An excerpt from an upcoming novel….
According to Google maps the mass of trees should not have been there, smack dab in the middle of a barren desert, close enough to see the glow of Las Vegas debauchery, yet there it was, out of place. Jasmine had learned that unnatural things often meant magick was afoot. So off she went, venturing her way through the dense and moist foliage thick from years of growth.
Uncertain of the hours she passed walking, her body ached, the blisters rubbed painfully in her boots, but she refused to slow or resign. She had come too far in this world, no longer willing to cling to the bland and safe existence she had lived until a few short weeks ago, when she first learned the signs of magick, The air of this impossible forest made her certain a witch or something greater must be near, so despite the pain, she pressed on.
Faint blue lights streaked through holes in tightly packed greenery. Hacking at the shrubbery to augment the spaces, she finally saw it. A flat opening surrounded by massive trees bending over a small unassuming house nestled in the center. It was quaint and somewhat square, covered in large gray rocks and pebbles stacked crookedly forming an imperfect but enchanting house with a thatched roof and chimney peeking out above. It was the quintessential witch’s house.
The blue glow came from luminous apparitions in the sky, floating and flying around the dwelling; one to the chimney, a few to the windows, soaring in a circular pattern flowing synchronously like a school of fish working together in majestic harmony, and It was hypnotic.
Jasmine found her body swaying with the rhythm of the specters, hearing, and feeling a soothing musical hum of connectivity. An invisible string was tugging from her core, trying to lift her from the ground, singing directly to her essence.
Fear prickled her skin urging her to fight, to remain tethered to the earth. She physically reached out to grip the thick branches nearby in a vain attempt to hold on to terra firma. The sound of the musical humming grew more intense, drawing Jasmine’s focus back to the swirling luminescence, as the apparitions sped up melting into a smooth glass-like forcefield surrounding the building protectively. The spectacular sight intensified the pull towards it, luring her in with its siren song.
She felt a part of her flying, watching the entire scene from above. Her spirit abandoning her to join the dance. It could look down and see there was desolate land, a moat of cracked dirt surrounding the lush forest of trees, the crooked stony house in the center of the opening, the pale blue dome of light, containing symbols burned into every surface of the building; various runes and pictograms from multiple cultures; Nordic runes, Egyptian hieroglyphs, and so many others she couldn’t identify. They sang to her, tempting her body to join her spirit, and release herself completely.
Fizzling and crackling, the dome lost its smoothness, evaporating into the space above as if was never there.
Her spirit crashed down to earth. She was breathless and alone, the forest eerily silent. Her mind reeled with thoughts of the incandescent glow. The symbols so clear in her mind, their absence leaving an emptiness inside her.
The uncanny silence broken by trees swaying and singing with a fresh breeze. She looked at the house, its stones bland and gray, but it sang with the trees, a song calling to her center, encouraging her to push back any fear and simply feel with her whole being freely and openly.
This frightened her more than anything this world had yet presented.
She could feel a deep chasm inside of her bubbling and boiling awakened by the symbols’ song. Was it darkness? light? Mere water that would evaporate into steam once released?
Once again she wondered who she was, who she had become through a lifetime of being a pinball, moved and directed into different roles. A daughter, student, girlfriend, employee, wife, divorcee. So many labels that felt stuck on with post-it’s; a false permanence that carved the weak resemblance of a life.
Unable to resist the magnetic force of the song she walked towards the house, the rhythmic beating and hum of each symbol summoning her with increased ferocity, the glyphs joining into a symphony of harmony, music like she had never heard or felt before, her eyes became wet with emotion.
When she connected with the stony surface, the music became a part of her, she felt it in each cell, each raised hair on her skin; the music joined directly with that exposed chasm, beckoning to it, calling it out from the hidden space within, a pied piper luring out this cloistered part of her.
The cold stone walls burned under hot her hands as the symbols glowed vividly opening her up wider, allowing each image to be brought directly into her. Dancing with the music. the symbols flirted with that void, twirling and spinning; a ballet pas de deux of the orange glowing marks and the unseeable murky depths of her soul. With each arabesque, each rellevé, gracefully twirling deeper into her spirit.
As they further invaded, the hidden contents of the chasm slowly revealed itself, like a dance of the seven veils, stripping away the labels of her existence, discarded to the floor, forgotten and meaningless, revealing the naked truth of who she was. This wordless dance elegantly transformed Jasmine’s realization of what her life had been, of the mere existence she had shuffled through.
Silver ethereal smoke rising from that abyss within creating a formless dance of light encircling her. The soft feel of it brought a comfort and sureness that Jasmine had never recalled.
The runes and glyphs nestled themselves into every open space in that chasm, filling it like concrete filling a defunct well, making it whole.
A final rune “the warrior” laid on top burning into it, igniting a connection with all the other symbols filling that chasm and lighting it aglow, sending a shock of heat and energy reverberating through Jasmine’s body.
She could no longer feel the world around her, no earth beneath her feet, no wall under her hands. She felt light and free, floating in an ecstasy that was unfamiliar, yet intimate.
The shimmering smoke shaped into wisps white and glowing, with tendrils that reached around creating a female form.
A single sheer curl of light floated from behind the form’s back to gently caress Jasmine’s cheek. Upon touch, her body became consumed with compassion and it overwhelmed her. Tears poured down her face, it was an unfathomable beauty and grace, a feeling of profound acceptance and understanding. Jasmine then knew. She knew who she was, she understood what her role was, not just in this moment or quest, but in her life. She could clearly see the truth of each person she had met over the last few weeks, each encounter, and who was friend, who was foe, for she finally uncovered the reality of who she was.
She stepped into the faceless form, allowing it to become her, and she realized it was comfortable and right. Because It was her. She had hidden herself away deep inside, and knew why, she finally understood what had to be done, she just didn’t know how it would be possible.
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