AllFreeNovel
Share Us
You don't need to. Don't think about it. Focus on my voice. Focus on your senses--can you see anything?
See anything? I didn't have eyes--wait. There was a light. Maybe just the sensation of light, but somehow I was aware of it. And then, I felt something shift and realized I'd just blinked. I glanced down and saw myself in silhouette, a shadow against the astral world in which we were standing. It was me, but in smoke and vapor, without distinct features. I held up my hands in wonder.
"I look like . . . wow . . . I'm not sure what." A cutout of a paper doll? My shadow, run off by its lonesome?
"You look fine--you're exactly as you should be."
Kaylin's words were more distinct. I wasn't hearing them--not with my ears--but they felt less intermingled with my own thoughts now. I looked around and there in the shadows next to me, I saw Kaylin--or rather, Kaylin's shadow.
A thought struck me. If I could see him, maybe that meant . . . I slowly turned to my right. There, in a cloud of mist and sparkles--faint cerulean with diamond dust sparkling in the midst--swirled Ulean. She was not female per se, but a vague bipedal form caught in the middle of an ever-spinning vortex.
My gods, you're beautiful! I couldn't stop staring at her.
Thank you, my friend. I'm so happy you can finally see me.
"We'd better get going," Kaylin said, and I realized he'd missed my exchange with the Elemental. So even here, he couldn't hear her. But . . .
"Can you see Ulean?" I motioned toward the mist and vapor that was my wind Elemental.
He stared for a moment, then slowly inclined his head. "Faintly, but there's static. Perhaps it's because I'm not attuned to the wind."
He's not bonded with me. Only you can see me clearly here. And only you--or those I choose to--can hear me.
"Got it." I figured the answer worked for both of them. "What now?"
Kaylin pointed ahead. I followed his gesture and there saw a pair of what looked like beacons, lit up brighter than the Space Needle on New Year's. As I gazed at them, the shapes began to sink through and I realized what they were.
"The Twin Oaks!"
"Yes. If they were just ordinary trees, you wouldn't be seeing them nearly so well. They'd be lit up, yes, as with the auras of all living things, but not like this. Look around. Really try to focus because so much out here depends on learning to open your mind in order to see more than one dimension at once."
Once again I tried to breathe and panicked briefly as no air flowed into or out of my lungs. I caught myself and let my fear settle.
"What am I looking for?"
"Think of Rhiannon and Leo. Then look for them."
I brought Rhiannon's face to mind. Her smile, her red braid, the sparkle in her eyes . . . then I thought of Leo and--
"Whoa . . . there they are!"
Not two yards from where we stood, I could see them, vague and indistinct but their auras shone like the neon of a bar sign. Leo's was green, steady and brilliant. But Rhiannon's aura crackled, her energy looking tight--as if she had clamped restraints on it. Flaring like sunspots, it tried to break free time and again and was yanked back to meld again into her body. The tension was palpable, as if she were wrestling with a nest of writhing snakes.
"Shit . . . she's going to explode someday and it's not going to be long. Look at that--she's got so much repressed energy that it will eat her alive if she doesn't do something soon."
Kaylin nodded. "We have to take her in hand, help her overcome her fear of the fire. She could burn up with that much repressed force."
Spontaneous combustion. The thought ran through my head with alarming clarity and I could so easily see her setting herself up for it. Surely she could feel the power shifting, though? Or had she blocked any natural connection out of fear she'd misuse it again? One way or another, we had to help her find balance.
"How are you doing? Think you're ready to go check on the Barrow, or do you need another moment to adjust?" Kaylin--or the inky black shape that passed for him--leaned against a splotch that I finally realized was a boulder back in the physical plane.
I gauged my comfort level. I still felt misty and oddly at loose ends, but I had gotten over my fear of not breathing, and the shapes on the astral were becoming clearer and more defined to my new eyes.
"I think I'm ready. What do we do? And how will we know if they see us?" I tested out my footing on the ground. Dreamwalking felt kind of what I always imagined bouncing around on the surface of the moon might feel like.
"If we fall into a field that negates the magic, we'll know all too well. The question is: Will they have any seers capable of ferreting out astral entities? Essentially, psychic spies? That's our biggest worry, providing the magic holds. Just keep your eyes and ears open. Focus on the person you want to hear and tune in that way."
He motioned to me and we headed toward the Twin Oaks. A nervousness settled in my solar plexus. It was odd not to feel my body. Was this what it felt like to be an Elemental? Never solid, but instead made of shadow-stuff?
