Dragons of the Dawn Bringer: The Goddess Prophecies Fantasy Series Book 5 Read online

  She remembered her religious lessons at school. Lessons about the darkness and the light and there always needing to be a balance between the two. Those lessons had always scared and fascinated her, for how could there ever be too much light and good in the world? What happened when the darkness needed to grow and balance itself?

  ‘But it can’t always be like that, can it? There has to be darkness, for how can the light exist without it? We need the darkness to balance the light,’ said Issa, feeling bad for marring the mood.

  ‘That is a lie spread by the evil ones who seek to dominate others,’ said Iyena, her voice light despite her words, sorrowful even. ‘We’ve discovered that such twisted teachings have now made their way into the teachings of the Temple and have spread even into Maioria’s schools. Such evil is infectious, spreading like a disease.’

  Issa stared at her. How could the seer deny everything everyone was taught at school and knew as truth?

  ‘How so?’ Issa raised her eyebrows.

  ‘You do not need the darkness to balance the light because the light requires no balance. It is, in itself, perfect harmony. The darkness spread the lie of balance to justify its own evil existence and deceive the light workers. If there weren’t any evil beings, the good beings wouldn’t have to go around healing and fixing everything they had broken.’

  ‘How can you be sure?’ Asaph was equally sceptical. ‘I mean, how do we know the reasons for creation?’

  ‘We all know the reasons, the first cause, because it’s within us,’ said Iyena. ‘It’s just been buried very deep and overlaid with the confused teachings of the dark. Only a loving Creator would desire to create and then keep that creation in existence.’

  ‘It sounds awful, but what if the creator wanted to create a place where bad things happened?’ Issa stared glumly down into the depths of her cup.

  ‘Then it would already be destroyed and nothing would exist,’ said Iyena. ‘Evil does not last long when there is only evil present. It turns inwards and destroys itself quickly. Words are very limited to explain these concepts, but if you think of love as perfect harmony then it immediately follows that it is perfectly balanced. It is the darkness itself that destroys the natural balance and harmony of the cosmos. Disharmony must occur for evil to exist.

  ‘Be careful and ever watchful for the tricks and lies spread by those who are evil. There is an old saying, “Evil is live, spelt backwards.” That is, evil is the opposite of life, it is life reversed. Do you remember the old myths and legends that spoke of a time when people lived forever?’

  Issa nodded.

  ‘Yes,’ said Asaph. ‘Coronos spoke of many legends, but I thought they were just fairy tales.’

  ‘Well, there is much truth in them,’ said Iyena. ‘They are not stories but old historical accounts. The accounts may have grown and been embellished with time, but there is truth in all of them.’

  Issa blinked. ‘I remember now. True life is eternal. Zanufey told me this a long time ago. Imagine that? Living forever. Hah.’

  ‘Well, our souls are eternal, but in the past, people lived forever until they had grown enough and were ready to leave this dimensions and move on to the next,’ Iyena smiled.

  ‘Then we are trapped here,’ Issa said, reaching over and washing her empty cup in the spring. ‘I wonder if, when Baelthrom is gone and the Dark Rift closed, we will be able to live forever again.’

  ‘It seems like a dream, doesn’t it?’ said Iyena, her face childlike as she smiled at them both. She gazed across the ocean. ‘Still, I was ever one to think big. Maybe that time will come, although I’m not sure if I want this body to live forever. I’d much prefer a younger one.’

  Issa grinned.

  ‘Let’s walk for a bit and stretch our legs,’ Iyena said, packing away their cups then taking Bree’s reins off the tree stump.

  As they walked she spoke. Issa listened with absolute fascination.

  ‘All things have a soul that exists in the next dimension. The soul is a very real thing. The soul also has a soul—an over-soul if you will—that connects again to the next dimension. The over-soul also has a soul and so on right until you connect right back into the fields of inner creation.

  ‘As we emerge from the great Source of All, we individuate ourselves. That is, as we move further away from our point of creation we leave parts of ourselves at specific points along the way and we get smaller and smaller as our quantum stretches and reduces. Yes, you can look at me strangely, but even the priestesses of the Temple taught this at some point.

  ‘Our journey out into external creation and into individuation is supposed to be a joyful one, and so is the journey back to the One Source. Everything in existence once came out of the Source, and to it we all eventually return—we are never apart from the One Source and our soul is always with us.

  ‘Now, the problems start when beings choose to explore paths that are in opposition to divine creation—which is allowed because we have free will. I guess they’re not really problems but complex explorations and intense experiences. Anyway, these beings deliberately cut themselves off from the One Light, even though you can never really be outside of it. They forget their connection to the divine and so begin a painful journey of woe, separateness and loneliness.

  ‘A true Wise One knows that all things are connected, and through all things the divine force flows. The beings of the dark have forgotten this and the divine does not flow through them. They no longer feel the Great Source of All, they no longer feel part of creation. This forgetting allows them to do terrible things that they would not otherwise be able to do. It is only the beings of the light who are able to help them—although many are so sick they seldom want help and often turn upon those trying to assist them.’

  ‘Like Lona and Ayeth,’ Issa breathed. ‘Ayeth tried to help her and the Yurgha, but they tricked him because they didn’t really want to heal.’

  ‘Indeed,’ Iyena nodded. ‘Lying and deceit—these are the hallmarks of evil; the actions indulged in by those who are falling from the One Light. But it does not make them happy. Disharmony breeds sickness and death, so ultimately those beings falling from the light suffer the most. The ancient texts used to call it, “The Path of Sorrow,” for all the suffering choosing such a path brought.’

  ‘So “evil” is like a sickness, isn’t it?’ said Issa.

  ‘Yes, you could say that.’

  ‘Can they recover? Is it possible to help the fallen ones? Ayeth, with all his power, failed, and now look at him.’

  ‘I wish I knew, but that sounds like a question for a goddess,’ said Iyena, throwing Issa a half smile.

  The seer said no more and they walked silently along the north of the island through groves of apple trees. Issa pondered deeply on the notion of the soul and how it emerged from the One Light. Asaph asked Iyena all about the animals, birds and trees of Myrn and her sister islands, but Issa found herself only half-listening.

  Would Myrn be her new home? It was certainly beautiful and peaceful. But what if she lived forever? She could have many homes in many places. Could she imagine living forever and never dying? A small smile curled her lips.

  Yes, she could.

  Issa watched Naksu as she placed a pebble-sized, polished amethyst on the stone pedestal. They were alone in a small, gracefully carved, stone outhouse whose slender pillars formed pretty arches above them. There were no windows or doors and it was open to the elements. A tiny brook tinkled nearby and it was dark, save for the amethyst and Naksu’s softly glowing staff. The night was cool and Issa hugged her cloak closer over her robes.

  ‘Focus your attention on the crystal,’ said Naksu, her eyes fixated on the amethyst which cast her pale skin in a purple glow. ‘Try and feel it rather than see it.’

  Issa reached out with her mind and imagined what it would be like to be the crystal, how it would feel.

  ‘Crystals hold very special energy,’ said Naksu. ‘They are one of the only elements that retai
n their form when you take them to the higher dimensions. If you took a crystal into the Astral Planes, it would stay the same material. Very few objects do.

  ‘Do you know what else retains its form? Well, we do. So, crystals and humans share similar energetic properties. You could say we have a natural affinity with them which makes it possible for us to communicate with them.

  ‘Most elements change their form as they move between dimensions—which is why alchemists are always trying clever ways to turn lead into gold, for example.

  ‘Now, once you have established this rapport with the crystal, ask it to glow. I say “ask” because telling is commanding, which is dominating. Asking is co-creating together.’

  Issa nodded and, as best as she could with a silent, inanimate object, mentally asked the crystal to glow.

  Nothing visibly happened but she felt something shift, as if the crystal may have been awakened by her touch.

  ‘Like this,’ said Naksu, staring intently at the rock. The crystal began to glow purple, subtle at first, then brighter and brighter.

  The seer smiled and looked at Issa. ‘It’s actually exactly the same method you use to access and command your orb and raven talisman, only you do it naturally and without thinking about it.’

  Issa raised her eyebrows. ‘Now that I am thinking about it, I’ve no idea how I do that.’ She focused again on the now dimmed crystal. It seemed more responsive—almost alive. Again, she asked it to glow. After a moment, the faintest aura surrounded it.

  ‘Ha-ha!’ Issa laughed.

  ‘Well done,’ Naksu clapped her hands. ‘The crystal needs to get to know you. So you see, all things, even rocks, have a life force and thus an aura—albeit a much smaller, slower moving one. Crystals are powerful because of their purity. Like magic, they can be made to do good or evil, depending on the will of the person commanding them. Power isn’t evil in and of itself, it just depends on how it’s used.

  ‘Crystal Command is one of the first lessons we train all seers in. Some of them feel a natural affinity with crystals and they take it to grand levels—such as using them to help create the protective force fields around the Isles of Tirry.

  ‘Now, there are four other commands; water, air, fire and elemental—with Crystal Command being what most others call Earth. Seers may train in any and all of these, according to their desires. We already know, from what we have seen of you in our sacred pools, and heard from Asaph,’—Issa raised her eyebrows—‘that you are naturally affiliated with Elemental Command, though you might not know the technical word for it. You have used fire, water, air and earth in all your magical spells, have you not?’

  Issa thought about it, then nodded. ‘Yes, I used whatever was necessary at the time and in response to whatever my enemy was doing.’

  ‘Ah, now there’s a thing to be aware of,’ said Naksu. ‘You don’t just use the Flow to destroy and fight. You have used it for healing too, yes? It’s obvious. Now, most wizards use only one of those elements. They can use all elements but they find they excel in only one. Have you found which you excel in?’

  Issa began to shake her head, then paused. ‘Well, since I have the Orb of Water, I find it comes more easily.’

  ‘Yes, naturally. But, orb aside, because you command each element with equal ease, you have Elemental Command. This is the command that commands all the elements—it is pre-element, if you will. It’s no surprise because Zanufey, of the night and dark waters, is considered to be of the pre-creative force. Does this sound familiar?’

  Issa nodded vigorously. ‘Yes, that’s what the guardians of the portals and Zanufey alluded to.’

  ‘Well, obviously, this is quite a power to have,’ said Naksu. ‘No wonder the wizards are keen to have you on the Circle.’ She smiled, but Issa felt heavy and turned away.

  ‘What is it?’ asked Naksu.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Issa sighed. ‘Well, it’s not right, this separation between everything. The orbs, elves and humans, seers and wizards. Divided. Everything is weak. The more I think about it, the more I feel—no, the more I know—we should try to combine the orbs and heal the divisions between us all. The old arguments have to be forgotten for us to move forward. That’s why I don’t want to sit upon the Wizards’ Circle or be a witch or maybe even a seer.’

  ‘The world is changing, it has to change if we are to survive,’ Naksu nodded, her face serious. ‘I imagine a time in which seers do not exist, and it scares me. But now…what you say, it’s true. We have been divided in many ways for too long.’

  ‘You manage to put into simple words the confusion I’m feeling,’ said Issa, twirling a strand of hair around her finger.

  ‘Well, you are right,’ said Naksu. ‘Men and women belong together, their powers balanced and complimenting each other. It’s not just a nice concept but it makes sense energetically too. You have your physical body, but extending out around you are your energy fields. You may see one of these as your aura. You don’t just have an aura, you have many energy fields and they can extend several feet around your body. You won’t be able to see these fields in this dimension but you can in the Flow.

  ‘We all have physical bodies, but ultimately our true form is light and sound. That is why we speak of the One Source as the One Light or the Word or sometimes the Divine Voice. We forget that there is sound too. First there came sound, and then there came light. But before any of those, there was Intention. These are our sacred teachings that we hold in our hearts and minds and will never let Baelthrom destroy.

  ‘The One Source held the Intention, spoke the Word and the Light burst forth. External creation was created and everything began. When you’re as far out in external creation as we are, these are hard concepts to grasp and even harder to articulate. Know that the part of you that remained with the One Source understands this fully. It’s like trying to imagine time not existing when you are bound in the world of time—it’s not really possible.

  ‘In the furthest realm of external creation, the male and the female are quite pronounced. In energy terms, there’s electrical and there is magnetic. Male and female hold both types, but male energy is mostly electrical. It drives out from Source. Female energy is more magnetic. It pulls back to the One Source.

  ‘When these energies are in perfect balance, there is perfect harmony and the flow of energy from the One Source can circulate. This harmonious energy is called love and within it, all things flourish. Those things not able to feel this love, to receive it and to give it, wither and die. Anyway, I can see you are tired.’

  ‘On the contrary, these teachings are deeply stirring to me,’ said Issa, stifling her yawn. ‘My mind just wishes it could hold more.’

  ‘This information is heavy and it’s just the tip of that knowledge, said Naksu. ‘I said to Iyena that I would touch upon a few things and see where our conversations took us.’

  ‘I would love to know everything, but I see now there is not enough time, at least tonight, to learn it all.’ Issa gave a rueful smile. ‘You know the guardians of the portals? Well, it occurred to me that, if we all came from Source and left a piece of ourselves at each dimension then, somewhere, perhaps we are guardians too.’

  Naksu smiled. ‘You have just explained simply a very difficult concept. Perhaps you should be the one teaching us.’

  Issa coloured. ‘It just seems like a good idea, I suppose.’

  ‘Don’t be embarrassed, let the soul speak,’ said Naksu. ‘Our unlimited, higher selves instinctively know far more than we do here, bound as we are within the constraints of time and matter.’

  Issa was about to say more but caught herself, suddenly unnerved by her own question. If Zanufey was a guardian, a goddess with the power to create beings, did she have a part of herself down in the realms of matter? If Issa herself had a soul and a part of herself at the level of Zanufey, was she also a guardian somewhere? She instinctively felt the answer to be yes, though the feeling unsettled her.

  Naksu turned back to t
he crystal. ‘Now, matter and energy are really the same thing, just one’s particulates are moving faster than the other. Rocks have very slow moving particulates.’

  Naksu spoke at length on the nature of energy and matter. Though the information was fascinating and Issa wanted to learn, she began to yawn with increasing frequency.

  ‘So you see, elements themselves are beings in their own right,’ Naksu concluded. ‘Therefore, the most powerful and effective way to command them is through rapport, through co-creation, by asking them if they would like to create with you. I’ve never had an element say no.’

  Issa began to see the Flow and her interaction with it in a completely different light. The Flow itself was alive, with a consciousness of its own.

  ‘I should have known all of this at school,’ said Issa.

  ‘We used to instinctively know all this at birth,’ said Naksu. ‘But we have devolved a long way from what we once were. Come, let us talk as we walk home. I think I need my bed, too.’

  ‘Do you think we’ll get it back? What we once were?’ asked Issa, following Naksu outside.

  ‘I don’t see why not. But we’ll need to become strong, courageous and fearless again. Millennia of war have weakened us, body, mind and spirit. Perhaps making whole what is divided is the first step.’

  Asaph was already in bed and breathing deeply by the time Issa tiptoed in through the front door. She slipped out of her clothes and into her own bed. She thought she’d lie awake thinking about what she’d learned, but sleep came fast. Her dreams were relaxing at first, but they turned dark just before dawn.

  In them, people screamed in terror, their howls echoing around her but she couldn’t see them through the thick cloying smoke that stung her eyes and made them stream. Between the billows of black, great tongues of fire licked. Heat scorched her face. Smoke clogged her nostrils and the Under Flow surged around her making her feel woozy and sick.