Chapter Seventy Nine
I had been drifting lightly – somewhere between sleep and sorrow.
I commanded my eyes to open again, but they refused to comply with my demand anymore. I could feel the tiles pressing against my back. A gentle breeze brushed across my exposed feet and ankles. My hands were resting on my chest. My fingers traced the outline of small pearls that were slick and round. Somehow, I must have managed to put on a vestment…
YAY! Um wait, how’d I do that?? When did I do that??
Before I could answer either of those questions, my current exhaustive dilemma crossed my mind. Even with the vestment on my body, I couldn’t do anything other than lie here immobile. I wishfully considered how much I wanted to walk through the sacred Vaydem forest. The gentle breeze called out to me and I desperately needed to answer it.
“Just a few steps – surely I can manage a few steps…” I whispered to the trees, but my body wouldn’t obey.
I had experienced the awesome energy of the Vaydem containment vestment at my party. The vestment I was wearing now felt incredible and twice as powerful. I desperately wanted to feel the gift it granted. Somehow I knew that I couldn’t experience it unless I stepped inside the sacred forest. I was too tired to stand up, much less walk. The new vestment seemed to cry out to me. It wanted me to experience the awesome transformation it offered. The urge was nearly irresistible to become enjoined with the sacred forest… I simply had nothing left to give – no strength left inside me to honor the request.
I don’t even remember putting the vestment on…
The tears spilled down both my cheeks this time. Sorrow on top of anguish washed through me.
Destined for grief…
Then I felt a strong gust of wind as it blew across my outstretched body. Hauntingly celestial music rippled through me as it was being carried by the wind. The music seemed to flow from the energy of the Arboretum. The sacred forest sang back in response. It echoed through my wandering mind, but it was still so far away.
“Come to me…” I whispered inside my mind.
I lacked all strength, but nothing was stopping me from calling the forest to come to me. The captivating music responded to my unspoken pleas and washed over my body like a gentle incoming tide.
“Please take me…”
Suddenly, I was being bathed inside a musical celebration between what felt like two powerful spiritual forces. My body was lighter than the air around me, but my eyes still refused to open. I tried to focus on the song’s melody because I wanted to remember it, always. The notes swirled through me as they rocked me back and forth – in time with their beat.
My inner essences were stilled by the movement…almost like they were quieted in reverence to the song…
Then, gravity’s hold seemed to release my body from captivity. I no longer felt the hard, cold floor against my back. I was freely floating in suspended animation by what I thought might be a million tiny bubbles. I was being warmed and cooled at the same time. My mind drifted with the bubbles.
“I want to roll over…”
The bubbles responded as if they heard my thoughts. I felt them pop and renew as they carefully turned my body over. My head was lying on its side like I was sleeping on a pillow made only of air. I had become almost weightless as my body reclined delicately against the bubbles. I felt their mild sway.
The heavenly music continued to whisper to me on the wind as I felt the bubbles lifting me higher and higher into the air.
I was floating on a tranquil sea…
I could feel a bubble start to rise. I could see the shadow of its outline as it brushed by my closed eyelids. It continued to drift until I felt it tickle the tip of my nose. I waited for it to pop so I could inhale its essence, but it refused to fracture.
Using a sliver of newfound strength, I turned my face toward the ground. I immersed it into the wispy bubble pillow and prepared to deeply inhale. They quickly moved away from my nose. They wouldn’t permit me to breathe them in.
“I need to inhale your essence…”
“Please, please no…” a voice replied in a whisper and I heard a desperate longing in the reply.
I felt my emotions start to rise and fall – so happy and yet so sad as well. I prepared to plead my case again. My eyes suddenly decided to distract me. They opened wide right before I could issue another plea to the bubbles. I could see my new reality.
What I thought were bubbles turned out to be thousands of celestial butterflies. They fluttered all around me leaving behind a trail of twinkling stars. Their delicate wings brushed against my face and they tickled as they passed by. I realized in absolute wonder that it was their wings that had given me flight.
I was floating high above the treetops in the Arboretum.
It was so breathtaking…
I could see the winding creek bed and the flowers still in full bloom. It might have been snowy February outside, but inside this sacred forest my heart knew it was always springtime. I wanted to stretch my arms down and touch the tops of the trees. The butterflies had another idea in mind.
They rolled me back over so I could feel the light of the shimmering moon against my face. My eyes widened in surprise as the moon appeared to be blazing with a new bluish glow. I could see the glass ceiling less than an inch away from my floating body. I looked at my reflection in the glass and was thoroughly stunned by what I saw. My body shimmered and glittered under the moonbeams. I was surrounded by the silver mist!
It was pure rapture…
“Please, I want to breathe in your essence like I did the last time…”
I begged the silver mist to let me inhale its essence as the butterflies brushed gently across my face.
“One and only one…a gift…”
A single butterfly fluttered and then, I watched it diffuse into mist. I felt a small ripple of euphoria as it flowed through my body. The silver mist unlocked a wonderful memory and freed it from its prison inside my mind. I experienced the memory as if it only happened moments ago. I felt the same emotions and they swept over me like a small child’s blanket.
I was crying again, but this time it was from happiness – my grief was gone.
The song began to slowly fade away and I started to float back down toward the ground. The butterflies still fluttered around me wildly as my body landed softly on the earthen floor of the sacred Vaydem forest.
“How do I repay this gift?”
“You already have…” the silver mist whispered and then disappeared.
The butterflies had renewed me somehow and I even had enough strength to get to my knees. I wanted to will the silver mist to come back. I somehow knew that its silence would be the only answer I would receive. I didn’t feel any grief this time when the mist left and that was thoroughly perplexing.
My heart suddenly understood that it would never leave me…
I was bowing before a massive oak tree and the creek was visible from my kneeling position. I saw Boo playing by the edge of the water.
“Boo-bear…” I whispered as loudly as I could.
“Ember is the moon…” he replied, but didn’t turn around.
“Yes, I am the moon…”
I suddenly felt locked to the earth. I was so weary.
I didn’t think it was possible to be so full and empty all at the same time.
I prepared to close my eyes because they felt so heavy. If anyone happened to walk by me they would probably think that I was praying. Just as my lids were falling, I noticed something shiny on the ground. I reached out and picked it up. It was a delicate crystal butterfly charm with a small silver heart attached to it. The heart was inscribed with just two small words.
You’re free…
Ember Rising Light (Book One) Page 83
