Deliverance [malexmale]

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

"I had a dream last night."

Atlan broke his stare at the view from his balcony to look at me, his eyes glinting with fascination. Genuine fascination, like he cared about what went on in my head and while the logical part of me knew that was rooted in the fact that I was useful to him and that was all that mattered between us, something about his interest encouraged me to continue.

Though, I was careful in my recount of the dream. I hadn't mentioned Amenti to Atlan yet, and I didn't trust him enough to do so. For all I knew, he could use her against me, if she was still alive. I also felt a strange possessiveness when it came to Amenti. I wanted to keep her memory to myself.

In the dream, Amenti was seated at a coffee table, her legs folded up underneath of her. She wore a pretty black velvet dress with pink bows and lace on it, her pretty curly black hair held back from her face with a Hello Kitty headband. She was drawing a picture with crayons, humming to herself, looking completely content with her activity. The drawing was of a man and a woman and what I assumed was herself. I guessed the woman was her mother, but I wasn't entirely sure on the man. Surely she wouldn't draw her father after what he'd done to them.

Halfway through her coloring, someone called her name and she'd look up, excited at first, but a heavy sorrow overcame her features, and it hurt to see her so sad. She'd turn back around and look at her drawing, then smile again and go back to humming and drawing. A drawing she appeared to never finish. And shortly after that, I woke up.

"Intriguing," Atlan murmured after my explanation. I shrugged, taking a bite of bread and spreading a marmalade across the top.

"Do you think its a premonition?" I asked, trying to keep the hope out of my voice. The idea that Amenti could be okay went a long way in soothing my nerves. I'd had difficulties concentrating on Atlan's offer, his training, because I was wrapped up wondering what happened to Amenti. If she was alive, and she was doing as well as she appeared in my dream, I wouldn't feel so rotten.

"Maybe so," Atlan mused, then smiled, "We should look into this more. I think it's time you contact the Source. We'll be using the Orb first, so as not to wipe you out. It can be exhausting and frustrating the first time, so don't expect to get it right away." I nodded. I didn't expect it to be easy. Things in life seldom were.

We left our breakfast for Diana to clean up and I followed Atlan down the hallway toward a flight of stairs that wound down into the lower part of the castle. I could smell water as we drew near a door at the end of the stairs. The temperature dropped a bit and I lost the sound of the ocean, much to my chagrin.

Atlan opened a large wooden door and led the way into a large chamber. A large round pool sat in one corner with natural water pouring in through holes in the stone walls, and not far from it, a lounging area of pillows and blankets on a soft cushioned floor. And on the opposite end of the room was a large stand with the Orb sitting on top, held in place by a clawed holding. It glinted in the flickering candlelights that had already been lit before we arrived.

It looked smaller than I remembered, but then, it hadn't been heavy to me. Lea couldn't even pick it up. Only Zetnos, Hannibal, and I had been able to lift it with ease.

"To use the Orb, you have to relax," Atlan explained as we approached the Orb, which seemed to almost breath as if it were a living creature, "You have to find a place of meditation and peace. Allow yourself to be taken in by the Source, allow it to speak to you, so that you may see what the Orb wants you to see. Focus on a simple question once you've reached your trance. Then let the Orb guide you." That sounded easier said than done, but I wasn't going to get anywhere just standing here, judging his shaman talk.