Chapter Seventy Seven
I must have drifted off to sleep at some point because when lucidity returned I discovered I was lying on a couch just inside the Vaydem Sacred Arboretum. The protected forest was colossal – I couldn’t even see the other side. I heard birds singing in the trees that towered above my head. The air brushed against my exposed skin. It felt like the world’s most refreshing breeze. I wanted to inhale deeply, but I lacked the strength to accomplish that.
Physically and emotionally, I have never been so exhausted. I closed my eyes and felt the fabric of the couch against my skin. I wasn’t sure if I would ever be able to move again.
Except for one twenty minute break, I had danced all night. Then, I had climbed to the height of my zenith, only to be ripped apart and tossed straight into a tortured pit of despair. I started to feel the devastating sadness overtake my thoughts again as it rocketed through the darkness in my mind. I forced my eyes back open and tried to keep the agony at bay.
The beauty of the forest rivaled the blackness of the heartache. I pushed myself upright and my feet touched the ground. I felt a low, frustrated vibration channel through my soles. I was barefoot, but somehow I remembered what Celeste had told me about being inside the walls of the Arboretum. It is hallowed ground and demands purity of my thoughts.
My crushing grief soaked my mind in sadness. I didn’t have any way to make it stop because it was still so fresh and raw. So I prepared to lie back down until…
“Ember…”
I thought I heard my name being whispered on the wind. It sounded just like the voice from my forest flight when we first moved into our house. I listened closely and heard the wind call my name again. The voice seemed to be coming from the Preparation Room just a few feet away from where I was currently lying. Curiosity fueled me as I desperately wanted to find the source of the voice.
Although I was very weak, I finally managed to stand up on the couch. I couldn’t touch the earth inside the inner forest again because my thoughts were still dark from sorrow. So I jumped toward the threshold of the sacred archway and crash landed on the etched tiled floor in the Preparation Room. At least, I didn’t land on consecrated, sacred ground with my black thoughts.
I performed a quick mental inventory of my body and everything seemed to be intact. Then, I looked around at the inside of the Vaydem Preparation Room and tried to see the source of the voice. No one was in sight…I’m alone…
“Ember…”
Alcoves around the perimeter led into different ritual chambers. Each archway had a sign posted above it, written in what appeared to be real gold. Most were written in Vaydem script that meant I couldn’t interpret them. I decided that I was going to learn the language if Rave would be willing to teach me. It was maddening to see all those signs and not be able to read them. Then I noticed that the biggest room had two signs posted above the entrance. One was in Vaydem, but the other one was written in English – woo-hoo…
It read: Ritual Chamber of Fire and Ice. Two placards were posted above the archway. They were bigger, more impressive than the others.
Perhaps they provide some kind of warning or maybe they held instructions on how to warp to another dimension…
I urgently needed to check out those signs. They were too small to read from my vantage point on the floor. My strength was almost non-existent, so I almost decided to give up. Then I heard that familiar whisper again. It called to me from inside the Fire and Ice Chamber. Gathering some strength from some unseen source, I managed to slowly slide my body in that direction.
A few torturous minutes later, I was close enough to read the sign. The placard read: Let those who cross this sacred threshold bear witness to the holy union of fire and ice. Bestow upon them a wise transcendence as their souls become forever enjoined with the power of Teira’shavalan – this hallowed earth.
I read the words over and over. They seemed to echo hauntingly through my mind. Then I looked inside the huge alcove. Exquisite Vaydem vestments were hanging inside the ritual chamber. The chamber was divided in the middle by a strip of tiles with etched characters on them. One side of the chamber was electric blue and the other side was flaming red. The fire and ice vestments matched the color of the walls and were made of a fine silk. Both vestments had strings of pearls sewn onto them in unique patterns. No two vestments were identical.
My spirit seemed to plead with me to enter that ritual chamber. I desperately wanted to put on one of the vestments and walk through the sacred Vaydem forest – Teira’shavalan. I had sadly expended every last ounce of my energy just sliding across the floor to read the sign. I couldn’t even stand upright or touch the ground inside the inner forest regardless. A tear slid down my nose and dripped onto the floor as I finally allowed the sorrow to consume me. I felt myself drifting back off to sleep. I didn’t have anything left to give anyway.
I was completely finished for the night…
But the night wasn’t finished with me…
Ember Rising Light (Book One) Page 81
