Elk and Swift Horse lovers?”

  Sitting Bear, already focused somewhere else, answered Elena’s question distractedly. “Hmmmmm. Yes.”

  Elena and Marco exchanged concerned glances. Elena knew that in many cultures, especially ancient ones, the idea of incest was a foreign one. Some cultures embraced and even encouraged the joining of blood brother and sister as husband and wife. But in the contemporary culture Elena and Marco lived in, this was not the case, and the idea of potential incest, even in another time line, made them both uncomfortable.

  Sitting Bear noticed the twins’ energy shift, and he reeled in his distracted thoughts. When he realized their concerns, he smiled at them gently.

  “You were not born of the same blood, although you were raised as brother and sister. Swift Horse was my blood brother, but our parents took in Sky Elk and raised her as their own. Illness claimed Sky Elk’s parents when it took no one else. Sky Elk’s parents died from a sickness the tribe had never seen before and did not see again.