Thank you readers! I wasn't sure if I'd get enough reviews, but I got five! Here's the promised chapter.
CHAPTER EIGHT
"Sit in a form different than meditation. Then your mind shouldn't confuse the two. Your Soul Chamber is very different from meditation. Meditation can lead you to Zahairen." Nico decided to ignore that. He wasn't doing this to convert, he was doing this to try and help her. He didn't believe in a shred of her religion.
'Try kneeling. That is how everyone back at the city did it. You need to close your eyes and look inside yourself. You will see a mass of colors that bend and shape into strange forms, but beyond that is a circle. Don't hesitate when you enter, you need to burst through, if you don't you will easily be lost in a labyrinth of strange rooms. Try it," she commanded when Nico made no move to attempt it.
Meg watched for a while as she saw him sink into a trance and felt him slide into his soul chamber. Driving away the slight curiosity as to whether or not his Soul Chamber was filled with sin, she skillfully slid into hers to resume her prayers and dutiful working.
Meanwhile Nico was dazedly looking around. A room floored with smooth river stones that soothed his bare feet and walled with books and scrying mirrors, water and all sorts of other things. He sat there to gather his thoughts for a long time asking himself what to do. And he got an answer from himself.
'Find out about her soul chamber.'
Nico raced back out of the sphere and into the mortal world. Watching Meg in her trance he saw again her magic flaring and - dimming! Reaching out Nico stopped himself just in time. He had promised to respect her religious beliefs and in doing so would not touch her. Instead he turned away and began to speak, hoping to wake her with the sound of his voice alone.
"So, a Soul Chamber is where you go to speak with Maherk?"
Her soft voice sounded tired as it responded behind him. "Yes."
"You had mentioned earlier that you were changing yours? How do you do that?"
"It, it is slightly odd. I had never heard of changing a Soul Chamber before. But then again, I had never asked because I did not know the great sins and lies that lived in mine. To get rid of light I must embrace it into my self. Then it is as if a, a- well it is like a thick string appears in my eyesight. I can then sever it. But it takes much concentration because it gets even thicker as I try to break it. And when I am done there is a pounding ache in the middle of my brain. Once the 'thread' is severed the light disappears."
"NICO!" shouted Briar from downstairs. Nico held back a sigh of relief for such great timing on Briar's behalf as he said his thanks and temporary good-byes to Meg.
So, she was destroying light in her soul chamber and that was why she was feeling so bad. Nico had been sure that she had been feeling horrible because of her magic dying. This was getting more and more confusing with every new thing that he learned. Perhaps answers would become clearer after a good nights rest. But first- Briar had something to talk to him about.
Downstairs Briar was sitting beside the fire with Sandry and Lark sewing nearby. "Nico," it was not Briar that spoke, but a quiet Lark, looking up from her thread work. "The messengers come in great haste. They all call for you to go quickly to the seaside temple of Kianna, Goddess of the Seas. They all bring word of great trouble."
""I am in the midst of an important discovery!" Nico complained, but asked all the same; "Do you know what is happening at the temple?"
"No messenger knows more than that. I am worried. Master Hianola himself begs your attendance. And Hianola never begs."
"Yes, well then," said Nico, suddenly absent minded. "I will go pack and be off before the quarter hour chimes."
Sandry looked worriedly at her teacher. "What do you think is wrong?"
"I don't know. But what ever it is, we'll know soon enough."