The elder raised his hands, and everyone quieted down. “This is a very special moment for our people,” he began. “Today, we celebrate as one of our own ascends.”
“Ascends?” I whispered, but Grandpa Liwanu gently shushed me. Apparently, I was supposed to listen and not talk.
“In our world, death does not exist, because all our soul is meant to do is to return to the Great Spirit, and return to nature as it is, forever,” the elder said. “To do so takes many lifetimes, and much wisdom. What we are meant for is to merge as one with the elements. I’m proud to say that a soul among us has achieved such a mighty goal.”
He lifted his hand. A glowing ball of light approached, hovering toward the circle until it formulated into a man. He had a bare chest, with a long braid going down his back, and dark eyes that appeared deep with all the thoughts of the universe.
“Who’s that?” I hushed to Aunt Stevie, who was probably more willing to answer questions than my stern grandfather.
“Sani is very old, and very wise,” Stevie said, nodding at the man. “He has lived many, many lifetimes, more than most of us, and most of his lives have been Hawkei— most ofthoselives Koigni. He just finished his last life, and has learned everything his spirit needed to. Today is the day where he ascends.”
I didn’t get what was going on, but I didn’t get the chance to ask more questions, because the elder said, “Let us send off our honored friend by giving praise to the gods of the Ancestral Lands.”
Everyone in the circle started singing in Hawkei, even my grandfather. It was a happy song, full of joy and celebration. I began singing along, once I caught the rhythm and had memorized the short verse. The circle swayed back and forth as the elder stood, and Sani came forward.
“Sani, what element do you choose to merge your soul with?” the elder asked.
“The element of Fire,” Sani replied in a deep tone.
“Very well,” the elder said. “Step into the flames, and allow your spirit to meld with the power of Coyote Spirit.”
Sani didn’t hesitate, or even blink. He stepped into the bonfire, and I gasped. I watched as the flames became a multicolor array of blue, purple, red, orange, and green. They licked up his spirit, and Sani raised his hands to the sky. His soul morphed, until I could no longer see the man, but saw the outline of a person inside the flames. He began dancing with the fire, until the outline of the man dissolved and there was nothing but the flames licking up the logs— but I knew it was still him, moving the fire with the power of his magic and spirit. Applause and cheers rang over the area as Sani’s spirit rested within the fire.
I didn’t think you could cry in the spirit realm, but apparently you could if they were happy tears, because a few ran down my face. It’d been a beautiful moment. He’dbecomethe fire, and in every fire that burned, in the spirit realm or on earth, there he would be. He would never die. So long as there was fire in this universe, Sani would exist.
It was said in our stories of the Ancestral Lands that when people died, they, their Familiar, and their element merged as one, but I had never really gotten the last part. Now I understood.
“That was incredible,” I whispered as people began to disperse.
“Yes. And his heat will warm his descendants, and he will be able to visit them in the flames whenever there is fire available,” Grandpa Liwanu said. “One day, I hope to merge with Water, becoming the ocean and the waves wherever they may be. But that is still many lifetimes off.”
A thought crossed my mind. “Can we visit people still left on earth? Without ascending?” I asked.
Grandpa and Uncle Ezra glanced at each other. Aunt Stevie hesitated. “Yes,” she admitted. “Though I wouldn’t recommend going back right away.”
“We can return for certain circumstances and manipulate things, but our power is limited,” Uncle Ezra explained. “Spirit guides and a person’s direct ancestors usually have the most influence to help someone who’s still alive on earth.”
“Ezra helped me cross over, when I was dying,” Stevie said fondly. “He took my hand during my last breath and led me here. I saw him in my hospital room the morning I passed away, though no one else could.”
“So… even if I go back, they won’t be able to see or hear me,” I said.
“It would be extremely rare. The person would have to be gifted with magic that could hear and see spirits, and even then, it doesn’t always work, especially if you’re close with the person who’s trying to talk to you,” Uncle Ezra explained. “There are reasons we can’t talk to our loved ones who are still on earth. They have their path, and we have to let them learn from it, instead of just giving them all the answers. It wouldn’t be fair, and they wouldn’t learn what they needed to know, so they’d just have to reincarnate to learn the lesson all over again.”
In the empty part of me, I’d hoped Marcus could perform some kind of ceremony to summon my spirit back so I could speak to Charlie again. I doubted now that the Great Spirit would let that happen. We’d been able to talk to Alice when Marcus had summoned her, but they hadn’t been extremely close. Charlie and I were the same soul… living in two different places.
“It’s really complicated, being dead,” I said with a sigh.
“We don’t really use the termdeadhere,” Aunt Stevie said.
“I mean,technicallypeople on earth are more dead than we are,” Uncle Ezra said. “You just don’t see it that way until you’re here.”
I nodded. On earth, people had bodies that got sick and deteriorated and grew old. They had limits on what they could do, even with magic. Here, anything was possible, and nothing could get in your way.
“I can’t wait to start exploring it all,” I said. “It’s like miracles happen constantly here.”
“I mean, all the amazing stuff is great at first, but sometimes, you just want to go home and eat junk food in front of the TV, even if it is heaven,” Uncle Ezra said with a shrug. “It’s really up to you what you want to do while you’re here.”
I couldn’t imagine being bored enough here to just go watch TV. It was crazy.
