Ambush

Chapter 5: Pons Animae

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾𖤓 ⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾𖤓 ⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾𖤓 ⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾𖤓 ⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾𖤓 ⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆  
My eyes felt pinched as my vision came back slowly. I was conscious, but unable to move or see. I fought my body and screamed in my mind for my body to wake. Death couldn't simply mean that my soul would forever be trapped in my decomposing body. I couldn't hear or feel anything either. Then the realization that I was truly trapped in my body swept over me, like a veil. I crawled my way out of the mental block preventing me from waking. Then I felt my eyes prick and tingle. I heard faint sounds in the distance. Voices. As I kept pushing towards consciousness, I saw lights, then color, then a room.

The room was blue with large ogee arch windows and a terrace overlooking the sea. Elaborate carvings were etched into the walls, and little stars shone through the wood on the ceiling like a dusting of galaxies. My body lay on something firm. The sun was rising, or setting, in the distance, the sky a light blue. I watched lanterns float around the ceiling. Clusters of white blooms floated by.

Then a hot chill creeped over me. I felt it inch up my skin and I felt something in the back of my brain screaming at me to remember. I wracked my brain for something, anything. I realized I couldn't remember anything, so I kept digging. I knew there was something I needed to know, but I didn't know what it was. My inner self found an idea and blindly grabbed onto it, like digging into a purse for lip balm without looking. I grabbed the first thing I felt and yanked. Pain. My body reacted before I comprehended what was happening. The pain seized my whole body, ripping it apart. I felt my bones obliterate and come together like they were nothing. I let go of the thought and the pain eased. But there was more to remember, so I pulled again. I remembered the last thing I saw. My boys turned inside out. I tried to shut it out again, like slamming a door on an unwelcome guest, but it was already halfway through the door. It pushed through and took over. Then there was nothing.

I awoke to the sound of running water. People were in a circle around me. One was washing my forehead and the rest were singing. Their voices were ethereal and rhythmic, unlike anything I'd heard before. Their notes fit perfectly inside each other and around each other. I felt whole listening to them. I opened my eyes to see a woman waving her hands in front of me. She was fluttering her fingers down from the top of my head to my chest. Her eyes were closed and she spoke under her breath. She clasped her hands together, then hovered them over my body as she gasped. The music sped up and turned to rhythmic chants. She plunged her hands into my chest and I felt my body slice in half. The voices erupted into siren wails. I felt my heart ripping from my chest. I lost all control of my body and senses just like before. Then it stopped. I opened my eyes and made out the figure of a man wearing all black. He raised his hand and the room turned black. The darkness cleared and the people filed out. The man stood in place for a moment, then turned toward me.

"You're awake." He said. He came and kneeled next to the bed. He held his hands over me. They began to glow. He put them down by his sides. "Don't want to do that, then." He said.

"What's happening?" I asked.

"You're in the Pons Animae." He said. My mind went blank.

"What do you mean?" I asked. He chuckled softly.

"I'm the Pastor Animarum. The Soul Shepard." He said. "You're in a holy place. The house where all souls are collected and passed on." He took a clean rag from next to me and dipped it in the bowl on the nightstand.

"This is Aqua Sanans. It's made of crushed pink delphiniums from the garden outside the door to the next world." He wrung the towel over the bowl. "It's basically a bowl of hot leaf water. But it'll make you feel better." He gently wiped my arms with the damp rag. I wanted to ask why, but I was too overwhelmed to form coherent thoughts. I needed answers but had no questions. He wiped my face, then my chest.

"Here, drink this." He handed me a glass of pink water. "It's soul tea. It will help you channel your energy and heal your inner energies." He said. It tasted light like sugar water. He watched me drink the whole glass.

"Do you feel anything?" He asked.

"No." I felt tired and achy. "What did you mean 'heal my energies?'"

With incredulity, he said, "Your soul magics."

"What soul magics?" I asked. He stared at me like he couldn't believe this was real life.

"Do you remember what happened last week?" He asked. I thought back, but all I could grasp were vague, undefined thoughts. I shook my head no. I needed information from him, but I wouldn't give him any so freely.

"The trials. You had an accident." He let the information sink in. "Your energy was too much for your body alone to handle. It tore you into thousands of pieces. We thought you were ready to pass on. But then you somehow put yourself back together. You've been under my care at the Pons Animae ever since." He said. I remembered the pain and something else. I pulled at the thread and pain overtook my body once again. I seized with the fire of 1,000 papercuts. Then my body shook. I came to and he was over me. He was shaking me back to reality.

"What happened?" He asked.

"I tried to remember." I said. A flicker of emotion spread across his face and he quickly silenced it.

"Let's try something." He said. He hovered his hands over my heart. Then he looked at me cautiously.

"Tell me what you feel." He said. His hands began to glow. My skin tingled with an icy burn. Then I began to glow. I felt a deep pull on my chest, then it pulled more deeply and painfully. I felt the pulling down in my bones, like they were coming out of my skin. I grimaced. Then it stopped. The room was silent.

"What was that?" I asked. He was quiet for a moment.

"I'm not sure." He said.

"What do you mean 'you're not sure?' You were the one waving your hands around." I snapped back. He looked down at me with guarded indignation.

"I was trying to heal you." He said. I started grabbing at my body. Was I injured?

"Your physical body is fine. It's your energies that are twisted." He said. "Stay here and rest for the night. I'll have the Soul Scuta on stand-by." With a flick of his coat, he was gone.

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾𖤓 ⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾𖤓 ⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾𖤓 ⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾𖤓 ⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾𖤓 ⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆  

I woke to the gentle white light from the sun on my face. A Soul Scuta sat on the terrace furiously scribbling in a journal. I sat up against my pillows. My muscles were tight and my head throbbed.

"Hello." I said. The Soul Scuta glanced at me but his pen continued bobbling and he ignored me. My stomach burned and I had to use the restroom. So, I slid off the bed. The moment my feet hit the floor, he snapped his journal shut.

"What do you think you're doing?" He asked.

"Sliding off this damn bed." I said. With a wave of his hand the doors closed.

"You need to rest. The Pastor Animarum will collect you when he's finished with his meeting."

  "Will he be cleaning piss off the bed as well?" I retorted. The Soul Scuta looked tired and bored of me.

  "Three doors down on the left. No wandering." He said sternly and went back to scribbling.
    I opened the door and there stood the Pastor Animarum. He replaced his shock with slight annoyance.

   "Did he not tell you to stay put?" He asked.

   "I needed to use the restroom." I said. He stormed into the room. With a whisk of his hand, the guard's journal flew across the room and hit the wall. The Pastor Animarum handed me a hanger with a blue dress and some black flats.

    "Should be about your size. Sorry if it's not to your liking. We weren't sure what your tastes were." He clapped his hands together. A pause.
     "Get dressed. We leave in five minutes."

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾𖤓 ⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾𖤓 ⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾𖤓 ⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾𖤓 ⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾𖤓 ⋆⁺₊⋆⋆⁺₊⋆