Rayna's Sacrifice (The Katori Chronicles Book 3) by A. Lombardo (intellectual books to read .TXT) 📗

his hands from side to side. His fingers rubbed and pinched at the emerging crystal. Sparks blinded Kai from seeing the finer points of creation. Orin’s maneuvers were slightly different this time. Finished, he opened his hand and gave Kai his crystal, now transformed into a white hexagonal shape. “The hexagon is the strongest shape known to me. You have a strong spirit, use it to protect others.”

Kai thanked Orin and entered the Agora. The stunning room was spacious and grand. He wondered if the entire Diu palace could fit inside this massive space. Around the perimeter, arches and towers created smaller meeting spaces. The alcoves were already full of people, many holding round cushions. They appeared to be waiting.

In the center, there was a clear pool, shallow and roughly twenty feet across. Straight above, the roof swooped upward to a matching opening to the sky. Sunshine bathed the pool below. Kai and Rayna approached. At the bottom of the natural spring, Kai noticed the three interlocking loops with no end. The design was set into the stone and illuminated in blue crystal.

Haygan directed them both to wade into the water. “This is the celestial spirit pool. Both of you: enter together with your crystals. May Alenga restore your health, replenish your spirit, and bless your future.” With a bow, he backed away and sat beside Simone.

The crowd sat, eagerly waiting, their posture angled inward towards the pool. Kai looked at the water’s shimmering smooth surface. Light glistened down from the mirroring circle above. As instructed, he waded into the pool. Energy-charged water invigorated his body. Pure magic seeped into his skin. He could feel the power building around him. The water beckoned him deeper.

The crowd began to hum. Power filled the air.

One step, then another, Kai went deeper, Rayna at his side. The water temperature was refreshing against his hot skin. On the fourth step, Rayna paused, glanced at Kai, and stepped forward. She sank below the water’s surface. A bright light surrounded her. The power within the pool became intense.

Kai felt a presence call to him. Peace swelled in his heart and mind. He too stepped off the last step and plunged under the water. Light burst into every bruise, welt, scrape, and gash. The water bubbled with fury, and the temperature rose. He felt a heatwave consume him. The essence of healing poured through him. His bones felt stronger, his muscles strengthened, and his mind cleared.

The temperature cooled to a comfortable lukewarm. The heat within was gone. For the first time in weeks, Kai felt free of the heat, the ache in his bones, and the pressure in his chest. Warm white light surrounded him. The face of a woman appeared before him.

Without words, he knew who she was—the sacred mother Alenga. Her iridescent blue glow bloomed in front of his eyes. Her hair floated outward around her head. He had seen her before. She had saved him that day in Port Anahita when he’d nearly drowned.

She pressed her hand over his heart. Alenga spoke to him. “Breathe, my child. You are made of this water.”

Kai took in a breath, and his lungs filled with the sacred water, yet he could still breathe. He could feel the power within the water healing his lungs. Alenga touched her fingers to his forehead. Again she spoke. “See, my child, how we came to be…what we were given.”

Kai’s mind exploded with images. His body convulsed with the connection to Alenga. Light pushed against the dark. Stars pricked against the black sky. Plants crept across a vast landscape in blooms of color. He saw towering trees. The ground shifted to change the rolling landscape. Rivers and oceans carved the world into segments. Creatures roamed the land and sea. The birth of nature was a powerful moment.

Alenga wrapped her hands around his fist. “Understand that everything is connected. Nothing is ever lost, only changed. Bring home your brothers and sisters.”

An awakening stirred Kai’s spirit. Raw energy swelled in his soul. Alenga clasped her hands around his, the crystal held tight within. His fist glowed as bright as the sun. He closed his eyes against the blinding light. Magic coursed through his crystal, raced up his arm, and washed through his body.

He could feel the building blocks of nature, the flexibility tangible within his core. Creatures large and small came to his mind. There was a visceral connection to each. He somehow understood that he would become a Beastmaster. When the light faded, he saw Alenga’s face clearly once more.

She leaned in close next to his ear. “Understand and remember,” she whispered, touching his forehead one final time.

Mesmerized by his experience, Kai closed his eyes and felt Alenga fade away. Slowly he floated to the surface. A delicate breeze blew across his face, and he inhaled fresh air. Barely lucid, he sensed his uncle Haygan. Still, Kai lingered between worlds. Haygan lifted Kai from the pool and laid him on a soft mat.

Kai felt the stone in his hand, yet he sensed the mountain range from whence it came—a mountain inside another mountain. He felt the air fill his lungs, and yet his mind floated on the breeze which blew over the vastness of this world. Layers of time pressed against themselves. He saw his childhood, his struggles, his pain. Faces flashed in his mind: his mother and father, his uncle Haygan, Rayna, Kendra, Davi’s tribe.

Lost between the here and now, Kai’s spirit drifted on the knowledge he’d been given—access to history itself. War and peace, loss and rebirth, love and hate, regret and joy, fear, and trust. Emotional awareness. And still, the soft mat against his back was ever-present.

When Kai awoke, his clothes were dry. He sat up to see Haygan perched on a large round cushion, near his feet, between him and Rayna. An intense white glow surrounded his uncle. He opened the palm of his hand. His stone remained crystal clear. Basically, unchanged. Although, if possible, maybe whiter than before.

He