Ascension Discovery

by Amy Proebstel

  “A healer used mine.”

  Debbon nodded and pointed to the next woman and received the same reply. The third woman indicated she had accessed it on a patient quite by accident. Debbon smiled at the woman and said, “That’s usually the case, but it’s never forgotten, is it?”

  The third woman nodded emphatically as all of the other students stared at her in wonder. They were all slightly jealous because she had already used this part of the training and they knew she would have an easier time with it.

  Debbon decided when the actual training began he would have her go first so she could be dismissed. It would not do for her to watch the struggles of the other students. This was not meant to be a competition, but, somehow, it usually ended up becoming one. He looked over toward Rasa and noticed a very strange expression on her face and wondered what it could mean. He could not dwell on the matter right now as he had to explain the purpose and function of the life-line.

  “Each person is born in Tuala and establishes a connection to the elemental energy of the world when they receive their birth crystal. The service which you will perform to assign the crystal is the one which ties the person to the energy. It is very important to take the ritual seriously as the connection with the elemy is one which cannot be redone if it’s not performed correctly in the first place.”

  Debbon saw several women in the classroom nodding seriously. He wondered if they knew people who had had bad experiences with the crystal ceremony. He made a note to have private discussions with those women to see if any help might be had for the people they knew. The connection would never be made perfect once it was botched, but it could be improved. Every person had the right to use the elemental energy freely, and he wanted each person to have equal opportunity.

  “The life-line is a direct connection with a person’s soul and his or her ability to tap into the elemy. Since each person discovers a unique method to access the power, there are innumerable ways a life-line can be established. It is your duty as a wise-woman to be able to gain entry to their connection in order to deliver assistance to the patient. The more skilled you become at finding their link quickly, the more patients who will seek out your particular services.

  “Since each patient will only need you when there is a problem, some of which can be life-threatening, your speed will be key in easing their pains and possibly saving their lives. The easiest life-line to find will be your own. We are going to spend a few minutes right now where you are going to access the elemy and then trace the link from the source into the core of your own being. This is not something which can be rushed so don’t feel bad if you take longer than someone else in the room. I shouldn’t have to remind any of you, learning the art of healing is not a competition, it’s a collaboration.

  “Once you have found your own life-line, then turn to your neighbor on your right and try to find theirs. If you are at the end of the row, then I want you to find the person’s directly in front of you. Rasa, since you are at the end of the front row, I want you to find my own life-line once you’ve found yours.”

  Rasa seemed surprised to be called out in such a fashion. After the initial shock had worn off, she seemed hesitant to want to link with him. Of course, Rasa had no way of knowing that he already knew about her parentage. Her link would probably be different than everyone else’s, and he was curious to feel her mental touch to see how it differed. He smiled reassuringly at her even as he instructed them to begin the exercise.

  Debbon could feel the increase of energy in the room until it became a palpable buzz which left the hair on his arms standing. He relished in the feeling of the power and eagerly watched the faces of his students as they traced their own power. The third student suddenly gasped as she found her core. Her eyes regained focus, and she smiled up at Debbon as understanding formed in her mind. He nodded encouragement at her and then gestured for her to turn to the student next to her to complete the exercise.

  Surprisingly Rasa was the next to indicate she had succeeded. Debbon had to keep the surprised expression from his face. For some reason, he had entertained the notion she would have trouble with this exercise, yet he should have known a woman with her skill to learn advanced techniques from Jehoban would probably have an innate ability to access a life-line. He crooked his finger at her to let her know she should come over to sit up front to try to locate his own life-line.

  Once again he saw her hesitation and chose to ignore it. She got up from her seat and slowly advanced across the room until she was at his desk. He stood up from his chair and said, “Go ahead and sit down here, I’ll sit on the edge of the desk and monitor the class while you continue to practice on myself.” He sat in front of her so she would have relative privacy from the other students. A moment later he felt a powerful surge of energy entering his mind. It took all of his skill to keep his mind relaxed from the onslaught as he could feel her searching. Other students had used him before, yet this was definitely a different experience which made him even more pleased Rasa had picked the seat she had that day. He had to keep from pushing her in the right direction; he wanted her to succeed in her own right since she would never build confidence in herself until she could do it on her own.

  Finally, Debbon could feel she had touched the right spot in his mind. He could feel his student’s satisfaction when she had achieved the goal. Her potent mind moved hastily away from his own leaving him once again alone but wishing he could repeat the exercise to feel her amazing power again. Surprisingly it was more captivating to him than teaching Jena had been. Finally, he fully understood why Jehoban had kept her so long!

  “Thank you, Rasa, you may return to your seat.” Debbon turned back to the class and watched as Rasa rushed back to her seat, seemingly relieved to have the task concluded. He had considered talking with her about his knowledge of her, however then he would potentially have to explain how he had come to find out and he was not ready to divulge the information anytime soon. No, he would keep his own counsel since her connection with Jehoban was too close for him to feel comfortable.

  Debbon’s opinion of Rasa’s prospects in healing shifted dramatically from her competent demonstration with him. Maybe there was a chance Rasa would make a good healer after all. She certainly seemed able to learn whatever he asked of her. He still wished he knew the reason Jehoban had decided she needed this training after all this time.

  Suddenly a thought struck him, Jehoban was planning on promoting her to Elder status. It all made sense! An Elder had to be skilled in all things in order to be an effective leader. This was the last thing she needed to allow her to be elevated. Just as soon as he had convinced himself of this answer he dismissed it; women did not become Elders. There was no way she would ever be accepted by the Council of Elders, not to mention the fact that she did not have anyone to become the successor for, as was the custom.

  His thoughts turned to all of the Elders, none of which would stand down anytime soon. Was Jehoban going to take someone down or was he going to create a new location for Rasa to be in charge of? Was he supposed to keep this knowledge to himself or should he call together the Council of Elders to discuss the implications?

  He had to chuckle at his own audacity; if Jehoban wanted this then who was he to argue against it. Jehoban always wanted the best for His children, and he was going to enjoy seeing how this all unfolded. The other Elders would be up in arms about the new situation, and he would be calm knowing what he knew about Rasa. He was almost re-convinced of Rasa’s future, yet only time would tell.

  This new idea had distracted him for several minutes causing him to miss many of his students achieving their newest level. Putting Rasa’s possible future out of his mind, he refocused on the remaining students in the class. He could see nearly half of the women had found their own life-line and had turned to their neighbor to find theirs. He mentally noted the students who were still working on finding their own to see if there would be any way to help them along later. This skill was paramo
unt to their success, and nobody would be moving past this level until the entire class succeeded.

  The three students with previous encounters soon finished, just as he had expected. He walked over to each pair of students who had finished and quietly told them they were excused for the rest of the day. Rasa seemed relieved to have this over with and could not exit the room fast enough. Debbon smiled at her quick retreat, more than a little grateful to have her distracting power leave the room so he could concentrate on the struggling students. There were only eight students remaining, and they were all still working on their own life-line.

  “Okay, students, please stop for right now, so you don’t tire yourselves out unnecessarily.” He saw them all come back to awareness and look around the room in surprise because most of their classmates were missing.

  “Don’t worry about the others; this step is important, so I’m going to give you additional lessons which they won’t have to make you even stronger when you finally succeed.” He could see several students smiling at this newfound advantage. Debbon could not implicitly vouch for the accuracy of his last statement, but if they believed it, then it would enhance their efficiency as well as bolster their flagging confidence.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Chelesa missed her husband more than she ever had before. Having a second child was a blessing and a curse as it created twice as much work and distraction. She loved having Jena and was grateful the little girl had learned to curb her raw power. She was actually a joy to hold now since she no longer unintentionally caused physical discomfort.

  As a mother, she could see Willian was jealous of his betrothed which was unacceptable and would have to be addressed soon. She tried her best to give Willian just as much attention as she had before Jena came into the picture, but it was hard to keep Willian from seeing her pleased smiles at Jena’s progress with her husband’s expert instruction.

  She planned to take the day off so the three of them could get outside and enjoy playing in the park. It had been a long time since they had just been together without any distractions of business getting in the way. She had instructed all of her staff to give them privacy and to keep any petitioners from knowing where they were headed. Her mission for the day was only to be a devoted mother.

  Putting her plan into action, she picked up Willian and held him close to her side and then she pushed the stroller containing Jena in front of her. She wanted to maintain physical contact with Willian to make him feel more wanted than Jena until he was old enough to understand she had enough love for both of them equally. A family was never supposed to be a competition for the parents’ limitless love, but Willian was still too young to appreciate the concept.

  The day was sunny and beautiful, and Chelesa was looking forward to a peaceful and relaxing day away from work. Willian spent the entire walk looking behind her, but she just thought he did not want to see the stroller being pushed in front of them. Jena maintained a constant dialogue with her ‘other self’ as she always called her imaginary friend. Chelesa exalted at the tranquility of her family.

  The park was usually quiet at this time of day since most children were either in school or taking their naps. She chose a spot partially shaded by the trees near the lake. She would be able to see the children playing in the water or on the playground. After setting Willian down and removing Jena from the stroller, she sat down on the bench and said to the children, “Feel free to play with anything which looks fun. When you’re hungry, I have a snack for us all to eat.”

  As usual, the children screamed in jubilation at being free to do whatever came to mind, and they ran toward the swings. Chelesa was thankful to see Willian seemed warmer toward Jena as he lifted her into a swing before hoisting himself up into the swing beside her. They pumped their legs and leaned their bodies backward while gripping the chains with white knuckles as they raced to see who could swing higher. Chelesa kept a close eye on them to see if any intervention would be needed should they lose their grip on the chains. Luckily they tired of the game before any assistance was required, and Willian started to help Jena down when she slipped forward and landed on her own. They raced toward the slide and took turns going down the steep ramp.

  Finally, the children raced back toward Chelesa and demanded food. Just as she had planned, their hunger forced them to take a break. She already had the food set out on the picnic table at which she had seated herself. The kids eagerly grabbed sandwiches and ate quietly.

  Everything was peaceful until Willian asked, “Why are those men watching us, Mommy?”

  Alarmed, Chelesa looked around surreptitiously and discovered at least six men surrounding the park who did not have any reason to be there which she could identify. Not wanting the children to do anything out of the ordinary Chelesa shrugged her shoulders and answered calmly, “They probably work in the park. Who’s ready to go to the marketplace and get some ice cream?”

  Just as she had planned, the children eagerly nodded their heads to declare their readiness. She packed up the remnants of their meal and settled Jena back into the stroller. Picking up Willian, she again glanced around to see if the men had moved any closer. One or two of them seemed to be advancing so Chelesa hurriedly left the park to get to a location where there would be people to come to her rescue should it be required. She accessed her crystal’s power to be ready in an instant but maintained her calm exterior for the children’s sake.

  The men did not seem inclined to follow them to the marketplace, and Chelesa relaxed marginally. She did maintain a vigil for any other suspicious people watching them. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary as they stopped and bought ice cream for everyone at the refreshment stall. Her peaceful day was ruined, but she was going to make certain her children still had a pleasant day.

  They walked around the marketplace, viewing the different wares of the vendors. Chelesa knew it was probably more to ease her guilty conscience more than anything; however, she eagerly bought the few items in which the children expressed an interest. Her mind was furiously attempting to discern the intentions of the men in the park, deciding whether or not she ought to mention something to Debbon about it. After quite a bit of thought, she concluded she must have been mistaken and Debbon would only worry about her for nothing.

  After all, he had said this class was making good progress. Maybe he would return home within a mesan or so. She would just keep her guard up until then. Really, what could go wrong? She was the wife of a powerful member of society, and nobody would even dream of hurting her or her family.

  With her newfound confidence, she turned the stroller toward home and set an easy pace. The afternoon was warm, and she set Willian down to walk on his own. She held his hand and had the other resting lightly on the stroller. Without any warning a burly man emerged from the crowd ahead of them and ran right into Willian, knocking the stunned little boy to the ground.

  Chelesa immediately activated a protective shield around the three of them as she bent down to pick up the now-crying child. She held him close and told him everything would be okay. She looked around to see if she could find the man to make him apologize, but he was nowhere to be seen. Not wanting to have any further incidents happen, she kept the shield in place and rushed the rest of the way home.

  Only after she was inside her own house did she begin to feel safe again. The nursemaid met them at the door, and Chelesa gladly relinquished both children so she could go into her office and have a small meltdown in private.

  She had never before been scared for her children, but today everything had changed. Something had been different, forcing her to rely more on her instincts on the matter. She needed to figure out what was going on, preferably before Debbon got home since she could just imagine his wrath if someone tried to hurt his family.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Petre sat motionlessly in his cabin, his water craft drifting with the swells in the middle of the ocean. The crystal skull presented itself like an altar resting on the table in front
of him keeping him mesmerized. Time had no meaning while the skull was exposed to his view. He had no idea he had spent more than three days entranced by the powerful pull of the crystal. Suddenly the crystal released its hold on Petre, and his exhausted body slumped forward, asleep before his head thumped down unresisting to rest on the table.

  Chapter Fifteen

  DR. MEDIN SPOKE up at the beginning of the meeting, “I feel we have made some definite progress. Amanda has started to integrate herself into the society by getting a job and meeting new people.”

  “Yes, and she’s also feeling more empowered since she has learned how to use the powers of the crystal. It’s also interesting that her inner child is also becoming empowered.” Dr. Gascon read through the accounts of Juila learning to use her skills.

  Jasmine was frustrated that Dr. Gascon refused to believe Amanda may have actually had a child as he insisted on referring to Juila as Amanda’s inner child. The more details she heard about Amanda’s story, the more convinced she became that she had somehow experienced living with these people during the fourteen months she had been missing. Dr. Gascon insisted everything Amanda spoke of related in some way back to the disappearance of her fiancé, Nealand Taivas.

  She understood his one-track mind on locating the missing son of the ultra-rich family. Before entering Dr. Gascon’s office, she had overheard him speaking on the phone. Apparently, the Taivas family had set a time limit for Dr. Gascon to give them results with Amanda or else they would be withdrawing both their finder’s fee bonus as well as their annual contribution to the Cannon Memorial Asylum. Jasmine heard them reminding Dr. Gascon of the three-week deadline. Amanda had been hospitalized for fifteen days.