A/N: My deepest gratitude to TwiliteAddict and Gasaway Alley for your editing skills and suggestions.
Okay folks, away we go- dropping in on Eleazar and his progress as he makes his way to the wedding.
Wadjet guided us through the leyline travel network to Denali at a rate that would have broken sound barriers had we been travelling on the material plane. The metaphysical wonders of our reality would never cease to amaze me.
Yet, I couldn't completely let go, and marvel at the wonders I was experiencing. I was weighed down with worry for my Carmen, and I prayed she was safe with family, enjoying Isabella and Edward's wedding. In my heart I knew Sulpicia could not be far behind. If she wasn't there already.
My pilot broke through my grim, anxious thoughts and announced calmly, "The exit portal is right ahead. We are lucky your friends live so close to Mount Denadhe."
"Don't you mean Denali?"I corrected her.
If snakes could sniff in repudiation, I'm sure she just did so telepathically. "Granted, Denali is a far better name than McKinley, but this Great Mountain has many names. Most of them forgotten. Denadhe is also known as The Father and is one of Earth's Crown Chakra points. It isssss a very sssssacred nodal in the leyline grid."
Concerned I had insulted her in some fashion, I told her the truth as I knew it,. "Forgive me, Wadjet, if I have offended you. I am new to this mode of travelling through nodal points, in fact, I didn't even know they existed. . As long as we can reach my family before Sulpicia, and don't have to squeeze through a drinking fountain to go topside, I'm good."
"It'ssss not the entry I'm worried so much about as it is the welcome..."
"What do you mean, 'the welcome'? Wadjet! Who is on the other side of this portal?"
"A mighty Ssspirit Warrior. He has something we need, so be polite."
"Need? What could we possibly need?"
"Courage. And pretty much everything elsssse needed for a war. Now, hold on!"
I could feel the pressure building around us and then the familiar "popping through" sensation as we were spat out of the astral plane into a dark, cold cavern. We emerged from a shallow niche carved into the North-facing wall. "Mind the skulls," Wadjet warned.
I picked my way carefully over crudely decorated animal skulls, arranged with reverence upon the stone altar in front of the niche. A few of them appeared to be some sort of large bear, surrounded by handmade pouches of leather stuffed with tobacco or flowers and herbs - the offerings from generations upon generations of Shamans making pilgrimage.
Moonlight shone through the cave opening, gently bathing the items with her ghostly light. I had no doubt the placement of the niche was purposeful, meant to baptize the holy items in the mothering light of the moon. I didn't have much time to investigate the ages old altar as our welcoming committee was stirring.
Ferocious growls rumbled along the walls in warning, and they were about as far from welcoming as you could get. Wadjet, seemingly as impervious as I was to the brisk temperatures of our environment, swayed into a standing position, testing the air with her tongue before calling out in her telepathic way.
"Sssa, Great Spirit Bear of the North, we are sssorry to disturb your ssseasonal ssslumber."
By now, I had figured out Wadjet's "tell" for fear. Her snaky lisp would surface when she was nervous or uncomfortable.
She certainly had reason for concern…
From the shadows emerged a giant white bear in full standing position, like some nightmarish totem pole. He had to be at least eleven feet tall with paws bigger than my head. The tips of his claws glinted maliciously in the moonlight as black snarling lips pulled back tight to reveal a maw of razor sharp teeth. A great roar of displeasure ripped from him and echoed off the cave walls.
I hoped Wadjet knew what she was irony did not escape me that we came looking for courage, but were now having it challenged. Feeling completely out of my league and desperate to get the hell out of there and down the mountain to Carmen, I stood submissively beside my guide and waited for her cue. Getting mauled by a Spirit Bear would not help us get out of here in a timely manner.
I deferred eye contact to show Sa respect. Seeming to approve, he lowered to all fours. He approached slowly until his large wet nose was practically touching my face. The bear sniffed and snuffled noisily over me and Wadjet from stem to stern before sitting back hard on his haunches with a sigh and a mighty yawn. I was quite confident I'd been given enough perspective of Sa's jaw to know it would be just as deadly as a were's, should he decide to not let us go. Thought the bear seemed more relaxed, I was not so fortunate and jumped when his grizzled, gruff voice sounded in my head;
"This one smells like a Wendigo and...old, forbidden curses." A growl rattled in the great beast's chest. The golden ruff around his neck bristled and his massive head pushed into my chest pocket where I had stored the Djinn. I tried to cloak it from the bear, but it was no use. Before I knew it, Sa had recoiled and snorted like something repulsive had worked its way into his nose."The Forsaken? She is in these lands?"
"Yesssss. She comes not for your people, but her own demise."
"I hear your silver tongue, Serpent, but I can still smell the shit in the woods. She comes not for my people, but for the cursed Djinn in your friend's pocket, reeking of her poisonous dark, magic. I see only one Wendigo warrior before me. I hope you have help at the bottom of this mountain."
"That we do. The Golden Eyed Queen has risen. But we are not the army we thought we would be when this time came, Sa. I come before you to ask for your blessing of Strength and Courage for Eleazar Morales, the last warrior of the OurosBouros, sworn to their final spark of being to protect All from The Forsaken. Please do not keep this sacred Brotherhood of The Source from their oath. The Forsaken shall meet her demise. Ma'at has made her judgement and this circle will be closed."
Something in the hardness of the Bear's eyes relented; an understanding was reached between the two Spirit animals. I felt the tension dissipate from the air immediately, which helped settle the riled up Djinn in my pocket.
"Open your shirt to expose your chest. You are about to receive a gift from the Great and Mighty, Sa." Wadjet broadcasted to me. I considered taking the Djinn's bottle out of my chest pocket, but was moved to leave it there, hoping he could benefit as well from the immense blessing I was about to receive. I could feel the building of something in the room that was beyond my ability to quantify, yet I recognized it as the type of heady power gods could raise since I had been in the presence of one recently.
Ra. Sa.
Hawk. Bear.
The similarity in names and the ability to shape shift into a "Spirit Animal" was too much of a coincidence to ignore. At the very least, it was definitely serendipitous. I marvelled at the subtle ways the gods, guides, and shamans across the globe were connected and yet divided at the same time. Sa was obviously more than a Spirit Warrior. He was a god, for I certainly felt the same outpouring of refined, celestial power as he rose to loom above me like a Giant from the early days of Genesis.
"Yes, Eleazar. We are all connected – gods, humans, animals - all life is connected to life," Sa responded. "Feel the power of that connection and the love and honour you felt towards your fallen Brethren. Those emotions are the ties that bind Spirits to this Material plane of existence."
I began to remember all the wars fought, the brothers lost to battle, the long years of grief and despair as our numbers dwindled and I had gone into hiding as a spy in enemy territory. I thought of Xandru and everything he had lost to become a brother and protect The Source. My useless stone of a heart began to ache with the tsunami of grief building within me.
"I can't. I don't want to remember. It's too much. We've lost so much."
"You have no room for that pain, Eleazar. Don't listen to the fear that grows like a fungus inside you. Give it to me. I will unleash it and fill you with better things. Stronger things."
Standing on his hind legs at his full imposing height, he let loose a deafening bellow, filling the cavern once more with its auditory immensity. Before I realized it, he drew back his arm and slashed at my chest with his razor sharp claws, filling the air with a metallic screech. I looked down in shock at the sizeable scrape he had made, ripped into flesh. A searing heat blazed under the claw marks, then cooled immediately, filling the mark with a pulsing blue light. He had also managed to nick the Djinn's bottle, and the slivered out section filled with the same cerulean glow... I prayed this was a good thing and looked deep within the eyes of Sa, the Spirit Bear, as he blessed me.
"Eleazar Morales, last of the OurosBouros, you bare my mark and carry with you the Courage and Strength of all the warriors who have preceded you.
The blue light strobing within the mark Sa had made quickened, coupling with a tonal frequency which rose higher and higher until I could hear it no longer. My entire body became consumed with an energy beyond any I had ever experienced. Transcendental fire uncoiled from the base of my spine and shot up and through the crown of my head.
The Djinn's bottle in my chest pocket changed from black to red, to purple, and then, for the first time in my tense journey with Benji, he stilled. I reached in and removed his bottle from my pocket, holding it out in the palm of my hand in the off chance he could absorb more of the energy coursing through the room. Wadjet undulated upwards in time with the vibrational pulse, the waves in her serpentine body speeding up to the point they blurred into a straight line, making her appear stick straight and floating in mid air. Instinctually, I reached out and grabbed a hold of her. An energized staff of Light and Power in my right and a bottle of Darkness and Chaos in my left. The Snake, Bear and Djinn all spoke at once.
Thrice blessed.
Earth, Water, Fire.
North, South and West.
The times ahead are dire,
all you love
will be put to the test.
Never fear,
for we are here,
and swear to never rest.
I felt a wash of strength, courage and healing, three sacred blessings from Sa the Spirit Bear, pushed through my body and pinballed around inside me. Eventually the high-pitched humming returned, but it slowed into a heartbeat pulse, vibrating off the cave walls. Bursts of light and reverb base sounds synchronized into a singular tonal frequency, soothing me into a meditative trance.
Wadjet's words resounded in my head, calling me the last of the OurosBouros. Though I was the last, gone was the fear which had me cowering before a god with thoughts of "I can't." Within the confines of my body, I felt the almost limitless strength of legions of OurosBouros warriors. Their unified purpose at the ready should I need them. I clutched at my chest as the courage, will, and bravery of every fallen brother coursed within me, just waiting to be tapped and mobilized. My brothers. They were all with me in this final battle. A vision of Xandru shimmered on the cave wall in front of me, thousands of warriors quickly materializing behind him, bristling and ready.
"What we've lost in body, you've gained in spirit, Eleazar. You are an Army. The Golden Eyed Queen will be well served in you."
Xandru's spectral hand reached out and rested on my shoulder - a move he had made so many times over the centuries we had spent together. With his touch, the riptide of grief that had been threatening to drown me since he crossed over receded with the gravitational pull of his spiritual presence.
Healed by Xandru's touch, and empowering words I felt more than ready to take on The Forsaken and whatever she doled out.
Reading my thoughts easily, the bear grumped, "Good. It was kind of the whole point. Tell me, Eleazar Morales, are you ready to lead this army?" Gesturing towards the spectres on the wall, the entire cavern seemed to hold its breath in anticipation of my answer.
My lips curled. "I was born ready."
In rallying response, the ghostly army of the Brotherhood of the Eternal Return raised their arms and voices in battle cry, and charged right for me. As they flew off the wall, they became smoke, haze, and wild wisps of spirit funnelling into Sa's mark on my chest, drawn like moths to flame.
All the while, my emotions were flooded with feelings of camaraderie and kinship I had not experienced since I had been with these men in body as well as spirit. Gone were the feelings of despair and fear that we were beaten by The Forsaken. The hope surging through me within the spirits of my brethren was so enlivening, I could not help but laugh maniacally with joy right up until the very last spirit entered my body. I was still holding the Djinn's bottle in my left and Wadjet in my right when all three magical beings spoke once more to close off the blessing I had just so graciously received.
When the many
have become One
Your strength and courage
can't be outdone.
Vengeance is the balance struck
with proper care and a bit of luck.
You will have
until the rising sun,
to use this power
on the Forsaken.
As we will
So Mote it Be.
The cave went dark and quiet. Wadjet slithered out of my hand to the ground and bowed her head in gratitude towards the mighty bear. "It has been a long time since we've been blessed with this much advantage in our mission to protect The Source."
"'Tis the least I can do for the Queen of Dreamtime, considering I spend much of my time hibernating. Tell me, Wadjet, is it true she has exiled herself to the Dreamlands...to sleep for eternity?"
The Djinn's bottle rattled and stirred with agitation. Was Benji remembering? Great goddess, I hope so. I tucked the bottle into my coat pocket once more and answered Sa's question. I knew he could be trusted with the information Ra had revealed to me. "Hathor has retreated to the Dreamlands and is in danger of fading completely from this reality."
The bear's eyes became somewhat wistful, seemingly in longing for such a fate. To sleep forever. I worried Sa didn't fully understand the severity of such a fate for all of us should the Source fade from this plane. Sekhmet finding her was not our only problem as Ra had so carefully revealed to me in his pain and agony from keeping his daughter's condition hidden from us for so long.
"If the Source does not awaken and return from her exile, the dreamlands could disappear, Great Sa. I've walked the final bridge to the world she has retreated to and it will burn if we can not defeat Sekhmet and repair the damage her sister has wrought to her heart." I placed my hand over the Djinn's bottle in my chest pocket, referencing his part in the plan.
Sa snorted in derisive response and stretched his arms out with a mighty yawn. "Love has been known to conquer all, but those warriors I attached to your soul will most certainly help."
"Our most humble of thanks, Great Sa. If there is anything we can ever do in return, please do not hesitate to assssk," Wadjet offered.
I quickly gave my own telepathic gushing of gratitude and thanks to which the bear drew up a great paw to hamper the flow.
"You are most welcome, both of you. If you truly want to show your appreciation, you can leave quietly and make sure whatever happens at the bottom of that mountain does not disturb my slumber, as it sounds like I should hibernate while I still can."
With that, the bear lumbered off to the back of the cave where the moon could not reach and the winds could not blow. Wadjet transformed back into a walking stick, which I picked up, before I sped down the mountain with the force of an apocalyptic avalanche, one thought riding the immense swell of spirited and spiritual blessings within me:
"We're coming, Carmen. We're coming."