Moon
Throughout history, indigenous people have recognized the power of a woman's blood. Though I wasn't raised within a system that honored the rites of passage into Womanhood, I did grow up around hymns that spoke the blood truth. "Power in the Blood" was ostensibly about the power of Christ's blood but it illustrated a larger point.
Blood washes away things that no longer serve you. What remains is a purer version of yourself, a more honed, focused, intentional being ready to re-enter the world with all systems go.
" Come on Anna, it'll be fun. You can come to the club and see my band play." His voice pleads through the phone.
"I don't know, I have heard you sing."
"well then I will have you know that I don't sing. I play the guitar. Luca sings."
"Luca? What happened to Izzy?"
"He quit." Gabe shrugs "Chalk it up to creative differences."
"More like sibling rivalry."
"It doesn't matter anyway. Luca sings better than Rayne any day."
"That bad huh?"
"What?"
"The fight. I haven't heard you call him Rayne in a long time."
"Well it is his name."
"No his name is Isadore."
"Yeah, he would kill anyone who tried calling him that. Well anyone that isn't you or maybe Nana."
"No I am pretty sure he would kill me too. That's why I call him Izzy"
"Yeah well he hates that too."
"Really? He has never said anything to me about it."
"Yeah well that's because you're you."
"What's that supposed to mean."
"Oh God Anna. You know what it means, so don't make me say it."
"I don't know so spill it."
"My brother is infatuated with you."
Anna busted out laughing. "Uh-huh. Right. That joke was bad even for you."
"I'm serious Anna. That boy has been crazy about you since the second grade."
"Gabe just stop. Let's be serious. Iz doesn't love me. He avoids me like the plague. Besides, think about all of the mean things he used to do to me."
"Of course he was mean to you. That's what boys do when they love a girl. They put snakes on their pillows while they sleep and such."
"Oh my God I had forgotten about that. I didn't sleep for days. I was terrified"
"I know. That's why you slept in my bed. I guess that one backfired on him."
"I'm still not buying what you are selling."
"You don't have to. It's the truth. My stupid brother loves you. Well, and of course I do too. Now if only you had a prettier face and bigger boobs....."
"Gabriel Alexander St. Clair!"
"Oh now I am in trouble. So I guess you'll have to get on a plane and punish me"
"I can't."
"Why won't you come?"
"First of all, you know how I get when I fly."
"They make motion sickness pills you know."
"Yeah, but those just make me pass out. And the last thing I need to do is pass out on a plane and have some dirty pervert feel me up."
"I don't think that would be a problem."
"Gabe, not all men require a double Ds to turn them on."
"Don't they?"
"No!"
"But it doesn't hurt. What's the real reason Anna?"
"I have three job interviews scheduled already"
"So cancel them"
"Gabriel. You know I can't."
"Anna, come on. You spent the last three years rushing yourself though college. The least you can do is let me show you all the fun you missed when you had your nose stuck in all those books. You dork."
"I can't"
"No you won't there is a difference. Seriously Anna, come. The jobs will be there in the fall as well"
"No they won't"
"Right, every job will be gone"
"The good ones will be. Besides your roommate will think I am weird."
"You are weird. And he already knows all about you. "
"Everything?"
" well not everything but enough. Trust me Anna you will love him too. He is smart, and funny, and he can sing, and all the girls love him. You know what on second thought maybe you should just stay home and find a job. I can't have you falling for my friends."
She laughs "Oh please, you know I only have eyes for you." The sarcasm rolling from her lips.
"Well if that is the case, you have to come. Please?"
“In Defense of Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory of Everything”
Let's talk about some of the things that Wilber claims to know, or at least believe, as a result of his integral method. One of the things is a spectrum of consciousness – which means that “sensation” and “matter” are only two wavelengths of this spectrum, and other, deeper wavelengths include “heart,” “mind,” “soul,” and “awareness,” among many frequencies of conscious vibration. For someone who believes that “matter is all that exists,” this spectrum-of-consciousness theory seemingly enters the territory of “New Age hocus-pocus” because, let's face it, Cartesian “dualism” or chakra activation or remote viewing or visiting the Other Side or extraterrestrial sighting or levitation or telekinesis – sound like crazy and impossible realities to the naked mind.
Wilber is right though. These things are real. I don't mean “real” from a “pseudo-scientific” standpoint. I mean it from a hard scientific standpoint. The aforementioned paranormal phenomena are straight-up fact. The evidence is overwhelming. It is both sad and ridiculous that a pseudo-intellectual like James Randi is convinced otherwise, because, for example, Chinese medicine is proof of chi and chakras, nei kung is proof of supernatural powers, Thrive is proof of extraterrestrial visitation, the United States military and Monroe Institute are proof of remote viewing and astral travel. Before you object to these claims, do your homework. Step up to the plate. Devour as much information as you can on these subjects. You will find that such “New Agey” claims and phenomena are real – scientifically real.
Ken Wilber's Integral Theory of Everything is good and true in theory/principle and in practice/experience. As mentioned at the beginning of this paper, the only thing that any genius or intellectual or scholar can criticize Wilber of not justifying sufficiently regards his take on evolution and God. The nondual and the paranormal are fact. But is God? – is ultimate meaning and purpose?
So what if integrience and Integral Theory is legitimate and so what if fantastical, magical things such as psychic and supernatural abilities are real? – even if these things are the case, this does not prove the ultimate question/claim: whether/that life, as a whole, has an ultimate meaning and purpose – whether/that there “is” such “thing” as an Ultimate Being, a Being than Which nothing is or can be greater. God.
God is indeed the ultimate question. It's a scary one, too, because if God is real, then God is GOD. “God,” meaning a being/reality/subject that is Infinitely Intelligent, Infinitely Powerful, Infinitely Good, Infinitely Aware, etc. Magic could be real, and that would be unbelievably epic and fantastical – but magic could be real and God still could not be. God is more than magic. God is Infinite Magic. God is so much more than “Infiniteness/Brahman” that language simply cannot do it any justice. But language can still lead the mind and soul in a right direction.
...
Excerpt
“Ray I don’t think you understand what you’re asking me to do… He’s my father. My own flesh and blood. I can’t kill him. I won’t kill him,” Reid’s eyes searched my face, hoping to find some sign of understanding or sympathy, but they found nothing. I knew Myran was his father. I knew what I was asking him to do was murder the man who raised him. However it had to be done. The war had to be ended, whatever the cost. Reid’s father had to die. I starred back into Reids’ pleading eyes. I did not say a word, but my message was clear.
From a dusty file: Chao Ab Ordo
It is in the unknown future that we hold our fears, and with that, we find that today slowly drifts into yesterday. It is in these times that the end of days seems to be so close. It is in these times that we embrace the religion we were so quick to denounce in better times. It is in these minutes so thoughtfully wasted we remember those precious memories that we have cherished above material wealth; our thoughts on our loved ones and all those we hold close to our hearts.
It is in this time we plug into our radios and televisions and await the reports of conflict, disaster, strife, and loss. We hear our officials, in the early stages, attempt to quell the public's fear with their prestigious lullaby. We hear our officials, during the trouble, report that everything is in hand, and that help is on the way.
We hear our officials, after losing hope, say that our efforts put forth will not be enough, and that nothing more can be afforded. They will hide amongst their civilized comrades, these heads of state, and watch as their empire crumbles and falls to ruin as the distressed citizens await with hands stretched out for relief and salvation.
These lambs, stricken with an incurable disease, are forced to survive on their own means. It is when the flock is torn asunder by these lambs, which have become ravenous wolves, willing to kill for what they believe is right. They separate and begin their unholy destruction of what civility is left among those they transformed from. They abuse and neglect those not strong enough to fight back, those who know better, and in turn warping their souls and making them into creatures far from those they once were.
Days turn into months, months turn into years, and those years turn into centuries of corruption and vile transformation. These centuries of destruction and chaos create a massive shift in the human perspective, numbing the general masses to murder, hate, greed, and lust. Mass murder, torturing, orgies, gladiatorial death matches, all these become the general public's entertainment, and no man is held above being put in the arena full of wild beasts, drug driven savages, and the most sinister weapons created by the twisted minds of The Order of the Beast.
The youth of the masses are taken from their parents at the age of three to go to schools created by The Order. These schools teach the children to hate all that oppose their beliefs, and kill those that will not bend to the will of The Order, even their own parents. These parental exterminations are closely researched and studied by the children, and are highly encouraged by their school masters to do so if they have any doubt in their parent's loyalty to The Order and its rules.
Technology has perverted into a sick and twisted form so far from what our forefathers in the early 20th century had envisioned for their future. The science of war and torture has far outpaced that of the science of peace. The Order created ziggurats of science and technology to research and develop improved ways to break down and destroy human life all across the habitable world. These ziggurats are full of prisoners destined to become the test subjects for the atrocious acts committed by the priests of knowledge. They conduct their research during all hours of the day, ensuring that they have full knowledge of any and all effects upon the human body and spirit by their weapons and tactics. Sleep deprivation, starvation, water torture, and isolation have become so intensified that it can even be fully grasped by any sane man. They have indeed perfected the art of war and torture to such a level that nothing is left of the human spirit, leaving the body a hollow vessel in which the brain has no control of.
This is the world that Frank Gelland lives in. Frank is a low level data entry technician at the Vault of Research in the outskirts of the capital city of Dysterin. Frank has worked at the Vault since his graduation from Basic Education seven years ago. He hasn't been in much of a valued position, even in BE, where he never received high scores in any field that he attended. Frank has always been looked upon as a lower form, almost not even human in some cases by some of his peers. He has been chided all throughout his life, but never paid much mind to it since he always seemed to disregard anything they said about him, and continued his work. Not much of a thinker, he never aspired to become anything more than what his superiors put him in charge of; which wasn't much.
Continuing his work day after day, and never tiring of the monotony of paper and computer screen, logging and re-logging entries that were cited by his superiors for extended entry, Frank pushed through his minimal existence with minimal drive. He went home to a small apartment allotted by the Vault, where he lived and commuted with fellow peons day after day. Sparsely furnished and monotone, the apartment has no windows, and a single door. The rooms are separated with sliding curtains; the only light in each room is a single bulb, hanging from the center of each area. The kitchen is a small corner with a microwave on top of a refrigerator full of frozen meals and assorted bottled beverages.
Excerpt - Deal with a Dragon
His room was not comfortable. Granted, sharing a bed with a gaggle of older brothers was ALSO not comfortable, but at least there he knew where he was and what to expect. Waking up to fart sounds, spiders on your pillow, wet willies. That sort of thing. Unfortunately for Alex, there's something especially intimidating about big stone walls, itty bitty windows, and a ceiling that arches up high yet still manages to look like it's going to crush you.
His bed was also trying to swallow him. It was comfortable as sin, yes, but he wasn't used to having quite so much all to himself. His eyes continually darted to the corners, waiting to see claws coming up over the thick quilt and red eyes blinking at him greedily. Weren't there supposed to be secret passages in castles? The dark, creepy kind where bugs grew to twenty times their size so they could wriggle out and feast on your fingers while you slept?
Those windows had no glass in them. They were just barely wide enough to emit some small amount of moonlight. It filtered down in choppy streams, and instead of brightening the place, the light seemed to be breaking its own rule and only making the black parts even blacker. Alexander alternatively widened and narrowed his eyes, but his night vision didn't improve near enough to pierce it.
Not that he could have slept anyway. Something about being locked into eternal servitude gave a boy terrible insomnia. Quite frankly he wasn't even sure what it would entail. He wasn't built to be a guard, and no way would King William let his precious daughter be guarded by a scrawny fish bone. He could throw himself over her like a meat shield and he wouldn't even manage to cover a third of her. So, short of that, what could he do exactly? Take care of her royal(y unfortunate) horse? Tidy her room? Help her dress? Gods forbid, clean her chamber pot?
Suddenly being eaten by monsters in the dark seemed like the better alternative.
Casting the blanket aside, Alexander stood and paced. The stone floor was freezing, and he wished again that he were back home. With that many bodies in one room, it was certainly never cold.
His chest was sitting in the corner of the room. Closed, it too felt cold to him now. Before it had been his benefit, but now it was his undoing. What was his salvation was now his damnation. And he'd certainly never pictured hell to be quite this unforgiving.
A thought flickered to life in the back of his mulling mind. His toe skidded over the stone, and he locked eyes with the chest again, biting his lip. A fourth of that loot would still be enough to get him admitted. Still be enough to pay for room and board. It would even still be enough for him to have a nice chunk of money set aside atop all of that.
If the dragon was willing to give him his life for half, what would he be willing to do for just a bit more?
Listening in the silence, Alex stood frozen for a few more moments, before bursting into action. His ears stayed tuned for the sound of footsteps beyond his door, but he was careful as he worked. He took the sheet from the bed and tore it, grimacing at the noise it made, before darting back to the chest and beginning to unload the gold into the fabric. One knot and it was done. A crude little napsack, but effective. Pausing, he thought better of it and went to the pillow, ripping it open and stuffing the feathery down amidst the jingling gold pieces and gemstones.
That would make it quieter, at least.
The tricky part would be getting himself out of the blasted castle. He was only one floor up, but scrawny though he was there was no way he was fitting through any of those windows. Tangling his fingers in his makeshift bag, Alex closed his eyes and imagined the passage he'd walked through to get there. If he recalled correctly, there'd been a far larger window in the hall. Curtains were drawn over it to keep the bugs out, but if the positioning were correct from the outside, there was a moat beneath it. A deep one, to make up for the vulnerability of having such a large gap in the stone masonry.
He could jump.
Immediately goosepimples rose on his arms. No, it wasn't nearly as high as the mountain, but at last when climbing that his feet had never had to leave the ground. Jumping out of a castle...
A little voice in his head whispered menacingly, “chamber pooooootsssss.”
It was decided. He would have to use something to lower the bag though, there was no way he'd be able to get that much gold out of the water without drowning. Grunting, he hefted the thing up and walked over to the bed, setting it down and observing the canopy over it. Gaudy material, and the pattern made it look like some grotesque face was staring down at him. He felt along and discovered rope through the edges of it, poking out in the form of golden tassels. It wasn't easy to work it out, but when he was finished, he had what he needed. He might even be able to make straps to carry the sack with once he was free.
Alexander had no idea how long he stood with his ear pressed to the door. That familiar sensation of a noose around his neck flared again when he realized what the punishment would be for this affront. After all, King William would doubtlessly be enraged to see how his generosity was being so flippantly shirked.
With one final glance at the room, Alex stepped out. He had no idea where his clothing was, so he'd had to don the foppish stuff they'd stuck him in. If he were lucky, it would send the dragon into a laughing fit and make him more malleable to suggestion.
The window was close. Closer than he'd remembered. Parting the curtains, he looked down, and had to keep himself from shouting 'hoorah!' as he realized his theory was right. There was the moat, all murky and green and disgustingly beautiful.
And hopefully not crawling with alligators.
The gold was first. After all, that was his bargaining chip. Without it he was just hopping out of the frying pan and right into the dragon fire. Lowering it wasn't easy, and as he did he almost heard his back screaming in protest. The fact that he had to carry this up the mountain again made him certain he'd have a crooked spine way before his time.
With a satisfying thud, the gold landed just short of the water, pinned between it and the base of the castle. Now it was his turn. Hopefully he could aim himself just right in order to-
“Oh FREDERICK! You know we'll get in trouble if they catch us!”
Alex hissed. The voice was near, maybe around the corner, though he couldn't see anyone yet. Climbing up onto the sill, he fixed his eyes downwards and began trying to work up his nerve.
“You KNOW how inappropriate this is!”
Still needed more nerve.
“I'm a married woman, Frederick! And my husband would not approve of such flirting!”
Bile in his throat, but more nerve was needed. The voices drew closer.
“Alright, alright.” The sound of giggling, high pitched. “Just this one time, Freddy-poo! Really quick-like!”
It was at that point Alexander decided a broken leg was preferable to hearing the conclusion of the conversation. He jumped.
Cloak of Shadows (The Netherwalker Series, Book 1)
Umbilical Severing
The creature sat high upon his throne of bone and blood. Hardened marrow, millennia old, was still within the husks of his ancestors’ bones. Petrified arteries of blood wrapped brother to brother, knotted father to son. The creature rested his arm on his grandfather’s skull as tendrils of life essence floated towards him in the heavy, thick atmosphere. He slowly opened his ancient dry cracking mouth and devoured the droplets of human life, plucking them from the air like precious grapes. Human infant was the sweetest of morsels. He would reward his champion pet greatly upon its return. Krimvigos and krimvigars worthy of his affection cowered at his feet, while rabid howling others remained locked in their fire and ash cages. He screeched for their obedient silence.
The Nevra-Hsi stretched out his long paper thin arm and petted each obedient cowering beast in turn with his sharp talons. The krims shivered under his narcotic caresses. They lay at the Hsi’s feet, clawing at his robes in ecstasy. Scraps of onyx fluidic armor tore away, exposing the dehydrated sloughing crust of the eternally dying creature. The beasts murmured and purred in contentment, the drug had assured their continued loyalty and bondage. Caged, unbroken beasts would have to wait. The Hsi needed more life essence, much more.
Tethered to his soldiers on the earth plane, the Hsi stole a glimpse of their progress. He looked through his beast’s vision that had earlier given him the sweet child’s morsels and observed a hunter. No, two hunters. He commanded the krimvigo to sacrifice itself so his brothers would remain hidden. The beast had no choice but to comply or suffer its master’s wrath.
The Nevra-Hsi stood and walked to the caverns precipice to await his beast’s return. Shielding his skin from the triple moons, he scoured the parched inhospitable landscape. His krimvigo streaked through the sky like a falling star, slowed by the multiple, gelatinous frozen atmospheres. Upon impact, the iridescent violet orb shattered into a ring of fire around his slave. Barreling through the wall of fire, the beast ran past erupting ice geysers and the thousand year old dust storm, straight for its master. It was hungry for its treat.
Ruby
The Ruby county has few landmarks.The county in itself is unique enough to be it's own attraction. The town and markets are not bustling with the common, but rather the tall and pompous glance briefly about themselves before purchasing only what they came for and walking briskly back to their homes in the cooling winds. These homes are not as magnificent as their people, but are almost as unique. A colony of smaller village houses give shelter to the rich, and the middle class wandered elsewhere with the poor. The few structures that stand out are home to the elite and influential. The gap between the economic statuses shows in the architecture of the town. Shops rest on small hills wherever they could lay cobble for paths. Homes take up most of the center and east side of the county, with wealth determining your homestead-- the border of the shops were homes that might have been built for a king, but towards the east were crumbling, rotting frames of shacks and single rooms.
The westward homes are split by a graveled path that leads to another feature-- a bell. A bell tower taller than the tallest building, made from red bricks and white plaster. a small door led to the only interior space, a rounded, tiny room with a rope hanging from the silver bell above. Locked but for Meisters, who held their own keys, it was used for the purpose of sending out a message. When the bell rings, every Meister has an ordained courier that delivers the message back to the castle. Generally, the message is nothing important-- just an announcement of a ball or an arrest of a criminal-- but still, when the bell rings, farmers working their plots and families in their homes pause and wonder.
While the county is almost exclusively populated by sights easily deemed incredible, only one structure can truly call itself a landmark-- the castle of Talvar. Talvar had been in the land since the beginning, the tallest mountain in the whole of the country. It had been said it was once so rich with ruby ore you could see little glints of red from between the blades grass-- so it was only fit to build the castle there, the castle that housed the Meister herself.
The Violet Eclipse
The planet Almikaval has two moons. They are both normally grey in color but every now and then they fester with cosmic energy. The moons were called Enya and Talek. Enya was a small moon with a cloudy atmosphere, dimming the night sky as it circled clockwise around the purple planet. Talek was a large, light grey moon that circled the planet counterclockwise. Every fifty years, the moons would emit their cosmic energies. Enya emits a bright blue energy, which casts a freezing blue shadow with its rays. Talek emits a scarlet red energy which casts a burning red shadow. Every 200 years, Talek and Enya align exactly, casting a warming violet glow upon the planet, a phenomena called the Violet Eclipse. It was found that when young warriors were placed amongst the rays, they received an energy to control. Some would control wind, others would control water, and still others would control fire. These select few warriors were prophesied to bring peace and harmony for the planet until the next young warriors came along. A disturbing prophecy is revealed on the dawn of the 4th Violet Eclipse to a village oracle, "The 5th Violet Eclipse will bestow five warriors instead of three. The two powers that will be revealed are immense, and will bring terror unimaginable before peace will be restored." Many years pass and the prophecy is forgotten. The 5th Violet Eclipse descends upon Almikaval with every passing moon.