Lost Soul: Chapter Three
A boy’s quest to remember his true nature [Fantasy fiction inspired by an ayahuasca journey in Putumayo, Colombia]
Ivaylo led Alexander, Andrea, and the boy down a deserted alleyway outside the Soul Station’s crystal walls.
Nowadays, most souls in Soul Station MCXI only congregate around the Palace. Apart from leaving and returning to the realm of possibilities, there was little else to do. It wasn’t always the case. Many eternities ago, the ancient Dinago civilization inhabited the now Soul Station MCXI.
When dark spirits overran their planetary dimension, the only option left was to retreat to the realm of infinite possibilities. Their souls solidified with their Dinago experience. They were giant bug-like creatures with Antennas the length of black mini-cabs and known for their innovation and extreme intelligence, becoming the first to solve the travel problem in the realm of infinite possibilities.
Without new souls being born into their dimension, the civilization eventually died out (along with their ingenuity).
If you were brave enough to venture outside of the Palace, old relics could still be found on the outskirts. Back then, the human experience didn’t exist and the Atlanteans moved between dimensions from Soul Station Alpha. The energy generated from the powerful gateways to new dimensions creates unpredictable weather patterns. One minute stars and rainbows blessed the sky and the next thunderstorms even Jupiter had never seen. The lightning can tear open new portals to unknown realms and winds gusting at the speed of eternity erode anything in her path; the reason Soul Station MCXI got her nickname Sand Station MCXI among those passing through the portals. Few dared to venture far from the Crystal Palace.
The weather held as the four arrived at the end of the alleyway. They stood in front of a sandstone wall that appeared to have no end. Ivaylo opened his arms as wide as he could as if he was hugging a tree. He raised them to his eye level and pushed the wall with both index fingers. Two dots of clear light began to shine through the wall. Ivaylo pushed against the wall with his chest and he passed right through.
“C’mon,” he said, beckoning the others to follow.
Alexander, Andrea, and the boy looked at each other, shrugged their shoulders, and followed him through the wall.
They entered an expansive hall shrouded in darkness. Each step echoed around the humongous space as if walking through an empty cathedral. Instantly, a musky, dung-like smell hit them. The boy and Alexander gagged and covered their noses with their hands. If there was air, it would have been thick as mud.
Ivaylo opened his hands in front of him and bowed his head in a gesture of reverence. He muttered a prayer under his breath and light began to fill the hall as if someone had flicked the light switch in an aircraft hanger. The illumination revealed the true size of the hall. It stretched at least five football pitches long by two wide. Nothing filled the space apart from one object in the middle too far for anyone to discern.
‘What is this place?’ Andrea asked, looking around in awe.
“This, my friends, is the Dinago’s secret craft bunker.” Said Ivaylo proudly and with a huge smile on his face.
“Doesn’t seem to be many craft left,” Alexander said sarcastically.
Andrea gave Alexander an elbow in the gut.
“How did you find this place?” She asked.
“Ivaylo’s spirit wolf let out a deep, proud howl.” Ivaylo reached down to pet his companion.
“This one guided me here. She told me the time would come when I’d need to lead the hope for the human race here. I just wasn’t expecting…” Ivaylo looked at the unlikely trio.
…follow me.” He continues, realising it was best to keep quiet on the matter.
The four walked toward the object in the middle of the hall. As they got closer, it was clearly a craft of sorts. The boy thought it looked like a huge almond: large at one end and tapered down into a fine point at the other. Even the colour was a clay brown. The surface, though, was as smooth as granite. Alexander marvelled at the magnificent craft in front of him. It hovered above the ground without any noise or apparent mechanism of propulsion. He paced around her, caressing his fingers along her body.
“She’s a beauty. A little banged up mind you” He was already on his back inspecting underneath the craft. “But a beauty nonetheless.”
Andrea and the boy looked at each other in shock. They’d not seen Alexander this enthused about anything other than giant drumsticks since they’d known him.
“What-what is it?” The boy asked.
“Laddy, this is an eternity hopper.” He patted the side of the craft. “She’s gonna get us to Torus Mountain.”
“I don’t know about that”’ Ivaylo said. “I don’t think it still…”
Before Ivaylo could finish his sentence, Alexander traced his hand along the fine point of the craft and drew a figure of eight with his index finger. The craft whirred as though charging up. Soft diamond blue lights revealed geometric lines across the entirety of the outer body and began hovering higher from the ground. The four of them took two paces backward. Suddenly the craft powered down and a gush of steam fired out from a hole underneath the craft.
“…works,” said Ivaylo, finishing his sentence with a grimace as if to say I told you so.
Behind them, the door to the hall slammed shut. In the same instance, a black spherical portal ruptured the fabric of their reality. From it, a thick, black cloud seeped out, covering the entrance. Fear filled the atmosphere. The kind of fear you experience in the most terrifying of nightmares; you can’t run, you can’t scream, you can’t do anything apart from hope to wake up in your warm bed.
The four stood motionless. The fear had taken them. They watched helplessly as the darkness charged toward them, faster and faster, like a landslide swallowing everything in its path. The first to move was Ivaylo’s and Andrea’s spirit animals. Ivaylo’s white wolf bared its teeth and howled with all her might. Andrea, still motionless within the glow of her hummingbird zoomed upwards and down and to her right, giving Alexander a mighty shove.
Alexander shook himself back to life and looked directly at the wall of darkness stampeding upon him. Without thinking, he reached behind his head for his shield and stepped in front of his companions.
He drove the shield down into the ground. The purest light fired out from the edge of his circular shield. It created a dome of white light that surrounded them and the craft. The darkness crashed into the light like a wave against a rock. The force would have broken any normal man. Alexander didn’t flinch. He pushed against the darkness, the fear, the weight of evil.
After the failed attempt, the darkness retreated. It swirled into a concentrated ball, rippling with a purple electric storm building inside it. Once again, it drove into the light. The impact shook the hall, sending large rocks crashing around them. Alexander remained unmoved. The evil spirit pulled back again — it knew it couldn’t defeat the light; not now, not here.
“What have we here? The last warrior soul?” hissed the darkness.
“Your kind is weak in this realm,” grunted Alexander. The quiver in his voice showed how much force he’d exerted to repel the attacks. He knew he couldn’t hold on much longer.
“Oh yes? I’m still strong enough to send you into the abyss like your old friends,” the darkness chuckled.
The dark spirit morphed into the form of a giant being (not too dissimilar to the frame of Alexander). One of its arms took the form of a mace which it raised over its head ready to crush whatever it found in its path. Alexander braced himself. This blow could mean the end of hope for Earth, for his companions. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. A single tear ran down his cheek as he mustered all the light he had in his heart.
The darkness hissed and squealed. Alexander waited for a blow that never came. He opened his eyes. He watched the dark cloud being sucked back into the portal from whence it came. There was nothing the spirit could do.
“Your time will come” echoed around the hall. Then nothing. Silence. The spirit had vanished from existence.
Alexander crumpled to the ground. His shield fell beside him and the dome of light protecting his companions disappeared. All three ran over to him. Andrea got their first. She knew she had to act quickly. Even with the shield and Alexander’s resilience, the darkness could seep into his soul. Andrea grabbed Alexander and pulled him to his feet.
The boy and Ivaylo watched, amazed at her strength. Her hummingbird wings were beating faster than they’d seen during any of her impressive maneuvers. She began circling Alexander. Faster and faster. So fast all the boy and Ivaylo saw was a blur of gold, blue, and green light. Like a long exposure photograph of a motorway at night. The spinning stopped and she lowered Alexander down to the ground again. She touched his heart with her hand and his entire body glowed with the purest of white light.
He opened his eyes as though given a reviving shock to the heart. Andrea looked depleted but kept her composure. Some of the darkness had found its way through her protective animal soul armor. She stood upright so as not to alarm the others.
A soul healer charged into the hall accompanied by his spirit animal. The creature was otherworldly. It was taller than its bearer–an Atlantean–and appeared to be a stag with wings.
“What in the name of Atlanta is going on here?’ The Atlantean soul healer yelled, calming his stag as it took to its hind legs.
“The darkness found its way here” Ivaylo replied dumbfounded.
“Impossible, the Atlantean snapped. You know better than to be outside of palace bounds. Especially during storms of such magnitude!”
“The weather must have changed when we entered. All we saw were clear skies.” The boy said, immediately regretting saying a word.
“What’s that doing here? It can’t be here without a soul. The soul healer glared at the boy in disbelief. You’ve all got some explaining to do. Come with me.”
“No.” Said Alexander rubbing his head. “We’re ‘ere cos the healer needs us to be. And we’re buggering off in that thing.” He pointed to the eternity hopper with his elbow while still nursing his head.
The soul healer turned around so the others couldn’t see him. He spoke with another being in the shadows out of earshot. Whoever he had spoken to, his demeanor changed after speaking to them. He turned back to Alexander. “Okay, I will keep this encounter between us. Can I… err… be of assistance?” The Atlantean asked as though the words didn’t want to come out of his mouth.
“Not unless you know someone who can fix her up?” Alexander replied while looking at the eternity hopper. It was still leaking a thin cloud of white smoke.
“You know what, a good friend of mine is obsessed with Dinago history. I’ll take you to him. But let’s hurry. The weather has been increasingly turbulent. We don’t want a repeat of today.”
The Atlantean mounted his spirit animal and led the four companions back to the Crystal Palace. Andrea knew they’d narrowly escaped a meeting with the portal keeper. If the portal keeper saw her, she’d know she’d come into contact with the darkness. She carried it inside her now.
