The Dragon Queens (The Mystique Trilogy) (18 page)

‘This is not right!’ Cingar yelled, and his voice echoed through the chasms. ‘Damn you, Zalman, where is the water you promised?’

As Cingar’s plea echoed away into silence, I lowered my head, sorry to have led my friends into this. I was beginning to doubt my eagerness to trust Zalman when I heard a bubbling sound. I raised my eyes to discover I was not the only one who had heard it.

‘This way.’ My husband found his second wind and ran to investigate. I was close behind him.

The canyon curved around and ran straight into a huge deposit of crystal-clear spring water. My husband did not hesitate to strip to his shirt and trousers and launch himself headlong into the waterhole. Some palms and other plant life had taken root in the dirt and sand deposited around the bank and they offered some shade from the heat.

My husband surfaced in a great splash of water. ‘It is cool down deep,’ he sighed with relief and did a little backstroke before swimming back
to shore. ‘There must be an underground stream feeding it.’

‘Is it fresh?’ I bent down to wash my face.

‘Better than any water I have ever tasted.’

My lord splashed a quantity of it in my direction, managing to completely drench me in one attempt.

I gasped only a moment, for the water came as a great relief to my person, and with a shrug I fell into the pool. I swam down deep, where liberation from the heat and fatigue came over me in cool waves. Before I could reach the breach in the rocks that allowed the fresh cool water to bubble forth, I was forced to surface for air.

Moments later the rest of our party joined us.

‘Shelter
and
water,’ I pointed out to Cingar as he waded into the pool.

‘Zalman never said anything about food though.’ Cingar held his rumbling belly and smiled as he sank into the cool water.

‘Ouch!’ The gypsy began jumping about. ‘My foot!’ He raised the offending appendage out of the water to find a large mud crab attached to his toe.

‘Ask and thou shalt receive,’ I said, chuckling at his predicament as I attempted to detach our lunch from his person.

A few hours later, I finished my husband’s redraft of his account of what had unfolded at the Mound of Pitch in my absence. ‘Poor Taylor,’ I commented after reading of his ordeal to escape the temple tomb.

‘Poor Taylor?’ Lord Devere was surprised by my view. ‘Poor me!’

‘You did very well, I am proud of you.’ I had a little chuckle, however, as I considered another part of the tale I had just read.

‘What is so funny?’

‘The tablet disappearing in the sun.’ I suppressed my amusement. ‘I would have loved to have seen the look on Taylor’s face.’

My husband looked to Cingar, who was seated by Raineath, instructing her on the violin, then to the darkening sky above the high canyon walls. ‘It will be dark soon,’ he said.

I lifted the journal to fan my face and some loose pages slipped from the back of the book. ‘What are these?’

‘Directions to Amenti,’ he advised with a smile.

I hugged him, relieved.

‘I can always rely on you.’ I kissed his cheek and looked back to the pages. ‘How cryptic are they?’

‘I am afraid there is a fair bit of groundwork involved, not all of which I comprehend. I also made notes regarding the preparation required, but as they are now the property of the Holy See, we shall have to rely on my memory.’

‘Wonderful! Now we are all going to freeze to death!’ I looked over at the sound of Cingar’s voice. The temperature in the canyon was now dropping rapidly. Surely Zalman would return to us soon? He had promised that we would know where we were going by nightfall.

Miss Koriche was distracted from the encroaching cold, staring at the water’s surface.

‘That is a little odd,’ she commented.

Cingar went over to observe the water too, although he was careful not to step too close.

‘What could be doing that?’ he wondered.

My Lord Devere and I rose to see what had them so intrigued.

Where the bubbles rose up from the underground spring and churned the surface of the pool, the water appeared to be compressed flat, as if a sheet of glass had just been placed over the surface.

I focused my inner eye on the pool and beheld a modest round structure in the shape of a tall hat, the brim sitting flush with the water and a cylindrical structure rising from the centre. It was a dwelling of some sort, constructed entirely of light, and there was a pathway from the shore over the water to the outer rim of the mysterious structure. It had no windows or detailing, only a door that was so intrinsic to the structure that one could barely discern it. There was no handle or keyhole, not even a knocker.

‘Are my eyes playing tricks on me?’ Taylor asked. ‘Or is there a structure materialising on the water?’

All present were stunned to admit that they could see the formation too. As it solidified, the manifestation began to glow with a rich intensity.

‘Gold,’ Taylor said, overawed by the grand scale of the treasure before our eyes.

‘And not just any gold,’ Lord Devere added. ‘This is light-reinforced gold, like the tablets.’ He smiled as he considered how brilliant the use of the supermetal was in this instance. ‘A fortress that rises to a different dimension during the day and can only be entered at night. Now I ask you, is that not a brilliant defence strategy?’

We all stood motionless, enchanted by the glowing dwelling with water churning all around it—all except Raineath, who took her violin case inhand and set out on the golden path.

‘Wait! We should exercise some caution.’ Cingar moved swiftly to prevent her getting too far ahead of us.

‘We are in a canyon that does not exist, approaching a dimension-shifting dwelling of the underworld.’ She emphasised the absurdity of the situation with a shrug. ‘If there is another way out of here, please point it out.’

‘Are you still in such a hurry to die?’ Cingar demanded crossly.

‘On the contrary, I have a life to be catching up on, and whatever path gets me there fastest is my preferred route.’

The door to the dwelling flared with light and vanished, an event that made us all stop and gasp.

My Lord Devere recovered the fastest. ‘A simple matter of heating the super-metal rapidly, I expect,’ he rationalised, setting us all at ease.

‘Nobody has seen a trace of this material for aeons,’ Taylor said, regaining his sense of humour. ‘And we find two examples of the mythical metal within a week!’

‘Aren’t we the lucky ones?’ Lord Devere sounded less than honoured, but, being the fearless man I loved and adored, he moved to lead us into the unknown. I kept pace with him as he strode towards the entrance. Beyond it we could perceive only darkness—very odd indeed when the outer walls of the structure were emitting so much light.

‘I would have thought Zalman would have been here to meet us,’ Cingar commented as he brought up the rear. ‘A little reassurance that this was his intended destination for us would not go astray right now.’

‘How many habitations do you think lie within this canyon?’ Raineath said sarcastically.

The gypsy relaxed a little, granting that his young friend had a point. ‘I have never been very comfortable with the supernatural,’ he explained. ‘I feel more comfortable knowing the capabilities of what and whom I am dealing with.’

‘You and me both, my friend,’ Lord Devere commented, his pace slowing slightly as we neared the darkened doorway.

He took hold of my hand. ‘Stay together and we shall all be fine,’ he suggested.

We entered the unnatural darkness of the celestial dwelling and the door reconstituted closed behind us.

‘My Lord Devere?’ I wondered why my husband had let go of my hand and I fished around for his strong arm in the darkness.

At my feet, a great blue-white stripe of light appeared and grew wider to expose the churning water beneath the transparent floor of the glowing dwelling. As the light level rose I began to make out the immensity of the huge round chamber I stood in: the structure must have been twenty times larger than the exterior denoted! I felt dwarfed and humbled by its size; but of course, if we were moving through realms otherworldly, then neither space, nor time, had any meaning here. I lifted my eyes to the transparent domed ceiling, where illuminated clouds churned with brilliant colour—a celestial fresco of breathtaking beauty. Huge white gold pillars supported the dome, all around the perimeter of the circular space. Before me stood a huge and ominouslooking gate. In the wall behind me, the door I had entered through had disappeared. My companions were mysteriously absent, but I was not alone. Zalman
was there, waiting patiently for me to recover from my awe.

‘My associates…?’ They were my first concern.

‘They will be aware of moving through a space to your next destination and nothing more. You shall be reunited with them upon your leaving here. It is not my intention to alarm you,’ he reassured me, ‘but it has become imperative that we talk, alone.’

The fingers of my left hand enfolded my ringstone, for as long as I was wearing my treasure, Albray was following my movements.

‘Not even your disembodied guardian can perceive your experience here,’ Zalman said.

Clearly this being was aware of my every thought. A chill of discomfit crept over me—I was accustomed to having the psychic advantage, but my mind-reading ability did not aid me to detect the thoughts of my host. ‘And where is
here,
Zalman?’

‘Nowhere you will find on any map…save one,’ he corrected. ‘But that is another story.’

‘Is that why you brought me here—to tease me and make riddles? Is this Set Amentet or not?’

He became more frank. ‘Set Amentet is where human souls go to be judged between lives. This is a place where angelic souls go to remember all they knew before life on Earth ever existed.’

I was rendered speechless.

‘Welcome to Signet station number ten, Ta-She-Ra El Amun,’ Zalman continued, ‘the healing station dedicated to transmuting darkness to light. It is one of twelve such power stations, each dedicated to a different purpose within the ancient Signet Grid that, as a whole, forms the interdimensional core energy system of this planet. Each of the twelve Signet
stations has its own inherent portals, ley lines, stargates and guardians. Before the demise of Atlantis, this matrix powered the Amenti system and all the cities of inner and surface Earth.’

Hundreds of questions fought for precedence in my mind; before I could formulate a single one, Zalman went on.

‘There are twelve and two souls living in this Earth scheme who are not of this planet. They incarnate in order to learn, to suffer and to love, but, unlike all the other humans evolving here, these twelve and two souls chose to come here. Why? To see through to completion a project they designed and built: the Amenti porthole system. These twelve and two souls are the Staff of Amenti, and as part of their task here, each staff member is responsible for resurrecting one of the twelve Signet stations in preparation for the reopening of Amenti’s halls to all mankind.’

I recalled what I had learned of the history of the Dragon Queens; it seemed that my mother might not have been insane after all. ‘These twelve and two souls, they are angelic in origin?’

‘As we originated from the dimensional universe above this one, humans would consider us angelic, yes,’ Zalman concurred.

I realised where this little heart-to-heart was leading. ‘And I am one of these twelve beings. And so is Levi.’

‘And Charlotte,’ Zalman added.

I could not say that news surprised me. ‘But if the halls are closed, then why does my son seek to go there?’

‘Staff members have a secret access key built into their genetic code. Once they have fully matured as
a human being they can,
and must
, gain access to Amenti’s halls.’

‘And what of your earthly commitments?’

‘One must be free of all earthly entanglements before admission to Amenti will be granted,’ said Zalman.

‘Then there must be a mistake,’ I said.

‘There is no mistake.’

‘If Levi has undergone some kind of massive spiritual awakening, then surely he must have known that Miss Koriche is pregnant with his—’

‘He
knows
so much more than you could ever imagine,’ Zalman interrupted matter-of-factly. ‘And with his enhanced understanding, Levi believes it is time for him to pursue his higher calling. Your son is on his way to submit his body for repose beneath the blue flame, which will free his soul to walk Amenti’s halls and eventually do the work of his silent watcher…just as I do.’

‘Your body is beneath the blue flame?’ That explained his lack of shadow, which we had noticed during our desert trek.

‘It is.’

‘And how long shall your repose last?’

‘As a male of the Grail line, one hundred years is the required period of exposure before reactivation.’

‘Levi is to sleep for one hundred years!’ I was beginning to see where the fairytales had originated. I wondered what my term beneath the blue flame might be. ‘Is this duration more or less for the Dragon Queens?’

‘Once deposited beneath the blue flame, the Dragon Queens
will remain under its protection until the birth of the violet flame-bearer is nigh,’ Zalman outlined, ‘whereupon the Dragon Queens will rise at once to protect the only soul capable of opening Amenti for all humanity.’

‘Goodness.’ I was humbled by my destiny, but right now I needed to find out more about Levi. ‘So why has my son given over his body to an ancient—’

‘We are not here to discuss your son, or your ultimate destiny,’ Zalman interrupted. ‘You have other, more pressing concerns.’

‘
I
have concerns?’

‘Ignorance is bliss,’ Zalman said, and smiled warmly, ‘but you can ill afford to remain ignorant any longer. The powers of your blood are highly sought-after and, if gained, will be misused and squandered for the base causes of destructive beings.’

‘Who are these malign beings you speak of?’ I asked, my mind flashing back to the images of large lizard warriors I’d perceived via the comb found at the Ur site. I’d been doing my best to dismiss the creatures from my memory.

‘Your ancient relatives and their allies,’ Zalman said frankly.

I knew there were many ‘underground’ societies that had been manipulating bloodlines for aeons to produce super-beings, but I had failed to discover why. I said as much.

‘It is not the secret brotherhoods that are manipulating bloodlines,’ Zalman corrected my misconceptions. ‘Such societies are but the human face of intergalactic interest in the atomic structure of the human species on this planet.’

My shock caused all my questions to become wedged in my throat.

‘And something that needs to be made perfectly clear to you, Lady Suffolk, is that taking
the Star-Fire substance was a very dangerous mistake on your part!’

I gasped at the reprimand. ‘Why so?’

‘When the source of your power is not selfgenerated, it is not self-controlled, which means it is beyond your control.’

Zalman’s accusation made perfect scientific sense, and a stabbing pain in my heart alerted me to what lay ahead.

‘The angels and demons that do battle for control of this planet and its populace come from the same stock, the same family,’ he explained. ‘So if those of your bloodline can act as the earthly vessels of angels, then…’ He left it to me to deduce my own conclusion.

‘Then those of the blood can also act as vessels for demons,’ I said, stunned.

I was momentarily distracted by the reflection of my own subtle form in the mirrored walls of the chamber. The difference between my tarnished gold auric hue and the huge glistening energy emission of my host was just enormous!

‘You note the difference in our subtle forms,’ Zalman commented. ‘Despite your extensive psychic expertise and knowledge, true enlightenment still eludes you…Now why should that be? Your energy centres are not blocked by any disease, so why is the current not more freeflowing?’

‘Something is damming the flow of light from within my light centres?’ I half-asked, half-stated.

Zalman nodded. ‘When you consume the Star-Fire of the gods, it increases the capacity of your nervous system by ten thousandfold, granting superhuman strength and ability…for a time. But
the effect of the drug wears off and the frequency of the vessel drops rapidly. The energy centres of the body begin to collapse and block themselves, and more of the drug is needed to sustain a physical existence. If you had failed to integrate the higher vibratory energy into your system, you could have destroyed the divine mutation in not only your own genetic code, but also the code of all your descendants. And one of the strongest strands of the sacred bloodline of the Dragon Queens would have been destroyed forever.’

Tears began streaming down my face as a huge ball of pressure built in my chest. ‘I would never have taken the Star-Fire had Albray not advised me to.’ I was not seeking to place the blame for my mistake elsewhere, but I could not believe Albray knew how harmful the substance truly was. ‘Surely my knight did not knowingly betray me?’

Zalman eased my heartache with his opinion. ‘To the best of my knowledge, your guide did not intentionally betray you; it is not his loyalty I would question, but the source of his knowledge. You trust the good in your fellow humans, which, with your second sight, you can plainly see. But good intentions do not equal the truth, when advice can only be given from the best of one’s knowledge. The enemies of mankind have perfected the art of control by belief, and were very careful to ensure that all doctrine is sufficiently corrupt to keep humanity’s different religious factions at odds with each other. As it is, your highly developed lightbody has been working overtime to keep your frequency above the demon threshold and out of the reach of undesirable influences, but now you must release the energy that is blocking you.’

I looked at my reflection again and this time perceived a dark ooze beginning to seep forth from all of my light centres. I felt that my belief in Zalman’s words was the dispelling force. I could now plainly see the evidence of my own delusion and earthly desire for personal power, and their extraction tore holes through the very fabric of my being. The agony was all-consuming, but still I was concerned about its veracity.

‘How do I know that this experience is not an illusion? How do I know you are not trying to stifle my development by instilling me with fear and lies?’

‘Are you afraid of learning something that might interfere with your own little worldly agenda?’ Zalman challenged, and I realised that the only person instilling fear in me and lying to me was myself. With my acceptance of my own shortcomings, my etheric purge waned and I was able to draw a comfortable breath. Nevertheless, I was bewildered to realise that I had become so embroiled in physical world events and my own negative ego.

‘However, nothing is achieved by relinquishing responsibility to a higher authority,’ Zalman continued, ‘so it is wise not to trust my word. Indeed, you can trust no one and must question everything that is put to you.’

He went on with my lesson. ‘All energy must have a channel, and if you are not the true channel for the divine energy you wield, then what or who do you think you are drawing that energy from?’

An external source? An internal source? Both?

‘The Earth,’ I realised suddenly. My heart weighed a deep hole in my chest with the revelation. ‘So in fact I was every bit as wrong as my
nemesis in the Sinai affair. The only thing that saved me from damnation was the angelic genes I carry.’

The knowledge sickened me as I recalled my fight to the death with Christian Molier, a shapeshifting, immortal vampire whose genetic code had become so mutated by his over-consumption of the Fire-Stone substance that he could no longer feel anything whatsoever. There was no pleasure he could experience—neither mental, physical, emotional or spiritual—for his addiction to physical life was damning his soul inside his mortal body.

‘It was the high resonance of your heart that saved you, Lady Devere,’ Zalman corrected. ‘The Isis gene is a mutation that can be as much a curse as a blessing. Yours is a bloodline of guardians with the ability to aid humanity to their salvation or their total obliteration. Compassion is the only key to controlling the ultimate centring force in the universe, gravity, and you have an abundance of compassion. Let it be understood, however, that the ORME-based substances provide a shortcut to supernatural power at the cost of your eternal soul. For ORME will make a comeback in the future and its seeming benefits will be promoted and sold to mankind on a mass level. There will be widespread praise and abuse of this substance, which will ultimately—’

‘Drain the Earth and damn the entire human species!’ I gasped.

My heart was palpitating so hard in my chest that I thought it would burst right through my ribcage. My breathing was completely erratic—I was going to black out…

I turned the page, breathless in anticipation of what might come next, and some papers fell from my foremother’s Persian diary into my lap. My first excited thought was that they were Lord Granville-Devere’s directions to Amenti. I was most disappointed to find that they were in my mother’s handwriting—probably some of her old research notes. The content, however, was unlike anything I’d ever read of my mother’s work.

Twelve keys to Signet Grid Stations (six male, six female) in place by 2017 to hold a higher-dimensional frequency on this planet so that it will be able to host the Sphere of Amenti. Two avatars of the Anu race will be born to human parents, and these souls hold the energetic key to open the Halls of Amenti for mass ascension. Born between 1992 and 2006, these souls will be found among the Indigo children (diagnosed as ADD-ADHD). They will have a dominant human soul, co-sharing a body with a fallen Anu-Elohim Nefilim soul, in order that the former more emotionally advanced soul may aid the development of its near emotionless counterpart and repair the damaged emotional body of the latter. This bi-soul conflict may cause chronic mental and emotional polarity, such as clinical schizophrenia or split-personality syndrome. The avatars will come to realise their full potential by adolescence, in preparation for events in 2017.