Last Time . . .

“Um . . . so what are we doing?” Justin asked.

“You heard the man, ‘Grab some books and go to the atrium!’” Joey said mimicking Josh’s voice to exact perfection.

“Shut up, you know what I mean! And I wasn’t talking to you!”

“You’re coming with us to the atrium!” Beryl said.

“I know that!” Justin said getting frustrated.

“We have to search the Astral and Spiritual planes to find some answers!” Vanessa said laughing at his impatience.

“Thank you!” Justin said smiling as they made their way to the atrium.

This Time . . .

As they settled in on a comfortable spot on the floor, books lying around them, the plants in the atrium providing them with unspeakable amounts of positive energy.

“Ok, wait, don’t we need to form a circle of power? Just in case . . .” Beryl said.

“Yeah, hold on, I have some stuff in my room that can take care of that.” Vanessa said getting up about to walk out of the room.

“My dear, why waste all that time when we can take the quick route?” Beryl said smiling, as she looked at him confusedly and before she knew it, they were in her room.

“Whoa!” She said laughing. “That was cool!”

“Yeah, that’s usually people’s first reaction. So, get what you need and we’ll go back down.”

“Um . . . ok, here’s my bag, ok, I got it.” She said pulling out a velvet bag with her supplies.

“Ok, so let’s start!” Beryl said as they were now back in the atrium.

“Oh shit!” Vanessa said laughing again.

“Cool ain’t it?!” Justin said. “I had the same reaction when he first did that with us too!”

She reached in her bag and pulled out five candles, one green, one yellow, one red, one blue and one white.

“Ok, which way is north?” Vanessa asked.

“That way!” Justin said pointing to the left of the fountain.

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

“How do you know?”

“See that vine over there?” He said pointing in the same direction.

“Yeah . . .”

“They have a tendency to grow towards the north, something about the magnetic poll that pulls it towards them.”

“Ok.”

“Why?” Joey asked.

“Those four candles represent the elements.” Beryl began, “Green for Earth, Yellow for Air, Red for Fire, Blue for Water and White for The Spirit.”

“They also have a specific direction associated with them.” Vanessa continued, “Earth is North, Air is East, Fire is South, Water is West, and The Spirit is all around.”

“Oh . . .” Joey said still a little confused.

“Remind me to explain it all to you another time!” Beryl said smiling. “Right now we have work to do!”

“Ok!” Joey said as he and Justin buried their noses into some books.

As Vanessa placed each of the candles in a circle around her and Beryl, each in their proper direction, she started to concentrate on the red candle, the elemental sign of fire, after a few seconds, a popping sound started to come from the candle, and soon after the wick lit, also causing the other candles to light with it, the power of the circle causing the chain reaction. Beryl and Vanessa both sat cross-legged on the floor, they grabbed each other’s hands and closed their eyes.

“I call upon light and Earth at the North to illuminate and strengthen this circle.

 I call upon light and Air at the East to illuminate and enliven this circle.

 I call upon light and Fire at the South to illuminate and warm this circle.

 I call upon light and Water at the West to illuminate and cleanse this circle.

 I call upon light and Spirit in the All to illuminate and create this circle

Hail and welcome to the Elementals and the Ancestors, we ask thee to attend and guide us in our rite tonight.

The boundary of the circle has been created. Only love shall enter and leave. This circle is conjured, a circle of power that is purified and sealed. Lord and Lady mote it be!” Vanessa chanted as the flames from the candles flickered and grew in height.

“By the power of the Chosen Ones, I call upon the Ancient Spirits to guide us in our journey and protect us as we travel on our search for aid and answers. Watch over our souls and show us what we may know in order to end the pain caused by beings beyond our control. So mote it be!” Beryl chanted as the flames from the candles shot up in the air and calmed down, returning to their original height.

Through the eyes of Justin and Joey, it appeared as if Vanessa and Beryl were just sitting there holding hands and eventually separating their hands and returning them to their own laps. However, through Vanessa and Beryl’s prospective, they were now separating themselves from their physical bodies and traveling to a place where time as they knew it did not exist.

“Are you ready?” Vanessa asked as they met in garden on the Astral Plane.

“Yeah, you?” Beryl asked in return.

“Yup! Let’s do this!”

“Ok, you’re goin off to the Hall of Records right?”

“Yeah . . .”

“Which one?”

“The Pyramid.”

“Ok, I have to travel further out to the Spiritual Plane. I have to gain access to the Hall of the Chosen Ones.”

“Ok, good luck! If you get into any trouble, use your guides!”

“Thanks, you too!”

“Meet you back here soon!”

“Bye.”

“Bye. Oh, and Beryl . . .”
”Yeah?”

“Blessed Be!”

“Blessed Be!”

Justin was flipping through his very first spell book, he turned to the page that was blank before, but couldn’t find it.

“What the . . .” He said.

“What?” Joey asked.

“N . . . nothing, just thought I saw something, but it was nothing.”

“Ok.” Joey said flipping through some more books.

Josh first tried to contact the Oracle, he had established an audio-video connection directly to her but had only promised to use it under extremely urgent circumstances.

”This definitely qualifies as extremely urgent!” Josh thought to himself.

As he powered up the monitor connected to a panel in the control room, he saw the blank screen trying to establish a connection. Once a video connection was made, he saw Janet in the middle of a meditation session.

“I’ll check back later.” He thought as he terminated the connection.

“Hey Lance, I think I found something!” Sonia said going up to Lance with a book.

“What’s that?” He said turning to her and taking the book.

“Right . . . there!” She said pointing to a paragraph.

“One of five, one of great, shall give their life in an act of faith.” Lance read aloud. “No, I’ve read that before, don’t know what it means, but I don’t think it has to do with what we’re doing.”

“Oh . . . ok.”

“Good try though! Keep lookin!”

“Thanks!” She said going back to her table.

Beryl was walking down a long corridor; getting to the Spiritual Plane was easy, it would be getting to the Hall of the Chosen Ones that would be hard. Prepared for any Guardians of the Hall, Beryl cautiously continued on his way. He had only been to the Hall twice before, the first time almost getting killed. He hoped that after the second time, since he had minimal trouble that this time he wouldn’t run into any at all. There it was, the door leading to the Hall of the Chosen Ones. In order to pass through, he had to free his mind and complete the puzzle to open the door. On the door was a cross with several lines cast beside it. In order to open the door, Beryl would have to move each of the lines to it’s proper place on the cross, if he missed even one, he would be thrown back to the garden.

“Here goes . . .” He said reaching out for the first line.

Vanessa sat at a table in one of the large halls of the pyramid. This was her favorite hall, simply because she felt a great connection with it. The site of the pyramid was beyond description; its high walls were lined with volumes of books that were filled with information. The light that filled the hall seemed unreal, creating a sort of safe and warm ambiance. She went there because she knew it well and would be able to find the information she needed without much trouble. As she sat at her table, she had piles of old books surrounding her. Each book containing every memory, life experience and past life of each of the Chosen Ones. 

“Damn this is a lot of stuff . . . and I’m not even near the beginning” she said as she opened one of the volumes and flipped through it.

“What’s that?!” Joey said looking over at Beryl.

“What?” Justin asked looking up from his book.

“Look . . . On Beryl’s neck!”

“What the . . .”

As they both looked at the right side of Beryl’s neck, they saw it start to glow. As the glow faded, it revealed what looked like a tattoo.

“Is that . . .” Justin began.

“What?”

“Look . . .” Justin said closing his spell book and showing Joey the cover.

“Whoa . . . that’s the same mark on his neck!”

“Didn’t . . . Didn’t Xaina have that same tattoo on her calve or something?”

“Oh shit . . . yeah! But why was it glowing?”

“I guess Beryl got to where he wanted to go!”

“I hope he’s okay!”

“He is, don’t worry!”

“Ok . . .” Josh said over the phone. “Ok . . . Yeah . . . Ok! Thanks a lot! And don’t worry, no one will find out where I got this information! Thanks . . . Ok . . . Yeah . . . Bye!” He said hanging up the phone.

“Who was that?” Lance asked entering the room.

“Huh? Oh . . . no one . . . just one of my contacts.”

“Did they give you any useful information?”

“Yup! Indeed they did!” Josh said smiling.

“How good?”

“I found out when they’re going in Chris’ past.”

“Great! Is that all? What about the rest of us?”

“That’s all she could tell me.”

”She? Was it the Oracle?”

“No . . . I tried to contact her earlier, but she was meditating. I didn’t want to disturb her.”

“Oh . . . We’ll try again later.”

“Yeah . . . So . . . What’s up? Did you guys find out anything?”

“Well, after all this time, we still only have a little information, but we’ve narrowed down some of when they might go for you!”

“Really?”

“Yup . . .”

“When’s that?”

“Well, how bout you come into the library, and we’ll all compare notes?”

”Sounds good to me! I’ll be right there!”

“Ok, I’m gonna go check on the others.”

“I think I found something . . .” Joey said.

“What?” Justin asked.

“One of five, one of great, shall give their life in an act of faith.”

”What?” Justin said grabbing the book.

“I dunno . . . I mean, it mentions five, and we’re the five, so I dunno . . . Never mind!”

“No . . . no . . . it might be something! I just don’t know if it is or not!”

“Hey guys!” Lance said entering the atrium.

“Hey Scoop!” Joey said, causing Lance to smile at his former nickname.

“How’s everything going? Find anything?”

“No, not really!”

“Oh . . . what about them? How are they doing?” Lance asked pointing to Beryl and Vanessa.

Just as he pointed to them, the flames of the candles started to flicker wildly.

“Um . . . what’s going on?!” Joey asked, confusedly.

“I have no idea!” Justin responded.

TBC . . .