by Ema Alves
*
Without knowing anything about this, Elektra, with kind eyes, traveled while trying to grasp every instant of freedom. She looked at the birds that landed on her small and slender hands to eat the plumb breadcrumbs she generously offered. She stared at the mountain summits that surrounded Sybil’s green magical spot. She could hear the arrhythmic and continuous water flow, on her right, stretching itself towards the sea.
A sign had diverted Elektra’s attention to the other riverbank. Meridian stopped and said:
- This is where we cross.
On the other side, next to the massive fig tree, a giant stared at them.
Meridian smiled. He now understood the reason why Offerus was there. Having chosen a clearing next to the river, he could see the travelers who needed his boatman services on the other bank. The funny thing about the situation was that Meridian had often traveled and needed his services, but he had never pondered about the strategy of the giant sage.
But Elektra had never seen such a big man. Although the distance between both sides was gigantic, his size was clear given the boatman’s frame amid the nature that surrounded him.
The river was now fiercer than ever, but Offerus was prodigious in how he handled the paddle, positioned in the boat’s stern. The wait was short-lived, he easily docked on the shore where Meridian and Elektra were waiting.
Under Offerus’ attentive stare, who astonishingly looked at the beauty of such a gentle sorceress, the two travelers with the horses by the hand, walked to the boat. Offerus thought that she was the most beautiful creature that the One had ever put on earth. Meridian did not fear those looks. Even if Offerus discovered his daughter’s secret, he would not be disgusted or repelled. Offerus was someone knowledgeable, a philosopher. He was a source of kindness and so all the prejudiced curtains through which one could see the world were open or did not even exist in his eyes.
But how much longer would the secret remain safe? They soon would reach the other side, where Humanity had built large cities. The eyes of the men who lived there had their curtains completely closed, as they enforced their dogmas and hide the true notion of “seeing”.
*
- Is this your daughter? – Offerus asked, not taking his eyes off Elektra, who, sitting sideways, played with a hand dipped in the water, trying to catch some of its strength under the boat.
- Yes, she is. Elektra is her name – Meridian proudly answered.
- It seems that happiness walks alongside her. Is this her first time traveling?
- Yes.
- Be careful. Such beauty has never been seen. Many will want to marry her. - Offerus proceeded, with his honest opinion.
- Someone has been promised to her, he has been waiting for her without knowing she actually exists. - Meridian declared, grinning at the thirst that the eyes of the lonely man tried to satiate.
Offerus was confused. “Someone like her?” - He thought. “What difference could such a beautiful sorceress hide?” He remained silent, he did not want to be nosy and could recognize when a question was ill-timed. He also had his own secrets which he did not like to share with anyone. Today’s friend could be tomorrow’s enemy, and those weaknesses could serve as targets for anyone aware of their existence.
Knowing that she was being observed, Elektra turned and stared at Offerus’ crystal clear eyeballs. “...Why he is looking at me like that?” - she wondered, sensing the odd heat waves that had recently been emerging from the bottom of her belly to the base of her neck, blushing the peach-skinned tiny apples of her fragile face. “What strange sensations are these that make me burn and feel desire? The desire to be protected, to be loved, to feel a man’s warmth.”. She looked at his father, who had noticed something odd in that complicity, and her heart pace started to increase, but this time fueled by a childish shame. A disturbing sensation of having her thoughts read as an open book embarrassed her. She then lowered her face, again playing with the water, hiding the rosy cheeks from the eyes of others. “Naturally, they don’t know what I’m thinking. Thoughts are inviolable. At least I’m free here. I can think and wish what I want without the fear of judgment.”
The shame had vanished, but not the heat. Sitting like that, she felt her hot and wet legs brushing against each other. Seeing how soft they were, she made tiny movements to increase that sensation. The heat was over the top. The bare-naked legs on the side of the skirt exposed the sensuality of the white skin of perfect feet, covered only by thin black suede straps that, woven together to the knee, augmented the beauty of the contrast between the segmented skin and the black strips that ornamented the sandals. Goosebumps of desire made her look at the boatman again. Images were now assaulting her mind, unfurling virtual sensations she had never experienced before, yet they seemed real. She saw herself as someone tiny, enveloped by the skin of the man who sensuously explored her body. Something in Offerus touched her soul. The notion that they had been more than perfect strangers emerged in her mind through tiny blows, so feeble that they could not extinguish the candle flames. Oddly, they were actually increasing that flame called love. Was that sensation a sign?
Enjoying Elektra’s glances, the boatman turned his face and swallowed dryly. So many years of solitude! Had he just been waiting? Had he waited all that time just to cling himself to the mundane realm after this little girl’s glance? To a physical love capable of exalting the soul? - he thought.
A dry noise was heard. Lost in aphorisms, Offerus trembled, momentarily losing his balance. The boat had hit harder than usual the bank that served as a docking port.
Used to the act of meditation, while keeping contact with the surrounding reality, Offerus did not want to believe that his thoughts had taken him away from reality.
- We... we have arrived. – he said.
- Were you distracted?! – Meridian ironically commented.
- I beg your pardon, my good friend – Offerus said, trying to apologize for what had happened. Not just the distraction itself, but for what he felt for his daughter.
Meridian did not judge Offerus, he knew that just a simple look at Elektra could torment anyone. Also, the real problem did not lie in what men could feel when touched by a vision of heavenly beauty, but in the uncontainable desires that her daughter experienced, which would easily throw her into a man’s arms. It was something natural, she was a woman after all! But the boundaries of her secret could lead her to death, turning the placid paradisiacal vision into a revolting and hellish delusion.
As she stepped out of the boat, Elektra was suddenly angry. A new feeling, derived from the impossibility of being pleased, was cultivating in her being, like a narcotic, the need to indulge her most balmy desires. She had never experienced love, but she wanted to. She did not know what she could do, had no idea whatsoever about what it would be like to be with a man, the differences between the two sexes. How they could fit together, how they could become one. All of that was new to her. The only thing she knew was that love was to feel protected and warmed by the gentle touch of their union. To be aware again of the transitory feeling that time keeps hiding in its most remote corner, to feel yet again the womb’s enveloping pleasure.
When she attempted to jump on her mare, she felt startled. A sudden shiver ran through her body, finding its place in the conscious mind of what she was experiencing. The touch, emphasized by the shock, allowed her mouth to release a groan of amazement and pleasure. Strong hands had grabbed her by the waist and, in a quick movement, these had lifted her from the ground, sitting her on top of her white mount. Yet again, Elektra looked at that golden man, whose aura had a unique beauty.
A sorceress, she was used to seeing and interpreting the auras that surrounded all things: Offerus was golden. A perfect and unscathed aura. He was her first love but also her first disappointment. The disunion between two complementary souls was impending and inevitable.
The sad ritual of separation provided a wordless farewell, without promises, desires, bitterness.
>
Letting himself be carried away by the burning spark of time that he still had left, the man let his hand wander, sensing all the curves that the softness of her dress allowed to transpire. The thigh was under his hand, the cloth had reached its end, exposing the fabric-soft skin. Offerus was in love, he was not the kind of man who felt such a valuable feeling for any women. But this was nobleness in human flesh. Elektra, the most beautiful of all. “Loneliness fosters these things.” - he thought, scorning the new feeling he cherished for the little girl. “I have not had a woman for a long time now. I’m certainly mistaken in these feelings” - Offerus wanted his consciousness to prevail, to circumvent the suffering that such an impossible love could subject him to.
He attempted to look at her, but he could not. Why was it so hard to look into her eyes? He wondered, while he stepped down to gently kiss her small foot.
Elektra felt lonely. She was feeling the pain of her first farewell. The pain of a first love that lasted just one fleeting river crossing. Ephemeral in time, wide-ranging in intensity. She closed her eyes and two tears flow down her face. With a strong thrust, the mare was now running towards her father, who had already entered the fresh leafage that inhabited the profane terrain that hosted Humanity.
Meridian unconditionally trusted Offerus. Although he was not part of Heidegger’s magic order, he was a good man.
Feeling the complicity that had emerged between both during the crossing, he allowed them to say goodbye without peeking around. He even thought that he would not have minded seeing Offerus as her husband, if her daughter was like any other girl. Perhaps they would be happy, who knows! But Elektra was not an ordinary woman, she was special. Too special even for Offerus.
Elektra joined her father, as she wiped her face clean with quick movements, so he could not notice that she had been crying. The magician pretended not to see and kept moving forward without saying a word.
Lotus had alerted him to Elektra’s desires. Her soul was certainly agonizing for affection. They had to reach the kingdom of Shekhinah as soon as possible. He feared Elektra’s ordinary urges would put her on a path towards misery. It had been Offerus this time, but it could have happened with an unscrupulous man the next, who, disgusted after knowing what she was, would try to heal his wounded pride by putting an end to his daughter’s life.
“His touch, just as I imagined it...” Elektra reflected, remembering Offerus’ warm contact. She remembered the sensations she had whenever she imagined being touched by a man. Back then, she had never felt it, but now that she had experienced it, she noticed that it was identical to what she had felt in the thought realm. “How strong the power of the mind is!... still, the real touch is much more intense, less brisk, it lasts longer.” - she sighed.
The father intentionally brought her back to reality.
- Look, we are now entering the village of Samana.
The forest route was now a cobbled urban lane. The silent horse strides, cushioned by the soft earth, were turned into steady hoofbeats, announcing the arrival of two travelers. In the houses and farmlands, the inhabitants stopped what they were doing to watch the odd beings who would probably choose that village to spend the night. They already knew one of them, he had been there several times in the past. It was Meridian, the wizard. The people, in an apprehensive and respectful fashion, nodded slightly, subtly greeting a man who held powers they could not grasp. They noticed that he a beautiful girl by his side, who could only be a sorceress, a witch who made tremble in fear. The fear was so intense that they lowered their heads, looking at her below the waist, afraid that she would cast some spell on them with her eyes. But… the fearful men, after noticing how striking her silhouette was, failed to control their prevaricating minds and raised their heads to fully look at her.
Confronted with the unpredicted beauty of her features, they were simply awestruck and, as if hypnotized by some fragrance, they were no longer afraid. Her sense of goodness only emphasized the inspirational beauty. She was not angelically beautiful, but displayed a divine sensuality, which could inspire anyone. The old peasant women, when they noticed how stupefied their men were, started to drag them into their houses. But when they were also softened by the touch of the soft fragrance of her beatitude, the women stood still to contemplate the little princess of magic.
Elektra’s magnetism was contagious.
When they arrived at McGregor’s inn, many stepped forward to pay tribute to the lord of the forest and her beautiful companion. Something that Meridian considered to be odd, after all, he had been there many times before and people always avoided in him in those occasions.
For Elektra, everything was new and radically different from her own idea of what people were. “Where is the danger? Where is the wickedness that my father always kept insisting on?” – she wondered.
In front of the inn, Meridian got off his horse and let a young footman take control of it.
Elektra’s green eyes, the reddish tone that surrounded them, and the white mare, painted a surreal scenario, only feasible in a divine dream. Blinded by sensuality, some men tried to help her dismount.
Their brutishness soon emerged when they began quarreling for the privilege to be chosen by her. At that moment, Elektra noticed how different they were from her people. She had never been in a fight motivated by something so banal as helping a lady. Unfortunately, she had found the answer to her questions.
While they were lost in pointless arguments, Elektra got off her mare and, slightly scared, clung to her father’s arm, who led her into the small wooden inn, carefully ornamented with beautiful linen cloths and burning candles of the most diverse forms, providing a mystical environment to the dwelling’s dark corners. She would finally eat something and have a restful night. It was a cozy place, which reminded her of the houses in her homeland, Heidegger, which was now behind. Longingness tightened her heart when she considered the possibility of not returning home.
Ignored by the girl, the young men stopped arguing and, establishing false truces, pushed themselves again just to have the chance to peek through the tiny windows of the inn, so that they could see their muse inside.
Sitting at the table, Elektra failed to disregard their glances, as they damped the windows with their panting. Nevertheless, she was experiencing a unique form of joy. Although her devotees did not resemble Adonis himself, she felt wanted, beautiful and desired. The dark tartar-laden faces and the black teeth of those boys made them seem ridiculously graceful.
Meridian, slightly annoyed by their sneaky presence, looked at them seriously. The boys, seeing the mystic’s penetrating eyes, were chilled by them and ran away. They recalled what their parents had told them about wizards and the evilness they could do with just one stare.
Oddly enough, Elektra confronted him:
- Why did you scare them?
- I did not!... – he declared, while sticking a tidbit of goat cheese with the point of his dagger into his mouth. - ... They have been nurturing that feeling for us for a long time now! - Meridian seemed a bit tired of the false accusations he had been subjected to for a lifetime.
Far from the reality of that community, a reality where the only fate for those accused of witchcraft was the stake, the nonconformist Elektra proceeded:
- So... you have used your fears to give them a false sense of horror – she retorted.
- I simply stared at them! I didn’t mean to hurt them... I just want peace - Meridian said, sighing. - ...You know, Elektra, these people are afraid of us. They think that we acquire more power if we take their souls. It’s just ignorance! There is magic in everything created, they don’t know that they too are magic.
Not wanting to upset Meridian, Elektra realized that the reason was not on her side. Embarrassed, she asked:
- Nonetheless, if they do not believe in magic, why are they afraid of it?! I think that’s bizarre, if magic does not exist for them, then why do they fear something they do not believe in?
- Dee
p down, in the subconscious realm, they believe in magic and its powers, it is something that is written as truth in the collective soul of the Universe and, even if they wish to reject it, they cannot.
- Nevertheless, many live a whole life without believing in it!
- You don’t have to believe in it! The important thing is to live, to be sure of yourself, of your purposes. Any wish that is pursued with the necessary strength and firmness starts to acquire a consistency whenever we think about it. A time will come when it will gain weight and that desire, not only part of the ethereal world of thoughts, reaches the physical environment realm and materializes itself. This is magic. It exists, whether one wants to believe in it or not.
- And why are they afraid of such a good thing?
- They associate it with evilness. After all, when these energies are subjected to wrongdoing, they can harm others. Imagine the power of excessive envy. When one is extremely envious of another, this feeling grows in the astral realm, it acquires weight due to recurring thinking, reaches the physical reality and harms the person envied. Hence the bad reputation of magic. Hence the fear behind the famous “evil eye”. The eye is the mirror of the soul, by visualizing the target and outlining a harmful thought towards that person, that energy released from the bottom of your being will grab the victim, damaging that person somehow. It is clear that one must be ethical, the true magician only does good by manipulating energies correctly, everyone who uses these energies for evil purposes suffers three times the evil they have caused, so it’s not worth it! You have never heard the expression “to get a dose of one’s own medicine”? That is the reason for its existence.
- But why three times?
- Because that is the law. The law that exists, the essence of all reality. The regulatory body of the Universe as a whole. «Do all you want, as long as you do not harm anyone else, otherwise you shall suffer that plight multiplied by three.” One can do anything, no one censors you for wanting to be rich, to have powers, to be happy. As long as, in order to reach those, you do not step on anyone’s shoulders. If you respect this, you will be blessed by the double God, made One in essence, because you act according to His law. The law which says that all the energies that we release, positive or negative, will return to us multiplied by three. It is not a fear-based tactic, created to keep the faithful under control. It is just the natural outcome of living in the wheel of life. We cannot escape its spin. We are the only ones who can get what we put out and reap what we have sown when the cycle turns around, even if that only gets to you in another life and you pay for it as Karma. Therefore, do not even wish for others what you wish for you, after all, they may have different tastes and, even with the best of intentions, you may very well interfere in the free will or destiny of another life without their consent.
