Amy’s eyes followed to the centre of the dome, where she knew he would attach to the speckles of light inside the Stream and travel down and be greeted by a Guardian who would congratulate and welcome him home. The Decision Maker’s wings were pink as she turned back to him and smiled.
‘Our time is up,’ he said sadly. ‘You have been here eight Earth hours already.’
Panic and a twinge of sadness struck her. She didn’t want to leave, but she bowed respectfully. ‘Thank you, Decision Maker,’ she said.
‘No, thank you, Amy,’ he said, bowing back. ‘And now, before you go, take a last look at your son.’ Amy looked down to the Omni-Pod beside Nevaeh, where Smiling proudly, Tom’s gold soul, as bright as it was, loomed up at her.
Before she could say anything else, she felt a sudden pulling sensation on her soul and a sharp wave of grief set in. She knew Omnipion and all the wonderful feelings she had were about to leave her, and she felt desperate to stay. The vision before her began to fade. She stretched her being forward to try and hold onto something tangible, but the Bright One, the Decision Maker, the dome, the phosphorescence and the deep starry backdrop slipped from her grasp.
Her soul groaned to remain where she had been. In peace. In joy. In a state of utter bliss, but her mind retracted back to the kaleidoscope of colours and she was sucked into the tunnel she knew would take her back to Earth.
We are with you always, she heard the Decision Maker say, his voice soft and distant in her mind. Her body grew heavier and heavier and, as she passed back down through the colours, the wonderful, divine, healing music faded away.
She longed to stay, she tried to fight to get back, but her efforts were futile. Dread, angst and pain began to creep in; it was the most awful feeling to leave. The colours now seemed cruel. She could feel her old self coming back; her despair and torment. Her clouded, Earthly mind. Her old, heavy body, all of which she didn’t welcome. Abruptly and horridly, she was dropped back into the chair; her head now in Mark’s waiting hands.
Feeling like a lead weight had been attached to her, pulling her down, she slid to the floor with the heaviness and, after Mark caught her fall, she lay in his arms, unable to move.
A huge compression hit her. Like she was turning to concrete, she was paralysed with the density of her body. Feeling ten times the weight she’d ever been, she couldn’t breathe through the pressure of it. She made to tell Mark how she felt, but she was unable to even open her mouth. Her body was suffocating her.
Mark began pouring light into her but it wasn’t working. She couldn’t breathe. ‘Relax,’ he said soothingly as he laid her down on the padded floor. ‘Allow yourself to come back into your body,’ he instructed, moving his hands up and down her.
She couldn’t relax any part of her body, not with how tight it felt. It was crushing her, pressing her down. She felt like she was sinking through the floor. He cradled her head with one hand and poured more light into her body with the other. She felt like her head must have weighed two tonnes.
‘Stop fighting me. Relax…let go,’ he said. More light emanated from all over his body, and she felt lighter. ‘Your soul has been thrown back into this weighty shell you were once adjusted to. You can slowly adjust again. Come back to me, Amy…you can do it.’
Amy understood she had been weightless for a while, but she didn’t realise how heavy her body would feel when she came back. Now knowing this was a natural adjustment, Amy relaxed. It took around ten minutes of his cradling and healing for Mark’s efforts to work, but then suddenly, as if someone had risen from sitting on her chest, her body snapped back into alignment and she could breathe easily again.
Moving her arms first, then her legs, then her whole body, she realised it didn’t feel like the body belonged to her any more. Mark sat her back down on the chair and knelt in front of her.
‘Are you okay?’ he asked, his beautiful eyes giving her the only source of comfort for her soul being back here.
‘Why do I feel so strange in this body?’ she said, waggling her arms and looking at them like they were foreign.
‘You didn’t weigh anything measurable for a while! You have to let your soul readjust itself inside this twenty-one year-old body. If you were overweight at all you would probably not have survived.’
‘Why?’
‘Because the soul adjusts to each body it lives in over time. It has to be done in stages. When you are first made you are put into the tiniest cells of an embryo. That’s hard enough for a delicate soul to adjust to. It’s lucky at that stage it doesn’t have to breathe either. It then has months to grow and learn to live with all its organs before the day comes it’s born and finally breathes. You’ve had to do that in one big hit. Being put straight back into this nine stone body is a shock for such a tiny, delicate, weightless soul.’
Amy looked at him as if clear for the first time. ‘I’m so sorry for the way I’ve treated you,’ she admitted shamefully. Knowing how beautiful he truly was made her want to cry for how badly she had treated him in the past.
‘Please…don’t treat me different…I beg you.’ His amazing eyes carried a deep sadness, a loneliness that jolted right through her; he truly wanted her to keep seeing him as her Mark.
‘Yes, but I know how pure and divine you are, and if I’m the Protector—’
He held up his hand to cut her short. ‘Exactly! You are divine yourself. One of the high-ranking gifted souls. You taught me before my Test. And you came here to help us! Please,’ he said, taking her hand, his eyes begging, ‘let me be in awe of you!’
She placed her hand on his cheek and smiled affectionately at him for his human and unique quality and, after knowing just how magnificent he was, she appreciated it now more than ever.
CHAPTER 25
THE HEALING LESSONS
‘I’m so proud of you, beautiful,’ Adaizi said the next morning when she entered Amy’s room.
Amy took one look at Adaizi, and a huge lump swelled up in her throat. ‘I’m so sorry,’ Amy began, stepping towards her and entering Adaizi’s ready arms.
‘There, there,’ Adaizi said, stroking Amy’s hair. ‘It’s the things we don’t understand that make us act irrationally. You don’t need to worry about that now.’
Amy felt a stronger pang of guilt in her heart for Adaizi’s understanding. ‘Adaizi I still can’t allow Tom—’
‘I know,’ Adaizi interrupted, stroking Amy’s cheek. ‘I said it wouldn’t change you.’
‘I can’t fight this mind or its instincts to protect, yet I know I never go back on my word.’
‘Even though you now accept why Tom has to be the one to do this?’
‘Yes. But there is no way I’ll ever start seeing him just as the Bright One. Even if I could, I now remember he didn’t really want to, which makes me want to protect him more.’
‘With a gifted soul governing each of the twelve inner fields of Omnipion since the beginning of time, you know there was no need for Tom to rise from the core Awake, apart from being the yang to the yin. It was obvious, as bright as he was, that he rose to be the Dogod’s nemesis.’
‘I remember,’ Amy said, shaking her head. ‘But I can’t see him in harm’s way.’
Adaizi sighed. ‘You know you’ll have to train as hard as you can to fight the Dogod yourself.’
‘I know.’ Amy gulped, remembering exactly who he was and what he wanted to do. She knew she had to do all she could to save Tom from him.
‘Then you are prepared to kill Ethan yourself?’
Amy took a deep breath before answering. ‘The thought of Tom being born just to fulfil a purpose he didn’t want makes me feel ill,’ Amy said, shaking her head. ‘He was forced into this mission, told he was the only hope of saving the universe because of his unique light. He only agreed for the highest good.’
‘Only the most selfless, divine soul would agree.’
‘You’re right, but I’ll make sure he doesn’t have to. Yes, I’m prepared to kill!’ A
my said, although only with half conviction.
‘It was hard enough for us to stop him, and he has now got eleven of the twelve powers he needs to become omnipotent. If he finds the last power portal and gains the power in this last life of his—’
‘I know,’ Amy interrupted. ‘He has to leave this life without that last power.’
‘If we couldn’t stop him from gaining eleven, how can you stop him from gaining the twelfth?’
‘How can Tom then? Aren’t I as gifted?’
‘I mean you alone. We need you both.’
‘I will do my best for that not to be necessary.’ Adaizi gazed into Amy’s eyes for a moment, looking like a lost hopeful girl. Amy tried to look as convincing as she was trying to sound. ‘And I’ll have you and Mark!’
‘Then let’s begin,’ Adaizi said. Adaizi gestured for Amy to sit down on the bed and Amy’s heart turned over. ‘To use the light, you have to find the source. The energy flows from within your body: from your emotions, into your breath and OUT!’ Adaizi threw out a tornado-like vortex into the air that flashed like electricity then disappeared.
‘How do you expect me to do that?’ Amy asked, stunned.
‘Adrenaline! That’s what gives you the power or the fuel you need to make the light work. You need a burning in your stomach like the churning you get when you’re enraged with hate or alive with passion. Most Guardians use love, but it can be any powerful emotion that gets your stomach turning over. You have to concentrate to find your own source of adrenaline.’
Amy looked confused. ‘How do I get to feel all that in a split second?’
‘When we come to battle, your instincts will already be alive with natural adrenaline so you won’t need to concentrate to get the fuel. First things first, though. Let’s teach you to heal. Healing is easier.’ Adaizi grabbed Amy’s hand. ‘There’s light right under your palms. All you have to do is bring it to the surface.’
‘How?’
‘Look at your hands and see past your shade. You don’t even have to believe any longer, you can see your power. You now just need to feel it. Light Healing comes from the combination of loving emotions and wilful determination. Feel it!’
The mystical delivery of Adaizi’s speech was enough to spur Amy on: her hands began to shine with speckles of light.
‘Ah!’ Amy screamed, shaking her hands and then rubbing them frantically on her knees. She hated pins and needles.
Adaizi laughed. ‘That was fun.’
‘That was freaky!’ Amy said. Then, feeling her eyes tingle, she ran to the mirror in her en suite.
With a stunned expression, Amy peered into her eyes, amazed, to see them filled with glitter. Even when the thousands of tiny lights sank beneath the surface, they lingered underneath, leaving a permanent sparkle, brightening what was already a stunning grey. Her eyes were now somehow awake, filled with their own source of power, like it could burst out at any moment.
‘The power is a part of you now. You’ve just awakened it,’ Adaizi informed, chuckling to herself from behind. ‘Just keep practising until you can hold the light for a good few seconds, and then you’ll be ready for lesson two.’
‘Okay,’ Amy said, walking back to her bed in a hand trance.
Every time Amy was alone, she stared at her hands in awe. Fascinated by the tingling little lights that rose to the surface, unable to believe she possessed a magical power that had the potential to heal. She could only manage a second before it got too bright and freaked her out completely, but she was, at least, getting used to the feeling.
When the Tuesday came that Amy had to visit her parents, she told Jack to make sure Tom stayed inside. Mark took her via Light-Void as arranged but waited outside. When she entered her parents’ house, everyone was crying. The bad news hadn’t waited for her to arrive.
‘What?’ Amy asked.
‘He has less than six months,’ Frank said. He rested his head back in his hands and Joan began to cry.
‘Oh.’ Amy didn’t know if it was because she knew that even if he died he’d be okay, or if it was because she knew there was hope for him because of her healing power, but she felt bewildered by their reactions. One part of her knew that before her visit to Omnipion she would have been hurting badly too, but she just stood in wonderment.
‘Oh?’ Frank snapped.
She looked at him sympathetically and wondered how mankind would react if they knew what she knew. She felt privileged to know that everyone had a stream of wellness waiting for them. That there was nothing but pure bliss to flow into when they died. She understood why nobody could know. The true Test was how you interacted with the world around you without the knowledge of reward but, if everyone could just know that they would feel a great sense of achievement when they died, that they could even move up another level and become an expanded being, no one—except black souls—would fear death.
As Amy sat next to her dad and held his hands, what she saw astonished her. Behind his right temple, as though she could see the inside of his head, lay something dark and pulsating. It made her feel nauseous. ‘Maybe something can be done,’ Amy began.
‘Nothing can be done, you moron!’ Frank shouted, sitting bolt upright. ‘Never mind all that Tom-can-heal-you crap! Why don’t you go back to la la land where you can dream of fairies and stupidity!’ He batted his hand at her as if he wanted her to leave.
‘Frank!’ Thomas hissed, in a warning tone.
‘No, Dad, she’s got to learn!’
As Amy gazed around the room, she saw they all felt the same. Every pair of eyes was hostile and hurt. She would be saddened and enraged if the new part of her didn’t have infinite understanding. She only wished they too could understand the true nature of things.
Looking at them now with her knowledge, her family felt somehow alien to her. They seemed childlike and unreal. She wanted to tell them that it wasn’t just one life they had to worry about; not even every life on the planet. Life in the whole universe was in jeopardy if Ethan had his way. And even if it was just this one life they cared about, there was no such thing as death. He would only move onwards and upwards.
As innocent beings, still blinkered by the Test, Amy could see how leaving them behind was an act of compassion.
‘The mind is a powerful tool capable of anything,’ Amy began, her eyes filling with tears, ‘even blocking all its own power with simple ignorance.’ As she said the words that had never entered her mind before, her old heart gave a pang. Like having a flashback of her old self and feelings, as if the memory of Nevaeh and the Divine Realm were leaving her; she suddenly felt every ounce of their pain.
Before she let it consume her, before her own grief and devastation set in, she turned and walked straight out the door and into Mark’s waiting arms. He pulled her close, kissed her gently on the top of her head and Light-Voided her back home.
Upon landing, although it didn’t ease any of her hurt, Amy stopped a moment just to hug him. It was the worst start to the New Year Amy could possibly think of. She wasn’t looking forward to the rest of it either because, even though she knew it was for their own good, saying goodbye to her family would hurt.
As Mark pulled her closer, she then thought of Tom; he would have to share the same sacrifice. The thought of having to tell him he could never see them again broke her heart. Amy pushed away.
Walking through the Garden of Need, she focussed on her feelings and let out a bright, warm glow from her hands. Mark smiled approvingly. As soon as they entered the home, she went straight to her room to concentrate.
After a couple of hours, the strong feelings subsided into mere flat depression, and she went back to only being able to hold the light for a second.
Amy’s only consolation was Jack. Although she’d still have to be quiet about herself and Tom, she could still be close to him.
For weeks, Amy concentrated all her efforts on her hands but, even concentrating on how much she hated Ethan, she could only hold the light for a f
ew seconds at a time. Amy felt she’d let Adaizi down and the more frustrated she became, the harder it was to hold the light. The sicker her father become, the more depression set in. Watching his fast deterioration, Amy began to feel a real strain.
It was mid-February, even though the doctors had given him six months, when Thomas was admitted to the high dependency unit at the Royal Oldham Hospital. Two weeks later Amy, now a nervous wreck, opened her bedroom door to Mark, who asked in a hushed voice: ‘Do you want me to help you keep the light?’
‘Are you supposed to?’ she asked, taking note of how suspicious he looked.
‘Not really.’ He stepped inside and closed her bedroom door.
Amy realised he was putting himself on the line for her again and sighed. ‘Do you always have to break the rules?’
‘I’m only bending the rules, this time!’
Amy smiled. ‘Alright.’
‘I don’t know why you’re smiling,’ Mark goaded. ‘You’ll never be able to protect Tom. You can’t even muster a little sparkle!’
‘What?’ Amy’s eyebrows shot upward.
‘Adaizi agrees with me too,’ he added, his expression hard.
‘Why?’ Amy asked, her eyes reddening with rage.
‘It’s hopeless,’ he said coldly. ‘We appreciate you want to protect Tom, but come on, you clearly—’
‘Hey!’ she screamed, white flames bursting from her palms. She stared in wonder as they flickered and sparked around her hands. ‘Haha!’ she bawled, overwhelmed with her ability.
‘There’s a lot of fire in you, Amy,’ Mark said. ‘You can use your will to summon the light, then your love to heal.’
Amy then looked at him sadly. ‘You didn’t mean what you said, did you?’ Her light faded as she spoke.
He pulled her in to a tight embrace. ‘You know I didn’t! I’m behind you one hundred percent.’
‘Thank you,’ Amy said, needing his comfort like a bitter apple needed to be covered in chocolate.
‘You need to try and feel something like that on your own, though. Once you can hold the feeling, you’ll have the fuel you need to dispel things.’
The Guardian's Protector: The Chamber of Souls Page 28
