DAY EIGHT

Oxygen is a chemical element – a substance that contains only one type of atom. Its official chemical symbol is O, and its atomic number is 8, which means that an oxygen atom has eight protons in its nucleus. Oxygen is a gas at room temperature and has no colour, smell or taste.

Oxygen is found naturally as a molecule.

There are 8 limbs of Yoga.

One of them is Pranayam – Pranayama means ‘life force extension’.

This is primarily done through breathing practices.

23

THURSDAY 24 DECEMBER 2021 - 08H08

MAIDEN

There was an interdimensional terrorist on the loose, and I had to act like a twelve-year-old girl at a funeral. It was all a bit mad.

The day began with someone slaughtering a cow. The sounds of anguish were piercing, and I vowed to stay a vegetarian. I was glad Amber had gone home for Christmas. She would not have coped well with the killing either. Tata assured me that the cow had willingly sacrificed herself in honour of Gran, but I was sceptical.

People started arriving as early as seven in the morning, and the funeral was only at three in the afternoon. Eleanor insisted on reading the will that evening too. Tata suggested we wait until after Christmas, but Eleanor pushed for everything to happen quickly. Something was not right.

“Good God, Fikile!" Eleanor stalked into the kitchen. "Please tell me you have arranged some catering other than the steaming pots of a cow?” Fikile gestured towards the fine vegetarian spread she was preparing. Fikile did not have the patience for Eleanor, and neither did I.

I think the sadness about death is for the survivors. I was devastated that I didn't get to know my Grandmother. Hopefully, wherever she was, she had fewer stupid people to contend with. My experience up to this point led me to believe that absolutely nothing about the universe and how it works was what I thought it was. Gran believed that energy did not die, it just changed shape, and now more than ever, I agreed. She may not be here, but Gran was somewhere. I would need to tell Sinead that I did, in fact, believe in spooks.

MOTHER

I brushed my lips across Thando’s temple. It was the first night he had stayed until the sun cast itself adoringly across his delicious dark shoulders. I left him to his dreams while I began my work.

What did my new life mean? I didn’t know yet, and that was okay. I would trust the Ecclesia and the Sisters to guide me, one step, one day, at a time.

Today Regan’s wound would be fresh. I wanted to bring comfort to her heart. No one had brought comfort to my heart when I was a little girl whose mother meant well but did not do well. From the corner of my eye, I spotted the blue smoke rings revealing dust particles in the sunshine. We were here for the maiden today, the Crone and I.

I travelled back eight days ago. I stepped off the porch and lifted my face and hands to the sun. I turned my palms this way and that, soaking up the sun. I closed my eyes and traced my fingers down my arms in an embrace. My eczema was gone. I hadn’t thought about it in eight days. I lifted my face, closed my eyes, and breathed deeply. A warm glow spread from the centre of my chest. The sun had arms, and they held me in a warm embrace.

I took the book to the daybed and leaned into the comfort and safety of the twelve cushions. I thanked Gran for giving me all she could. Then I cradled the book to cradle the child, who would bury her grandmother today.

I had been reading the story of Regan Grace, Arche of the Ten Known Realms, but the book revealed many more threads in the story than Regan’s.

Every life had a story in the Book of Brightness, including the ones losing their wonder and those stolen by the Scarab.

“Be here with me now,” I Uttered. My pot of ink and pen appeared. I was ready to write us all a new ending.

MAIDEN

We were running late, and Eleanor was irritated. “Unless her people come to fetch her, Gogo won’t leave.” an elderly man explained in broken English.

“I wish someone would leave,” said Eleanor loudly.

“What did he mean by ‘her people’?” I asked Tata after the man was gone.

“Her family,” he explained.

“What am I? Chopped liver?” asked Eleanor.

Tata shook his head, “No, our culture says her blood, her ancestors must take her back to where she was born. She must sleep in the same place she woke up in.”

“Or she will haunt us?” I asked. Tata laughed.

“I wouldn’t put it past her,” sighed Eleanor.

“Is it true?” I would never have asked such a superstitious question in a million years, yet here I was. Tata shrugged, as non-committal as ever. He eyed Eleanor before placing a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “Don’t worry,” he said. “Gogo knows what she’s doing.”

Eleanor rolled her eyes. Tata was not flippant, and I agreed with him. Wherever she was, Gran knew what she was doing.

We gathered in the kitchen to read the will because Tata was the Executor of the Estate. Eleanor’s lawyer, the only white man from the city, joined us. He was a heavy-set man with an inordinately long neck and nose. He had been grazing all day like a cow.

“William,” began Eleanor…

“He’s staying,” I interrupted.

“I don’t know what’s gotten into you, missy,” she glared at Fikile, then aimed her eye missiles back at me, “But when all this is over, you will hop back online! With all due respect, Tata." she whipped her attention at him. "I thought it might be helpful to have a lawyer present.” She towered over us. “There might be legal jargon that you,” she corrected, “we may need help with.” She sat down, pleased with herself. My code began to twitch and twirl.

Tata smiled amicably. “Good, good,” he said, opening the documents. “Two heads are better than one.”

Eleanor arched a questioning eyebrow.

“Oh,” Tata smiled. “Did Gogo never mention that I was her brother-in-law and her lawyer?” There was an agitated ripple in the field when I finally spotted the problem with Eleanor's code. I wanted to kick myself!

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

My mother had an Onboard! And Tata knew it. That's what he meant when he said, 'None of us are ourselves right now!' The field responded with copper sparks and shifting code, warning me of the spontaneous combustion building within me. I saw it faintly at first, my shadow, just buzzing around my heart. Will, was locked and loaded. He knew I was not okay. Fikile, sensing this, put her hand over mine. She pulled away as if I had burned her. I had.

“Is it just me, or is it hot in here?” Eleanor’s lawyer spoke for the first time. Will's eyes widened. He was genuinely afraid because The Logos materialised around Will like a human one-sy. He wore Jesus the way I wore my Shadow Sheath. My skin raced with code and copper sparks. I was losing control. All I had to do was stop long enough to feel into the most aligned Passage, but I didn’t want to. Truth filled up the space between us.

Arche, she said, are you ready for me?

Yes, I said. Truth peeled away the layers around my heart: I blamed Eleanor for my father’s death. She had invested all our money in the OnBoard and had let herself be hi-jacked by the Scarab. I wanted it all to burn to the ground, all of it. Rage was all I tasted.

Pick your battles, Little Bird, said the Crone through her blue-ringed Passage of wisdom. Her green thread reached through her Passage towards me. Had I not yet learned the lesson of unchecked rage? The string instruments in the soundtrack of my life rose to a crescendo, and my heart settled. Tata opened his shirt, his breastplate all a glimmer. A golden thread spun from his shield and danced towards me.

No Tata, I said. This is my battle. He nodded curtly and pulled back his shield, but his thread found my heart. The Darkness within me fleshed itself out and began to take shape.

There was timelessness.

***

The Scarab knelt before me, watching four-year-old-me suck on the pink milkshake she had given me.

“I'm bigger than Microsoft, awent I, wittle Wegan?” she said in baby talk.

“That’s quite…” I turned to my father for the word.

“Patronising,” he said.

“Patronising,” I agreed.

The Scarab's face contorted. She took the milkshake back and stood up. “I'm bigger than Hello Kitty!” she said, sticking her tongue out at me. “Hell, I’m bigger than Disney!” She declared before finishing my milkshake with an unnecessarily long and loud slurp. She exhaled with a deep sigh of satisfaction.

My father grimaced. I could see where I got my brooding dark eyes from. Erik Grace paced the living room floor, the distress radiating from him.

"Look," the Scarab cajoled. "I can put a lot of money into this, Erik. A lot.” Even at four, I understood the twinkle in Eleanor's eye. The lines etched into my father's face rearranged themselves only slightly. “There are ethical questions, Eleanor.” he insisted.

My mother sighed. "Fikile!” she called. My caregiver appeared. “Would you put Regan to bed, please?”

My father scooped me up and kissed me on the cheek. “I’ll be in to tell you a story soon, Little Bird,’ he said.

I nodded, then whispered, “Daddy, I don’t like her.”

“You are a good judge of character,” said the dragon. He had a long neck, a big nose and a small suitcase. My father kissed me goodnight for the last time. Fikile carried me away as my mother said, “I’m aware of that Erik, but someone has to do it, and it might as well be you. At least you have a conscience.”

“That makes one of us.” I heard the disappointment in his voice. The Scarab and the W.A.R.S. were funding his work in quantum biology.

There was timelessness.

***

Four-year-old-me woke from her dream when Fikile came into the room, crying. Four-year-old-me had seen Blue and me that night. I remembered telling Gran about it. "Gran," I said. "A blue man and a girl visited me!" She believed me. Eleanor did not.

“He doesn’t want to hurt you, do you Kei?” said The Scarab.

“No, I don’t, Mr Grace.” said the dragon. Kei, the dragon, had a name. And Kei was telling the truth. He did not want to hurt my father.

“You can not stand in the way of human evolution, Erik.” said the Scarab. She drifted down the passage, slurping on the empty milkshake. “Kei!” she called. “Take out the trash, will you?”

“Please Erik,” Eleanor begged. “Just give it to them! What about Regan?"

“She’s right, Mr Grace," said Kei.

"Eleanor," my dad pleaded. "This is madness! I can't put this kind of power into the hands of a psychopath!" His tone changed. "And it worries me terribly that you can!"

There was a pause then Eleanor gasped.

The PC powered up.

Fikile hurried into my room, crying, waking me.

I heard it all as I lay sleeping in my little bed. Was Eleanor crying because he was dead, or was she crying because she pulled the trigger?

We spent the night in a hotel and never went back. We carried on with our lives. Eleanor never spoke of him again. Fikile and Gran did all the time. They kept him alive for me. Eleanor threw herself into work. She never needed the OnBoard.

My First Casing, my body remembered it all. Everything is now.

There was timelessness.

***

My face stared back at me, my skin grey and mottled. I had seen this in my reflection in the burning oil eight days ago, the seething eyes of a Poth. That night Blue said this game would change me.

“Why are you here?” I asked.

The Shadow bristled and said, “To keep you safe.”

She is safe! Will's voice came from some distant place. Regan, he said as his rosy thread tugged gently at my heart. I’m here, said Will.

It will get easier, Little Bird, said the Qunatum Mother through her Passage. Her red thread coiled around my hips and up to my heart. But, the only way forward is through. She picked up her fountain pen and dipped it into a pot of ink as black as night. She began to write as she Uttered, I tighten the knot that binds us, Maiden, Mother and Crone!

All is one, said Blue.

I flexed my field.

A shimmering haze, a kaleidoscope of fractals shifted and changed. I was inside the Passage of Time as it rearranged itself around me.

None of this was a memory.

Everything is now.

My father scooped me up and kissed me on the cheek for the last time. “I’ll be in to tell you a story soon, Little Bird.’ I let that moment and all the love built into it permeate every cell of my being. My father held me. My father never left me. He loved me. I brought my hands to my heart and said thank you. I felt the torus burst out of my chest before I saw it. A cascade of colours beamed around me.

***

“I’m happy if you are.” Tata smiled amicably.

“I’m sorry…” Eleanor blinked. “We haven’t even read the will yet.” Everyone looked around the table. Fikile and Eleanor were unsure.

“Everything seems to be in order,” said Kei.

“But, but…” stammered Ealanor.

“Are you feeling unwell, Eleanor?” he asked, concerned.

“Can I make you some tea, Mrs Grace?” offered Fikile, who also wondered WTF.

“But Kei,” Eleanor squinted at him. “I am certain that there are matters to question.” He smiled kindly, then patted her hand. “We did, dear, we did." He stood up to shake Tata's hand. "Tata will manage the Trust and the house until Regan is twenty-one.”

The dragon faced me and I scanned him. Kei was a dragon. This was not an avatar he was playing online. This lawyer's skin was his avatar offline. Kei was an actual dragon.

We have unfinished business, I thought. He nodded, our eyes locked, but I sensed no threat from him. Eleanor Blinked some more, and then life carried on as Fikile served cake and tea. Will and Tata laughed at a joke, and Lu waved at me from the back door. No doubt he had taken notes for his boss, Sherlock Amber.

No that’s how you pick a Passage! Said Blue as his applause rang in my mind.

Thank you, I said, taking a polite mental bow.