“Yeah, me too,” Hugo said.
“Ditto,” Jessie added.
They made their way around yet another bend in the passage and three new passages came into view further ahead.
Once again, Willow held her pendant to see what would be revealed. “We’re taking the middle passage,” she announced. “It’s glowing.”
The tremors continued intermittently as they went further and further through the complex network of passages. And every time they came across a communication console, they found the same malfunction repeating itself.
Willow’s chest felt tighter with every step she took. What if she chose the wrong passage? What if she led them into trouble? Her eyes widened at the sight of a large opening in the distance. “What’s that place?” she asked.
Nine enormous crystal rods in a rainbow of colours protruded from the floor and extended through the ceiling to the Crystal Chamber in the city above.
“We have been led to the lower level of the Crystal Chamber,” Avari answered.
Willow craned her neck to the height of the ceiling. “Wow!” She came in closer to admire the crystal formation and suddenly recoiled. She turned to Avari and judging by the look on her face, she could see it too.
“Stand back, Willow,” Avari told her.
“It’s too late, it saw me.”
“What’s happening?” Hugo asked.
Willow looked up again. “There’s a Vraag up there. In the Crystal Chamber above us. I could see it through the crystal. It was distorted, but it was definitely a Vraag. And it saw me.”
“My God, they’re in the city.” Jessie gazed upwards.
An awful realisation crossed Willow’s mind for the first time. “Avari, where’s your home? What about your family? Are they safe? And yours, Atlas?”
“Our families will be safe. Thank you for asking,” she said.
Willow noticed the top of the blue crystal rod coming through the ceiling begin to discolour. “Why’s it changing colour like that?”
“The blue crystal is dying,” Avari told them. “The Vraag are draining its energy.”
“What! We can’t let that happen,” Willow said. “What can we do?”
Before anyone could answer, however, Willow took the lead. “I know. We’ll all put our hands on it and give the crystal some of our energy so that it can raise its frequencies. That should stop it from dying, shouldn’t it?” She turned to Avari with hopeful eyes.
“This is a new situation for us all, Willow. But I agree that it is worth attempting.”
They each placed a hand on the blue crystal rod and focused their attention. Avari and Atlas’s eyes radiated purple and Willow took hold of her pendant to try and enhance her frequency.
The dullness of the crystal began to brighten around their hands and slowly started to climb.
“It’s working,” Willow said. But the sound echoing down the passages quashed their small victory.
Whispering voices floated through the entrance of the Crystal Chamber and gathered inside.
Willow swallowed uncomfortably. “That doesn’t sound very friendly.”
Avari’s gaze fixed on to Willow.
“What about the blue crystal?” Willow said.
“We must leave it now. Hold your pendant, Willow. Guide us out through the passages.”
They all looked at each other, alarm growing into terror as the skin-crawling whispers grew progressively louder.
Willow’s heart momentarily forgot to beat. The thought of being responsible for leading them through passages she had never seen before with an evil horde on their tails was terrifying. She wrapped her hand around the pendant with a heavy in-breath and waited.
“That one!” Willow said.
They bolted out of the chamber and down the left passage, bumping against each other and the crystal walls as they ran. They sped around yet another bend in the passage and three new passages came into view further ahead.
The whispers behind them grew and forced Willow to collect herself. She had to lead them to safety! “Which way, which way?” she pleaded with the pendant under her breath. “Come on! Show me the way.”
She thudded to a halt at the place where the passage divided into three again, and hesitated, heart pounding.
Avari shook Willow’s arm. “Willow, look at me. Focus. Pay attention to the moment. Shut down the noise in your mind.”
This really was Willow’s worst nightmare. She looked in to Avari’s purple eyes, trying to shut out the voices in her head that kept telling her she wasn’t up for the challenge, and made her second guess herself. “C’mon Willow, get with it,” she ordered herself. Her friends hovered beside her, relying on her, but she wasn’t getting any clear message and her intuition seemed to be asleep. She closed her eyes, even though that felt like the most unnatural thing to do right now, and made herself breathe and focus. Two deep breaths … and somehow she was settling into a deeper, still part of herself. She concentrated on each of the passages with her full attention, pressing her fingers firmly around the pendant. She opened her eyes. The third passage was glowing. “Yes! The last one!” she shouted, taking off.
The ground shook again and the light embedded within the crystal walls dimmed. They ran straight into the third passage without hesitation.
Whoever built this passage didn’t like straight lines, thought Willow. The walls snaked their way below the city, each deep curve easing itself into the next. Where the passage was leading them was anyone’s guess, but right now she was intent on getting as much space between them and the creepy whispers as she could.
But there was another sound now. Willow slowed down. She cocked her head, straining to hear amongst the noise of their panting and the whispers further behind them. “Listen! Can you guys hear that? I can hear bells – chimes of some kind.”
Jessie tried to quieten her puffing as she matched Willow’s pace. “I can’t …”
“Ssh. I hear it too,” Hugo said.
Avari nodded, looking to Atlas. “As do we.”
“We have to go to them,” Willow said, taking off again.
The curves gradually softened and now there was a faint white light reflecting off the walls, coming from somewhere ahead of them. Willow prayed that it was a good omen. Around the next bend she could see another three passages. The pulsating light and the sound of chimes were coming from the middle passage. She ran straight in towards them.
They’d only gone a short distance before Willow stopped abruptly at the entrance to another chamber. What had she done? A dead end! The sound of chimes she had followed so trustingly came from a floating sphere of light in the centre of the empty chamber.
“Where are we? And what is that?” Jessie asked.
Avari shook her head. “I am unaware of the existence of this type of orb.”
“As am I,” Atlas said.
“Whatever this place is,” Willow said, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry for leading you all here. To a dead end. I was sure I was being led in the right direction.” The whispers were becoming noticeably louder and she spun around towards the sound. “And now I don’t know what to do!”
“Aah, guys,” Hugo said. “Is it me, or is the light getting bigger?”
The sphere of light had now tripled in size.
“What do we do?” Jessie whispered.
“It may be trying to communicate with us,” Atlas suggested.
“I believe he may be correct,” Avari agreed.
The light pulsated outwards again, and gave a very bright flash, temporarily blinding them. When their eyes were again able to see, they made out a woman standing in the middle of the chamber, draped in a silver robe. A ball of light hung above her.
Willow stared at her. Everything told her that this woman was here to help them. But the more she stared, the more she realised that this woman wasn’t actually in the chamber at all; she was a holograph.
“Welcome,” the woman announced. “I am known as Minna, Prime Representative of
the Lunari League. How may I assist your quest?” she asked.
Willow swallowed. “Er, thank you, Minna. I’m Willow, and we’re being followed by the Vraag. Can you help us?”
“Do not be concerned.” Raising her hand, Minna gave a single wave over the passage entrance and a shimmery transparent field immediately appeared. “This force field will protect you,” she told them.
They shared a sigh of relief.
“Thank you,” Willow said. “These are my friends from Thera and Earth. Minna, was it you who led us here to this chamber?”
Minna’s expression grew solemn. “For me to be summoned, Mondria must be under attack and you must have been compelled to enter the hidden passages leading to this chamber. We have been prepared for this eventuality for a very long time.”
“Are you an Ancient?”
“No. The Lunari League assists the Ancients with their directives and Protocols. I was triggered to appear for this event. Rest assured, I am not a programme. You are speaking with me in real time.”
Eerie whispers in the passage drew closer and louder …
“I think they might have found us,” Jessie said. “Minna, I really hope your force field holds.”
Minna looked upon each of them, showing no alarm whatsoever. “No harm will come to you. This force field is not connected with Mondria’s security fields. They will not decipher the frequency from which it was created.”
Well, that was reassuring, Willow thought. But seeing as Mondrian security fields had already been breached, how could they believe that statement?
The whispers in the passage were no longer distant echoes – they were sharper, and very close. Instinctively, they all edged closer to Minna. Murky shadows appeared on the passage walls behind the force field, and one by one, dark forms emerged, coming to a halt just inches from the protective shield.
Willow’s heart pumped like a piston. She might have stopped running but she was struggling to get breath into her lungs. Through the force field they could see the Vraag, covered in scales the colour of blue ebony. Down their sides, long, dark feathers formed powerful wings. But it was the tips of their feathers that made Willow’s blood curdle. Dozens of gnarly black talons began to slowly uncoil – their purpose unmistakeable.
She swallowed hard. It felt as if these vile beasts had detected her frightened thoughts. They raised their heads together, revealing their deathly faces, the faces omitted from the TriGamon to prevent unnecessary fear that the Vraag could feed from.
Their faces were covered in sickly grey scales and beady silver and yellow eyes scrutinised them one by one. Their only other feature was a round mouth filled with two sets of pointed teeth, each row as sharp as blades. And every time their mouths trembled, eerie whispers hissed out.
The Vraag stared at them as if they were prey. Willow sensed the shocked fascination rippling through the others as well. She was repulsed by the creatures and yet mesmerised at the same time. Their piercing stares and whispers drew her in; she felt unable to turn away. She watched hopelessly as the Vraag began to release a dull yellow gas from their talons; Minna’s protective shield was the only thing stopping it from reaching them.
“Willow, you must look away. You must all look away,” Minna ordered.
Her voice came from a great distance. It took great effort for Willow to blink so that she could free herself from the Vraag’s haunting grasp. She turned her head away to stop herself from being captured by their stares again.
Avari and Atlas were already free from the Vraag’s hold, but they had to help Hugo and Jessie by gazing directly in to their eyes with their purple luminescence.
“Are you all fully disengaged?” Minna asked.
Jessie rubbed at her eyes. “Seem to be, but what just happened?”
“Many tarons have passed since an incident such as this has occurred,” Minna replied. “To be captured by a Vraag would be most tragic. Their eyes and their whispers, as you all just experienced, lure you in, putting you into a trance-like state so that they may do their worst.”
Willow gulped. “What’s their worst?”
“The gas they release from their claws temporarily paralyses their victim, rendering the body and mind completely defenceless. Their teeth inject toxins directly into your blood stream and energetic field, instantly causing misery and hopelessness, turning your dreams into nightmares. And when you can no longer connect with your dreams and aspirations, fear and despair dominate your entire being, allowing Maliceius to plug in and feed on that dark energy so that he may grow stronger.”
“So you become like a zombie?” Hugo said.
“Yes,” Minna answered. “A perfect vessel to feed from. A slave to the Dark UnderLord. It is extremely difficult for a spark of inspiration to surface when you are cloaked heavily with darkness.”
“What do we do, Minna?” Willow said quickly. “How do we get out of here?”
“What do you think you should do, Willow?”
“Me? I don’t know.”
“Willow, would you have conceived of this very moment only a short while ago?” Minna asked.
There was a long pause before Willow replied. “You mean did I think we would be hunted by the Vraag and then be standing here talking with you? No. I was just following my gut, my intuition, with the help of my pendant – and praying that I was right. I had no idea where it would lead.”
“Precisely. And yet here you are. In the very place you could all be safe. Every moment that has unfolded since the time of your Awakening has been guiding you to this very chamber. You have had to trust and use your inner senses to lead your friends here.” Minna waited for the words to sink in. “Can you see that multiple possibilities are available to you in every moment? The more aware you are of that fact, the more you are able to access the space that contains those possibilities, thus enabling new outcomes to flow through.”
“But we’re trapped by the Vraag,” Willow protested. “We might be safe for now, but I’ve led us to a dead end and we can’t stay here forever. And we have to find the Book. Thera and Earth are in trouble. I don’t know what our next move is,” her words rushed out. “Right now I have nothing – besides just waiting here. And even then I have no clue what we’d be waiting for, other than for those … things … to leave, and I don’t suppose they’re planning to abandon us any time soon.”
“Waiting is something,” Minna pointed out. “Sometimes waiting is all you can do. Contained within the space of waiting is the emergence of ‘something’ – becoming. It is only a matter of ‘time’. How you perceive a situation, and how you wait, both have a direct impact on how situations are played out. You may not feel that you have any control over a set of circumstances, but you do have a part to play, even if your part appears to be ‘doing nothing at all’.”
It was unfolding all right. Willow had a bunch of dream-buster beasts behind her, sent from the King of Darkness himself who was trying to turn her and her friends into despairing zombies. And standing before her was a celestial being explaining the merits of waiting in tight situations, telling her that somehow, she, Willow Bloom, would find a way out. How was she supposed to reconcile all of that? She felt numb from her toes to the top of her head.
Willow breathed in. Minna was telling her not to panic, and the calmer she was, the more options she would come up with. And that even though she didn’t know what to do right now, things might change in a few minutes time.
Minna broke Willow’s thought stream. “You see, Willow, the laws that govern physical reality abhor stagnation. Everything is ever changing. ‘Nothing’ stands still – not even for a millisecond. So waiting and doing ‘nothing’, as you perceive it, is truly an illusion.” She gazed upon each of them. “Deep within you, beyond the laws of the physical realm, behind the curtain of your everyday awareness, inspiration is poised to come forth. Both truth and magic reside within you, awaiting their opportunity.”
Avari nodded. Willow wished she felt reassured. Minna was
obviously doing her best to assist them within the rules and regulations of the Prophecy, but Willow couldn’t stop wishing for a straightforward answer that would get them out of their predicament right now, and solving the whole Maliceius problem at the same time would be nice too.
Jessie spoke up. “Minna, is there a cure for what the Vraag can do to a person?”
“Only one,” she said.
“One’s better than none, I guess.”
“What is it?” Willow asked.
“The cure was dismantled many millennia ago after a significant portion of Maliceius’s darkness went into retreat. Until now it has not been necessary to have the cure available,” she explained. “Your Quest will bring it forth once more.”
“Hope it comes forth before we need to use it,” Willow told her. “Not that I want to have to use it, mind you. I’m happy for Maliceius’s darkness to retreat again. So is that what the Book is for?”
“Yes, the Book will assist you with the cure,” Minna assured her. “For now, the Vraag are waiting for further instructions from their UnderLord. They follow his orders like puppets.”
“So they’re communicating telepathically?” Jessie asked.
Minna nodded.
“Perhaps we could all sit quietly and focus on a favourable outcome,” Avari suggested.
“You mean like meditating,” Hugo said.
“Yes,” Avari confirmed.
“We did meditation classes at ALFA,” Hugo said uneasily. “I wasn’t that great at it. Don’t like the idea of our safety relying on my meditation skills …”
“Meditation does not necessarily require great skill. It is a meditator’s feelings of inadequacy that undermine their attempt at meditation,” Minna explained. “Your intention is paramount.”
They each sat with their backs to the Vraag and closed their eyes, striving to keep their focus away from the Vraag who were patiently waiting like skilful hunters.
But with the Vraag so close, Willow struggled to keep her mind quiet enough for any real clarity to come through, though she definitely had moments when her whole body was still and calm. It felt as if she had been sitting for ages when she finally opened her eyes again. The Vraag began to emit a dull drone, which was almost a relief after their intermittent whispers, although very quickly the drone became uncomfortable.
Willow Bloom and the Dream Keepers Page 26
