by Lucia Ashta
They didn’t have very far to travel, but time was of the essence. They began their journey immediately.
Kaanra smiled. He sensed the temple community’s response. He knew masters and pupils had mobilized and were on their way. He looked over his shoulder to Brazzon. He was too close. It would be up to Kaanra and Thom alone to protect the twins until help arrived.
Kaanra pushed his chest out imperceptibly. He was ready for the challenge. He’d do whatever it took to secure victory for the light.
Asara and Anak came together as they had so many times before. The only difference was the doman between them. He pulled her chest tightly against his own, balancing the doman on the shelf their joined chests created. Then, in the dance they knew intimately, they threw their heads back to allow the golden light to stream through them.
Asara wasn’t surprised that the light shone from their chests, what startled her was that nothing more happened. She had expected to see the capstone swivel out of place to allow the golden light to beam through the water to disperse into the skies.
The twins brought a quiet close to the light emission. They examined the doman. It looked just as it had, like a giant deformed acorn. Nothing was different about it.
Then Asara felt something faraway in her consciousness clamor for her attention, faint at first, but quickly becoming insistent. She realized it was Lena. And, all of a sudden, Asara knew what they needed to do. Lena and Paolo—another version of their souls—must open a pyramid to light at the same moment. Only then could the doman respond. Only then could Asara and Anak journey to find Baldub and Carn.
Lena and Paolo were the missing element of time and space. They were the final ingredient.
Hurry, Lena. Hurry! Asara urged. And Lena heard her.
Brazzon saw the light stream up out of the water, and he feared he might be too late. But he would try regardless. He pumped his wings with a reserve of energy he was unaware he had, and he zoned in on his target. He was almost there.
Lena and Paolo stood together in the moment they were made for. With a tenderness that melted Lena’s heart, Paolo reached out to her. He honored her as the divine feminine counterpart to his divine masculine. His touch was soft and delicate.
He was fully aware there was urgency; apart from Lena’s explanations of why they must do this now, it coursed through his body, speaking to him directly of its importance. But he could never hurry the natural rhythm of the feminine, not even now; it had a wisdom of its own.
In the darkness, Paolo looked into Lena’s eyes. He could see enough to tell she was ready for what they had to do. Today was the day they became who they were meant to be. Today was the day they breathed in their destiny in one big gasp. This was when their souls again became the golden twins Dann foresaw. This was when Dann’s prophecy of the golden children, tinted by the memories of fluorescent stars, stepped through time to transcend it.
There was no place else for them to go but further together. Paolo pulled Lena to him and, when he did, he forgot the reasons why they had to do this now.
He held her against his chest as if they could breathe as one, as if they could be one. They allowed their heads to fall until they rested on their backs. Then, for the first time in this lifetime, it happened.
Light streamed from their chests. The capstone above them, ancient and unused, creaked and groaned as it swiveled out of place to make a pathway for the light. When the light shone into the tumultuous sky, it brought the frothing storm to an instantaneous end.
The light was golden, and it was strong. It illuminated the sky as far as the average human eye could see—and beyond.
Lena and Paolo gave themselves over to the moment—to this one moment that contained all of eternity within it—and all conscious notions of time and of being abandoned them. This one eternal moment held nothing and everything, all at once.
When Asara and Anak sensed the light Lena and Paolo were emitting, at once they recognized what they’d been missing. But before the twins joined again as vehicles of destiny, Asara transmitted a message to Lena. This one was vitally important.
You must hold the light open for us so that we may return. Only with your light can we rejoin this world. You must sustain the light for us.
Then Asara and Anak brought their chests together again and placed the doman between them. And this time, something different did happen. As soon as the twins threw their heads back to allow the golden light to shoot from their chests, the doman came to life. Namana began to spin, illuminated by its own glow.
Neither twin witnessed the display the doman put on. Rainbow lights flickered everywhere, glittering and trailing through the ocean water, like an effect only the gifted and charmed could see. The twins’ heads tilted back, their conscious minds out of the way to allow what needed to happen to take place.
But the twins felt the doman. At the periphery of thought, they sensed the doman opening. Like a rare flower sharing its momentous blooming with the world, the doman spread its petals.
Fully open, from its exposed core, tender and fresh like the flesh of a newborn animal, Namana contributed its light to the twins’ golden beam. The rainbow-colored light intermingled with amber only for a few instants, but they were sufficient.
Then, the doman floated down through the water, toward the pyramid floor. It sunk slowly, the water carrying it, caressing it, as it went. With the final moves of a graceful dance, Namana’s petals closed in pace with its gradual descent. Softly, gently, and without a sound, Namana again hid its secret. There, on the ocean bottom, among jewels that couldn’t surpass its beauty, Namana would wait in hope that the twins would return.
Asara and Anak were gone. In the flash of combined light, the twins vanished.
And merely an exhale before the multi-colored light disappeared, Brazzon reached the spot. Without pause, without breath, the dark raven took its aim. It flew into the beam of light in the very instant it was closing to this world.
When the light was gone, so too was the dark raven. It had embarked on the uncharted journey with the twins.
The golden light that bridged two different dimensions had combined with Namana’s secret to open a portal to the unknown.
This strange world was unprepared for what would descend upon it in an instant.
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ABOUT SPIRIT OF THE SPELL, a Witching World story:
Some things are worth dying for. Others are worth living for again.
When Damien dies, Oliana is devastated. It’s understandable, he is her first love. She’ll cry and grieve and, eventually, she’ll move on, as she must—at least, that’s what an ordinary girl would do.
But Oliana isn’t ordinary. She’s a witch. And she isn’t going to accept Damien’s death without a fight.
With the power of the four elements at her disposal, she can do more than challenge death. The question is, what is she willing to sacrifice to get him back?
ABOUT MOWAB RIDER, a Planet Origins story:
I’ll go anywhere to find Princess Ilara. Even to the Wilds—where people disappear and don’t come back.
The rebels are resisting King Oderon’s rule. I don’t blame them, I’d resist too if I could get away with it.
But the rebels don’t know that. They’ll kill me and never ask questions. Especially now that they’re united by a rebel who can tame the mowabs, the fiercest animals of all Origins.
Anyone who can ride mowabs must be as beastly as they are. Good thing Dolpheus has my back. We’ll need every one of his skills and all of mine to escape the Mowab Rider with our lives.
Acknowledgments
I’d write no matter what, because telling stories is my passion, but the following people make creating worlds (and life) a joy. I’m eternally grateful for the support of my beloved, James, my mother, Elsa, and my three daughters, Catia, Sonia, and Nadia. They’ve always believed in me, even before I published a single word. They help me see the magic in the world around me, and more importantly, within.
I’m thankful for every single one of you who’ve reached out to tell me that one of my stories touched you in one way or another, made you smile or cry, or kept you up long past your bedtime. You’ve given me reason to keep writing.
Books by Lucía Ashta
THE WITCHING WORLD (YA fantasy)
Magic Awakens
The Five-Petal Knot
The Merqueen
The Witching World Omnibus, Books 1-3
The Ginger Cat
The Scarlet Dragon
Mermagic
Spirit of the Spell - FREE for joining my Readers Group
PLANET ORIGINS (Space fantasy)
Planet Origins
Original Elements
Holographic Princess
Planet Origins Omnibus, Books 1-3
Purple Worlds
Planet Sand
Holographic Convergence *
Mowab Rider - FREE for joining my Readers Group
THE LIGHT WARRIORS (Visionary fantasy)
Beyond Sedona
Beyond Prophecy
Beyond Amber
Beyond Arnaka
A Betrayal of Time
Whispers of Pachamama
Daughter of the Wind
Immortalium *
The Unkillable Killer
coming soon)
About the author
Lucía Ashta, a former attorney and architect, is an Argentinian-American author who lives in Sedona with her beloved and three daughters. She published her first story (about an unusual Cockatoo) at the age of eight, and she’s been at it ever since.
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Lucía on the web:
LuciaAshta.com
[email protected]
Beyond Arnaka
The adventure continues in Beyond Arnaka, Book 4 of The Light Warriors series.
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Beyond Arnaka Preview
Chapter 1
Asara hurled through space and time. Her skull squeezed her brain, threatening to crush any remnants of who she was. Her eyeballs ached from extreme expansion, followed by equally extreme compression. Nothing about this journey was meant for the human body.
Concrete thoughts were impossible to hold onto. She willed herself to retain the intention of this journey. The beam of light she and Anak emitted, in conjunction with Lena and Paolo’s, was to transport them to the same dimension that had swallowed Baldub and Carn.
It was where they were supposed to go and how they were supposed to get there. This was right even if it didn’t feel good. Asara and Anak had never assumed fulfilling their destiny would be easy. Since Master Kaanra had first told them of the prophecy, they understood they’d have to achieve a sacred purpose, without which humanity on earth was doomed. Their peaceful ways in Arnaka, as well as Lena and Paolo’s world, would crumble.
Light and dark were purposefully created to balance each other. But darkness had accumulated such great power that it threatened everything Asara, Anak, and the rest of the light warriors believed in.
They’d do whatever was needed to set things right. Asara and Anak were the golden children of prophecy, now adults, and it was time to fulfill the prophecy Dann had shared more than two centuries before. The golden twins’ purpose wasn’t just of returning Osarus, Mohan, and Veena’s souls, but also of restoring the balance between light and dark.
They were blazing the trail for the awakening of all humanity. Once awakened, darkness stood no chance to overcome the true light harbored within the soul.
Asara squeezed her eyes shut, hoping to contain her eyeballs, and willed her brain to resist. She tried to bring a hand to the furiously beating ruby between her breasts but was unable to coordinate movement. So she sent a fragmented message instead. I will hold on, she whispered through the waves of her mind to the ruby.
Flinging through space and time, she was enveloped in a dizzying light show, the visible manifestation of intercepting timelines and dimensions. I will hold on, she said. We will make it. Guide us, lead us, take us to where we can best fulfill our destiny of this lifetime.
Any additional reflection squeezed painfully from Asara’s mind. She clamped her lips shut, willing herself to endure just a bit more. How much longer would it take to travel to where Baldub and Carn were? There was no way to measure it.
Desperately, Asara reached out in the dizzying lights, trying to feel the man she’d been born into this lifetime to love. He was the one destined to walk this path with her—or as it were, to fling across space, disintegrated into infinitesimal parts. For a fleeting second, she was able to send out hope that wherever she was going, Anak was going there with her.
Yet she couldn’t be sure. She couldn’t feel him. During the length of their travel, she hadn’t sensed him. This was more than the physical pain she was being forced to endure. She labored not to scream.
But… there was no room for fear, there never was. Fear would pull her into darkness, into the lower frequencies that were a conduit to those forces that intended only to wreak havoc and destroy. Even though it seemed impossible to do, Asara forced herself to seek stillness. She breathed through erratic inhales and exhales, returning to the essence of life that always held answers, or at the very least peace.
She denied the senses. She breathed, even understanding that there were no defined lungs for her to pull the breath into anymore. She experienced a shift. Although her physical body was no longer whole, the motions of the breath, her go-to for finding calm, stillness, and guidance, was strong enough to overcome limitations.
Yes. Now she was remembering.
It was one thing to remember who one is in a conscious way, running through lists and itemizations of physical characteristics and beliefs. It was a far different thing to remember—to truly, deeply remember, beyond any physical form.
Whether she was actually breathing or not, she couldn’t be sure, nor did she care. That wasn’t the point. The point was stepping away from fear and the hold of physical pain and discomfort. Those were the signs of darkness. Those were the ways intended to bring her down.
She could do better than that. She would do better than that. The mind and one’s belief systems determined reality, not the other way around. Wherever he was, Anak was taking this journey with her. They were light warriors. If anyone could cross space, time, and other worlds to retrieve fellow warriors and deliver balance to the world, it was they. It didn’t matter who or what tried to stop them. It only mattered what they believed.
Asara breathed—or she didn’t. But she remembered, and she knew, and she fully sank into who she was and what she was here to do. That knowing saturated every piece of her. Even broken apart, it didn’t matter, for she would soon be put back together. There was no other way for her or for her beloved. They’d incarnated in this lifetime to fulfill their prophesied purpose. And they’d do exactly that.
Chapter 2
Meanwhile, at the bank of the River Hakaal, where master Kaanra and Thom had watched Asara and Anak walk into the river and disappear below it, Kaanra also focused on his breath. It was enough for the old man to accept that his prize pupils, the ones who’d become like children to him, were undertaking the greatest danger of their lifetimes without his support. It was another to accept that the twins would have to face Brazzon, who’d dedicated his soul to darkness, and who would chase down the twins relentlessly until victory or death—his, not the twins’, Kaanra desperately hoped—for there was only one way that creatures like Brazzon ever stopped.
In fearful whispers, Kaanra had heard enough of Brazzon, the man who seemed more demon than human. Kaanra believed the only way to relieve this human vessel of the darkness that had completely overtaken it was through death. He wondered if the twins realized this, and if they did, how his precious children, so bright, so light, would manage to take a life when they deemed life so sacred.
Kaanra had taught Asara, and later Anak, to honor every part of life, from the big creatures to the small, from the plants to the birds, everything between the earth and sky. Would they realize they had to kill? And that it was the only true way to deliver peace to Brazzon’s nearly extinguished soul? He breathed through the blame, suddenly realizing it an error not to have warned the golden children of this need. For if they faltered, if they didn’t manage to perform this necessary act, all would fail. All would be doomed.