by Jaci Miller
“Not really.”
Turning without another word he walked toward a big pile of rocks that lay toward the back of the mountaintop.
She raised an eyebrow at his retreating back, her exasperation a reminder that she was dealing with an ancient warrior, not a talented conversationalist. Getting information from him was never going to be easy.
The pinnacle of Ardrin Gorm was vastly different from its first peak where they had spent last night. It was a crag of hard rock and stones with little to no vegetation or green space. There didn’t seem to be much living up here besides a few wispy, dry stalks of tall brown grass that rustled in the wind as it swirled in squalls over the mountain’s tip. The temperature on the higher plateau was much cooler causing a slight chill to sting her nostrils as she breathed in deeply. The wind blew in swirling gusts and she noticed a slight hint of lavender scenting its wisps.
The thinner air made it harder to catch her breath as she hurried her pace, following Rafe as he reached the large rock formation situated at the back of the pinnacle. As she neared the boulders, she could see a small opening cut into the rocks. He did not hesitate when he reached the opening, walking right through and disappearing behind the rock face. She followed cautiously, picking her way through the large boulders until she came to a gravel path.
The path was lined on either side by six-foot rock walls. The stone of the walls was peculiar; it had a smooth and stratified surface like shale but contained crystalized flecks throughout its thin layers. The stone was a pale grey with ribbons of blues and greens embedded into its surface, the effect was beautiful and another reminder of Dywen’s exceptional diversity. The walls were cool to the touch, yet she felt a warm spark under her fingertips as she ran them over the smooth stone.
Further up the path, she noticed small rivers of water running down portions of the wall, trickling from thin cracks in the surface and creating small pools on the ground. Other than Rafe’s footsteps echoing somewhere up ahead, the gentle trickle of the water was the only sound evident on the shadowy path.
She moved in silently behind him as he led her a few hundred yards up the rock path. He never spoke or turned back to make sure she was still behind him because he knew, like she did, where she was, their energy forever intertwined. After her initial reaction to their binding, she had calmed down and accepted their fate, the surreal intimacy of their connection both disconcerting and comforting. Being so emotionally vulnerable to someone was going to take some getting used to.
After a few more minutes of hiking up the narrow path, he stopped and turned toward her, his eyes searching hers. A hint of concern knotted his brow as he moved closer. His hand caressed her cheek as his lips brushed against hers. A strange mindfulness pulsating around them.
“I can’t go any further,” he said taking a step back. “This is your journey, your destiny, and you must continue to the Temple of Earth alone.”
She could sense his conflicting emotions, the need to protect her conflicting with the respect he had for what she needed to do.
“But I thought our destinies were joined now?” She stated, uncertain if she wanted to continue without him.
He smiled and gently took her hands. “We have a shared destiny, this is true, but your destiny as it was written long ago, is still your own.”
Nodding, her heart pounding loudly in her chest, she released his hand and stepped by him, walking a few feet past him before she felt his conflicted emotions rearing up inside her. She felt his energy exploding as he moved quickly toward her grabbing her hand and pulling her into him.
“Please, be careful,” he said gently as he leaned in and brushed his lips across hers again. Her head spun as his heady scent filled her senses and the arm that encircled her waist tightened. She smiled at him and took a deep breath trying to calm the shaking in her hands. She placed her hand on the side of his face and looked deeply into his eyes, the bright green of his irises flickering with emotion.
“I’ll be fine.” She murmured, pulling back her shoulders and untangling herself from his strong grip.
She didn’t look back as she walked away because she didn’t want to see the worry etched on his face, the apprehension she could feel following her down the path was enough. Although she wished she didn’t have to continue without him, she understood how destinies worked, each designed for one specific person, which often meant walking one’s journey alone.
She thought back to the beginning when this new destiny had been revealed to her and how unfazed she had been. It was almost like somewhere deep in her subconscious she had always known there was something more. A place with someone where she wouldn’t feel alone, isolated by who she was. Now in a distant realm, the home of her immortal ancestors, she was discovering her true self for the first time, uncovering her magical heritage and the destiny she was meant for.
Unfortunately, becoming her true self meant she had the fate of mankind in her hands and an ancient evil entity in her head. Maybe her initial bravado toward her unexpected new destiny was somewhat misplaced.
As she ventured further down the path, it began to widen and the stone walls that flanked it became even taller, stretching upward twenty feet. The high walls blocked the afternoon sun and the path soon became immersed in cool shadows, causing her to shiver as goosebumps formed on her skin.
She reached a sharp corner in the path, noticing an ancient glyph carved into the stone wall. It was the same one engraved on the lock plate of her grandfather’s chest—an ancient symbol for earth. She turned the corner and was confronted with a large wooden door, its iron hinges and round handle rusted with time. At its center, emblazoned on a large metal disc was the same glyph.
The Temple of Earth, she thought, the sanctity of this place not lost on her as she stood dwarfed by the massive door.
Hesitantly, she pulled on the rusty handle surprised when the door did not resist. Hinges groaning, it begrudgingly opened revealing the temple’s inner sanctum.
The temple was serene, a small bright green grassy area surrounded by a circular stone wall. It was empty except for a pale grey stone slab at its center. The slab was about four feet thick with wide stone steps leading up to its top. In the middle of the slab sat a white-stone altar its surface glistening in the late afternoon sunlight.
Her eyes surveyed the surrounding wall, its interior surface displaying five glyphs carved into its rock at specific intervals. Small stone steps were located beneath each of them. She walked gingerly toward the stone slab unsure of what her presence in this sacred place may do. A slight breeze entered the clearing from the open door, the smell of jasmine on its wisps. Her hair blew haphazardly around her face as the breeze circled around the area. Brushing the chaotic strands away from her eyes, she ascended the altars stairs.
As she reached the top, she could see that the glistening white altar was made from Calcite, a protecting, grounding, and centering stone that is known for increasing and amplifying energy. Calcite would be the perfect stone for an altar that powered or funneled magic. She walked around the altar impressed by the beautifully carved piece of stone, its corners polished to a smooth finish.
At its center stood what she guessed was the Druidstone, a small column, also made of Calcite, its base buried in a grey stone cauldron filled with dry, cracked earth. She was surprised by the simplicity of the Druidstone, its ordinariness not echoing the importance of its power. It wasn’t very big, maybe a foot tall, and its sides were smooth except for the back where a large green gem was embedded. Besides the gem, the only thing that marred the surface of the Druidstone was a round indentation in its top. At the bottom of the indentation was the familiar carving of the ancient glyph, representing earth.
The breeze in the clearing calmed suddenly and an eerie silence once again emanated from the walls. The sun was beginning to descend, and the entire altar was d
raped in long-reaching shadows.
Carefully, she touched the Druidstone, its surface warming under her skin. A slight vibration quivered in the stone tickling her fingertips. Taking a step back she waited for something to happen, for the Druidstone to recognize her energy but the stone lay quiet, its initial reaction to her touch ineffective. She lowered her hand looking around the clearing for a clue as to how to activate the Druidstone.
Sebastian had said she would instinctively know but standing here in the middle of the temple without a clue, she felt he may have been somewhat misguided in his wisdom.
“Think,” she said aloud, her voice echoing in the clearing as her eyes scanned the surrounding walls. As she stared at the glyphs, an idea came to her. She hurried down from the altar, heading to the outer wall and the glyph carved into it directly in front of the altar. She recognized the familiar series of lines and dots immediately, it was a moon glyph and it represented earth.
Circling the stone wall, she studied the other four glyphs, each one a moon glyph representing one of the other elements—fire, air, water, and spirit. There was a straight line carved into the stone between each, a continuous mark that encircled the entire wall and connected the glyphs to one other.
A circle, she thought, climbing the steps under the water glyph until it was at eye level. The lines of the glyph were carved deep into the stone, but its dots were raised. Carefully, she pushed on the first dot. It began to sink into the wall under the weight of her finger and she kept pushing it deeper until she heard a slight click. Smiling, she did the same to the second dot until it too clicked into place. Sure, she was on to something she hurried around the clearing, pushing in the dots on all the glyphs until the last one clicked into place.
She waited with excitement for something to happen but the stillness in the clearing continued. Confused, she walked back up to the altar and examined the Druidstone again, her eyes resting on the indentation in its top, the glyph at its bottom catching the midday sun.
Why would there be an indentation? Why not just carve the earth glyph right onto the flat surface? She thought, her hand absently playing with her grandfather’s medallion that hung on its thick chain around her neck.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, a hunch surfaced. Taking the medallion from around her neck she placed it in the indentation located on the top of the Druidstone, allowing the thick chain to hang down the side, resting on the dry cracked earth below. Suddenly, the green gem in the middle of the medallion began to glow and a slight hum echoed from the Druidstone. The medallion was an amulet as well as a key!
The hum intensified as the green gem implanted in the back of the Druidstone also began to glow. The glow intensified, becoming more vibrant as a small beam of light shot out across the clearing toward the earth glyph on the far wall. The green beam penetrated the glyph, filling the carved lines with its light. It continued to spread through the adjoining lines in the stone walls, filling each of the remaining glyphs with the same green light. Once the final glyph ignited the green beams began to cross the clearing diagonally, beams of light stretching across from one glyph to another until a pattern began to develop.
As the final beam ignited, the one that joined the Druidstone with the earth glyph extinguished and the humming ceased. She stood in the middle of the altar as the beams of light, crisscrossing the clearing crackled and sizzled around her.
She turned slowly in a circle the early twilight making the beams shape more vivid—she was standing at the center of a pentacle.
Dane could feel the magic of the temple flickering around her as the atmosphere inside the walls ignited. Turning back to the Druidstone she noticed that the dried earth in the cauldron at its base was now a rich, thick, dark soil. The crystallization in the Calcite reflected the green light pulsating through the temple, illuminating an etching on one side of the Druidstone that had been unseen before.
She looked closer at the writing—Moongre fol Sentra Tailae ben. Reading the incantation out loud, she struggled to pronounce the ancient language, repeating the incantation over and over until suddenly English words formed in her head—Moonbeams will ignite the magic within.
The Druidstone must be powered by the moon.
Ancient magic sizzled around her as she continued to read the archaic words aloud. Soon, she began to sense a stirring in the clearing as the beams of moonlight crisscrossing the altar began to pulsate, their glow ebbing and surging in rhythm with her voice. She could feel the temple respond, its ancient magic waking from its long slumber as the reactivated Druidstone drenched it with power.
Continuing to chant the incantation in her ancestor’s native tongue, the green beams grew to a blinding glow, pulsating as each word echoed against the stone walls. Slowly, the beams of the pentacle bent toward the altar, wrapping themselves around her, caressing her in their warm radiance. Her body felt weightless as ancient energy from the Druidstone seeped into her veins dousing her with a magic long forgotten. She felt the power of her ancestors’ course through her, their strength, pain, and death, all marking her blood as her birthright flooded into her. The magic coursing through every fiber of her being as she struggled to not succumb to the overwhelming primal power.
The beams continued to tighten around her body as her heart began to slow. A strange feeling manifesting deep within her chest, her pulse diminishing until she could barely feel or hear the beat of her heart. Her skin tingled as a coolness washed over her, briefly masking the searing pain that followed closely behind. Her primal scream ripped through the clearing as a penetrating burning scorched her insides. Her mind went numb as pain wracked her body. Her breathing became labored as her vision faded and her body went limp. The only thing she could do before she collapsed unconscious on the stone slab was listen as her human heart took its final beat.
Rafe heard the scream as he stood pacing just outside the temple’s large wood door. Its anguish pierced the darkening sky causing his heart to ache and his skin to crawl. His instincts wanted him to run to her, but he knew he could not. The temple was a sacred place. It was forbidden to enter without purpose. He knew by the shift in the energy that surrounded the temple that her transformation was almost complete. She would soon emerge from it different from when she went in.
He leaned against the cool stone wall as her conflicting emotions saturated him, the pain and confusion ransacking her body, left him weak and disoriented. His skin was drenched in perspiration as he struggled not to falter under the weight of her turmoil as he experienced her emotions simultaneously. He could feel her fading as the transformation took her human life force, the air above the clearing echoing a deadly silence.
The sun disappeared behind the distant horizon as the silvery glow of the two moons intensified, casting their beams across the land. The energy in the surrounding air began to change. He sensed the ancient magic as it found its way back to the surface, its archaic energy gaining strength, as the Druidstone powered the realm’s core. She had succeeded in her quest and now Dywen was awakening from its eternal slumber. Soon elemental earth magic would ignite the ancient energy in every corner of these lands. The realm would regain its power and in return, it would provide them both with theirs.
The deadly silence continued, and he eventually stopped pacing, watching instead, the evening sky above the clearing for any signs that she would emerge from the Temple of Earth soon.
Green beams arced skyward, their glow crackling and hissing as they stretched higher into the sky before exploding in a dazzling shower of green light, cascading across the multiple landscapes of Dywen.
It is done, he thought, as the last of the green light faded into the twilight and the air began to hum with the ancient essence—she was now one of them.
Chapter 28
The mountain range ran as far as the eye could see, its white-tipped peaks glistening under the silver sun that sho
ne in the crystal clear blue sky. The vale that sat nestled in the side of the mountain was breathtakingly surreal, its landscape picturesque. Large white and purple flowers dotted the lush carpet of green grass that swayed in the summer breeze. A tiny stream trickled through its center, the water so clear she could easily see the river rock covered bottom. Tiny colorful fish darted back and forth, enjoying the warmth of the sun as it sparkled on the stream’s surface. A warm breeze blew across the vale, the scent of lavender and gardenia exploding in its wake. Across the stream was a large Elder Oak, its massive green canopy a stunning contrast to the dark backdrop of the mountains. In its shadow sat a small cottage, its worn wood boards and burnished tin roof adding to its welcoming and comforting appeal.
Her gaze was drawn up toward the top of the mountains, where a haze tinged the edges of the vale, a strange blur distorting whatever existed beyond its boundaries. She looked around at the idyllic setting, its perfection disconcerting. She felt a strange tug at her senses, a warning, alerting her to the fact that something was not quite right about this place. The vale seemed to be shrouded in an eerie silence; a suffocating denseness hid just beyond its perimeter. Something unseen seeping slowly into the vale through its perimeter. Her eyes were drawn back to the strange blur, its appearance in the perfectly serene vale seemed oddly out of place.
Shifting her attention, she gazed back at the cottage. She was instinctively drawn to the lonely structure as if somewhere deep inside she knew that the cottage held answers. She walked toward the small bridge, her movements fluid and precise. The rickety boards creaked out their displeasure as she crossed, the silence engulfing the vale grew in its intensity and she could feel the hollowness that permeated its path as it crept closer.
