Lilly, sensing a luminous power, told the group, “Let’s turn off our lights.” The group huddled in the darkness. When their eyes adjusted they saw a blue light pulsing below the ledge.
The group stepped closer and peered into a swirling pool of color. They watched as the shimmering pool took on form and substance. Lilly saw jeweled peacock feathers with glowing golden eyes. Lime green plumes, interspersed between the peacock feathers, undulated with energy. The feathers swelled slightly as they formed a mandala of brilliant color and texture. Shimmering concentric circles of gold formed a spiral.
Lilly leaned over the ledge, awed by the beauty of the bright colors. She stood mesmerized, staring into the mandala as the golden spiral began to move. She heard Roland say something, turned her head to look at him, lost her balance and catapulted over the ledge into the swirling pool of jewel encrusted feathers.
Like Alice down the rabbit hole, Lilly fell for so long she could no longer tell if she was moving up or down. She spiraled through dimensions of sound and color, spitting bits of feather off her tongue. When the spiraling stopped she was floating, arms stretched out from her sides, legs out behind her and eyes slightly bulged.
After an eternity, or maybe only a moment, she was hovering over an enormous collection of glittering gemstones. Poised in mid-air she watched the dazzling stones form a geometric kaleidoscope. Entranced by the glowing gems, myriad textures, and the cascading sound of bells, Lilly put her hand out to touch a glowing green stone. Her fingers had barely touched the surface of the emerald when she slipped through the kaleidoscope and fell into a sarcophagus. Holding her hand over the dull priestess crystal around her neck, her mind filled with a silent scream for a mere second before darkness welcomed her.
~
In the darkness, there was peace. Time stopped as her consciousness stirred and centered on a point of light in the distance. The light grew closer and revealed two women sitting together in the twilight watching stars appear in the darkening sky. The older woman removed a thick gold chain from around her neck and placed it over the young woman’s head. A flash of violet light illuminated the night followed by a glowing red knife piercing the older woman’s heart.
The young woman caught sight of the dark clothed unholy monks and the wickedly sharp knives they wielded. The knives, fueled by the monk’s desire for power, glowed an angry red. With adrenalin rushing through her body, the girl ran for the shelter of a nearby cave. Glowing red daggers whooshed by her as heavy footsteps grew closer. She weaved as she ran, avoiding the daggers. She felt her lungs would burst and her legs collapse before she made it to safety. The world moved in slow motion as she entered the cave and ran through a labyrinth of tunnels. Exhausted by terror and hours of evading her pursuers, she collapsed in exhaustion.
The warrior monks had crept through the trees ready to invade the temple of the vestal virgins in their sanctuary by the sea when a violet light flashed on a nearby ridge. The dark clothed monks grinned at one another when they spotted the two helpless women sitting on a ridge, a violet light glowing between them. They had fallen upon the girl and her mentor determined to capture the powerful stone. Stories and legends of the violet stone had filled them with fear and longing throughout their lives. They had seen the violet stone, they knew it was real and within their reach. The monks, their blood boiling in anger and crazed with frustration, turned slashing and screaming at one another. Their blood lust sated, the survivors began to move as one through the countryside.
The young priestess opened her eyes to total darkness. She sat up and, as her eyes adjusted, she saw the darkness was broken by the dim violet light of the crystal around her neck. Taking the crystal from under her tunic, she held it up and looked at her surroundings. She stood and began to walk. The tunnel narrowed and she crawled on her belly. Twisting and turning, she propelled herself forward with her feet. Her eyes found a glimmer of light and she surged forward with renewed strength. A babe struggling through the stone birth canal of the cave, she labored toward the light. She arrived at the end of her struggle to find the opening covered by bushes and thorny vines. Placing the Priestess crystal beneath her tunic, she squeezed through the bushes, and fell onto the beach awash in the light of dawn.
Unsure of the power of the crystal or how to use it, she struggled with paralyzing fear. No sooner had she been named keeper of the sacred jewel of Inanna, than her mentor was murdered. Her head spun with a thousand questions she feared would never be answered. Free of the mountain caves, she forced her body forward. Keeping to the sparse woods alongside the road she approached villages warning of the band of warrior monks stealing through the land.
After days of begging food and sleeping under bushes, she entered the gates of a city unknown to her. The thrumming energy of the crystal and its violet light lead her to the center of the city to the temple of the Goddess. She sought the high priestess of the temple and told her of the monks and their knives.
The priestess nodded wisely, “They carry great fear and misdirected anger. They have been taught corrupted stories and misinformation which darkened their souls. We will set protective wards and make preparations.”
Safe within the temple, the young crystal bearer relaxed into deep meditation. Recovering from fatigue and fear, she was able to hear the message the crystal whispered and absorb the power it offered.
She came out of her meditation filled with profound relief. She hurried to
