by Shea Meadows
At that point, the scene ended. “So this is the guy you were engaged to before me?” David asked.
“He didn’t look like that when I met him. That’s something else we’re learning about the folks from Prime: they’re natural shapeshifters. Wonder if he learned that from his tribe of attached ghosts,” Ricky said with shiver. “It so proves that people may not be what they seem.”
David looked to Moon. “I hate to bring this up, but it will bother me if I don’t say it. This relationship with their deceased elders the Prime realities has: sounds a bit like your relationship with Ricky.”
Moon started to answer but David put up his hand. “Let me finish my thought. She was living her life--obviously living with an unsuitable partner-- then you have a catastrophe brought on by the same guy’s agenda. Now, she’s attached to you, in a way. She’s taken over where you left off. Isn’t she linked to you? Isn’t this an example of discarnacy? Are you just another more powerful incarnation?”
Moon looked stricken and a tear rolled down her face. She flicked away the tear, cleared her throat and answered. “David, I can understand why you might make that connection. You’ve just heard about my relationship with Ricky and never seen what it was like. We are uniquely different people who decided to work together. It took Titian living in her apartment to block her memory of what we decided before we were born this time. We always knew we’d meet this challenge but not exactly who or what would cause the problem.”
Ricky was sobbing too. She hugged Moon and then David. “David, this is not discarnacy. Once I remembered our assignment I was eager to do my part. Moon never forced me into anything.”
Winslow cleared his throat. “Perhaps I can clarify. I spoke to my counterpart who is Keeper of the Akashic Records for the Prime reality. An explanation for the practice of discarnacy is as follows: powerful beings, instead of allowing their former incarnations and the ghosts of elders to go on with their evolutionary process, are forced to remain active as advisors even after the death of their bodies. Not all people on Prime indulge in this practice, only those who see it as their right to lord it over those dependent on them.
“It seems from the record of Beltous’ present incarnation that he is the head of government on Prime and is not willing to change his ways. His incarnation on earth was curiosity which did not work out well for him. Does that help?”
David moved nervously in his chair. “I don’t know what to say. I suppose an apology is in order.”
Moon smiled at him. “But you’re still fearful. I can feel it in your energy, and that doesn’t fit in when working with out-of-body frequencies. Perhaps we can help you overcome this haunting distrust.” She looked to Ricky. “Do we have your permission to show David our paired Akashic history?”
Ricky nodded. She held Moon’s hand tightly with one hand and David’s with the other, and looked to Winslow. “Would you do the honors?”
Winslow nodded and tapped David on the forehead. David’s gaze turned toward a fast moving hologram that showed Ricky and Moon at the start, millenniums before, and raced quickly through their adventures together. Thousands of life times rushed by, David watching them motionless, up to and including the discussions they had before the present incarnation. The presentation ended with Moon and Ricky going their separate ways then coming back together, and up to the present moment.
David turned to the twins, his face wet with tears and whispered. “Now I understand. Please forgive me. I guess I was a little jealous of your relationship and afraid of what might happen to Ricky.”
Both of them held him close and equanimity was restored. Moon looked at him and had one last thing to say.
“Just two days ago you asked permission to free Sam Reading from his ghost but we turned down the suggestion. In light of this new development, it is clear we must grant his wish. His pleading was sincere and he showed courage at a superlative level when he pushed past the Hand to get this record to us. So will you take the assignment David?” Moon asked.
David nodded. “I’m still not sure how I’ll do it but with the help of the group I’ll get it done.” He turned to Franco, “Could you help?”
Franco nodded in response. “I will do all I can to make it so.”
Chapter 26
David and Ricky were blurry-eyed when they ate the next morning. They came down later than the rest, triggering speculation about a new crisis. Questions flew but Ricky held her hand up and smiled.
“We are perfectly fine. We had an adventure with Moon last night after we finished with y’all. We’ll fill you in when we gather in fifteen minutes. We have new information and a new project which will greatly advance our work. So let me finish my toast, and then all will be revealed.”
When they gathered in the meeting room, everyone sat in silence, not wanting to start conversations until their curiosity was satisfied. To their surprise, David spoke for the couple.
“We were summoned by Moon and the guides in the early hours of the morning. We met a new guide, a gentleman named Winslow, who is a Keeper of Akashic Records. He had valuable information.”
David then told them about Winslow’s long-time association with Sam Reading and the gap in Sam’s Akashic record. “Winslow provided a copy of the materials Sam sent to him.”
David then tapped his forehead and pointed and a voice resonated through the room: Sam’s plea for release. There were gasps as everyone recognized the desperation in Sam’s voice.
“Sam is asking Winslow to review his Akashic record just before the gap occurred. Here is what Winslow saved for us,” David said as he again pointed to the center of the circle and the holographic documentation of Sam’s meeting with Chester and Roy was shown.
People watched every second of the record, gasping when Roy and Chester attached the Mongolian Warrior and brought up the Demon Hand incarnation to take over Sam’s body. The recording stopped there.
“There are two more records to show how this information serves us. The next hologram is proof that Sam Reading wants to be rescued. Winslow estimates Sam has been held down for five years by Demon Hand. Bravely, he continued to attempt his escape, and managed to subdue his former incarnation for a short time last night. This is what showed up on his Akashic record,” David said.
They watched as Roy, Julie and Sam talked about what the group had been doing and they heard the last exchange between Roy and Sam, in which the momentarily freed Sam made sure to mention the names of the principle players when talking to his Master.
The group asked multiple questions, until David again asked for their attention. “We have one more hologram. Winslow was given permission to observe the lives of Beltous, Charisa and Titian. He pulled out one scene that explains why Titian and Charisa started their attack on the earth-reality’s evolutionary process. Observe it closely.”
He then showed the scene from Prime and the group got a look at discarnacy in action. Wide-eyed was an accurate description for all of them. Katera watched carefully, and asked if David to freeze-frame pictures of the Primeans and David complied.
“Titian was correct. My line of ancestry is from another reality, but one less opinionated about the superior nature of its people. Considering that, our first reality is Spirit, and when we take on physical form of any kind, we are going into an alien reality,” Katera told the group.
Ricky nodded. “The guides also pointed that out. Alternate realities are too numerous to imagine, but all come from the non-physical. We all start as pure spirit essence.”
“So there is much that we can say and ask about all of this, but one immediate item requires more than discussion: I have been given the assignment to free Sam Reading. Now that we have the go-ahead we can utilize everyone’s amazing talents. I would appreciate your help with strategy as well. I propose we start with the attached ghost and go over his Akashic record and look for vulnerabilities we can use when approaching him,” David said.
“After we have established a plan for that encounter, we will be dea
ling with the Demon Hand who has proven to be a very inflexible, malevolent individual. We will then go over his record and search for vulnerabilities. Does this make sense?” David asked.
All of them nodded and Shri raised his hand. “I think there is another aspect. When Sam is freed, he will be at the mercy of Titian who could undo our progress easily. We need some way to extract Sam from his office and get him safely to the Inn where he’ll be shielded. Perhaps we can use gemstone grids during that vulnerable time. What do you think Mel?”
“It’s possible,” Mel responded. “My students and I can work with you. It will take warding during the actual releasing of Sam from the ghost and dominating incarnation and while we escort him to the Inn.”
“Anything else to be brought up?” David asked.
Katera raised her hand. “The thought keeps coming that I should examine the record of the conversation between the three Primeans more thoroughly. I would like to be able to shapeshift into their form and teach others the pattern. I think that skill could be valuable for all of us.”
Everyone voiced agreement, the experienced shapeshifters wanting in on that part of the project. Everyone was talking at once and their excitement threatened to lead to chaos. David gave his shrillest policeman whistle and got their attention.
Looking at the hologram of the Vincent property they found Sam absorbed in work in his office. The group zeroed in on the linked ghost and were about to examine the record when Ricky interrupted. “Franco has just told me that we can call in a holographic version of the record of this being. Winslow gave us permission to do it this way. Would all of you like that?”
Everyone loved the idea so Ricky called up the holograph Winslow sent.
Ono Borjigen is riding off to war with his cousin Tolui and a thousand other men. They are all on horseback and as they leave the fortress of his Great Uncle, Genghis Khan, the women line the sides of the road, throwing flowers on the ground. He sees his sisters and his mother and Tolui’s mother, the Beki, all showing a strange combination of elation and fear on their faces.
He glimpses his lover Manga, the daughter of a Zhongguo slave and his chest tightens and his heart beats faster. He remembers holding her, touching her and is already missing her, missing her body. There will be the spoils of war and he can have any woman he can capture during the campaign but it will not be the same. Manga is not of his status so the children born through her will be bastards. She is large with child as he leaves her. Another consort will be chosen for him by Tolui who is his commander and also the son of the Khan. It will be a match filled with political ramifications. He may keep Manga for his concubine but his line, as one of the Borjigen, must come from a recognized pairing.
He thinks on this instead of the glories of war. This will be his third campaign and war no longer seems glorious. The first campaign was to the East, deeper into the land of Zhongguo, the central state. He came back from that battle with a large slice across his chest that caused prolonged bleeding and a festering wound that was finally cured with a poultice of herbs that came from the stores of a healer who he’d killed in the battle. Manga was assigned to nurse his wounds. That was how they met.
The second campaign was in Poland; their mingghan was assigned to Lublin. Ono was still weak from the first campaign so was given the chore of coordinating the care of the horses. He had forty slaves under his command but even with all that, it was difficult. The problem the leaders of the Empire started to recognize was the lack of grazing lands in the European countries for their horses. The Mongolian army attacked on horseback. The animals were the finest in the world. They were often taken care of with more concern than that given to the warriors. At the end of the battle, they had slain many of the enemy but a hundred horses died, and Ono took each death personally, although he was blamed for none of them.
The third campaign would be to Pars. The Khan saw this invasion as bringing in more spoils of war and having terrain that was more easily navigated. Tolui was bound to show his excellence as a commander. Ono was well enough to be elevated to Most Excellent Right Wing Commander so he road to the right of Tolui.
All he could think about as he rode off was “Manga carries my child. Will it be my son? Will she find another lover? Will she die in childbed? Will I die in battle? We are supposed to be fearless but I still feel the knife slicing through my chest. How can I lead all these men and bring them safely home?” The pounding of the horses’ hoofs drummed these thoughts into his mind.
The mingghan arrived in Pars and swept through the ancient land and surrounded the city of Mav. The campaign was one of retribution. A year before when the son-in-law of the Khan had led ten thousand men into Pars he had met his death. Tolui with a tenth of the warriors had boasted that he could bring down the city and slaughter each and every man, woman and child.
The Right Wing was sent off to the north part of the city and Ono divided his part of the command in half, one going to the northeast, the other to the northwest. His men thundered down upon a marketplace, lined with booths and shops and a mosque. Young boys were studying in the courtyard of the mosque, sitting on cushions and jumping up startled and fearful as they recognized the invaders. His warriors took out their swords and sliced left and right, massacring the children.
Ono sat like a statue on his horse. All he could see around him were a hundred versions of his unborn son and strangers were killing his child over and over again. He could not bring himself to join in what he had commanded his men to do. In that moment of clarity, one of the mosque teachers sliced through the leg of his mount and the horse fell to the ground knocking the breath from Ono’s lungs. The next slice from the sword reopened the wound on his chest and drove deeper into Ono’s heart. As his Spirit rose from his body, a stocky monster with green tinged skin and long nails grabbed his essence and whispered to him. “I have a job for you.”
The hologram ended and there was stunned silence. “I had no idea I’d feel sorry for a Mongolian warrior,” Beth Ann said as she patted the tears from her face.
“But look what he ordered his men to do,” Jim Reynolds said as he draped his arm around Beth Ann’s shoulder. “He acted in the way he was programmed to act. We have to take that into consideration when we free him.”
“Did everyone get a good look at his horse? He really cared about the horses; that’s one approach we can use on him. We all do a pretty good shapeshift into a horse,” Gimma contributed.
“I am the horse named Black Diamond. He is beautiful,” Bonta added, which was a very long sentence for her.
“What if I appeared as Manga?” Julia Quintus asked. “I can present her as large with child and use the tone pattern I work with to help him release Sam and leave our reality.”
David was nodding enthusiastically. “I will be the teacher in the mosque who stabbed him and will bring Manga and his horse to him. Perfect!”
More fine-tuning was done to the plan but another task came before it was put into action. They had to know as much as possible about Demon Hand. They had to have some way to convince Sam’s former incarnation that what he was doing wasn’t acceptable.
“Let’s look at this logically,” George spoke up. “When we freed Avery from two former incarnations that were shamans they didn’t put up any fight at all. We zapped them with the Etheric-emerald-charged-crystals and they shriveled up and disappeared.”
David nodded. “Very true, but we had a lot of ammunition to work with. There was a whole conference room full of spirit communicators with us, and Katera charged up on-
stage as well. There were people so strong that Avery hadn’t been able to link ghosts to them. Not to mention people like Trix, Job, Martha and Penny who suspected something was wrong and sent energy to support him.”
“You’re both right. This could go either way, but there are some factors here that weren’t in place with Avery’s rescue. We know both Chester and Titian-formerly-known-as-Roy reached in personally and took over Sam. We know that Sam
has been in that state of captivity for over five years.”
“I don’t know who pulled up the two personas that took me over,” Avery said. “It probably was Chester. He was hanging around at a lot of my seminars after his visit with Moon. We know one of my personas did it to Mel without me even being in the room.”
“Personally, I think it would be wise to find out as much as we can about Demon Hand,” Dylan contributed. “If we unlink Ono we want to zap Demon Hand as quickly as possible and get Sam shielded until we can get him here. The longer it takes, the more chance that the alien formerly known as Roy will swoop in and eliminate Sam altogether.”
There were many other theories but it was decided that a review of the incarnation known as Demon Hand should be examined before any attempt was made.
Winslow supplied the needed record and the hologram was projected for viewing.
It is a bleak morning on the backstreets of London in the year of the Lord, eighteen hundred and twelve. A woman named Cynthia Fellows is screaming in pain having been in labor for thirty-six hours. The only person helping is an ancient midwife who is toothless and blind in one eye. The infant is struggling to live but the mother’s body won’t accommodate another unaided birth.
The hovel of an apartment is all that the family can afford; the father, Charlie Fellows, cleans chimneys and gutters and up till now, the woman cleaned houses. They have five children; the oldest is twelve and the youngest is two and now the baby.
The father sees the shadow of death hanging over his wife and sends the twelve year old for the doctor, who arrives in the thirty-seventh hour. The physician forces a large pair of forceps into the mother and removes a child encased in a bubble of thick material. The doctor makes holes in the membrane over the infant’s mouth and nose and the child takes its first gasping breath.
The doctor turns to the father and says: “We have to cut this away to see the gender; I’ve never seen such a thick cowl. There is a tradition that those born like this will have magnificent luck. The Romans called it a diadem when just around the head, but around the body is very rare and folklore calls it magic.”
