Immortal Light: Wide Awake

by John D. Sperry

  “He was just in the neighborhood and texted to ask if I needed a ride.” Kat tried to sound innocent, and she was usually pretty good at it, but today she was oddly out of her element. She caught Lucy’s sideways glare of disbelief. “Okay, I might have texted him because he said he was going to be in town today.”

  Lucy shot another look of pure incredulity at her friend.

  “I know, he’s too old, but he’s such a great guy,” Kat continued.

  Lucy didn’t have to say a word for Kat to get her intention.

  “Okay, it won’t happen again. I’ll just hang out up at his house,” she said with a pleading glance at Lucy, as though it were her decision to make.

  “It’s just that he’s not like other guys. He and Benjamin and Peter are different.”

  “C’mon, Lucy. I’m not stupid. I was there at the school. I saw those things, and I saw how they took care of them. I know you don’t think I’ve been listening to everything you’ve told me about your dreams that aren’t dreams, or the energy-light-stuff you feel when you touch people, but Jack showed me a little bit of what you were talking about. You have a power or ability or whatever it is that I don’t have, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to understand it. I’ve heard every word you’ve said to me.”

  The words were both stunning and relieving as they came from Kat’s lips. There was really no response, but relief had swept over Lucy like a warm blanket, and she grabbed her friend’s hand.

  “Thanks.”

  Kat flashed her bright gleaming teeth. “Hey, if the supernatural stuff in this world was limited to ghosts, I would be pretty disappointed. I just hope I can be a part of this with you, no matter how small a part.”

  “You’ll be there all the way. I promise.”

  Of that Lucy was confident. Any doubt about Kat’s willingness and ability to handle what was imminent was put to rest, and Lucy felt that things between her and her best friend had returned to that place of comfort where they had always been.

  ***

  The basement of the Raven home was intriguing to Lucy. It must have been dug into the ground like the Haven Room because there was no evidence of its existence from the outside. The door from the living room lead to a set of concrete steps that went descended at least fifteen feet. Lucy followed Benjamin down, and Jack followed Kat.

  The space was a long room lighted by rows of full-spectrum lights in the ceiling. Close to the doorway at the bottom of the stairs sat a few exercise implements: a stationary bike, weight machine, treadmill, and an elliptical machine. Three television screens lined the eastern wall for the viewing pleasure of the exerciser, but they were all off at that moment. The western wall was adorned with weapons from all parts of the world and from all time periods, but Lucy didn’t even begin to try to identify them.

  On the south side of the room was a large blue mat laid out so that it covered that entire half of the floor. Lucy and Kat both walked on it and it gave easily under their feet. Jack winked at Kat when he thought Lucy wasn’t looking.

  “I saw that.” Lucy sternly smiled at Jack.

  Jack just looked innocent. “Sorry, Mom.”

  Kat snorted a laugh at Jack’s jab, but stopped when Lucy didn’t seem too amused.

  On the southern wall of the room was a solid-looking steel door with rivets all around its edges. Next to the door, on the wall, was a gold colored plate. Benjamin led them over to the door, Jack placed his hand on the golden plate, and the door clicked.

  Jack pushed the door open and the party walked in. The sight was more curious than anything Lucy had ever seen. The room was at least twenty feet square. There were stone tables of all sizes set around in no particular pattern and on each table sat a dozen or so pieces of gold. Though she couldn’t place their importance, she knew they were so much more than pieces of precious metal.

  “Before we left our home, our father told us to create this room wherever we happened to settle.” Jack started. “I took that job upon myself. For hundreds of years I would gather enough gold to create each of these. When one was formed, I would hide it until I had a place to store them. In 1979, I retrieved the last one, and they’ve been here ever since.”

  “What are they?” Kat asked.

  “They’re called totem in our language. It means mind stone or memory stone. Everything we teach Lucy in this room, she will be able to store in one of these golden vessels. But before we can do that, you have to find your vessel.” He was looking at Lucy as he spoke. “Your totem is something very important to you. It is something that will remain with you forever and in it you will store your memories.”

  Lucy looked again into the chamber where all of the tables sat. “How do I know which one to choose?”

  “Well, that’s sort of between you and the totem,” Benjamin chimed in. “Don’t worry, you’ll know.”

  Each table sat under glorious light, and the small space scintillated of polished gold. Lucy looked from Jack to the vessels and walked toward them. With every table she passed, she noticed that there was a design on each one correlating to the table upon which it sat. There was a table marked with a spear and a monkey. Other tables were designated by a bird and an arrow, a knife and a lizard, a hammer and a spider, and half a dozen other images that were each as ambiguous as the next. While it was magnificent, none of it meant anything to Lucy.

  Benjamin stood at the door next to Jack and Kat, and they all watched as Lucy meandered around the room. She paid no attention to them, she simply admired the display of uniquely shaped blocks of gold. As she made her way toward the tables in the center, she felt something tug at her right side like she had caught her shirt on a nail. The sensation stopped her in her tracks, and she felt light brush by her and up against her like the leaves of a bush.

  The table that stood there had only three totems sitting on it. Lucy reached down and touched one of them with the tips of her fingers. On each totem was engraved the image of a sword crossed over a tree that Lucy recognized immediately as one she had seen in the rainforest. The image seemed so obvious to her. Of all the designs on the totems, it was the one that represented everything she first knew of their world: the trees of the rainforest, the swords that Benjamin and Peter carried, and that she herself carried in her haven. That was the table she was to choose from, but which one?

  As she touched each one, she found that they all reflected a significant amount of her light. She knew that one of them would become her totem, and that it would most likely be the one that reflected her light the strongest, but it would be difficult to know which one.

  Looking up to the door for help, all three of her friends were watching her with rapt attention. She caught Benjamin’s eyes first and he understood her dilemma. He walked over to her and looked at the table she had chosen.

  “Close your eyes.”

  Lucy obeyed.

  He picked up one of the golden blocks and placed it in her hands. While it was heavy, it still fit comfortably in the palm of one hand.

  “What do you feel?”

  The feeling was incredible, like having a new friend, someone with whom she could share all of her hopes and dreams and secrets. She loved the sensation and was almost certain that it was the one when Benjamin took it from her and placed a different one in her hand. It immediately felt heavier and coarser than the last. There wasn’t the bond she had felt with the previous totem, and she knew without a doubt it was not hers.

  Finally, he placed the last of the totems in her hand. The bond was instant, the weight was perfect. The gold was warm in her palms and it immediately felt as though it were a physical part of her. It was the same feeling she had experienced with the sword in her haven. There was no question that it was her totem.

  Lucy opened her eyes with confidence “This is it, this is mine.”

  Benjamin looked down at her, a look of absolute satisfaction on his face.

  “Alright, let’s get started, then,” came Jack’s voice from the doorway.

&nb
sp; Lucy walked out of the chamber following everyone else, and Jack sealed it again.

  In the corner of the basement stood a stone pillar about three feet high. Lucy hadn’t noticed it before because it hid in the shadows of the room and it was not remarkable except for its existence in a room full of modern technology.

  Jack placed his hand on the pillar. “Put your totem here.” He slapped the pillar once and Lucy gently set her totem down, not wanting to let go for fear she would lose the bond she had made. After a moment’s hesitation, she released the golden cube and turned to face Jack. In his hands he held two swords that were very plain looking, but very similar. He walked over to Lucy and held them out to her. They were both made of gold, the same gold she had seen so much of in the last few minutes, and Jack indicated to her that she should take them, one in each hand.

  As she held them, she felt her light flowing into each one, though the sensation was nothing compared to what she felt with her totem, and certainly not the same as the sword in her haven; that sword was perfectly balanced in her hand, and when she wielded it, there was no doubt it was a part of her. The swords in the basement did not have that feeling, but the one in her left hand seemed to have made more of a comfortable bond.

  “I’ll take this one.” There was a hint of disappointment in her voice as she had hoped to have a sword as unique to her as the totem, but it was all she was being offered.

  Jack picked up on her disappointment and replied, “Oh, don’t worry, Lucy. These are just our practice swords. I’ll make you your sword eventually, but that time hasn’t come yet.”

  Relief was evident in her face, but there was still a hint of disappointment that she wouldn’t get her own sword until some undetermined date.

  As Lucy got comfortable with the practice sword, a question that had plagued her for months finally had the forum to be answered.

  “Why are the swords gold? I thought gold was weak as far as metals go.

  “You know how gold is a conductor of our light?” Jack asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, our light reacts with the gold in a special way. When you bond with the sword it becomes indestructible. The metal becomes strong and it will assume its perfect shape and edge.”

  Lucy looked confused. “Okay, so it gets stronger when you bond with it?”

  “Not only stronger, it becomes perfect, or as perfect as it can be.” He could see that she was still a little confused as to what perfect meant in terms of the sword. “Here, I’ll show you.”

  He took the practice sword that she rejected and laid it on the ground. With one foot, he pinned the blade down. With the other, he lifted the handle up, bending the metal. Lucy cringed a little bit at the sight of the beautiful golden sword being bent so acutely. When he was done, he had effectively folded the sword in half until the handle met the tip.

  Lucy was starting to understand what he was saying, but it didn’t hit home until he picked up the sword again by the handle. As he let his light flow into it, the blade began to straighten itself, slowly at first. Then, like a switchblade, the bent half unfolded and the sword was straight and perfect once again. Lucy stood amazed at the power of the light and its effect on gold.

  “So how does it know what shape to go back to?” Lucy asked with widened eyes.

  “Ah, well, that’s all in the forging. When I make a sword, I don’t form it into what I want it to be; I let the sword tell me. I communicate with it, and what I get is what I get.”

  Lucy held up her practice sword and saw it in a completely new light. She noticed how beautiful it was in its plainness. She appreciated the personality that it had and realized that with her light filling it, it was alive and was a part of her. She had more respect for the weapon than she had when she first chose it.

  “Okay, here’s what I want you to do: you need to become one with your weapon. This means that you will channel your light through it until you have created a bond with it.” Jack was standing in front of her, holding the other sword—the one Lucy had rejected—parallel to the ground out in front of him with his hands roughly two feet apart.

  Lucy copied his stance. The golden sword didn’t seem to be channeling what Lucy had expected. She didn’t feel bonded with the sword and started to get frustrated.

  “I can’t bond to this thing. It doesn’t feel comfortable.”

  Jack responded in a soothing, meditative tone. “You can bond with anything you wish. You can bond with a tree, an animal, a car, anything, and it will, if it trusts you, obey your every wish. You need to let the sword know that it can trust you.”

  “But how do I do that?”

  “That is between you and the sword.”

  Lucy reassumed her position, cradling the sword in her hands. Then, she closed her eyes and started directing her thoughts to the sword.

  Okay, Sword, I know we’ve never met before, but I need you to trust me. My name is Lucy Higgins. I want you to listen to me. We need to be friends.

  As she spoke to the sword in her head, she felt the sword’s cold metal begin to warm in her hands. Her light flowed into the gold and it felt instantly more balanced, lighter, and she felt that similar new-friend feeling she had experienced with the first totem.

  A smile spread across her face. With eyes still closed, she held the sword off to the side of her. Swishing it in the air, she felt it communicating with her. She felt the desire to salute, so she did, followed by advancing and retreating footwork. Lunges came next, followed by parries and more advancing footwork. Finally, she finished with a feint, a parry, and a forceful thrust. Holding the thrusting position for a moment, she stood back upright, saluted once again and opened her eyes.

  The room was silent and still. The first person she saw was Kat, whose eyes were saucers and whose mouth hung slightly open in what appeared to be shock. Looking round the room, both Benjamin and Jack had similar expressions.

  “Was that wrong?” she asked, placing the sword sheepishly at her side.

  Benjamin and Jack looked to each other with confused expressions on their faces.

  “Have you ever taken fencing classes?” Benjamin asked.

  “No.”

  “Well, what you just did was a basic fencing routine and you did it flawlessly. How did you know how to do that?”

  Lucy felt the eyes of everyone in the room on her. “I don’t know. I bonded with the sword, and it all came from the sword, or at least that’s what it felt like. Isn’t that what’s supposed to happen?”

  Benjamin looked to Jack, who was stone faced, and then back to Lucy. He was obviously thinking, seemingly trying to make sense of what he had just seen.

  “Is that wrong?” Lucy asked, feeling fearful that she had broken some rule of swordplay etiquette.

  Benjamin walked over to the wall and grabbed his own sword. He fastened it to his waist and pulled it from its scabbard.

  “I want you to put your sword up and whatever I do, I want you to react to it, okay?”

  Lucy looked around the room. Jack looked inquisitive and Kat’s attention was riveted to the action on the blue mat.

  “Okay,” was all Lucy could respond.

  She put her sword up and again she felt the urge to salute. Benjamin responded and before she could lower her sword, he struck without warning. Instinctively, Lucy parried his blow to the right. He advanced again, and she evaded him. He advanced with more blows, but she somehow managed to defend against all of it. He began to move faster. She could feel her heart rate going up and she was suddenly grateful for Kat including her on all of her long distance training runs for cross country.

  With each maneuver, Lucy had an instinctive response and it became easier to anticipate his movements. She felt herself get into a rhythm until finally she defended once and advanced on him. He was on the defensive for the first time, and she could feel herself gaining the advantage. She struck and he defended. Back and forth they went in a dance that took them around the mat over and over until finally Lucy struck
and Benjamin caught her blade in a bind. The two faced each other closely, and Benjamin relaxed his sword and stepped backward, saluting once more. Lucy followed suit as they stared into each other’s eyes.

  Jack’s clapping broke the silence of the moment, and Lucy dropped her sword to one side. Kat was shaking her head in awe.

  “That was impressive, Lucy,” said Jack, walking onto the mat. “Are you sure you’ve never fenced before? Because, the only other person that I’ve ever seen that good is, well, the guy you just fought.”

  “No, I swear. I’ve never even touched a sword before today, at least not in real life.”

  Jack raised his eyebrows to Benjamin, who looked as though Christmas had come early.

  “I don’t get it,” Lucy said. “Isn’t this what’s supposed to happen? I thought the sword or the light was supposed to teach me this stuff.”

  Benjamin re-sheathed his sword. “No, we were supposed to teach you that, and it was supposed to take a long time.”

  “Then what just happened?” Lucy was starting to get impatient with the lack of answers to her questions and it was evident in her voice.

  “It’s exactly what you said, Lucy,” Jack interjected. “The sword was communicating with you.”

  “But, why is that weird to you guys?”

  “Because that’s not how it’s supposed to work,” replied Benjamin in a calm tone. “You’re holding my practice sword. That sword is full of everything I know about how to fight. Somehow you bonded with it, and it gave you my knowledge of fencing.”

  Lucy’s eyes widened as she understood what he was saying. “You mean, this sword just sort of …” she shook her head, searching for the right comparison, “uploaded your knowledge into my brain?”

  “Something like that.”

  “So, will I remember it when I don’t have the sword in my hands?”

  Benjamin looked at Jack, who shrugged his shoulders, not knowing the answer to the question.

  “Well,” said Benjamin, “there’s only one way to find out.”

  He walked over to a rack of what looked like wooden swords and handed one to Lucy. He took another.