Image (Insight #3)(13)
“I’ll show you what I know,” August said, placing his hand on hers.
“Have you learned anything else about the scroll?” Landen asked, stepping closer to the table.
August broke his stare with Perodine and looked up at him. “Perodine has assured me it’s not the orbit that brings the trails,” he answered.
I looked at her. “Then what is it?” I asked.
She looked up into my eyes, and I could feel her grief. “After Donalt saw you for the first time, he was furious – he knew that you would end his dark reign. I had him watched, and my spy witnessed the chant that envisioned the battle you’re in.”
“Chant? Like a curse? You’re saying I’m cursed?” I said, gasping for a clear mind as hopelessness consumed me.
“No,” she said, rising to come to my side. “No one can ‘curse’ us; our thoughts control our lives. Even if it were possible to be cursed, I’d already protected you at that point.”
“What was the purpose of the chant then?” I asked, growing too tired to understand half-spoken myths.
“Its purpose was for him to see each time you’d be strong enough to strike him, to cause his rein to crumble. In his mind, he thought if he could see when you were coming, he could cause you to fail.”
“I’m not coming for him. I wouldn’t even know he existed if it weren’t for Drake coming after me with the blue moon. Why would I chase a devil?”
“You’re seeing this from the moment you’re in now. Try to imagine a grand scheme stretching across a multitude of lifetimes. In reality, a million different circumstances could have lead you there on that night. The point is, there are ten moments in this lifetime that you will be strong enough to bring the devil to his knees. These moments are reflected by the universe above – eight planets beyond the sun and moon will be your power to come full circle and defeat the dark ruler,” she answered
“Can you see the moments? Can you tell me when the next one will be?” I asked with pleading eyes, shaking in fear of what was to come.
Landen came to my side and tried to push peace into my body; the numbing feeling was chasing away my fears, but I still trembled.
Perodine fought back tears before turning to walk back to the table to look at the scroll. “Each moment was traced by the stargazers of that time and recorded here. Some will be easily seen, like the Blue moon; others will be more obscure. The only thing I know for sure is that the influences will come in order of the orbit. To find the time, we’ll have to watch the skies above and the prediction of the scroll; when they match, we’ll know that the trail is upon us.”
As we all felt the weight of helplessness, the room grew still – and at that moment, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to know. It was like having someone tell you that your life would end on this day at this time...who would want to know that?
August leaned closer to the scrolls and began to study them more ambitiously than ever before.
“The skies almost completely match what the scroll reflects around Venus. Now, to make you as strong as possible, we must find out how he plans to defeat you, understand what you’ll face so you’ll be prepared physically and mentally for anything he can use against you,” Perodine said, pulling her notepad closer to her.
“Have you found any answers so far?” Marc asked.
Perodine took in a deep breath as she read her notes over. “We’re pulling out the symbols now. Landen, have you tried to heal anyone on your own?” she asked.
“Pelhan just taught me. Does it say that there?” he asked her.
“We think this symbol of a fish and a hand means a Pisces healer; we just didn’t know if it was you or Drake,” Perodine answered.
I felt the tension rise in the room; it was exhausting me.” I need to sit down,” I thought.
“Are you OK?” Landen thought.
“Just tired,” I thought as I slowly walked around the couch in front of the fireplace and fell into it. Dane took a seat on the opposite couch and protectively watched my every breath.
“So who are we fighting here - Drake, Donalt, or both?” Marc asked.
“I don’t know,” Perodine answered, still puzzled. As I gazed at the raging flames in the fireplace, Drake’s perfect image surfaced in my mind; all I could see was the pain I left in his eyes.
“Tell me about what Venus will bring, the characteristics; is it not the planet of love?” Landen asked.
Silence filled the room, and the tension continued to climb. I could feel August and Perodine struggling with the emotions they feared the worst, but they didn’t want to show it to us.
“Just say it,” Landen said in a low tone.
I heard August clear his throat before he began to speak. “Well, yes, it does influence love - most of the time. But Venus is entering retrograde in the sign of Scorpio,” he said.
“Go on,” Landen said.
I turned in my seat to see them behind me. Marc and Landen had their arms crossed, and Perodine and August were staring at each other as if they were trying to give one another some kind of hidden communication. Perodine looked past them at me, then back to Landen. “Your decisions will be made with a clarity that does not know the emotion of guilt. There will be nothing that can be held back; every truth that can be told, will be. Past relations will surface,” she said.