Transcending the Legacy (6 page)

Jesca surveys my face, looking for an explanation, a shift in my expression, anything that could give her a clue as to how to save us from our end of days. Her question, “What have you seen Sebastian?” is absolute and demands the truth that I have been withholding.

“When I was a child, it did not mean the same as it does now.
The meaning evolved as I matured.”

I look at each of the guardians watching me, waiting for any bit of hope from what I have seen.
I close my eyes and tell them.

* * *

“I watch two strong, tan hands striking a rawhide drum in turn.
Native American Indians dressed in deerskin move quickly among their huts. The looks in their eyes is that of fear. They are expecting something, a change.

With bows, arrows, tomahawks, and battling clubs in hand, the tribal warriors gather in the village center.

I feel my body and mind carried away to a hilltop suddenly. I still hear the sound of the even drum beat, but it is further away now. I notice a young boy, about five or six years old. He is perched on a rock palisade surrounding the tribe’s village. He has paint, markings on his face, just like his warrior forefathers. The boy looks out into the distance covering the vast amount of land with his keen eyes.

Watching his eye movement, they
dart to one spot in the distance all of a sudden. His brows knit together, concentrating on what he is seeing. I begin to track his gaze just as I hear a splash in the nearby river. Horses and men dressed in uniform, weapons held high as they approach the village. The boy turns toward his village crying out a warning to his people.”

I take a sip of water to quench my dry throat before I continue.

“They were being attacked by men from a foreign land. The emotions of this boy, these people, I feel them all just as if I was there at that ancient time among them experiencing their anxiety.
”

A few of the guardians nod. I assume they are recalling the emotions that coursed through them at the time of their visions.

I continue, “The warriors, they are forming a blockade with their bodies to try and stop the invasion. Each of them share similar markings on their faces and arms; Creek Indian symbols.”

Remembering the soldiers that had chosen to fight by the natives’ side, I continue my recollection for the guardians. “There were white men among them, like those that were invading.
They wore the marks and symbols like the Creeks and stood with them against their own people.

There is one man, a white man, marked with the symbols of the Creek exiting a thatched hut with a native woman and young girl. The girl, she resembles the woman, her mother maybe. The painted white man runs along side of the woman and young girl behind the barricade of warriors, toward the largest of the ancient mounds. Once they are there, the man tells the woman and girl to hurry into the depth of the mound through a tunnel.”

My eyes meet Xander’s, remembering that he was the one that experienced the girl.

I speak to him, “As I watch the mother and daughter walk along the tunnel, I see them climb down a laddered shaft and into a kiva. As a child, I did not know this. It took me time to learn about the meaning of the kiva, how it is a sacred place of rituals. The mother and daughter enter the sacred room. This is what you saw, Xander.”

Peering at me with extreme intensity, Xander nods his head as he remembers the
event of seeing the girl in his own vision.

Siobhan interrupts, “What about the man?
Why did he not go with them?”

“
More research. Those that are not native to the tribe may not enter a kiva. It is tribal law.”

Luke adds, “It is also tribal law of the mound builders to only allow men in the kivas for ceremonies unless the women must witness a specific ceremony. The kivas are used for calling forth spirits in the evocation of a prayer. Kivas are symbolic of our world, the present world,
connecting with the other worlds through the hatchway above the fire in this case.”

I bow my head to Luke, silently thanking him for his explanation. “Yes, and to have these two women specifically in the kiva has significance.”

I continue describing the vision. “A shaman, aged, with unruly and thinning white hair framing his face, sits before the well kindled fire beneath the opening in the kiva. You have to know that I am watching all of this as an observer. I’m standing behind the mother and daughter and the shaman beckons them to come closer. The fire blazes higher and higher as the young girl takes her seat on the ground across from the high priest. The mother stands quietly at girl’s side. Startlingly, the shaman releases an ancient cry. I do not know what he says; it isn’t English.

Swiftly, I am pulled from scene in the kiva and back to the scene among the warriors’ blockade.
The armed soldier invaders are ascending the rocky plateau and climbing over the stone palisade.”

I close my eyes to
see the setting in my mind as I describe it. “One soldier stands out among them. The way he commands and moves with determination, I can tell that he is their leader, the one commanding this invasion. He drives the soldier’s cadence past the huts to the village center where they meet the warriors’ blockage with force. Before I can see the fight, I am pulled from the scene to the one in the kiva.

As the shaman continues chanting, he draws up a
primitive copper disc from around his neck with his hand.”

I glance at Jesca and notice
her hand cover the Copula medallion I had given to her, the first device.

I continue, “The mother walks around the fire to the high priest and takes the small, amber disc from his hand. The mother takes it in her hands and walks
back to her daughter. Shakily, the daughter opens her hands to accept the amber medallion.”

Elisha chimes in, “They are performing a ritual.”

I nod and continue to explain, “Again, I am pulled back to the warriors as they hold off the invaders.”

Jesca mumbles
under her breath, “So the ritual can be performed.”

I keep on,
“The warriors, they do not relent. Blood is shed, but they continue to fight. At the kiva, the mother places the disc in her daughter’s open palm then forces it closed. The shaman yelps and wails within the confines of the kiva as his chants intensify. The girl’s body sways softly in response to the incantation. Again, I’m pulled from the scene and taken back to the entrance of the tunnel. The white man, the soldier that brought the girl and mother here, he is guarding the passage. Weapon in hand, he is ready to fight anyone that tries to get passed him. Suddenly, the commander of the invasion charges him, but the soldier returns the force not letting him past for the life of him.

The soldier pleads with him to take him.
He tells him he will sacrifice his freedom for theirs. The relentless commander tells the soldier that he does not want him. He wants what is beyond the passage.”

Jake interjects, “They wanted something within the kiva.”

Ezra’s voice shakes as he says, “They want the girl.”

I carry on,
“Like an angel, the girl spreads her arms wide, closes her eyes, and releases a fiery blaze from her body. It rises toward the filtered light falling from the kiva’s shaft.”

I stop speaking and look into Jesca’s olive green eyes,
eyes likened to the girl in my vision.

The silence is deafening, but so much is said when Jesca asks, “Who is she?”

“
I Believe she is a direct ancestor to you, ” I say then look at the rest of them, “and I think that the invaders, the warriors, the white men, the soldier protecting the tunnel, the mother, the shaman are kin to us and we are all connected to this legacy. Jesca is the root, but we are the outgrowth, the bearers of consequence for a pact our forefathers made long ago.”

Xander questions speculatively, “So, you mean to tell me that down my long family line, I’m directly linked to one of those people in your vision? All of us are?”

I can understand his skepticism and try to explain to him the best I can. “As I grew from a child into a young adult, the vision gained more importance to me. I needed to know if this was something that happened long ago or just my imagination running wild. I spent many nights unearthing records upon records of surnames, both Indian and not, events at the mounds that could prove that I wasn’t imagining this vision. Befriending the local librarian, hours upon hours reviewing tribal records. I wasn’t going to let it go. The vision was too real to let go.”

I move closer to Xander. “After what you told me about your vision.”

I look to Jesca, “Now, your vision, the more I know that a connection is there.” Each of you have a hand in this because you have an affinity to it, a direct blood link.”

Daniel agrees, “Sebastian’s fascination, the Copula, the friendships between Sebastian and your families, the forming of our fellowship, the enemies and the allies we have gained... Michael Sanderson,” Daniel looks at Sebastian, “and Jaeger Sanderson, his father. Xander and Sam, Corinna. These were all echoes resonating from our past to align us with one another right now, in the present.”

Daniel looks at Ezra now. “I do not know as much as you assume
, Ezra. Sebastian told me what was necessary about the mounds so that I could keep watch over the site and intervene if there was a threat. You have to know that Sebastian has never talked openly about his vision before this very moment.”

Daniel glances at me and I nod at him,
thanking him silently for telling Ezra the same truth.

Ezra runs his hand along his mouth before blowing his lower lip out.
His eyes dart to Jesca for a moment, then back to me before he says, “We haven’t seen all of the pieces of the puzzle yet. What if this is all we get? Just the few pieces of the puzzle we have right now? We don’t know what is expected of...her when we get there.”

He is worried and pained for his daughter’s plight. I’m about to console Ezra, encourage him to have faith that what must be done will
be revealed to us, when Daniel interrupts.

“I have seen things as well.”

Ezra and I both look from Sebastian to Daniel.
I can tell that Sebastian is just as surprised as us to hear what Daniel has seen.

He begins, “The vision started once we landed in the U.S. after you left beyond the veil.
The closer we got to the Etowah Mounds, the more vivid they became. I figured the same would happen to you as we got closer. It is already starting.”

My heart races as I speak eagerly.
“You have been to the mounds. Have you seen what I’m to do to fulfill the legacy?”

Daniel shakes his head and immediately my heart plummets. “I only saw
small pieces of what Sebastian saw; the fight in the village center,” he says.

Daniel rolls his lips together strangely.
He is holding something back. “What else?” I ask.

Daniel’s eyes are trained on me, “I saw you. Unlike Sebastian’s vision, the girl...she evolved into you.
The high priest, shaman, evolved too.”

He pauses again to my dismay.

“Evolved into who?”
I ask urgently.

“Olivia Walker.”

My eyes dart to Luke fearing his reaction to this revelation. He looks like he has been slapped by Daniel speaking her name.

He shakes his head in denial as he says,
“It can’t be her.”

A
s I think back to my time with her in Florida; in her book store, the healing she did for others, the strength of her life force and her spirit. I catch myself whispering, “Ms. Olivia.”

Luke’s voice quakes, startling me from my daze. “Where is she?
”

Daniel moves toward him. “Weeks after arriving at the mounds,
another wave of guardians found us. Your mother and a group of civilians from Florida were among them.”

“So she is safe.”

Daniel looks back at me. “Yes, she is safe.”

Visibly puzzled, Sebastian combs his hand through his hair. I’ve come to find this a trait of my great uncle when he is frustrated.

“I can’t remember the surname Walker among my research. It makes sense though since your father would have carried the Walker name, not your mother,”
Sebastian analyzes before he continues, “Even still, it is becoming more and more obvious with Daniel’s vision and Olivia Walker finding haven in the Etowah Mounds all the way from Florida that we are drawn to this place and the legacy it holds.”

Daniel pulls my attention back to him.
“Jesca, it is hard to see past a closed door. You have the key to open that door.” He opens his arms to all of us, “We can only see so much. I have only seen one piece of the puzzle. Until all of you are there, within the mounds and among what is your birthright, we will only know pieces of the whole.”

Briggs chimes in,
“Getting to the mounds is easier said than done my friends.”

His crew makes a resounding grunt confirming his statement.

One soldier says, “Yeah, Even with the NOS we have on board.”

I’m about to ask about this NOS the soldier is talking about
when Daniel continues, “Before we leave, you must know that our world has changed drastically in the past year. The Sondian fellowship crumbled soon after Gabriel Griffin took his own life. They needed us just as much as we needed them. The Dwellers as you have coined them Jesca, made it all the more important for all of us to come together and fight. We were under attack by something savage that was obliterating our race as well as any other beings that got in their way.”

I think of the other beings that had traversed into our world after the intersection; the giant Nephelim.
Have they been killed off?

“The government had no idea what they were up against and shutdown immediately.
All the entities that revolved around the government soon followed, leaving us literally in the dark,” says Daniel.

Briggs adds, “No manned water supplies, no manned electricity, no one to run the grids globally.”

Daniel interjects, “Resilience. While not all of the members of our race have it, those that do always surface and survive. It was a blessing that we were able to increase the Copula implantation worldwide after the intersection. When the Sondians became our allies, the implantations skyrocketed. However, when the invasions started, the greatest hit to our global population came in the form of the Dwellers.”

What about the future? What about those that haven’t been implanted yet? “How are you able to continue producing and implanting without the resources?”

Monica jumps in, “Many of the institutions that housed the Copulas are still standing and running. After the intersection and first wave of elemental changes, many of the guardians stayed in the institutions to guard the supplies and to begin taking in people that were suffering. We created our own water supplies, and did what we could in regards to the lack of electricity. There were casualties among the implanted average civilian, but at least we gave them a chance to survive. Now, thus far into the elemental shifts of our climate, the invasion of the Dwellers, those not implanted don’t stand a chance. They are most certainly casualties.”

Her candid description of our world’s transformation in a nut shell makes
me realize how much can actually change in a year’s time. With guilt, I admit that we are the lucky ones. We had not helplessly witnessed the first progression of our world’s evolution. I realize that we will see the continuing progression of the evolution though stirring the anxiety clawing at the pit of my stomach.

Daniel’s words interrupt my thoughts,
“You must know that the average civilian did not respond to the Copula devices as we have.”

Concerned, Jake asks, “What? How did they respond?”

Daniel, “It did not heighten any abilities within them. No supernatural speed or strength either.”

“They could breathe, that is something,” says Siobhan.

Nick snickers, “You mean they didn’t have my hot ability?”

Elisha rolls her eyes an
d maintains her focus on Daniel. “He means the metaphysical stuff, like reading minds?”

Daniel shakes his head
. “No Pyrokenesis, Telekinesis, Lactrosis was evident.”

Daniel looks at Sebastian and Ezra and says, “
Just another reason why I Believe the unique abilities each of us possess rose from our bloodline, our link to the legacy. The Copula just amplified their strength within us.”

The more he explains to us about how the device is working within the average civilians, the more evident it is that we are unique anomalies forging through the evolving world.

Daniel carries on, “Knitted within the many facilities our fellowship had generated, among colonies spawned on their own, pockets of resourceful, revolutionaries surfaced. They knew there would be a risk, the Dwellers’ attacks, but they knew that survival was only possible with that risk. These pockets were developing everywhere, just like ours in the Etowah Mound facility. These groups of people were working together as a colony. Soon, the colonies began connecting, combining resources, working together.”

Strangely, an image of the little black beings moving along, adapting, surviving in the ant farm flashes in
my mind.

We were the ants now.

“They went underground because of the Dwellers?” asks Corinna.

Daniel answers,
“They had a pattern of attack. Night was when they were most active.” Daniel points upward. “Due to the intersection of our galaxy and Andromeda, days are longer up there. The colonies do most of their interaction, communicating during the daylight.”

Nick
asks, “So, how do they communicate? I mean, you said that the average human hasn’t gained any special abilities like telepathy so how do they work together, colony to colony?”

Daniel explains, “In any given colony you can find all walks of life, all professions. Mechanics, newscasters, doctors, school teachers, housewives, chefs, police force, military. On top of that, a mixture of the implanted average citizen, Sondians, and Dobrians.
Among them, they found a way to connect with others out there, other colonies...Resilience.”

I look at the soldiers and Briggs. They look worn, veteraned, from what this transformed world has doled out to
them for the past year. I haven’t taken the time to acknowledge them, their fight in all of this for us. “How many are here in your colony?”

Briggs’ e
yes lock with mine. “There were two hundred this morning.”

His words are a reminder of the lives lost during our arrival. My chest constricts remembering the feeling of loss of one of your own. “I’m sorry for your losses.”

Briggs shakes his head and shifts the weight of his rifle on his shoulder. “Don’t be. They are free. They are the lucky ones. Just a shame that they missed third Tuesday.”

I shake my head, confused, “What is that?”

Elisha, “You said that earlier when we were coming into the compound. What does that mean? The third Tuesday?”

One of the soldiers clears his throat. “Third Tuesday is burn day.
We have to burn the corpses to prevent disease and illness.”

Nick gags audibly, “That was the smell when we got off the plane?”

Briggs, “Yeah. It’s about ten times better than the smell of rot and decomposition.”

I start getting images in my head of what the rot would look like.
I close my eyes and swallow down the bile bubbling up in my throat. Daniel’s timing to change the subject is the perfect distraction from the images. “Due to the pattern of attacks by the Dwellers being mostly at night, we are on an obvious curfew.

Ezra
asks, “Who mandates the curfew?”

Daniel
replies, “We do.” He looks down briefly, then scratches his temple. “It is going to be hard for you to grasp that we don’t have government enforced laws out there anymore. The old society, the one you knew, has ceased to exist. The only thing mandating us, is surviving the evolution and the Dwellers attacks as long as we can.” Daniel glances at me and says, “Or until we are saved.”

Ezra counters him.
“We may save ourselves. As evolution goes, there is death and rebirth. The end of one cycle leads to the beginning of a new one. Each rebirth is more resilient, stronger, more adaptable. Maybe the death that must happen isn’t a true death. Maybe it is a metaphorical death. Maybe we can overcome it.”

He surveys the guardians, seeking support, but no one responds. He is
grasping for straws now and it makes my heart break for him. He is trying to save me, keep me from being the one burdened with the legacy, but he can’t.