Mythic Warriors (MW) is a serialized, sci-fi novel. You can read it in the correct order by beginning with MW1, then MW2, MW3, and so on.
Pasco, Mary, and Henley were awakened by the same telepathic message. It was a command from Gambles, “Come Now!”
Several months passed after the arrest of Gambles and Brianna. There was no telepathic communication. Pasco, Mary and Henley concluded that the ASE had executed both Gambles and Brianna. Facing the prospect of their own execution, they moved from one location to another often enough to avoid detection. The message from Gambles was followed by one from Brianna, “Help us!”
Henley looked at Pasco, “Did you get a lock on their position?”
“Yes.”
With three claps they arrived at the cells where Brianna and Gambles had been held. The prison cells were empty. The area was crawling with women dressed in pinks, blues, and yellows and men dressed in red and black. With the sudden appearance of Mary, Hanley, and Pasco, the devotees present dropped to the ground and bowed to the remaining members of Force Five.
The women chanted, “Mary, Mary trusted consort of Brianna.”
The men chanted, “Hanley. Hanley the right hand of Gambles.”
The high-priests wore uniforms similar to the elaborate costume that Gambles once wore. They painted their faces red, wore form fitting red spandex that revealed a bit too much, and donned metal caps with Gambles’ style horns.
The high-priests stood up while the rest of the Gamblers remained prostrate. They directed their attention towards Pasco. “Traitor. Prepare to die!”
Without hesitation, Pasco clapped three times and transported Mary, Hanley and himself to a new location. Usually, Pasco visualized a destination. He would focus on some unique aspect of the environment or upon a person who called them. By focusing on Gambles telepathic call, he had transported them to the location of their former cells.
Pasco’s first thought when threatened by the high-priests of Gamblism was, “take us to where we are supposed to be”. While Pasco imagined it would take them to Gambles and Brianna, his thought was not specific. On another day, that thought might have led them to the jail where Brianna and Gambles were recently moved. Instead, “where we are supposed to be” took Hanley, Mary, and Pasco to a large cave.
The entrance of the cave was several stories high. The three of them evaluated the odd location where they arrived. Beyond the entrance to the cave lay a wide green valley far below them. The sun glinted off the snow capped tops of two or three mountain ranges in the distance.
Within moments they heard the crackling of a small fire behind them. Deep in the cave, a pile of ash accumulated from months of constant burning supported a few flaming logs. Three logs, each longer than a human leg, propped up against each other. Rivulets of flame trickled up and down the sides of the logs. They burned slowly. Around this fire sat twelve shirtless men with their legs folded and locked in the padmasana base. The men appeared youthful, yet they felt ancient. Their skin was without blemish. Each had hair long enough to cover their backs. A few were clean shaven, the others had beards that were clean but not trimmed. Every race known to humanity was represented.
In the flickering light of the flames, the appearance of the meditating men bounced between the stone appearance of death to a nearly transparent manifestation of their physical forms.
Pasco was drawn to the men and stepped towards them. Mary and Hanley followed cautiously.
Pasco’s concern about “are they alive” was expressed by Hanley who whispered the question aloud.
A cloud of a humming sound that felt like a warm fog surrounded the three of them. It was not visible but felt like the damp fog of a tropical morning. The voice within the cloud spoke firmly but in a kind and loving tone.
“We are alive. Sit with us. Meditate for a bit.”
No one appeared to speak these words. The quality of the voice surpassed simple telepathy. It was deeper, richer, more round and complete than a normal telepathic message. It might have been spoken aloud, but it wasn’t.
Like chess pieces moving on a game board, the men remained fixed in motionless meditation but their bodies slid across the stone to form a wider circle. In groups of four, the bodies of them men moved away from the fire. The new circle opened three separate spaces for the visitors to join the circle.
Mary sat with her back to the cave entrance. Pasco and Hanley took their positions a third of the way around the circle. Pasco to Mary’s right. Hanley to Mary’s left.
The voice remained silent but the warm invisible fog remained around them as they began to meditate with the dozen men. Hours passed like a few moments when Mary became restless. The loving disembodied voice commanded “Be still!”
With those two words, all three of them began a full sensory review of their own pasts. Not just this life, but also through the actions and behaviors of all lives that brought them to this moment in their personal experiences.
For Pasco, his review would be considered by a human observer as largely positive. He was striving to lead a good life and had developed the personal strength of self-discipline. He had become his own man, separate from his multi-life teachers including Kukai. Even though it was positive, when one’s dependence upon friends and enemies alike is revealed, humility flooded his consciousness. Pasco could not have made the choices he made without those who once wronged him. He also saw that not all affirmative friends were good for his self-expression. In the physical life, “good” friends were often the ones who encouraged the worst behaviors.
Hanley had a similar accounting. He was humbled by his complete dependence upon others to assist his own progression in wisdom. His hatred for some and his dislikes for certain environments were resolved by an unconditional love for other souls and the realizing the illusive qualities of physical nature. The likes and dislikes for things were replaced by a gratitude for the experiences they offered. Preferences were resolved by their opposing condemnations. Human life was neither good nor bad. Life simply was an experience.
Pasco and Hanley assimilated the expansion in consciousness with a stream of silent tears. The salty brine trickled in an almost endless stream down their cheeks. All of the anxiety they held onto for lifetimes, all of the preferences, even the bits of wisdom that made it from life to life was suddenly revealed as nothing more than an illusive play. Reality in the absolute sense had no connection to anything experienced in the temporal environment. Indeed, even the illusion of time itself was revealed as nothing but an eternal moment.
Mary was not having such an easy transition. The wounds of life’s choices were still fresh in her consciousness. Afterall, she recently killed her family dog and subsequently lost control and killed some who wanted to help her. Confronted by her lack of self-discipline, she realized that she had to release the pain. She had to repent her mistakes, not to be replaced by something “better”. Repentance was not a replacement of one thing for another, but rather a surrender to the laws which operate the universe. She had to forgive herself to receive the love that was now being offered to her.
As she openly sobbed, the voice asked her to leave the cave. The voice suggested she return to the circle after she composed herself. However, she should only return if she wanted to receive an expanded awareness. She would have to surrender all that she considered to be life and all that her ego identified as being her separate being.
Pasco and Hanley made the transition to selflessness in the middle of the night. Mary returned to the circle in the cave the following day. She too was ready to accept the transfiguration of her consciousness from attachment to desires to her birthright as co-owner of the universe.
Weeks passed in the cave. Once every day or two, the circle would break to stoke the fire, share a bowl of water and a few pieces of fruit to sustain the physical forms. Their verbal conversations were short. Many questions that the three asked were answered mind-movies.
Mary asked why there were only men in the cave. “The male body required less maintenance than a female form.” These souls had no attachment to the concept of gender, the form of male best fit their purpose.
Hanley asked for their physical stories. Who were these men. The answer was simply “all and none”. Individual stories were for those who were lost, not for the enlightened.
Pasco asked if he could join their troop. Could he become the thirteenth man. “No.” Pasco was shown that his next role would be in another realm, on a distant planet.
It was during a break when one of the men turned to the three of them.
“Your time with us has come to a close. You must return to act through the remainder the play of this lifetime.”
In an instant, the circle of bare chested men disappeared into the ether. The transition was jarring for the three who never wanted to leave the presence that they had just enjoyed. To work through their initial shock, they closely examined the cave. There was no evidence of any fire in the cave. No rinds or peels remained from the fruits they shared. No bowl for water was present. A rolling thunder, a flash of lightning, and the sound of pelting rain drew their attention to the entrance of the cave.
Slowly they walked towards the storm. The stone of the mountain closed behind them. Like a stab wound healing from deep within the flesh to the surface of the skin, the mountain healed and pushed the visitors out into the storm.
Mary looked at Pasco and Hanley. “Tell me this wasn’t all a dream.”
Hanley pinched her and they all laughed as the rain soaked them from head to toe.