Synergy (See #3)(39)

I watched myself, trying to understand her parable. When she saw me struggle with her words, she smiled. “Life is like that. We follow a path, we play many roles over the course of time, but eventually we will return to our beginning. What we do when we return decides if that path will be repeated endlessly or if we’ll forever more be changed, changed into something that would bring peace to our souls, to the world around us.”

“Where are you on that path?” I asked.

“Somewhere in the sky, aware that I will rain down on the earth. I can see each life before me. I know that if the wind blows ever so slightly in a new direction that my course will change. Right now, I am trying to change my course. I’m trying to ensure that when I return to my beginning that I will not flow gently with the current, but that I will swim against it. I will become a wave and cleanse away all that brings suffering. I will find balance, restore this world to what it was meant to be.”

My chest swelled with pride. “Tell me what you see, and I will know what to say to you when you return. I will help you become the wave.”

She gazed at the reflection of the moon on the flowing water; her wise eyes seemed contempt and weary. “My course is mine to understand. The emotions and trials I will face will be what I need to change. I cannot allow you to rob me from that.”

“So, what do you need me to do? Continue to fight what I am fighting?”

Her eyes found mine again. “It does not matter what I need you to do. All that matters is what your soul is telling you. I have sought you out because I know without a doubt I will see you again. Now, whether you are awake and Julia or you are in a new life will be your choice, and right now the wind can blow in any direction.”

“Are you saying I can die? How? I have not sought a way, I assure you, but I can say with certainty that no death can come to me.”

“It can,” she said calmly. “You have to choose to fall.”

“Fall?” I asked curiously.

“Listen,” she said as she looked in the distance. “The man at my side is my soul. We are one, but in life, at times, you must learn from others. I have loved another, and so has he.”

“Why are you telling me this?” I asked, blushing with shame.

“Because on the path before you, you will have a choice. One that will tempt your heart.”

“Another man?” I asked, clearly not believing her.

Her eyes told me yes.

“I love Silas. He was given to me. I cannot leave him.”

She looked down. “I would say the same today, but I would be lying to myself. I know without a doubt that in the very next life I live, I will be in the arms of another.”

“Are you telling me to make that choice? Is that what this is about? Is that why you wanted to talk to me alone?” Anger and betrayal filled my eyes.

“I don’t know what choice you are going to make; a thousand paths are before you.”

“Then what are you saying? What is the point of this?”

She was silent for a moment as she gazed at the moon, then she looked back at me. “I have loved many souls, some dearly.” She looked down. “A dear friend of mine…his life is your hands.”

“Is he going to be bad?” I asked with wide eyes.

“Julia, no one is truly bad or good; they have just forgotten.”

“Are you asking me to spare his life? Are you asking me to die for him?”

“No,” she whispered. “Those choices will be yours when the time comes. He will be passionate and fearless, but the only person that will be able to see him for who he really is, the one person that will be able to pull him from the sleep he is in, is you.”

“Me?”

“When he first lays eyes on you, he will hear my voice, his older brothers. He will fight with the ghost of our memory, but eventually he will wake, he will remember who we needed him to be.”

“So I am to save him. I must make sure I see him so he will wake.”

“When you see him, you will feel a pull, an awakening to your soul. You’re not tired today, but you will be then. You will find hope within him.”

“Are you saying I will...love him?”

“You are meant to love everyone; we all are. Listen to me, your actions and thoughts have already assured your path to him. You will save him, and because you’ve made that choice already, you have assured that we will meet again. By saving him, you will prove that all souls can wake, that the war between darkness and light need not exist, but that is not the choice you will struggle with.”

“I will struggle with loving him,” I said as my face blushed with fear and embarrassment.

She nodded once. “When he wakes, he will be taken from your side, tested and punished by the darkness that seeks souls with the fearless passion he has. You will have two choices: to follow him, or to stay and watch from a distance. I assure you that either course will not change the fact that we meet again.”

“If it doesn’t matter, then what is the point in telling me?”

Her wise eyes danced across my face. “I don’t think anyone can be prepared for a broken heart, or a heart that is big enough to love more than one. I struggled with betrayal in this life. I felt guilt for not always loving the same man, and I will feel it again. At first when I felt that I needed to tell you all of this, I thought it was so I could ask you to tell me when we meet again that my heart is big enough, for you to tell me to love them both and fight for both innocence and darkness, but as I watched you tonight, I knew that was not why I felt called to you. I felt called because what my heart fights, yours will fight. So tonight I am telling you that your heart can love two, that you never really say goodbye to any soul; you simply trust that you will see that soul again, that in the end we are all one.”