Chapter 12

“Beyond amazing, that was totally unbelievable!” The girls all spoke at once.
“You got that right,” said the Drum Wizard as they finally packed the last of their gear into the cars.
“It’s been a pleasure,” continued the wizard, “how about we catch up later in the week?”
“Exactly what I was thinking,” the Priestess said, “you know the cafe by the pond?”
“We’ll be there,” said the girls, and jumped into the car with the Wizard. They sped off down the lane waving and tooting as they went.
“I feel like I don’t want it to end,” he said to the Priestess, “the feeling of connectivity and oneness is divine.”
“Yes I feel it too. Sometimes these moments afterwards can be really hard to take as you want the high to last forever.”
“Yes it must take real self-discipline to be able to know when to stop.”
At the mention of self-discipline he thought of the Shaman. Then he realised it was the new moon and his next lesson was at dusk.
“I’ve just remembered I’ve got an appointment this evening with the Shaman in the park.”
“That suits me perfectly, I need a little space to let everything sink in. I’m going to go for a walk.”
As she left he called out, “oh and by the way, I’ve had a revelation about the letters in The Book. I’ll tell you later.”
“I’ll look forward to that,” she said and headed into the afternoon sunlight without looking back.
He took his cue and began to walk in a direction he did not know. He wandered aimlessly for a while feeling restless until he came to a grove of oaks that were all pleasantly spread out, yet seemed to form an open connected space. It felt peaceful there and he had an urge to climb a tree, just like when he was a child. Why not he thought, and found a low branch to pull himself up. Climbing further he found a suitable moss covered crook of branches, lay back and passed the time pleasantly, reciting some of his favourite poems from memory until sunset.

***

The Shaman arrived as the light turned into a golden hue that bathed the park and trees in an exaggerated landscape of surreal colours, that would have been hard to believe in a film or painting. They stood in silence and observed the wonder and glory of the light that was a feast for their eyes and souls.
The Shaman slowly moved into a position just like before, but instead of moving back again, he allowed the movement to continue and flow into a new posture. He then moved in reverse going back to the original starting point. He followed the Shaman paying close attention to even the smallest detail, committing the movements to memory. He could feel the energy shifting through his body, developing new areas and awakening dormant channels that quivered and ached as the energy flowed into them for the first time.

It was dark by the time the Shaman bowed and retired for the evening simply saying, midnight, and then departed. He realised afterwards each meeting was at the next phase of the moon and the next quarter of the day. The Shaman was using the sun and moon like the hands of a giant clock, except his clock was real.
He still felt charged with energy from the eclipse, but now there was a feeling of deep peace and contentment in the background, it gave a steady sense of joy no matter what was on his mind.
He felt drawn to head back to the church to sit in the quiet of the Lady Chapel, his favourite place to be.

***

When he got there he found the space was subtly charged with a light sparkly feeling. An effervescent after-glow still danced around the church making the candles appear brighter and more alive. He knew she was there before he saw her. She was sitting on the stone seat in the alcove at the back.
“So what was the revelation?” She said, completely unfazed by his unplanned appearance, “it sounds significant.”
He sat down next to her and explained how, when he was in the centre of the church standing on the key, he had been gazing at the circle in the northern transept window. It had occurred to him that a circle was also a letter and that none of the other element symbols where shaped like letters.
“Of course,” finished the Priestess excitedly, “and the circle was in the second position on the page. It all makes perfect sense now. It’s obvious once you see it. So what letters do we now have?”
They both had a feeling something had shifted. He retrieved his note book and wrote out the letters.

A W E O R T G O D

“Well, of course,” she smiled, “there’s no ‘i’ in God. That changes everything doesn’t it.”
“So if the last word is God, then it’s not one word but a phrase. We need to rearrange these letters.” He then wrote out:

A W E O R T

They gazed at the letters and felt the energy of the chapel. He found himself starring at the slate carving and marvelling at its ingenuity and elegance, created by a magical order of knights. They had designed not only the symbol but probably the chapel as well, guided by their extensive travels in the east and the ancestral spirits of the land. It all went into making a unique and special place.
I don’t think those six letters make one word,” she said, “it must be two words”.
He started to hum the melody he’d heard that day on the train platform. It echoed softly around the chapel and was soon joined by the Priestess’s velvety tone that blended so perfectly it felt like one voice. They lost themselves in the flickering light, charmed by the energy of each other’s being. Then in a flash of realisation they both jumped up and said in unison.
“I’ve got it!”
At that precise moment they could both have sworn that the earth moved as the stone seat had definitely shifted slightly from under them.

***

They looked at each other and knew magic was real.
“Two push together and new worlds are found,” he said. “The seat moved didn’t it?”
They turned around to the alcove and began to investigate the stone seat.
“It seems solid again now,” she said, as they pushed various places around the seat and alcove.
“It moved when we both pushed together,” he said, “just at that moment when we pressed on the arms of the seat. Let’s try again.”
They sat where they were before and simultaneously pushed down firmly on the stone arms. It happened again. The arms moved and the seat slightly shifted.
“Try pushing back towards the wall,” he said. As they did a crack appeared and they could see a large arch-shaped door appear around the alcove seat in the exact place that had been highlighted on the night of the full moon. They audibly gasped as a whole section of the wall shifted by a fraction.
“Two push together,” she said and they both pushed firmly at the stone door that had now magically appeared on the day when the sun, moon and Jupiter combined. Slowly and silently, the ancient stone door swung open revealing a dark chamber and the faint outline of a spiral staircase beyond.

***

“This is sooo magical!” she exclaimed, “this door has been hidden for perhaps a thousand years. No one knew it was here except for us.”
She gave him a spontaneous hug, “Grab a candle, let’s investigate.”
He picked up a nearby candle and they peered into the secret chamber.

The floor was covered in a sea of tiny sparkling lights twinkling and shimmering in the darkness. They stood in wonder at the dancing sea of stars.
Astounded they crept forward and shone the candle further into the room, then bent down to inspect the lights.
“They’re crystals,” she said picking one up, “the lights are tiny crystal fragments.” It caught the candle light and she immediately had a vision of a giant crystal pyramid with pure white marble steps leading up to a throne. The vision vanished and she placed the tiny crystal into her pocket.
The fragments appeared to be congregated around one side of the door frame. He held up the candle to investigate and saw a peculiar metal contraption intertwined with the lock. The crystals emanated from this point and spread out like a fan on the floor. From out of the top of the mechanism was a strip of blackened metal that headed to the spiral stairwell and disappeared into the darkness above.

***

“Shall we go up?” she said pointing to the staircase.
He shone the candle up the steps.
“Look here,” he said. The light flickered revealing the same symbol from the slate border carved into the stone. It marked a path that followed the metal strip into the spiral stairwell.
“This must be the lightning conductor,” he said indicating the blackened metal strip. She nodded in agreement.
Holding up the candle they followed the lightning conductor and magic symbol to the spiral stairs and began to ascend the stone steps. As they climbed the space became more and more cramped, getting tighter and tighter as they climbed higher.
“This must explain the unusual shape of the spire,” she said in a hushed tone.
“It’s a double helix with this side being so cunningly designed it remained hidden all these years.”
They continued climbing for what seemed like an age in the semi-darkness, each step getting steeper and steeper and more challenging.
“How much further is there to go? It feels like we’re really high up now,” she said trying to hide a small quiver in her voice.
“I think we’re almost there.”
“We have to see right to the top,” she said steeling herself, “I feel like it’s what we’re meant to do.”
He was getting increasingly nervous as the steps got tighter and tighter until he could go no further and held up what remained of the candle. The lightning conductor and the magical symbol disappeared into a pitch black hole above that was just big enough to fit a hand. Here goes nothing he thought, and reached up through the gap into the darkness.

Almost straightaway he found his fingers wrapping around a cold metal handle. He tugged and after a short struggle he pulled from the dark hole a long heavy metal object. Holding it up to what remained of the flickering light he could see it was a magnificent sword. He started to study the hilt when the candle spluttered and went out, plunging them into absolute blackness.

***

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Continues in Chapter 13…