Levels of Ascension BoxSet

by Amy Proebstel

  “I’m not sure. Just like when I went to the asylum, I went based on my intuition. When I saw myself taking this journey, it felt like the right thing to do. You’ll just have to trust my instincts on this matter.”

  “I do trust you, Amanda. It’s Elder Vargen whom I don’t trust. He already imprisoned you once. What’s to keep him from doing it again?” The more Riccan thought about it, the less comfortable he became.

  “We’ll have to pray for my safety. I’m going to go, Riccan.” Amanda squeezed her hand on his knee to impress upon him how important this was to her.

  “When do you go?”

  “Tomorrow.”

  “What? No, Amanda. We need to make plans to ensure your safety. I’ll message my dad and see what we can do to keep you safe. How would you get there? How will you get him home?” Riccan would say just about anything to keep Amanda from leaving the next day.

  “You’re right, Riccan. I am getting ahead of myself. I’d like you to teach me to fly your old telepod. It still has the portable gate in it, right?”

  Riccan breathed a sigh of relief since he had managed to stall his wife’s journey. Training her to fly the telepod would take several weeks so he readily agreed by saying, “Yes, it does. When do you want to start your lessons?”

  “I’d say right now, but I’m too tired after all of today’s traveling. Maybe tomorrow after work. What do you think?” Amanda stifled a yawn.

  “I love you! Tomorrow it is,” Riccan said as he hugged his wife fiercely. “Let’s go to bed. You seem exhausted.”

  “Don’t you think you should put that away first?” Amanda asked as she pointed to the samara on the coffee table.

  Riccan chuckled and said, “You’re always so practical. Yes, I’ll go put it away right now.” He picked up the skull shaped stone and marveled again at how right it felt in his possession. He stood up and walked with Amanda into the library. They went to the far wall and pressed the release mechanism under the shelf to open the secret passage into the room behind the bookcase.

  He walked into the far side of the room and set his personal samara in the next niche over from the other two already in their possession. Three down, ten to go, he thought as he turned around to take his wife upstairs to go to bed.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Daven was surprised to see he had a message from his son. Normally, Riccan would just show up at their house rather than use the patil to contact him. This must be something extraordinary for him to deviate from his normal routine.

  After he read the message, he understood Riccan’s need for his assistance. Amanda’s newest idea would be very dangerous and Daven would need all the time he could get to try to make it as safe as possible. He would have to try to distract Elder Vargen away from his pet project at the Old Soul Engineering Facility so Amanda could extract Nealand from his clutches. Even then, it was going to be an uphill battle to extricate his prisoner.

  He sat back in his chair and folded his hands together across his stomach as he considered all of his options. Maybe he should get Elder Debbon involved in this as well. As the First of the Elders, Debbon would have the most sway over Elder Vargen’s time. There had to be a valid reason to call a meeting of the Elders.

  It would appear he would have at least two weeks to put something together. If Riccan could make the telepod training take longer, then it would be easier. He would have to come up with a couple of different options depending on the time constraints.

  Daven sat forward and changed the patil screen to compose a message to Elder Debbon. He considered what he would say and then opted for the simplest message possible: Amanda needs our help. Please contact me at your earliest convenience.

  After the private meeting both he and Elder Debbon had been summoned to with Jehoban they had all agreed they would assist Amanda and her daughters in any way to help fulfill the prophecy. This request was bound to be the first of many.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Juila was impressed with her boyfriend’s progress in learning the different levels of crystal skills. She could tell he had been accessing more of his memories as he rapidly attained mastery of yet another level. When they had first started two days ago, Behn had been reluctant to open his mind enough to allow the energy to easily course through him. His lack of belief in himself had been his own worst enemy.

  Their first session had been an impromptu one after they had gone on a double-date to the movies. They had dropped Luke off at his house so it was just Jena, Juila, and Behn left in the car. Behn had not been able to come over after school like he had originally planned. Since they were alone together, Behn asked, “Is there something simple you could teach me tonight so I can start working on it on my own?”

  Juila and Jena looked at one another and spoke silently though their twin link. Jena nodded as Juila replied, “We need to start at the beginning. Do you remember what Daven showed you?”

  “You mean how the ball of light came out of his crystal?” Behn still found the sight to be truly amazing. The fact he actually remembered doing it himself for his own mother, meant even more to him. If he could relearn such skills, then he felt he could accomplish anything.

  Juila nodded confirmation and went on to say, “It’s the first lesson taught to little children before they go to school. It demonstrates the wearer of the necklace understands the power contained in the earth. By creating the ball of light, you demonstrate the ability to harness the power to your will.” Juila looked up into Behn’s dark eyes and saw he knew what she was saying. She believed he had probably heard similar words from his own mother as she taught him when he was little.

  Behn did remember. He just did not know how to accomplish the task. “How do I make it happen?”

  “Hold your crystal in your hand,” Jena told him.

  Behn reached into the collar of his shirt to fish out the circular pendant. He looked down at the smoky grey crystals suspended on a shaped tree. The symbol always made him think of the tree of life and now he understood it was to represent exactly as he believed. This necklace was a symbol given to the children of Tuala from Jehoban. The Creator of the Universe wanted His children to have a link to the power of the earth.

  “Okay, now what?” Behn asked impatiently.

  “Concentrate on the individual crystals. Imagine where they came from. Imagine the power of the earth which created their beauty. Feel yourself link to the power within,” Juila said as she leaned forward to see if Behn were following her instructions.

  Behn honestly tried to do as Juila had asked. He looked at the crystals and knew they had been created by a massive force in the earth. However, it was as far as he could get. He did not know how to link with the power. He could not remember what the particular aspect of it had felt like. Finally he shook his head in frustration and said, “This is impossible. I don’t feel anything!”

  “It takes practice and patience. I think you are trying too hard,” Jena offered.

  “Think of it like a meditation,” Juila suggested. “Keep working on it tonight. If you are still unable to do it on your own by the time we meet after school tomorrow, then I can try to link with your mind to show you.”

  Behn’s eyes abruptly left his crystal to look up at Juila. She had already proved she could be trusted with his biggest secret, but she was offering to get inside his head. He was not sure he was comfortable with the idea. He saw her blue eyes widen as she registered his reticence. Hurriedly he said, “I’ll work on it tonight. Hopefully, it won’t be necessary.”

  Chapter Three

  THE NEXT DAY, Behn came to their house after school. They went to the library and sat down in the oversized chairs. Juila closed the door to the library to keep their lesson private should any of their father’s help happen to come into the house. It would not do to be found out until they were ready to return to Tuala. They still had many things to learn about Earth culture before they would be ready to go home.

  “Okay, Behn. Show us what you have learned so fa
r,” Jena spoke into the silence.

  Once again, Behn pulled up his necklace from under his shirt. None of them kept their birth crystals out where the people might see them and ask questions. Behn’s pendant was on a leather strap instead of the ornate chain which each of the girls owned. He took a deep breath and focused deeply on his crystal. After several minutes had passed and bead of sweat had popped out on Behn’s brow, he sighed and had to admit defeat. He had been just as unsuccessful the entire evening before.

  “Do you want help?” Juila offered. It physically hurt her to see him trying so hard and still not understanding the process. If he just let her show him, then he could speed up his progress.

  “No!” Behn cried out. “Just give me a few more minutes. Tell me what it feels like so maybe I can be more successful.”

  Stop it, Juila. Can’t you see he’s scared? Jena thought to her sister. To Behn, Jena spoke aloud, “The elemy has a tingly feeling. Once you start to draw it from the earth, you imagine it flowing through your crystal. Then you think about turning the energy into a sphere and pulling it outside of your birth crystal to float a few inches from it. Give it a try.”

  Behn nodded and appreciated Jena’s patience with his lack of progress. He was about to take Juila up on her offer of assistance when he started to feel a tingling sensation. With the notion in his head that this must have been what Jena was referring to, he managed to focus his attention to draw the energy into his crystal.

  It was rather pathetic, but he succeeded in creating the smallest sphere of energy imaginable. He looked up with a foolish grin and immediately lost control of the sphere. It began to careen around the room until Juila built another sphere around it and kept it from moving.

  “Okay, so we’ve established you are able to create the energy. Now we need to work on keeping you focused on maintaining control once you’ve unleashed the power.” Juila smiled to take the sting out of her words. She was actually pleased because Behn had done this on his own. Hopefully, because he had accessed the elemy, he would not have trouble repeating it for further levels of achievement.

  Next they taught him how to move the sphere to a second location at will. This took a little trial and error. Both of the girls had been on high alert to keep any further mishaps from occurring. The last thing they wanted to do was explain to their parents why the house had burned down from their lack of attention to detail when teaching Behn how to use his birth crystal.

  Finally they taught him how to return the sphere to his own birth crystal. This step was important for practicing on his own. They had him repeat the process several times before they felt confident letting him go home with his new knowledge.

  The next day they moved on to the fourth level of achievement which was learning how to create a breeze. Behn had been pleased with his prior success since he had been able to repeat the steps in the privacy of his bedroom at home without anything going wrong. Now he was not so sure of himself. The breeze seemed to be a different aspect of the energy unlike what he had been doing with the sphere. It seemed more elusive.

  Once again, Juila offered to assist him inside his mind. This made him want to achieve it on his own even more. While he really liked Juila and wanted her to be his girlfriend, he was not sure he wanted her in his mind. It just did not seem like the right thing to do. “Can you explain it to me in another way?” he asked Jena. She seemed to be the better teacher of the two of them.

  “Hmm,” she said as she tried to think of an easier way to say what needed to be done. “Okay, imagine your mind is like a hand passing through the air very fast. What is left behind is the breeze from the disturbed air. Does that make sense?”

  “Yeah. Let me try it,” he said as he sat still in the library chair. His eyes focused solely on his birth crystal held in his hand. The smoky grey crystals reminded him of storm clouds so creating a breeze should not be a real problem. He could feel the elemy rise up to his pendant and then it seemed to be asking him what he wanted to do with it. He used Jena’s description to try to direct the flow of energy to create a soft breeze in front of him.

  Jena had a feather held up in front of her to be able to tell if he were successful. The tip of the feather began to sway to the side and then the lower part of the feather also moved as the breeze continued to gain strength. “Easy, now, Behn. You don’t want your soft breeze to get out of control. Imagine it remaining a gentle breeze and not a storm.”

  Behn nodded understanding even though he never took his eyes from his crystal. The breeze gentled and then stopped altogether. He looked up with a satisfied grin on his face and asked, “How was that?”

  Juila smiled back at him and replied, “It was perfect. You’re learning control which will be a very good thing with the lessons to come. Especially when we get to the fire lesson.”

  Behn gulped with nerves and then asked, “How many levels are there?”

  “Oh, there’re only twenty-seven levels taught to ordinary people who want to learn it all. The first ten levels are usually taught to each student by the time they get to the second grade. In middle school you take elective classes, not necessarily in any order. The rest are usually reserved for specific occupations instead of for the general public,” Jena rattled off easily.

  She loved learning everything she could about the elemental energy. As far as she had been able to determine, there was no limit to its uses except for the imagination. If you could think it, you could conceive it. Jehoban had always praised them for their intuitive nature when it came to working with the elemy. They enjoyed the approval immensely and sought to keep His attention with their new ideas.

  “That’s just great. So if I’m to understand you correctly, I’ve been struggling to do what a first grader could easily do. Right? Boy do I feel stupid.” Behn let go of his necklace and let it fall back to his chest as he realized just how dumb the girls must think he was for how slowly he had learned the first three skills.

  “Not at all, Behn. You’ve been doing a great job. It’s so much easier to teach children because they don’t have any beliefs to keep them from attempting anything we ask. The older we get, the more set in our ways we become,” Juila piped in swiftly. She hated to see Behn be so hard on himself. He had been a fabulous student for one so old. The only other person she knew of who had learned to use the crystal as an adult had been her own mother.

  “Yeah, Behn. Just wait until you see your brother and sister try to learn this stuff. Then you’ll know just how difficult a task we are actually asking you to achieve. Have patience with yourself. I promise you, you are doing a wonderful job,” Jena added once Juila stopped talking.

  “How many levels have you two learned?” Behn asked sullenly.

  The two girls looked at one another guiltily before Jena answered, “We’ve finished them all and then some. It’s kind of our thing, Behn. We’ve always been intrigued by the whole process and we’ve made a game out of it our whole lives.”

  “I guess I’ve got the best teachers then, huh?” Behn chuckled. If he did not make a joke of it then he would truly be discouraged by the level of achievement they had acquired even though they were the same age as he was.

  Juila thought she would propose her suggestion one more time. “Behn, if you’d let me link with your brain, then I could show you how to do everything we know and you wouldn’t have to struggle to figure it out on your own. It would save you a lot of frustration.” She stopped talking and waited for him to decide what he wanted to do.

  Behn had to admit he was tempted to know everything they knew with one fell swoop. Unfortunately, the honorable side of him thought of it as cheating. They had been able to learn it on their own and it had probably made them better for it. He could expect no less of himself. He shook his head slowly and answered, “I appreciate the offer, but I think I’ll have to do this the old-fashioned way. It may take longer, but it will mean more to me to do it on my own. Can you understand?”

  “Sure,” Juila said even as s
he tried to keep from feeling rejected by him. His reasoning sounded sincere and she supposed she could understand why he would want to take the hard route.

  “So…what comes after learning to create a breeze?” Behn asked as he tried to distract the girls from thinking badly of him.

  Jena answered immediately, “Boiling water.”

  “Really? That’s kind of cool,” Behn said with excitement.

  “Yes, but it’s actually very hot,” Juila joked.

  The three teens laughed together and the tension in the room dissipated.

  “Do you want me to go get some water from the kitchen?” Behn asked as their chuckles died down.

  “No need,” Jena said and held out her hand. In an instant, a glass of water was grasped in her fingers. “Use this,” she said as she set the cup down on the table between them.

  “How did you do that? Is it something I’ll learn, too?” Behn was very impressed with the display of seeming magic. He was starting to appreciate why the girls said they had been excited about the training they had received in Tuala. For once, he wished he had remained on Tuala so he would have been able to learn these things as a child with his mother and siblings. His adoptive family had been wonderful, but it never took away their dream of finding their mother someday.

  “Same process, different skill. It’s number twelve on the list. Something we call ‘creating’ where something is created from elements already around. We use it for putting together meals, mostly. It takes us seconds to put together a gourmet meal where it would take someone from Earth thirty minutes or more. We reverse the process to clean up the mess afterward. But, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. We need to teach you how to boil the water,” Juila said and then turned to Jena to give Behn the directions.

  “Okay, Behn, focus on the water. Imagine its molecular structure and each molecule moving faster and faster around each other. Now, just like the breeze you created, imagine stirring the water until the water begins to form bubbles as the vaporized gas is released.”