Rhuna- New Horizons

by Barbara Underwood

  “Indeed, it is I!” Rhuna sensed laughter and shuddered. “How delighted I am to encounter you here once again,” “Are you inquiring of my welfare? Perhaps anxious that I, that is to say, My Ethereal and Eternal Consciousness, may not survive without my servants?”

  “You know what Damell and I were discussing earlier…” Rhuna said in awe.

  “Of course I know. I know everything!” he laughed. As his coarse laughter echoed around Rhuna, his presence abruptly vanished from The Infinite. She explored her surroundings further, but sensed only the usual vague images, as if floating through clouds and thick fog.

  “He was there, and he knew what we had just been talking about!” Rhuna told her father as soon as she had willed her Extended Consciousness to return to her body.

  “It is almost impossible to hide anything from him while he is active in The Infinite,” Damell replied nodding. He sat upright from his prone position where he had also released his Extended Consciousness.

  “He is growing stronger, rather than weakening, and no doubt this is due to his servants in Varappa. Did you observe them?”

  Rhuna told him she only observed Judharo and a nearby settlement, admiring them from above, like a bird.

  “That is good,” Damell said absently. “Next time, explore the people, the ones active in the night and moving stealthily in secret places,” he told her.

  Rhuna felt a cold shiver down her back as she remembered discovering the Dark Ones moving around in the night, doing terrible things to the people of Safu. Despite the prickle of fear, she told her father that she would try to find them with her Extended Consciousness.

  “Are they doing the same things as his followers did in Safu?” she asked Damell.

  “No, not at all,” he answered firmly. “Their activity appears to have no purpose, no consistency, nor similarity to any other activities by these secretive ones,” he explained. “Perhaps more time than I am able to expend shall be required to fully comprehend their activities,” he said with a sigh.

  Rhuna suppressed her uneasy feelings over the Dark Master’s followers in Varappa, and let the sea voyage distract her as much as possible. Shandi demanded extra attention because the new surroundings made her especially lively and excitable, and Aradin began recounting his childhood memories of Varappa.

  The weather was mild and calm most days, and when the currents caused a bigger swell, or the breeze turned into a wind which chopped the waves, Rhuna sat near the front of the ship letting the salty sea-spray pepper her face. She imaged she was riding a giant sea creature bouncing over and through the large swells of water.

  Rhuna soon tired of counting each day, and the experience of being confined to a ship on an endless expanse of water gave her a feeling of being detached from the real world. At times, she even likened the feeling to being in The Infinite.

  Most days, Rhuna enjoyed the games both crew and passengers played, after the daily chores around personal chambers and meal times were done. She learned the games of the crew, and other times played familiar games from Safu with Aradin while Shandi sat and played nearby. Rhuna noticed that she did not see the Commander often, and she wondered what he did in the privacy of his chambers.

  “The Commander only comes out to socialize now and then,” Namzu Toma said when Rhuna commented on the Commander’s absence from the games and activities on deck.

  Rhuna had observed Namzu Toma direct duties such as the maintenance of the ship, its ropes, sails and decks, the cleaning, the catching of all kinds of sea food and even the preparation of the sea food.

  “You do all the hard work, it seems,” Aradin said to the burly man.

  “Idleness does not belong aboard a ship such as this,” he answered adamantly.

  “Unless you’re the Commander,” Rhuna said.

  Namzu Toma threw her a fiery glare and then looked away again. “It was not always so,” he said gruffly as he lifted a sack from the floor of the deck.

  “You mean the Commander was once also just a hard-working crew member or Deputy?” Aradin asked.

  “Namzu Toma appeared to be very uncomfortable with the conversation, and made another attempt to leave them.

  “I mean…he was once a hard-working Commander…” the Deputy sighed with a groan of reluctance. “…before the accident…” he added, and then abruptly walked away.

  Rhuna began to enjoy the smells and sounds of the ship, especially the flap and whip of the sails, and the creak of the rudder. She soon became accustomed to the constant movement beneath her feet, and began to enjoy the sensation of continual movement.

  One fine day, as Rhuna stepped out onto the deck again, she saw Namzu Toma attending to some provisions nearby as the Commander stepped towards him.

  “Hey! Frog Face, come here!” hissed the Commander. Rhuna was taken aback by the hostility in his voice, and for a moment she feared an altercation between the two men. Namzu Toma stood erect and rigidly turned towards the Commander, pressing his lips together as if to suppress his displeasure.

  Rhuna quickly continued on her way towards the others who were huddled together in the far corner of the outdoor deck and sat down at a discreet distance. Progress of the Wind and Charmer of Snakes watched as Seeker of Knowledge removed something from her drawstring bag and placed it on the floor in front of her.

  Rhuna also watched and could barely take her eyes from the large object which looked like a piece of ice that had been worked with a stone chisel. Its appearance was of translucent matter with hard surfaces and edges, and it appeared to absorb the colours around it.

  “Is that a crystal?” asked Rhuna, surprised.

  “A special crystal,” replied Seeker of Knowledge. “It absorbs the energy of the sun and emits it later, when needed. This is my only light when I retire to my private chamber,” she explained.

  Rhuna said that she had never seen such an extraordinary crystal before.

  “Call me Yarqi,” she said abruptly. “Make the sound of a soft ‘k’ followed by ‘v-w-h-h-i-i,” she articulated, then looked at Rhuna expectantly.

  “Yarq-v-w-h-i,” Rhuna repeated carefully, anxious to please the enigmatic woman.

  “Good,” she said, returning her attention to the crystal.

  “Where are you from?” Rhuna asked, hoping to make pleasant conversation. When she didn’t respond directly, Rhuna added, “Your name is unusual – and beautiful – and so I just wondered where it’s from,” she explained.

  “From a land that no longer exists,” she replied after a while,

  “I am of a lost people…a people of conjurers,” she said quietly, staring down at the crystal.

  “Conjurers?” Rhuna remembered that she had used this word once before, after Goram performed his great feat to save the Atlans from the Ubanti soldiers in the wilderness.

  Rhuna left the group and walked up the steps towards her father’s private chamber, caressing the smooth curves of the wooden balustrade as she ascended. When she reached the top level, she was surprised to see Possessor of Discernment reclining on the small outdoor area.

  “Are you not well?” Rhuna asked with alarm as she watched the old man’s slow movements.

  “Merely exhausted,” the white-headed Atlan answered. “The sunshine and sea air revive me,” he said as he took a deep breath and smiled.

  Rhuna continued towards the door of her father’s private chamber and saw that it was slightly ajar.

  “You knew I was coming,” stated Rhuna as she entered and saw her father seated in the position for releasing his Extended Consciousness. Damell smiled and nodded.

  “That’s why Possessor of Discernment is resting outside,” Rhuna concluded.

  “Yes. In fact, I have revealed to him the nature of our activities in the privacy of this chamber,” Damell answered. Rhuna thought about the extensive secret knowledge the old man already possessed, and then wondered whether he had revealed those secrets of the Pyramids to Damell.

  “Let us practice,” Damell sai
d simply, and Rhuna quickly positioned herself to prepare for a deep and intense session of Inside Focussing. “Recall the breathing technique I taught you earlier,” he instructed.

  After stilling her mind and breathing in energizing air, Rhuna felt ready to release her Extended Consciousness. The sensation of floating quickly followed the initial moment of disorientation, and soon Rhuna sensed her surroundings, perceiving sights, sounds and smells more poignantly than in her physical body.

  She willed her Extended Consciousness to move downwards through the levels of the ship until she saw Shandi sleeping in her cot while Panapu faithfully sat nearby, watching over her.

  Rhuna remembered her curiosity over the Commander’s absence from the outdoor deck and social areas of the ship during long periods of the day, and decided to observe him in his private chamber. She willed her Extended Consciousness to move through the walls and into the Commander’s chamber, where the scene that confronted her would have made her gasp loudly if she were in her physical body.

  Rhuna perceived the five female crew who prepared and served food for them all now in a state of undress, some sensually writhing on the cushioned floor and two others giving pleasure to the naked Commander. She assimilated everything her senses conveyed to her, and when it became overwhelming, she quickly returned to her body.

  “Oh!” she sighed, as she raised herself from the cushions. A moment later she saw Damell also raise his head to look at her.

  “The Commander…” Rhuna began. “And the female crew, in his private chambers.”

  “An orgy?” asked Damell, raising an eyebrow. Rhuna nodded.

  “I’ve disliked – even detested – that man from the moment we came on board,” Rhuna said with vehemence.

  “He is an obnoxious and crude fellow, I agree,” answered Damell absently as he opened a pouch of seeds and nuts. “Yet he is our savior from the wilderness, our host and provider, so we shall tolerate his sordid nature.”

  After partaking of fresh water and nuts, Rhuna reclined and continued her practice of releasing her Extended Consciousness into the various planes of The Infinite. This time, when her Extended Consciousness had risen with ease from her relaxed body, Rhuna willed it to seek out Yarqi in her storage room chamber on a lower deck. She felt only the slightest disorientation when her Extended Consciousness passed through a wall, or hovered to view people and places from above.

  Rhuna recognized the clear light emanating from Yarqi’s special crystal, and guided her Consciousness towards it, through the closed door and just above the floor in front of Yarqi.

  Rhuna watched as the woman took out a small item from a pouch in the front of her robe dress, and then hold it up in front of her face. It was a finely-sculpted metal object hanging from a length of string, and when it had stopped moving, Yarqi began to mumble words under her breath.

  Rhuna heard the words being repeated, like a chant or a question, and suddenly the metal object began to swing from side to side. This continued until the woman spoke other words in the same mumbling fashion, and then watched the object swing forward and backward.

  “Ah-ha,” said Yarqi, startling Rhuna. A brief moment of confusion ensued as Rhuna wondered whether she had been so distracted by the swinging object that she had become visible to Yarqi, but then remembered that this was not possible.

  Rhuna realized that Seeker of Knowledge had responded to the swinging object, and that it had revealed some knowledge to her by the manner of its movements.

  Suddenly excited and awed, Rhuna willed her Extended Consciousness to return to her body so that she could tell her father what she had observed.

  “It is a pendulum,” Damell answered with a frown.

  “Is it good or bad?” Rhuna asked, and then realized that her question sounded childish.

  “Nothing is good or bad,” Damell replied.

  “It is how you use it. Yes, I know, Father,” Rhuna said nodding.

  “It is effective, yet very primitive due to the limited nature of questions one can ask. Our method of acquiring knowledge from The Infinite is far superior, enabling us to intervene and interact with the matter in The Infinite.”

  Rhuna recalled the instances she altered the ethereal substance in The Infinite with her power of imagination and visualization to affect what happened in the physical world, each time protecting Lozira from harm on her journey to Safu.

  Rhuna found it increasingly difficult to concentrate during the sea voyage, as if the rhythmic movements of the ship lulled her into a strange kind of stupor. She observed the general idleness displayed by Aradin, Lozira and some of the others on board and surmised that it was a natural consequence of a long journey over water in very warm climates.

  The constant sea breeze on the outdoor deck refreshed Rhuna on the humid days, and she often sat on wooden crates to look out at the water or at times a distant shoreline on the horizon. She often watched the crew going about their daily chores, catching fish and other sea creatures Rhuna had never seen before.

  “We are heading out into open ocean,” explained one of the men whose name Rhuna overheard was Berk. “Better fish in deep water!”

  Rhuna noticed that the second man exuded a strong smell, which Rhuna deduced was a mixture of a smoking herb and a pungent beverage many of the crew appeared to favour. The smelly man removed his personal stash of intoxicating beverage from a bag at his feet, and Rhuna recoiled instinctively.

  “Atlans do not partake of intoxicating beverages,” she told him.

  “But you are not pure Atlan, are you?” teased the man called Berk. Rhuna explained that she was only half Atlan, and that she grew up on the small and distant island of Chinza.

  “My husband is also half Atlan, and he grew up in Varappa,” she explained. “Whereabouts in Varappa are you from?” she asked the men as they settled into comfortable seating positions.

  “I am from Suchinda and he is from Judharo, and he is therefore my enemy!” chuckled Berk as he gestured towards Namzu Toma.

  “What do you mean, your enemy?” Rhuna asked puzzled. Namzu Toma turned around to answer Rhuna’s question.

  “The two cities – each one rivalling the other in splendor and luxury, yet the people of each city are like night and day.”

  Rhuna suddenly remembered what she had seen in the Infinite, people appearing like dark blobs, while in the other city they appeared bright, translucent.

  “The people of Suchinda work actively to preserve the old Atlan ways,” Namzu Toma explained.

  “And in my city, Judharo, they have progressed many generations already, freeing themselves from outdated traditions and beliefs,” Berk said proudly.

  “Yet look at the results!” protested Namzu Toma. “Complete chaos everywhere, for lack of a Council or body of leaders to give guidance and set rules.”

  “That is precisely what we have freed ourselves from – those rules and so-called guidance! We have matured into a highly advanced, intelligent people who do not need anyone ‘guiding’ them or setting boundaries and rules. We are advanced enough to make decisions ourselves – this is the real freedom that comes with enlightenment!”

  “Pah! You have twisted around the true meaning of enlightenment which the First Atlans taught!” argued Namzu Toma, his voice becoming rough and loud.

  “Pay no attention to those two,” said the smelly man. “There are many other beautiful settlements in Varappa where people don’t care about these issues and simply live happily,” he said.

  Rhuna was still thinking about the two cities Namzu Toma and Berk had discussed when she saw Yarqi beckoning her towards the private chambers. Rhuna hesitated at the threshold of the chamber where the Dark Master’s followers were gathered.

  “You are invited,” said Yarqi bluntly. “The Master requested your presence, since you have encountered him several times already,” she explained. Rhuna felt shocked by her knowledge of things she believed to be secret.

  “Actually, I never met him,” Rhuna said, trying
to dismiss Yarqi’s words.

  “Not in a physical sense, no,” Yarqi answered absently.

  “We have experimented and found new, better ways to summon visions, and as the Master’s ethereal being is in The Infinite and no longer a physical body that speaks, we have had to find other ways to communicate with him.”

  “How have you been communicating with him?” Rhuna asked, hearing a slight tremor in her voice.

  “We use mirrors to enhance our ability to fall into a trance,” replied Charmer of Snakes promptly.

  “Trance,” repeated Rhuna, recalling the event she first heard the word. “When Beacon of the Night summoned the lunar and earth energies at the confluence to harness and project into the clay figures of the Ubanti Army…” Rhuna recalled.

  “The state of the trance enables us to focus deeper, concentrated mental energy towards the object we wish to affect or influence,” Charmer of Snakes continued with a nod and lopsided smile.

  “So you communicate with the Dark Master when you are in this trance state?” Rhuna asked, trying to imagine how accurate the exchange of words would be.

  “Yes, although at times the messages are unclear, I must admit,” interrupted Progress of the Wind, answering Rhuna’s unsaid question.

  Rhuna felt her skin prickle at the thought of the Dark Master and some of his followers whom she had observed in Safu, killing animals and having no regard for human life either. .

  “Let me show you how I ask the Master questions,” she whispered huskily, and removed a draw-string pouch from her robe. Rhuna recognized the pouch from her Extended Consciousness visit to Yarqi’s dark and private chamber.

  “What is that?” asked Charmer of Snakes, eyes agog.

  “A pendulum,” Yarqi answered. “It is a means of inquiring of The Infinite,” she said. “…or of a certain individual in The Infinite,” she added and then looked at everyone for their reaction.

  Rhuna pretended not to have any knowledge of the pendulum, and simply stared at it, waiting to see what it would do.

  “Hold it thus,” Yarqi slowly continued, holding the steady gaze of everyone seated around her. She held the pendulum by the end of the twine, about the length of a man’s hand, and then rested her elbow on the low table in front of them. She waited until the pendulum stopped moving, and then breathed in slowly.