‘Do you want to play, Swan?’ Sparrowhawk had noticed Tory observing their game. Instead of propelling the ball of coloured water he was using as a marble towards those already suspended in mid-air further down the playing field, he waited for Tory to answer.
Their game board was three large rings spinning in random directions one inside the other. A spinning vortex of ultra-blue ethereal matter caught the coloured marbles as they passed through the moving rings and held the balls of water in a firm orbit. A different child controlled different parts of the game. Tory had noticed that all the games the children devised for themselves were designed so that the children could work together. Any one of these souls could have controlled the entire game, but there was more challenge in working together and these children thrived on that.
‘If your marble hits the rings it will burst.’ Thais came galloping forward to explain.
‘Closest marble to the centre of the sphere wins,’ Bast added.
‘But you’re not allowed to hit any of our marbles,’ Lirathea chimed in.
‘Spectating is fun too.’ Tory declined their invitation, not wanting to disrupt their game.
‘Come on, you get three goes.’ Sparrowhawk conjured up two other balls to start a fresh game.
‘I’m afraid I need to sweep her off elsewhere,’ Taliesin advised the boy as he manifested in their midst. He ruffled the soft, dark plumage on the lad’s head.
‘You’re taking her to see the lost children,’ Zabeel stated, sadly.
‘She needs to be aware of their plight, don’t you think?’ The Lord sought the lad’s opinion.
‘If they are to find themselves, yes,’ the Delphinus nodded in reply.
‘Our place in the world cannot be assured until they do,’ Bast added, coming to stand beside Zabeel and looking to Tory with a hopeful look on her face.
‘Well, then,’ Tory prompted, eager to be made aware of what everyone else here seemed to know. ‘Shall we go?’
Taliesin took her hand, saying: ‘We are there.’
The scenery blurred around them in an upward motion and Tory felt herself descending into a more forbidding environment.
A sterile-looking playground, which reminded Tory more of an institutional exercise yard, existed amid an abandoned futuristic city. The lively warmth of Devachanic life had vanished — there was a harsh reality about this place.
‘Where are we?’ Tory wondered, viewing the children who frequented the area.
They were not human children, appearing to be more akin to the fairy folk, who were one of the lowest order of Deva. All were shrouded in a dark cloud, which seemed to make them oblivious to the other children around them. Some of the children sulked quietly. Others were absorbed in their own projects. A little girl sat combing her hair and adoring herself in a hand mirror, while the little girl next to her tortured a small dog.
‘We have transcended from the middle level of mental awareness to the lowest level of mental awareness,’ Taliesin advised, eyeing the place over with compassion.
‘My mental awareness?’ Tory sought clarification.
Taliesin nodded, but replied: ‘All mental awareness. You see, every plane of existence has many subtle levels, as all interpenetrate the others. Each plane of existence has seven distinct levels of awareness, corresponding to each of the planes above and below it. The highest level of the mental plane is that of mental-nirvana, and from there mental awareness extends down through various levels of consciousness: mental-monadic, mental-spiritual, mental-causal, mental-mental, and mental-astral, to this place, the mental-physical level of the mental plane. That is, the part of the mental realm that extends into the physical world.’
‘There are human soul-minds residing here?’ Tory decided that they would have an extremely cold, self-serving intelligence to reside in such a place.
Taliesin shook his head. ‘Not too many. There is, in the astral realm, a place like this one where lost human souls reside, trying to break free of their emotional entanglements. Desire is what usually holds human souls in a state of purgatory, preventing them from progressing along their spiritual path … it nearly held you back,’ he commented. Tory raised her eyebrows questioningly, only half believing him.
‘The souls that reside here have no emotional problems, in that they have never utilised their astral forms and therefore have no connection with that plane of existence. Because of this lack of feeling, the physical world has proven a harsh place indeed for these beings. And now that the human race has shown them glimpses of how divine it is to love and be loved, these souls do not dare to open themselves to any emotion. This is an unconscious self-defence mechanism, as their own memory of past deeds would drive them insane with guilt, shame and remorse. This is the very best they feel they deserve … the very best they can draw from their experience of physical life. They have become lost in their own nightmares and they avoid the realm of dreams, as deep down they fear they are not worthy of joy, peace or contentment anymore.’
A streak of rainbow fire swooped overhead and came to hover over the youngster who had been brushing her hair. The disturbance assumed the form of a spectral angel with large wings of flaming colour. The aura of love and wellbeing that accompanied the brilliant celestial entity brought a momentary relief from the frigidity of the place.
‘I’ve seen that entity somewhere,’ Tory mumbled, trying to recall their meeting, but her mind was blank.
‘Have you now?’ Taliesin smiled, seeing Maelgwn in the Deva before them. Her memory of her Chosen other was deeply embedded in her super-consciousness, so she was always bound to recognise any personification of his soul-mind.
‘What’s happening?’ Tory asked, as the Deva wrapped his large wings around his subject, enveloping the girl in a fiery cocoon.
‘She has dared to face her demons and feel,’ Taliesin said aside to Tory, his eyes fixed on the miracle taking place before them. ‘Her astral atom has been activated. The Deva has come to aid her subtle body to free itself from its intellectual entanglements.’
After a moment the Deva withdrew and vanished. The dark mist had dispersed from the girl’s being and she looked about her as if awakening from a deep sleep. Upon noticing the girl beside her torturing the dog, she put aside her brush and mirror.
‘Stop that, it’s cruel.’ When the obnoxious child didn’t hear her, she turned slowly around taking in the selfish endeavours of the other children in her company. ‘What is wrong with all of you?’ she cried. ‘You have to wake up, or you’re going to be left behind!’
‘By the Goddess,’ Taliesin gasped, excited by the event. ‘It’s Inanna.’
Tory was none the wiser when informed of the child’s identity, but she smiled as she noted a change in the girl. ‘She has begun to glow, like we do.’
‘Yes, and it’s the true illumination of her Logos that radiates through her, and not some mimicked celestial radiance, as is the light that she exudes from her being in the physical world.’
‘How does one fake the glow of an enlightened being?’ Tory queried curiously.
‘Many of Inanna’s kind who are still trapped in the physical realm participate in the same charade. For they have seen what a truly enlightened being looks like and as they believe that they are truly enlightened beings, they project the illusion of divine enlightenment … not all of her kindred deceive in this fashion, just these few.’
At a quick count Tory counted seven, not including the girl who had come to her senses.
‘Nevertheless, this is a very promising sign,’ he informed. ‘We must take her to the others.’
‘The others?’
‘Her kindred who have progressed to the astral level of this realm on their way back to their soul-source.’
In the glowing gardens of the astral level of the mental realm, Taliesin took Inanna to join a group of older children and adults of her own species, who were picnicking happily with soul-minds of the human race.
Tory did not approach t
he gathering with Taliesin, feeling that they would not be staying. The delightful indulgences of the people in this realm were not really of interest to her. She had been there and done that and was eager for more intellectually stimulating experiences.
The child, Inanna, was welcomed with open arms by her kindred, and she appeared most appeased by her new surroundings.
‘Micah will take care of her now,’ Taliesin explained as he floated back to Tory. ‘When her Logos, Anu, withdraws to the next level of consciousness and thus ceases to exist in the physical world, Inanna’s place at his side is assured. However, she and her people have much to achieve before then if their remaining lost kindred are to be freed from their private hells and progress in the great evolutionary scheme of life with the rest of their soul group.’
‘And where is the rest of my soul group?’ Tory asked, gathering that she too had to belong to a greater body of consciousness.
Taliesin refrained from answering her for a moment. ‘You are not yet ready to join them. That’s why you are here instead of in their company.’
Tory noted that there was another change in atmosphere, whereby she found herself back in the perfect playground of Devachan. ‘Am I unworthy?’
‘You are,’ Taliesin smiled, leading her where he must, ‘incomplete.’
Tory was concerned by his words, seeing the paradise around her in a new light.
Lirathea, who was playing close by, turned to look at Tory. Her features had become more fairylike and yet, the child appeared familiar all the same. ‘You got your wish, Mother, but it is time for you to head back to us and finish what we started.’
‘I am just like Inanna was,’ she gasped. ‘I am caught up in my own little world.’ Tory gazed at the child in wonder. ‘I am not lost in a nightmare, but a beautiful dream.’
‘You can make your dream a reality,’ Taliesin assured her.
There were no goodbyes in the Heavensworld. In the course of a cosmic lifetime no soul ever really left any plane of existence; it was only their conscious awareness that shifted from one perception to another.
‘On the threshold of Devachan, karma and its skandhas await to aid your re-emergence into consciousness,’ Psyche advised, as her spirit separated from that of the girl, Lirathea, who had served as a guide to locate Tory’s soul-mind.
‘Skandhas?’ Tory frowned in question.
‘Material qualities,’ Sparrowhawk explained. ‘They are the mental, emotional and moral peculiarities that give your ego its own individual personality, Swan.’
‘You could say they’re little bundles of attributes,’ Lirathea expanded on her friend’s explanation. ‘Like abstract ideas, tendencies of mind, and mental and psychic ability.’
‘Skandhas are the seeds of causes previously sown in your life that have not yet come to fruition,’ Taliesin concluded. ‘Psychological impulse seeds.’
‘So what must I do in order to commence the outward spiral?’ Tory asked, wishing to end this detour in her life and get back on track.
‘Just submit.’ Taliesin looked up to witness the fiery rainbow entity that approached.
As Tory spotted the entity a statement came to mind that helped to solve the question that had been bothering her since the same being had appeared to Inanna; had they met before? I merely act upon a human’s desires in order to bring them into being, in accordance with their karma. She saw the beautiful being hovering over a pool of water. ‘Devaglen,’ Tory uttered, overwhelmed to be having a memory from beyond Devachan, but it was short-lived and sparked no other earthly memories in her. She figured it was just the Deva’s way of saying ‘hello, we meet again’.
‘This is your ride,’ Taliesin commented as the celestial being came to hover over them, and the Lord awarded his charge an endearing smile in parting. ‘And so my vow to you has been kept, Tory Alexander.’
‘Tory Alexander?’ she queried, and yet she possessed a recognition of the name. The sonic vibration of the words sent the very essence of her being into a frenzy of activity. ‘Oh heavens.’ She gripped her gut and forehead. ‘I feel ill.’
The ultimate sacrifice — the descent into the physical — is never an easy passage, but it is the only means for release from this spiritual antechamber you have constructed for your soul’s refuge throughout your unexpected death. I am Destiny, come to collect you … if you care to embrace me, I shall cushion your passage forth. The Deva spread his wings and arms wide.
Tory’s heart welled to bursting point with emotion, as she moved into the celestial being’s fold and the Devachanic world melted away.
Psyche has found her, Sacha informed Maelgwn, who clearly could not believe what he was witnessing.
Inside the stretched gut of the male Deva’s being was a rainbow corridor into the ether, at the end of which Tory stood, alongside the Lord Master Taliesin, amid a throng of children of every human tribe.
‘Are you sure we are doing the right thing?’ Maelgwn felt a little guilty hauling Tory back into the strife of the present.
Sacha cast his sights down over the celestial event taking place within his person and then looked back to the concerned husband with an ironic look upon his face. Pretty sure.
All things considered, in retrospect it did seem a stupid question. Maelgwn looked at the body that Psyche had abandoned in order to seek Tory’s soul-mind in Devachan and was astonished to note that the seventeen-year-old girl lying on the table was fully human.
‘Lirathea?’ He stared at the girl, bemused that he’d missed out on the entire youth of yet another of his children.
No, Sacha corrected. It’s just the atoms that form her outer layers. Her deeper essence remains in Devachan.
In a streak of light, Psyche came shooting out of the etheric tunnel her brother had created and her fiery spirit floated down to join with the body that she’d left on the flight deck of their deep space craft.
Under normal circumstances, this vessel would require a full complement of twelve crew to operate, but the Devas’ aptitude allowed Maelgwn to execute this mission alone.
The features of the Deva remanifested in the girl and she began to glow with celestial radiance as her eyes opened.
‘What happened?’ Maelgwn asked softly, not meaning to harass Psyche back into the physical world, but he had to know. ‘You weren’t gone very long.’
On the contrary, I was gone for ages. Psyche smiled, sensing the anxiety that Maelgwn felt. Rest easy, Father. She is on her way back to us.
‘Praise the Goddess.’ He breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed into a seat to gather his wits. Strangely enough, he found himself smiling, for he wondered: ‘Was it the memory of me that persuaded her to return, as you thought?’
Psyche was tickled by his curiosity, sensing his deep love for his wife. I had no need to persuade her so, she advised and seeing how disappointed the man was, she thought she’d best explain. Your higher self got there ahead of me … I should have known you’d be there to rescue her from a crisis.
This surprised Maelgwn greatly, although it pleased him to know he was on the case. ‘Well, that’s one worry solved. Still, I don’t see how you plan to locate her. She isn’t wearing anything on her person that we could track.’
That’s not exactly true. Sacha closed the passage into the fourth dimension and his floating form resumed its normal physical appearance.
We can sense the location of the Tablet of Destinies, because it is made of the same etheric material as we are. At that, Psyche floated into the air to get her bearings. Sacha made a move towards their deep space tracking console, which contained all the star charts for the galaxy.
What is your feeling, Sis? Sacha queried, as his sister closed her eyes and began slowly turning to get a fix on which direction the Tablet lay. At last, Psyche stopped still and Sacha called up the star charts for the direction she was facing. She then held her hand downward at about a 45-degree angle.
Trajectory angle from Kila’s orbital plane is forty-one point f
our degrees, she advised, whereby Sacha called up the maps for all the systems in the appointed direction.
As suspected, our path to her is going to be treacherous. Sacha glanced back to Maelgwn. There’s a hell of a lot of space debris throughout the entire area.
Maelgwn approached the Devas to view the charts for himself. ‘Any idea how far away she is? Or, more importantly, how long it will take us to catch up with her?’
She’s too close for a wormhole stabiliser to be of any use. Sacha cocked an eye to calculate. If this vessel can travel a parsec per second, which was equal to 3.26 light-years in open space, it shouldn’t take us any longer than about four standard days, Kila time.
‘But surely she’ll get pulverised if it takes us that long to get to her!’ Maelgwn objected.
The Allied Logoi have incredible timing. Psyche placed a hand on the man’s shoulder in comfort. And, having taken into account all the factors surrounding your wife’s return to life, the Logoi will ensure that she does not return to her earthly vessel before she is delivered safely into the right hands.
‘Could I not just will myself to her?’ Maelgwn reasoned, looking for a way to speed things along.
And what if she’s still in pieces? Sacha posed as a deterrent.
‘Is she?’ Maelgwn shot back in distress.
Sacha’s expression became grave, and he nodded. You cannot hope to speed up that which the Allied Logoi have so carefully planned … why would you want to? Why can you not trust that all is as it should be and will unfold in accordance with the will of the divine?
‘Because,’ Maelgwn was aggravated by the delay that was keeping him from his search for Zabeel and assisting his fellow Chosen with the current strife on Kila, ‘I fear that the will of the divine might not be in accordance with the best interests of my kindred.’
You know that is not the case, Sacha gently encouraged him to admit. You have known for seventy years what the true intent of the Allied Logoi is. And you are not the only man alive capable of greatness.