Intertwine

by Angie Merriam

  “I am Phena,” he told her when he was brought to her.

  His name was another Sign.

  Phenacite was the highest frequency crystal available on the planet and she used Phenacite in her Oracle work to enhance her psychic abilities. A clearer Sign could not have been given.

  It was destiny that brought Phena to her because as it turned out, he would be the only one who could help her on her quest to save her people and her land.

  It was almost time.

  Lina had two tasks to complete by the full moon. First, she tried to spend every possible moment telling her eighteen-month old son over and over how much she loved him, and her second task was equally as difficult.

  She had to destroy her priceless Grotto of Life.

  **

  Like all things in her life, Lina discovered her Grotto of Life by following the Signs. In her early days as Oracle, as she was still discovering her powers, she was shown Symbols in a dream. An exceptionally tall man with the most beautiful face she had ever seen appeared to her in this dream. He was dressed in Earth colored clothing and his long auburn hair was bound loosely at the nape of his neck with a circlet of silver and gold. His aura was filled with continuously floating Symbols surrounding him like a protective flame. Not long after he first appeared to her, she was shown a cave in a waking dream. She knew that she must go to this cave, but she didn’t know where it was; she only knew that it was well hidden.

  “I have no doubt that Mr. Gorgeous will show me the way,” she thought.

  She was still young so he forgave her.

  She summoned her handmaidens.

  “I must find a secret cave with a beautiful man.”

  Her handmaidens, Dorry and Sana, smiled with glee.

  “Will there be beautiful men for us too?” they asked with girlish grins and giggles.

  Lina gave them a dismissive wave.

  “When I find this cave we are to be the only three people in the world who will know where it is. You must guard this secret with your lives.”

  Dorry and Sana would move Heaven and Earth to do anything for the Oracle and they eagerly anticipated this unusual development.

  “How will you find it?” asked Dorry.

  “As always,” said Lina, “I’ll follow the Signs.”

  Lina believed that everyone was guided by a Higher Power and that help was just a request away, so she asked simply, “Please show me the way to my secret cave.” Then she went about her life as usual, but she paid particular attention to details or anything unusual or coincidental.

  It only took a few days. Lina was shopping in the bazaar and she overheard two women talking.

  “Did you hear about the incident near the Temple of Souls?” asked the first woman.

  “Oh my,” said the second woman. “Wasn’t that terrible? That poor little boy broke his leg! I hear he’s in really bad shape. I’m gathering supplies now to bake him some cookies.”

  “Do they know what caused the sinkhole?” the first woman asked.

  “I haven’t heard anything about the cause yet, but I hope it doesn’t happen again!”

  Lina recognized this conversation as a Sign, and she decided that this was the perfect job for Phena.

  She found him lounging in his favorite spot. His padded perch was located above a gloriously stocked koi pond. Only Lina knew that as he lounged, he guarded the entrance to the Oracle’s temple. If anyone entered without Phena’s approval, Lina would know about it.

  “Do you feel like an adventure?” she asked Phena.

  Phena purred and pounced on her heels as he followed Lina to the Temple of Souls. Her people had eagerly given her ample information about the tragedy. Apparently, a nine-year old boy was walking his dog in a wooded area some distance behind the Temple. The earth began to shake and before the boy could run, the earth crumbled and opened up under him. He lay seriously hurt and unconscious at the bottom of a deep ravine. He was saved by the fact that his dog escaped the cave-in and ran home. The dog’s presence without the boy immediately raised an alarm and the dog led the rescuers to the boy.

  Lina and Phena stared deep into the gaping sinkhole.

  “What do you think?” Lina asked Phena.

  Phena eagerly descended into the cavernous ravine. He loved adventure and Lina told him about the secret cave so he raced into the darkness, honored to be appointed as advance scout.

  “Dark. Creepy.” Phena telepathically told Lina. “Love it!” he growled.

  “Funny smell,” he reported. “Nice earth.”

  “Please be careful!” Lina worried. She couldn’t stop thinking about another cave-in, and her emotions were taking over because of her love for Phena. She knew that the future held no danger at this time for her beloved one, and she knew that he would emerge unscathed from this sinkhole, but it was hard to trust the unknown, even for an Oracle. Too many emotions clouded her sight and judgment when loved ones were involved. Besides, she was well aware of the fact that the future was not set in stone, in fact, she was counting on it.

  She had to change what she saw.

  “Pretty!” purred Phena.

  “What’s pretty?” asked an anxious Lina.

  “Sparkle stones. Sparkle stones getting more. Following lights.”

  Sparkle stones? Crystals? She could wait no longer. Lina began her descent into the darkness.

  “Not yet!” growled Phena. “Not safe yet.”

  She didn’t retreat, but she halted and sat to keep her feet from moving. She hugged her knees and rocked back and forth. She kicked off her shoes and dug her feet into the cool earth to connect with her warmth.

  Phena sniffed the air. He sensed moisture. As he traveled deeper and deeper into the earth, the narrow passageway slowly grew larger. He easily found his way in the darkness, but there was also an inner glow lighting the way.

  “Two roads,” Phena commented.

  A fork?

  “Which way will you choose?” Lina asked.

  “Down. Smells wet,” he calmly answered, as if it were a simple decision that required absolutely no thought at all.

  Lina was clawing the earth with her toes. She couldn’t wait much longer. Time seemed to stand still when she felt something brush against her back.

  “Ahhhhhh!”

  She jumped up so quickly that she almost fell into the ravine.

  Phena stared at her innocently.

  “You brat cat! You scared me half to death! Where did you come from? How did you get here so quickly?”

  “Second road,” he smugly purred. “Come,” he said as he turned and trotted off.

  She brushed the dirt off her feet and put her shoes on as she ran.

  A few hundred yards from the ravine there was a dry river bed. Climbing down a tall embankment, they landed on a smooth river stone pathway. Phena led her to an opening, covered by brush and vines. Phena disappeared into the opening.

  “Come, it is safe,” he said when she hesitated.

  “It’s not that,” she whispered.

  She felt light headed. She sensed an ancient presence. It was strong and overpowering, but welcoming. Images were flashing through her mind so quickly that she couldn’t focus. The energy emanating from this opening was like nothing she had encountered before; it was indescribable and hypnotic.

  Suddenly she couldn’t wait to get inside. It was as if a magnet was drawing her towards an irresistible force. She pushed the greenery aside and crouched low.

  The opening was small, but she could walk without having to crawl. The tunnel gently sloped downward and the walls of the opening gradually grew as she descended into the darkness.

  As the tunnel grew, so did the light. The “shiny stones” were phosphorescent crystals lighting the way. Phena was right, it was pretty.

  “Told you,” he commented.

  “Who asked you Smarty Cat?”

  Phena gave a low growl, which sounded suspiciously like a chuckle.

  Thankfully Lina
was descending slowly, so she didn’t fall when the path suddenly dropped off. She tentatively stepped down, and she gasped when she realized that she was walking down steps. They were worn almost to the point of being unrecognizable as stairs, but there was no mistaking the fact that they were not a natural occurrence.

  The stairs curved slightly and as she rounded a slight turn she heard the sounds of water. She was able to move faster as the light increased and before she knew it she was in a cavernous opening.

  She had found her secret cave, but more than that, she had discovered a priceless treasure.

  Or had it found her?

  The circular cave was about twenty feet wide and it had a domed ceiling about twelve feet high. Across from the tunnel opening was a small waterfall. The luminescence was brightest behind the waterfall and the walls of the cave where the water touched it were smooth as glass. Phena took a long drink from the sparkling water and then he curled up on the ancient stone floor and purred at the pool of water at the base of the waterfall. There were no fish, but the water was illuminated and hypnotic.

  Lina slowly circled the cave, running her fingers over the openings in the walls. There were several rows of niches, about one foot square each, carved into the radiant walls.

  Inside of each niche was a Stone.

  These were no ordinary Stones. Without touching them, she could feel that they were older than the Earth. Power emanated from them, pulsating like rays of the sun. Lina was afraid to touch them due to their radiance and strength. They had auras unlike any stones that she had ever seen. Every living thing had energy, and therefore auras, and it was difficult enough to look at the auras of the fields and trees and grasses on a sunny day due to their brilliance, but these Stones gave off auras that were warm and inviting, but with a shine as bright as the Heavens.

  She had an overpowering thirst so she went to the waterfall and drank deeply from the refreshingly clear water. Her eyes grew heavy and she curled up beside Phena, and they both slept deeply.

  “It is time for you to learn now Young One.”

  Was she dreaming or awake? As she contemplated this he said, “You are asleep, but you will remember all that I have to say. I have much to teach you and we will have many lessons.”

  “Who are you?” she asked in her dream.

  “Who I am is not important. My name is not important. What is important is the knowledge that I must teach you – the knowledge contained in this Grotto of Life.”

  And so her lessons began.

  Day after day, month after month, year after year, she visited the Grotto of Life as often as she could. She studied and she learned.

  He never gave her his name so she called him Guardian. He did not object, in fact, he said that it was her intuitive nature that had chosen the perfect name for him.

  He was the Guardian of the Earth and he had chosen her, the most powerful Oracle, to learn the secrets of the Stones.

  “One day you must use this knowledge to save your people from destruction,” he instructed her.

  The Guardian was always such a cheerful guy.

  Lina learned that the power was partly due to the Stone itself, as all stones have incredible powers of their own, but the true power was in the Symbols. Each Stone had a Symbol carved into it. Her job was to learn each Symbol’s use and meaning.

  “These Symbols are called Astral Keys and they come from another place and time,” he told her. “You have been appointed as the Door Opener. I will show you how to use the Keys, and you will decide how and when to use their power.”

  The first Key that she learned however, was not on a Stone. The Guardian directed her to a Key carved into the wall, just above the entrance to the cave.

  “This Key protects all the Keys in the Grotto of Life. You must memorize this Key because if the other Stones and Keys must ever be moved, you cannot move this Key so you will need to re-create it.”

  Lina did as she was instructed, as always. She spent hours, sometimes days, in the Grotto. It was a home like no other that she had ever known. Dorry and Sana brought her food and supplies as needed and they covered for her when her whereabouts were questioned or her presence was needed. Phena acted as messenger, although he was never amused when she referred to him as her carrier pigeon.

  “Phena look like big fat bird?” he’d ask her.

  “Have you looked in a mirror lately?” she’d tease him.

  Lina would usually pay for this disrespect with her dignity. Phena was quite crafty and possessed infinite patience. He’d wait for just the right moment to strike and he’d get her every time. His best prank was with an elephant.

  One day Lina received an emergency call.

  “Oracle, please come quickly! My brother found a baby elephant and we think he’s dying! We’ve taken him to your Temple but you must hurry!”

  Lina grabbed some supplies and ran after the young boy to her Temple of Healing. She had treated many animals but never an elephant! Dorry and Sana caught up with them and when they all arrived at the Temple the baby elephant was laying on the floor motionless. Lina feared that she was too late.

  As she knelt close to examine the poor helpless baby, a noise exploded outside the Temple walls. Lina turned as white as the marble floors and everyone except Lina screamed and covered their ears as they trembled and shook with fright. Lina ran outside to find a herd of elephants trumpeting as if they were trying to wake the dead.

  The only reason that Lina wasn’t afraid was because she spotted Phena standing beside the lead elephant, swaying his tail as if highly agitated, but it wasn’t swaying in agitation. It was swaying with extreme pleasure and satisfaction.

  “Oh, you are bad! What a horrible trick! And you!” she pointed to the lead female elephant.

  “How can you allow your baby to be part of such an evil trick?”

  The baby elephant came bounding out of the Temple and took his place next to his mother. He was the picture of health.

  “Sorry,” the matriarch elephant told Lina. “Phena good friend.”

  She trumpeted as she turned and her herd followed her into the forest.

  Lina stood with hands on hips staring down Phena.

  “Fine,” she growled. “Let the games begin.”

  And so they did. Lina and Phena were forever playing practical jokes on each other.

  They both loved every minute of it.

  Life was good for many years. The Oracle’s powers and abilities grew stronger and stronger. She met and married the man of her dreams and they had a beautiful child. It was a perfect life and she felt extremely blessed, but she always had the nagging feeling that the Guardian was preparing her for a task that she knew she wouldn’t want. She tried many times to ask him about it, but he would never give her a straight answer.

  “Why have you given me this knowledge? How am I to use these Keys? When will I know what door to open?” she often asked him.

  “When the time comes, you will know how and why,” was his usual response.

  “Thank you Captain Cryptic!” she raged at him. Her visions of destruction were becoming more and more frequent. She knew that her perfect life was coming to an end and she knew that she was powerless to stop it. She had been given a chance to experience the joys in life and now she would be forced to endure the tragedies.

  “It will be your choice,” the Guardian counseled her. “I have given you this knowledge, but what you chose to do with it will be your decision. You can choose to see this power that you have been given as a blessing or a curse.”

  “I have a bad feeling that it will be both those things,” she sadly prophesized.

  “You are a wise Oracle,” he said as he once again faded away into his unseen world.

  **

  She only had two days left. She had chosen two superbly healthy horses and she was having them prepared for a long journey. They were being fed and groomed with exceptional care.

  Dorry and Sana had been helping her carefully
pack the Stones for the journey. It didn’t feel natural as she removed each Stone from the niche that had been its home for a longer time than could be imagined.

  “Am I doing the right thing?” she asked the Guardian.

  “You are doing what must be done,” he cryptically answered her, but he could feel her frustration so he offered her a rare glimpse of the future.

  “The power of the Stones will come forth when the time is right. It might not be the time that you expect, but time does not exist for me, so it is hard for me to explain this to you.”

  Lina sat on the grotto floor and stared into her favorite Stone, an opal of magnificent size with her favorite Key. She looked up at the Guardian with tears in her eyes.

  “But I must hide these Stones where they will never be found. How can their power be used if they are scattered throughout the land? I don’t understand and I can’t see beyond this time.”

  “Your emotions blind you right now so you cannot see. Remember this: we must resolve all unsolved problems. If you do not find the right time to use the Stones in this life, perhaps you will resolve this problem in another life. You have learned the knowledge of the Stones so the knowledge can never be lost.”

  Then he gave her shattering information that she suspected, but she had fervently hoped that it would not be true.

  “Once you leave, you will never again return to this Grotto and I will never see you again, but know this – that I will always be with you. Trust now that you are doing what must be done and proceed forward knowing that you are doing a great and heroic thing.”

  He moved closer to her and looked into her eyes, into her very soul.

  “This is what you were born to do. This is your destiny. Only an Oracle with your abilities could do what you must do. I will watch over your son and protect him as I have watched over and protected you. You will be with your son and husband again. Your souls are forever entwined.”

  Just then the ground rumbled and the Grotto shook. Lina gasped in fear.

  “You must hurry now. You must be gone by the full moon tomorrow. Go and say your goodbyes for time grows short.”

  She stood and stared at him. She couldn’t stop her flood of tears. Then he did something that he had never done. He materialized and became as a solid form. He held out his hand and said, “Here, this is a special Stone, but one that I want you to keep. It is a sacred present from me to you. It is a symbol of my love for you. Keep it with you and know that I will always be with you.”