Chapter 3 - The Realm of Creativity
Withers made it to the river’s edge a few hours later. He spotted Lena a little further down. She was meditating beneath a large tree. She was holding up her hands, palms up, but she was paying particular attention to her right thumb. There she wore a gold ring, with an etching of a six-petalled flower.
Withers gently sat down beside her, as Lena looked up, a little startled.
“I knew someone with good vibrations was coming,” said Lena. “Otherwise, if I’d felt heat coming from my ring, I’d be up this tree!”
“Good to see you’re looking beyond your normal senses,” said Withers. “Been here long?”
“I’ve just arrived. So I thought I might get some direction,” she said, looking towards the river. “The river should lead me to a town and I can go from there.”
“Nice dress, by the way.”
“Thanks." Lena's dress was long, with frills around the bottom of the long skirt. Even larger frills adorned her breast, which drew one's attention – not in a salacious way, but because of the work that had gone into the material. She was wearing a long, light-coloured shawl around her shoulders. It was a fashion that was left behind in Earth's past, but here it was in modern Udicia.
Withers pulled the Oracle from his robe and held it against Lena’s ring. The ring began to vibrate in the same way.
“Wow!”
***
“Daniel.”
Withers stopped in his tracks. They were following a dirt road alongside the river and they could see a village in the distance. The voice was in his head.
“Daniel.”
“Yes,” said Withers. Lena looked at him curiously, saying nothing.
“It is Arden.”
Withers look around as if to see Arden standing in the bush. He looked up, trying to find a space-ship. Nothing.
“Where are you?”
“Never mind at the moment,” said Arden. “I am with you in the present.”
Withers remained solemn, saying nothing.
“I will be here with you until transformation.” Arden paused. “Remember to use the Oracle of the Guardian, but not just as an invaluable tool. You must become that tool. You must become those subtle powers within. That’s the whole point – to go beyond identifying with the Oracle and become the Oracle. Once all those on Udicia know that, then the Shadows will cease to exist.”
***
Soon they arrived at a small village. It was mostly deserted as they walked the street, and some curtains parted as they passed. It made Withers feel like he was in one of those old Western movies.
Perhaps this was a space Western?
Up ahead there was a huge crowd congregating in front of what looked like a church. The church was apparently the most important building in town.
Lena looked up at the steeple on top of the building and immediately felt pain in his lower abdomen. It looked like an “X” that had been rotated slightly in an anti-clockwise direction.
“Can’t they feel the negativity coming from that building?” asked Lena, shocked. “And that man!”
“May this congregation be blessed and blessed by the Great One,” intoned the cloaked, hooded man standing in front, as he finished his sermon. He paused, glaring at Withers and Lena.
“No, they can’t,” said Withers, speaking a little more quietly as they approached.
“Oh,” said the hooded man, “new disciples. That will be all for today. I’m passing the hat around. So please be very generous. May the Great One bring joy into your hearts.”
Everyone held up their own X pendants in a prayer pose.
“That’s horrible,” murmured Lena.
Wither nodded, watching everyone go. At last, only they and the hooded figure remained. Withers walked towards the man, his right hand covering the Oracle, which he had placed over his left heart.
There was a temporary stand-off as the hooded figure realised they weren’t his disciples after all.
Two glowing red eyes suddenly glared at them from under the hood.
“Maybe he’s not that thrilled to see us after all,” said Withers, detaching the Oracle.
The hooded figure detached a large metal X from his cloak. Withers guessed the Shadow Lord probably used it for sermons and punishments. Now it was to become a weapon.
“Blasphemers!” roared the hooded Shadow Lord, raising his X. “Be gone!” He threw the X like a boomerang. While it was approaching at great speed, Lena directed vibrations towards it from her ring, and it diverted its course, going back to the Shadow Lord.
Startled, the hooded Shadow Lord suddenly took off down the road towards the river. He wasn’t running; he had levitated and was sailing across the ground at the speed of a car!
“Where did he pull that trick from?” asked Lena, baffled. She was about to run after him but was picked up by Withers who was also floating above the ground. He was standing on a larger Oracle.
“His comes from science, mine from the powers of the universe,” said Withers, gaining speed.
“Well, put the pedal to the metal,” urged Lena. “The Grim Reaper is getting away!”
Withers grinned as they headed towards the river.
***
They landed near the river after they lost sight of the hooded Shadow Lord.
“He got away,” said Lena.
“He’s around here,” said Withers, checking the Oracle. “I can feel his heat.”
“The water looks refreshing. Don’t mind if I do,” said Lena. She walked over to the river, looking upstream and downstream. “A little more natural than the water we’ve been drinking from Centauri’s spring.”
Many birds were chirping in the trees all around them, and the occasional fish made contact with the water’s surface.
Suddenly, the hooded Shadow Lord came out of the water. He hurled the X, which came towards Lena at a frightening speed! In a split-second, she remembered her ring and held up her hand. An invisible power surged from the palm of her hand, knocking the X down. She shot another surge of invisible power towards the Shadow Lord, who appeared to melt back into the river.
“You all right, Lena?”
“Yes, thanks,” said Lena. “Just a little shaken.”
“Yes. You’ve sent him to the Great Juncture for judgement," said Withers. “Excellent response, by the way. Just what I needed to know.”
“Thanks, sir,” replied Lena. “You know, I think I’m beginning to appreciate what you’ve been through, sir.”
Withers gave Lena a solemn look, momentarily reflecting on the time when his mother passed him the Oracle.
“Daniel, one day you will have to face a darkness, way beyond anything that you have ever experienced before.” His mother had passed him the Oracle then. “This is the ‘Oracle of the Guardian’ and it will begin to guide you from this day forward.”
“I know, Lena,” responded Withers.
The Oracle had certainly tested him, from survival in the Australian Outback, to fighting monsters in an Oracle simulated world! The tests were gruelling and had almost pushed him to breaking point.
It was time to put it all to the test.
***
Withers and Lena went a little further down the river, when they noticed cool vibrations coming from their respective divine tools. They followed the coolness into the bush, which became cooler and cooler the further they went in. After pushing their way through a thick part of the scrub, they finally found a small group of people painting and sketching the scene around them. It was next to a creek that probably flowed into the river.
Lena was thrilled that they were finally going to meet some friendly people – and creative ones, at that. She carefully approached them, noting how secluded this little spot was.
“Hello, there,” she said warmly.
All heads turned her way. A few of them were surprised, others frightened.
Withers put his hand on the Oracle, sending some heart-strengthening vibrations towards them.
“How did you find us?” asked one of the men. There were four women and two men in the group.
“We’re not the authorities,” said Withers, soothingly. “We’re friends.”
“I’m Lena. We’re from Sylonia,” Lena said, rehearsing the lines that Withers had given her. “We’re making contact with Gurus like you and looking for potential recruits.”
“I’m Sef. This is Myal, Zenita, Fern, Xandra and Lal. Others have come through our town before,” explained Sef, “but ended up falling under Kenar’s illusions. Now, it’s against the law to be creative.”
“That tyrant, Kenar!” snapped Xandra. “He destroyed my florist, my sewing shop!”
“Who was Kenar?” asked Lena.
“The Minister of The Freedom of the People,” responded Xandra. “He runs this town on fear, but we’re sick of...”
“He’s dead,” said Withers, politely interrupting.
Everyone was happy but they didn’t want to cheer yet. They wanted to verify this later.
“If he is,” said Xandra, “then I don’t need this terrible pendant anymore!” She threw an X-shaped pendant to the ground.
Withers picked it up. “I’ve seen ones like this before.” He discreetly vibrated it against the Oracle and passed it back to Xandra.
“Try it now.”
Xandra took it reluctantly and put it back around her neck. Instead of sitting on the side with the design, it fell on her chest with the back of it sticking out. It appeared to be turning the other way round.
“It feels cool!” exclaimed Xandra. “How did you do that?”
“My hands are starting to feel cool,” said Myal.
Sef checked his hands and found they were cool, too.
Lena was amazed. She knew from Earth history that, a century ago, people’s hands could feel vibrations, but it was amazing to see people experiencing it now.
“Lena will teach you everything you need to know about this new awareness,” said Withers. “You can exchange vibrations between your Xs.”
Lena gave Withers a funny look, but smiled.
Withers grinned back. “You have to think like a Guru now as well as a Keeper. You studied our history?”
“Yes, I did,” said Lena, “and I will.”
”Very good,” said Withers. He paused in thought. “I must talk to Sef before I leave.”
Withers said goodbye to Lena and approached Sef, leading him towards the creek.
“Sef, I want you to put a group of men together,” said Withers, getting straight to the point, “a group of men who will not only unite for this land, Alvernia, but also for the liberation of all Udicia.”
“Where’s the battle?
“Lena’s the key,” responded Withers.
“What do you mean?”
Withers suddenly walked towards the creek. A huge mandala appeared and he walked through; it disappeared behind him.
Sef raced back to the group.
“Lal, come with me, quickly! The real transition has come, not Kenar’s mad vision. We must rally the troops!”