Age of Silence - bloodlines

The school bell rang. Jesus, it felt like this day would never end. Mari left the classroom and pushed through the crowded hallway. In a daze, she bumped into a student, knocking him into a locker. “Watch it,” the boy said while picking up his backpack. Mari just didn’t react and just continued on. When Justice was murdered she had felt something inside of her change; a darkness she had never known seeped into her thoughts. An unsettling undertone of rage boiled through her nerves; she wanted to inflict pain. I feel like I need to express this desire. But the desire was killing, and she was afraid she couldn’t find another way to release the tension. With hope this desire would pass.

As she neared the exit, the automatic door slid open, and Mari pressed on her temples to dial the future teller’s number.

A few pulses later she heard a voice.

“This is Veleda.”

“Hi, we met last week and you said you could give me a reading. I’m sorry I didn’t call you last Friday, but I was wondering if you could still see me.”

There was a pause and Mari wondered if the woman had hung up. “Ell dear,, I had a cancellation, do you have time now?”

“I’ll leave now.”

“Looking forward to it, sweetie, here is my address.”

Mari wrapped a scarf around her neck and put on her gloves. She walked off school grounds toward the nearest train station, a brick wall that wrapped around the school, guarding Nolanda from the neighborhood. The students joked that it was the modern day Berlin Wall. She knew it was for protection, but she saw it as just another way society needed to control and put things in boxes in order to feel safe. If terrorists wanted to attack they’d just blast through it.

Mari waited on the concrete surface of the tram platform and thought about her dead friend. Tears welled in her eyes as she stood under the partially covered station. A few minutes later the tram arrived. Mari stepped on the train and grabbed a handle above to keep her balance. As the train traveled down the track, she stared in silence out the window at the ruined buildings and apartments. This had been a nice part of town, but like many things in the world it was losing it’s charm. Not ten minutes later, the tram dropped her off at the outskirts of the city, and she stepped out, walking briskly through the broken road.

She thought about how it seemed like just yesterday it had been summer, but even those months had been dreary compared to when she was a little girl. Mari walked across the browning grass. Patches of trees scattered throughout the open space, as she crossed over a wooden bridge above a small pond. Mari could smell jasmine as she approached the other end of the park.

She walked out of the park and onto a cobble stone road. A couple minutes’ walk and she found herself staring at a house that was tucked away in the corner of the block, hidden by trees. It was another modern, log cabin styled home, but something was peculiar about it.

Mari raised her eyebrows. That’s weird. There are more trees around that house than normal.

Most trees in the city were barren and wilted, so the sight threw her off.

Pine trees engulfed her senses as she strolled up the walkway made of small smooth circular stones. Candles lined the walkway. The closer she got to the door, the denser the plants and trees became. Mari was mesmerized with the beautiful, luscious vegetation.

Mari looked over her shoulder to make sure nobody was following her. She’d become paranoid since Justice’s death. She feared for her life anyway these days. Could be a shadow person or a stranger. She sensed the shadow people were all around and sensed more of them lately. For some reason seeing all the plants made Mari feel at ease. And as she drew up to the door she noticed the woman had a door sensor like the one at her house. The homes wrecked in the last earthquake all had new door sensors installed.

Mari scanned her wrist over the sensor and the door slid open. The sensor detected the DNA of a person, and when homeowners had visitors they could input specific DNA and the scanners allowed that person to enter the home. Mari climbed down the wooden ladder to the main floor where she was greeted by an indoor forest of ferns, ficus, and jade as a butterfly danced around the plants. The home felt cozy and warm. A large tapestry of the flower of life hung on the wall in the hallway. The ceilings were higher than most of the new log cabin designs. In the back, Mari heard could Middle Eastern music as the sitar and tablas filled the room with earth tones and melodies.

Mari couldn’t believe the greenery she was seeing. I’ve never seen anything like it in person, she said muttered.

“These plants are my family,” a woman said, walking into the room.

The familiar radiance Mari remembered rushed back as soon as she looked at the old woman.

“Glad you made it,” the woman said with a smile. “Wait for me down there, dear.” She said, pointing to a circular room one floor down that was surrounded by plants and small trees.

Mari walked down the winding oak stair to the lower floor. A few pieces of sacred geometry artwork hung from the wall. At the bottom of the steps, she entered a large cylinder shaped room. The space made her feel like she was outside because the room was filled with shades of brown and green. A large mandala hung from the center of the ceiling. Medicinal plants filled the room and a large stone in the center created a gentle waterfall. In the back corners were two oak trees parallel to one another that pierced through to the roof of the cabin.

Mari gazed at the plants, wondering if the woman had magical powers. Across from the waterfall was an altar brimming with candles, and it had a large copper meditation bowl. Palo Santo sage burned on a shelf at her feet. Behind it was a towering Shiva statue, the Hindu god. The statue depicted the figure dancing in a ring of fire with a snake wrapped around him while he held a trident. The old woman walked into the room and noticed that Mari standing there looking at the Shiva statue. “Have a seat, my child. Like that statue, do you? Shiva is the Destroyer and creator of all things. At the highest level, he’s limitless…formless. Makes sense you are drawn to him.”

Mari raised her eyebrows. “Why?” It seemed weird that she had compared Mari to a deity.

“Your journey is about destroying limitations and false perceptions”.

“False perceptions?”

“For most, piercing to the core of truth is hard to swallow, but you embrace it.”

Mari frowned. “But the destruction of all things doesn’t sound pretty horrible.”

The old woman laughed. “No, my child, it will not be easy, there will be death. But your journey is also about expandtion and transcending what you believe to be possible.”

Mari just shook her head. “I don’t understand.”

“To do this you must travel deep within the shadows of your consciousness.”

“But, why should I do that, it doesn’t sound like fun.”

“If you don’t embrace your calling, your life will be unlucky and full of despair.”

Mari’s eyes watered as she thought about her mother and Justice. “I don’t feel like I’ve been so lucky.”

“Oh dear, I know you have had a tough life, sometimes though, we go through tragedy to help teach us to appreciate our connections, and to understand that nothing is permanent.”

Mari wondered if the woman somehow knew about her mom and Justice. “But I did appreciate them.”

“I know you did. Most do not have the strength to walk the path that you are meant to, but in the blackness lies the key to your greatest gifts. Let’s get started, what tis your question?”

A burst of wind rattled the windows in the room, startling Mari, who glanced at the noise. Mari looked at the ground and a tear streamed down her cheek. She glanced up at the woman.

“My best friend was just killed.”

Veleda’s eyes saddened. “Oh, dear child, I am so sorry about yee loss. I can sense how deep this pain is for you.”

“If you are really a psychic, shouldn’t you already know that this happened?”

The woman smiled. “I am not all knowing, I read energy fields and can see parts of the path one is on based on the choices they are making in the moment they see me.”

Mari sniffled. “What do you seee for me?”

“Inside you is rare and powerful force of energy, there is a calling in this life that thee must embrace.”

Mari stared at the woman, expressionless. “And what exactly is this calling?”

“You are a traveler, a leader, and are meant to be a warrior like your father.”

“What do you know about my father?”

Veleda lit up, like a torch. “He is a good man with a good heart, and his work in helping the Alliance is important work.”

“I don’t want to do what he does.”

“My dear, I did not say that you would. Your path is much different, more dangerous.”

Mari shook her head. “You keep talking about destiny and my calling, but you can’t give me information about what it is.”

Veleda sighed. “Thee has to discover your path on your own. Nobody can tell you how or what it is; life doesn’t work that way.

“Then what am I doing talking to you?”

“What I can tell you is that the answers rest in your dream world.”

Mari paused for a moment. “Earlier this week there was a dark haired woman in a lucid dream…

“Yes, dear?

She claimed to be me from another dimension. And the other night I had a nightmare that I escaped from a shadow person that was trying to kill me….”

The old woman adjusted her spectacles. “What the woman in thy dream said tis true. It is critical you learn how to unlock the ability to travel between dimensions. However, you must be careful because the shadow people also have this wisdom. ”

Mari took a deep breath. “Shadow people are real?”

“They are evil, be very very careful.”

“But, I thought…”

“No, they are not just our imagination.” Veleda peered out the window. Tree branches swayed in the wind, and the flowers in her garden reflected in the window, and the woman leafed through her back yard as if she were looking for something.

“Those evil creatures hunt people they can snatch up and kill.”

“But why can’t we see them in the daytime?”

“They slip off the veil in our dreamy states, and slither into our dimention, whether day or not.”

“They really can exist I reality?

“My dear, the other night you had an encounter with one, and that was no dream.”

Mari bit her fingernail. “Bu it felt like a dream. What are exactly are those creatures?”

“Some say they are tormented souls from another world, that once were similar to us.”

Mari shook her head. “But how to do they travel between dimensions?”

“Oh, yes, that’s the great mystery.”

Mari felt a painful knot in her stomach “Jesus. Does the government know about the shadow people?”

Veleda looked at the ground, her eyes welled up. “Those corrupt people don’t mind population control.”

Mari shook her head and sighed. “How have shadow people been able to remain a myth for this long?”

The old woman paused and stared at the ground for a moment. “Like with many things they do, the government hid the truth from the public.”

Mari felt flush with heat. Sweat dampened her forehead. She let out a deep breath. “I’m still in shock that they really exist.”

“Oh? You said it yourself that you had a sense that they were real; your feeling was right…Yet another reason why it’s important for you to listen to your intuition.”

Mari stared at the waterfall. The stream calmed her nerves. “I didn’t want to believe it was true, because I have the feeling that they are around an awful lot, and that scares me.”

Veleda adjusted her position on the chair. “I fear you may be contacted by another one soon. People usually don’t live after they see one.”

“How can I protect myself?”

“They drag their victims into another dimension, kill them and leaving no trace.” Every dimension has a set of rules. You must learn how to manipulate the rules of their realm.”

“But how?”

“I do not know how you can do this, but somewhere inside, you do. You just have to understand how you were able to touch one like you did before.”

Mari’s eyes widened. “But how am I going to learn how to do that?”

She smiled. “You need to deepen your understanding of lucid dreaming and the nature of your dreams.”

Mari folded her arms, “I already study my dreams, but half the time they confuse me.”

The woman reached into a box next to her and handed her an owl feather.

Mari laughed. “What is this going to do?”

“In shamanism, owls are considered oracles of wisdom. Keep it with you at all times. As you dive deeper into lucid dreaming, the two worlds will appear like they blend together. This feather will help you stay grounded between the waking world and dream world.”

“How will some feather do that?”

“If you can touch the feather, you’ll know you’re still awake. If not, you are dreaming.”

Mari raised one eyebrow . “It feels soft, similar to a magic mushroom shaft. You still haven’t told me anything concrete about my path.”

The woman smiled. “You are persistent. There is something…One of your paths is helping to rebuild this world.”

“And the other?”

Valeda took a deep breath and sipped her tea. “I’m afraid the other path is one of murder and destruction.”

“Killing, what do you mean?”

“Your shadow path is one that would see you this scenario you killing many, for no other reason than the act itself.”

“How do I make sure I don’t follow my shadow path?”

“You are the only one who can answer that. Your body is your guide, you have to trust the messages your inner compass transmits.”

Mari fumed inside, “Thanks for wasting my time.”

The windows blew open as strong wind blew against the house. Veleda turned quickly to look outside. Her eyes filled with panic, and she stood up and quickly to shut the window. “My dear I only speak of that which I see from your energy field.” You have to make the choices ahead. I’m afraid we are out of time, please be safe.”

Mari sensed Veleda’s fear, but she was so angry and didn’t care. Mari said good bye quickly, stood up and stormed out.”

“You know where to find me, my child..”

As walked back up the stairs to the ground floor and climbed the clay wall on a wood crafted ladder, stepping outside into the grimy atmosphere. Tiny drops of rain tapped down on her hat. Her surroundings seemed even darker than before. Mari felt a dark pit in her stomach and rage engulf her, all she could think about was killing whoever murdered Justice.