Disclaimer:
Everyone in the story is 18 years old or older at all points. Any resemblance to an actual person, alive or dead, is happenstance.
It has been several weeks since the last time I found myself dreaming of walking through Bardo. Looking around, I didn't see anything new, just a bunch of creepy trees with a dingy black and gray sky.
I sighed. While I had gotten used to coming here, this place wasn't high on my list. I could hear things moving in the dark, some sounding like they were just out of my ability to see them.
I wish I could see better
, I thought.
I was surprised when the glume lifted, and I could make out the texture of the trees around me and see some of the small squirrel-like creatures jumping between them.
I could also see a faint glow inside the moss that covered the ground, highlighting several paths through the woods.
Looking at the one directly in front of me, I knew it led to the little cottage Nana stayed in when she was here. It didn't look any different than the other trails.
As I took a step towards her cottage, I thought of one more thing to ask Nana.
Before my foot touched the ground, I felt a tug from another trail that led off the side. The trail was fainter than the others, and while I tried to shake off the feeling that the path wanted me to follow it, something deep down told me that was the direction I needed to go.
Fuck i
t, I thought, turning towards the new path and placing my raised foot down.
The path immediately got brighter, while the other ones dimmed. I could almost hear the different paths' disappointment as I started walking away.
Don't worry. I will try the rest of you some other time
, I thought back to it. The trail seemed to understand, and the calls faded.
Like my trips to Nana's cottage, the journey through Bardo went very quickly. A single step felt like I was moving miles. At one point, a cat-like creature ran next to me.
That didn't scare me like some other creatures I encountered here. Instead, I waved at it when it started to turn away from me, laughing at the surprised look on its face.
It felt like an hour, but the way time ran here, it might have only been a few minutes before the trail ended at the base of a pile of rubble and broken white stones. Some of the stone slabs were burnt as if a massive fire or explosion had occurred.
I exited the path, which winked out, and walked around what must have been a huge building.
Some decorative stonework had survived, suggesting that this place had been beautiful once upon a time.
"I wonder what you looked like before you were destroyed?" I wondered aloud.
I felt a little tug on my mind, similar to when I cast a spell. Then, the ground started shaking, and the massive stone structure started to reform, almost like a movie run in reverse.
It was some kind of villa
, I thought, walking around the structure that had sprung out of the ruins.
Various flowers and plants quickly grew from the ground. The finishing touch was the sunlight that streamed from the suddenly blue sky. The light seemed everywhere, forcing the shadows away until they met the tree line that encircled the restored structure.
I was so caught up in the villa's beauty that I didn't notice I wasn't alone anymore.
"It was wonderful once," I heard a woman's voice say from behind me.
I spun around, a spear materializing in my hand.
I found El sitting on a stone bench that rested next to a small stream that now flowed across the landscape.
El noticed the spear and chuckled, "I am glad you thought of something to protect yourself with, but honestly, a spear?"
She waved her hand, and the spear vanished, leaving me with my mouth open.
"How, why, I mean...," I couldn't seem to get my thoughts together.
She laughed, "So many questions. Let's see. How did I take the spear away?"
I nodded, keeping my mouth shut to avoid looking stupider.
"Everything here is controlled by will. My will was stronger than yours, so I "took" it away."
"The why part," she said, standing and stretching a little. At this point, I noticed she was again wearing the see-through wrap that covered her from the waist down.
She does have a great body
, I found myself thinking.
Damit, Focus!
"Do you want to know why I am here?"
I again nodded, focusing on her face.
"I don't have a physical presence in the real world, so I came here to see what I could learn about the changes since my body was destroyed."
She wandered over to look at the building and the surrounding landscaping.
"I have a few questions of my own," she said as she bent over to smell a flower.
She looked back at me as she plucked the flower and wove its steam into her hair.
"Let's start with a simple one. How did you get here?"
I shrugged my shoulders. "Bardo? I don't know. I just end up here sometimes."
"Not Bardo. Here. This spot specifically," she said, turning her full attention to me.
"I followed the path."
"You followed the path?" El's look made me think I was holding a deadly snake by its tail.
I cleared my throat, wondering if the next thing I said might be my last. The light in the clearing started to dim, going back towards the gray it had been when I arrived.
"I was going to go to Nana's house when another path called me to take it instead. That is the best way I can describe it."
The answer surprised El, softening her features. "What about this?" she indicated the building and landscaping.
"I don't know." I held my hands up as the look returned. "Really, I just wondered what it looked like before it was destroyed, and it kind of rebuilt itself."
"Hold up your hand," she told me. I found it was the only part of my body that would move, and it was doing it all on its own.
When our hands touched, I stood again in the clearing and watched as I stepped on the path that had led here. We fast-forwarded until we came to the cat-like creature that had shadowed me for a little bit.
I could sense surprise through the link El had created and used that to push a ward around my mind. I could feel her beating against it, trying to reestablish contact before suddenly the world snapped back into focus.
Around us, a gale-force wind picked up debris and hurtled them at El, driving her back from me.
I could sense her trying to calm the wind or divert objects it carried away from her. But, I also felt that I was the one causing the wind, subconsciously controlling the storm.
The shock of that discovery caused me to lose control, and the winds died instantly.
"Stay out of my fucking mind!" I shouted at El as she picked herself off the ground.
She looked at me in shock before she managed to get control of herself.
"Who taught you how to break the contact?" she asked, cautiously circling me as I trembled with rage.
"No one," I said as I sank into a chair that materialized under me.
"Someone had to teach you that. It's not something a person just picks up on their own," EL said as she sat in a chair that materialized across from me.
"Sometimes, I just do things. Nana said it was reflex casting, although she said the ruins I used were ones she didn't recognize. Lynn suggested that something ancient lay just under my surface mind."
I glanced up at El, "I thought that might have been you."
El shook her head. "None of this is my doing. I have never heard anyone talking to any native part of Bardlo, let alone asking it to rebuild something that was destroyed long ago. Nor have I ever heard of someone waving at a Wampus Cat."
It was quiet for several minutes before I broke the silence, "What was this place?"
El looked at me, no doubt debating what to tell me, before she answered, "This was my home before everything went to shit."
"It was stunning," I said, looking at the building and grounds.
"That it was," she replied.
She seemed to come to a decision. "Our pact involved me teaching you the Art. I will do what I can, and we will try to figure out why you have the abilities you have. Let's start with some basics."
We both stood, and the next several hours involved some primary forms to access my abilities. In the end, we sat in the shade of a type of tree I had never seen before. I was exhausted, and El seemed lost in thought.
"It's getting late, and I need some real sleep. See you next time," I told El, standing.
I replayed the instructions for leaving Bardo. Then, satisfied, I started to reach for the outside when El stopped me.
"Hold on, little one," she said, rising to her feet. "I want to give you one more thing before you go."
She reached her hand towards my face, and I flinched away from her.
"I wasn't going to try anything," El said, pulling her hand back.
"I want to give you one more lesson. I will transfer the information to your mind. It's faster, and there is no chance you will forget the knowledge."
I tried to gauge her intent. Then, finding nothing nefarious, I dropped my hand and allowed her to touch my face.
I suddenly knew how to bind things to my will. Not just animals but people, and the memory showed other creatures.
"El! I don't want to become...." I let my voice drop as I took in the information she had gifted me.
"Me? It's ok. I wasn't trying to influence you or change your mistaken beliefs. You are a very powerful Adept. Maybe one of the most powerful to ever live. So I don't want someone to influence you or try to force you to do something and not have the ability to fight back."
She looked around at the buildings and grounds that existed around us. "Do you know how long it took for me to build this? Any idea?"
I shook my head.
"It took me years to build this place, and I was the most powerful Adept of my day. You rebuilt this in minutes, with just a thought. Not only that, the place is warded against just about anything."
She turned her head to look at me.
"I don't know who you are or what you are becoming, but I do know there are things out there that would kill to be able to do even a fraction of what you can."
"Are you sure you aren't just trying to make it easier to use me?" I shot back.
"I will admit I had thought about it, but the binding we made to get my revenge will not allow me."
She looked me in the eyes, and I knew in that instance that she had tried to use me and had failed.
"I have a lot to think about," I told her, pulling myself out of Bardo and back into my bed.
I lay awake, tossing and turning for an hour before falling asleep again. Thankfully, the rest of the night was peaceful.
