The Gift
Richard's Storyline, Chapter 5.4
copyright comidacomida 2018
I opened my eyes after stepping out of my shoes and lifted one foot then the other, letting each spirit remove one of my socks. After that there was only one other direction to go and I took in a deep breath when sharp claws and sharp talons moved to undo the button and unzip my jeans. Thankfully there was no injury as my pants came loose; Balam gathered them up and folded them carefully much in the same way I'd done with his raiments and set them on the desk next to the rest of my clothes. My underwear came next, and I found myself holding my breath again.
As the three of us returned to our places around the circle I noticed in the back of my mind that I was actually the only one of us who was actually wholly and complete naked-- not that something like an amulet or a necklace or a headband made that much of a difference. Glancing around at the two spirits, I suddenly felt just a little more surprise when I was taken aback by the faint stream of translucent, luminescent bluish-green fog that seemed to be flowing out of my chest and into the center of the circle.
I opened my mouth to question after what it was I was seeing only to have another, brighter stream of cloud-like light join the first, creating a swirling vortex of glowing mist inside the ritual area. Even as Balam continued the ritual in Mayan he gestured to Jack and myself, taking a step forward into the circle. Although I was scared at what I was seeing (Spirits was one thing, but MAGIC? Was what I seeing magic?), I stepped forward nevertheless, and to my side I saw Jack also follow suit.
As the three of us drew closer I saw that a powerfully bright light was visible from down Balam's throat. Every time he opened his muzzle to pronounce one of the foreign words or to draw breath it looked as though he'd swallowed a lamp. Before long, the glow emerged from his chest and, suddenly, a long stream of luminescent golden fog flowed out of him to join the ball of energy that was coming from me. A moment later Jack began speaking, only it wasn't in English... or, modern English, anyway. Like with Balam, there was a bright light shining deep within him and more gold mist came from him as well.
Eventually the Jaguar's chanting came to an end and Jack ceased speaking too. The flow of nebulous energy trickled to a halt, leaving the spiraling, swirling mass scarcely an arm's length in front of me and the three of us surrounding it. As silence filled the room Balam broke it with a simple question in Spanish. "Do you remember the laying of hands during our last ritual?"
I nodded. "Yes... I believe I do."
Balam looked to Jack and said slowly in Spanish. "Like us."
I clarified in English. "He wants you to do what we do."
The Jaguar then addressed me. "You will do this to both of us."
Nodding, I followed his direction as he sat down and Jack did so as well. We formed a triangle with our legs inside the circle, all of us sitting cross-legged, knees almost touching with the strange, glowing ball of cloud hovering above us. I remembered clearly the last time Balam and I had been knee-to-knee we had marked one another with pigments made out of spirit stuff. Would we do that again? The answer was no.
Rather than coating his paw in pigments, the Jaguar instead reached up and passed a paw through the glowing cloud; his digits went through it as easily as if it were fog but, when he pulled his arm back his paw was still coated in the glowing stuff. Glancing to Jack, he then gestured with his head toward me and held his hand just in front of my chest. The Gryphon nodded and reached up as well, his talons pressing through the surface of the illumination. The feathery crest of his head and neck puffed up slightly. "It is cold and warm at the same time... it is... strange."
Balam didn't address Jack's statement; he looked to me. "Seer... you will use both of your hands."
I acknowledged his direction by immediately reaching up and paused with my hands just outside of the circular ball of mist. Hesitating for only a moment, I proceeded by plunging them into the glowing orb. Just as Jack had said, the energy felt cold and hot at the same time; it felt wet and dry, damp and arid, but, more than anything else, it felt familiar in a comfortable way that felt more right and normal than having gone without-- almost like breathing again after staying underwater for a long time.
Balam reached out slowly, leaning forward with his glowing paw extended to me. Mimicking the motion, Jack likewise reached toward me. The Jaguar spoke. "Now, Seer... as we did before-- touch my chest as I touch yours, and do the same for the cat-bird."
Obeying his direction, I reached out and pressed my hand, palm out against each of them. The moment all three of us were touching there was a change-- minute, but still noticeable. What I noticed first and most prominently was that I felt their heartbeats; although I hadn't spent a lot of time touching Spirits it still surprised me, as if I shouldn't have expected it. Stranger still, their hearts beat exactly in time which, I realized, was the same time as my own. Were we that in sync?
The Spirits' responses led me to believe that they were unused to the sensation. Balam, the more subdued of the two, slowly drew his hand back, eyes closed with their lids quivering almost like I'd expect a heroine addict to do after getting a fix after a long time without; his breath came out with a shaky exhale. Jack, on the other hand, almost fell backwards, his wings spreading wide as he let out a squawk of surprise and his non-glowing talon went straight to where I had left a glowing handprint on his chest. "What-- is this?"
Rather than answer the Gryphon's question, or even address it, Balam opened his eyes, staring straight at me, and he reached up with his other paw and slid it into the glowing ball of energy like he'd done a moment prior. He directed in in Spanish. "Again. And tell the cat-bird we are not done."
I glanced sidelong to Jack, who was far more focused on himself in that moment than the ritual. "Jack? We aren't done."
The Gryphon looked at me, his eyes almost seeming to fail in focusing for several seconds before he managed to zero-in on his gaze. "This... is.... I-- I do not know how to explain it to thee..."
His confused expression was priceless in the same way as a kid's upon walking into a candy store. I somehow managed to avoid smiling as I motioned with my head to the swirling ball of mist. "Balam says we're not done."
Jack nodded, reaching out to touch the fog with his second talon. "Can you feel this, Richard? The sensation is unlike anything I--"
Balam apparently knew the word in English to request silence. "Quiet."
The Gryphon nodded sheepishly, ear tufts lowering. "Sorry."
The Jaguar looked to me again. "Again, Seer... both of your hands... but this time cross your arms and touch us with a different hand."
It was an awkward motion but I did as he requested; I felt the strange pulse of mixed sensations when my fingers met with the mist but, unlike the first time, I realized that when I touched it the ball had shrunk-- the second time, so much so that it all but disappeared. Before I had a chance to think over it I was filled with so many other feelings as a paw and a talon came to rest on my chest.
Have you ever had your life flash before your eyes? I remember it happening to me in the car crash; eighteen years of life in the blink of an eye. What happened to me in the next breath covered hundreds of years-- maybe thousands... in almost as short a time. More than that, though, I experienced it from two viewpoints. There wasn't any one particular image or moment or thought that stood out, rather, it was the impression of a very, very long amount of time compressed into a concentrated split-second of existence.
I was still reeling as we disengaged; the sheer weight of what I'd experience left me stunned but enough of my presence of mind remained to realize that both Balam and Jack both wore my handprint. Rather than it being a mixture of blue and gold, however, it was the same Turquoise color as the previous ritual Balam had showed me. I managed to draw breath as my thoughts started to collect themselves and I reached up to touch my own chest; I didn't need to look down at it because it FELT Turquoise.
Balam spoke his next words in Mayan and yet I could still understand him. "You know what is happening, do you not, Richard?"
I nodded, not even having to guess. "I am binding you to me as a Spirit Guide."
The faintest little hint of a smile appeared on his thin, black feline lips. "Us, Seer... you are binding US to you. Will you say yes this time?"
Jack's head jerked up at that, looking first to Balam and then to me. The Gryphon spoke in Olde English, but his words were completely understandable. "I understood that-- I... wait; this is a Rite of Binding?"
I--
b) -- looked to the Gryphon and nodded. "It is, yes. Balam showed it to me once before. Are... you okay with that?"
c) -- drew back. Despite having been through it once already, Balam had done nothing to provide me any more clarification about what was going on. "No... I still don't have enough information."
d) -- looked to Balam, shaking my head. "No. This is the second time you've tried this and you still haven't explained anything. Just because you're doing it again doesn't mean my answer changed."
Voting is now up and will be excepted through midnight (pst) on Thursday, September 20th.
.....................
Yes B, then A later.
I'll put you down for B.
Then -- afterwards -- of course (A) YES! SECOND -- Both Balam and Jack as his Spirit Guides -- and perhaps even something more? ;)
Also, I think the plan in Balam's mind is to be Richard's Spirit Guide-- Jack will probably be his Guardian. Can't have too many guides, after all. *grin*
Balam, on the other hand... well... a ritual is a ritual...