The Mystique Chronicles

By Tina Taylor

From beyond the boundaries of infinity and the vastness of immortal consciousness, a prophecy had been conceived within the majestic expanse of the unbound universe. As a result, the Mystique have sprung from the womb of Mother Earth like the phoenix rising up from the still burning embers of The Desert of Reality.
Upon the death of his beloved Cortessa, Demonno was literally drove beyond the brink of insanity, and throughout the ageless millenniums, he had taken it upon himself to single-handedly wipe his own species off the face of the planet.
Violet, nearly the last living Mystique in existence, has finally come upon the end of her inevitable journey. Despite the destruction of her species, bitter betrayals, and malignant diversities, Violet has still managed to fulfill a prophecy that is perhaps as ancient as the universe herself. Violet must ultimately pass Samantha Jean Doventhe mothering host of a new breed of Mystiquethe proverbial scepter to continue the self-sacrificing journey that she cannot continue.
However, in the aftermath of Demonnos reign of terror, he continues his contaminated trail of destruction and will stop at absolutely nothing to finish what he has started and destroy all Mystiques, along with anything or anyone, who is unfortunate enough to cross his path.
Samantha must stop this insane beast of hatred and rage and save humankind not only from themselves but Demonno as well. Samantha must find the strength within to carry the Mystique and humankind alike into a new age and a new millennium, because a new time and existence is about to begin. What is life? Life is the decisions we choose to make woven among our destiny and, in the end, all is as it should be.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Dec 3, 2014
• ISBN: 9781496951021

Tina Taylor

My name is Tina M. Taylor, and I was born and raised in Indiana, Pennsylvania, by my mother, Louella Barton. I have always possessed a passion for reading, so it came to no surprise to myself when I had decided to become a writer. I would like to dedicate this book to God, for without him, none of this would be possible—also, to my four sons: Dean, and his wife Krystina; Donald, William, and Alan.

Book preview

PROLOGUE

What is life? Life is what life is, life is the decisions we choose to make woven among our destiny. This is a question that has been asked since the beginning of existence and will no doubt be asked for eternity and although the question will remain the same, the answer will forever change.

This is simply the nature of reality. The human species want their explanations, but why must we always require vindication for everything? Sometimes, things just are not supposed to have an answer. However, if there is still a need and or a desire for such an answer. All one has to do is look deep within the core of their own minds, hearts and souls, there is where you shall truly find all of the answers you so desperately seek.

Therefore, all one needs to do, is listen to the silence within and allow the love inside of their hearts to be free. There is no need for answers or searching for the meaning of life, when there is only one answer you shall ever need to possess and that is: LIVE!

I am Mystic and I am the child of the great encompassing universe among all of her vastness. I am the child of Earth, Air, Fire, Water and I possess the Spirit of a higher power than man. I am the blessed daughter of Mother Earth and the Heavenly Father and I have been chosen to be the mother of a new species, an entirely new breed of being.

I am Mystic and have always been known as Mystic, Queen of all Mystique. I was born knowing that even when my life upon this realm of existence has finally ceased to exist physically, that I will still be able to manifest my spiritual essence upon a higher and deeper level of communicable consciousness with all the children of my race.

I had been given a choice to accept or too respectfully decline the life offered unto me and if I were to accept, I would be born unto this earthly plain of existence, possessing every bit of knowledge that I would ever need to require for that life expectancy. This is not something that is only true for me, because it is also true for all creatures. It is just that most humans’ minds are not open enough to realize and accept such truths.

In sum, I would be born possessing the knowledge to know what has already happened, what hasn’t yet occurred and what is yet to become. I would instinctively know and understand about the impending events that lay ahead for this world.

However, I am not, nor have I ever been here to interfere with Fate’s plan and I state me, because I am merely an observer, here to live and here to learn.

Every living creature is born with a choice to accept or refuse the life which has been offered unto them and when we choose to accept that life, we are born knowing what is to happen within that particular lifetime. However, for reasons that are completely unknown to me, most humans somehow lose those memories during their birth or rebirth process as they pass through the birthing portal and into the physical realm.

I do not try and claim to understand the meaning and or reason why this is so, because all I know is that in the end, everything is as it should be. So, I do not question such things.

I will tell you one thing that I do know though. I have known about this tale since before the beginning of my existence. The truth be told. I am not the one whom has written it, because my time upon the earth had ended long before it had ever been written. You see, the shell of whom I once was, is nothing more than dust blowing through the stagnant winds of time and all those who will live long after I have physically departed, shall be the ones to carry out the Mystique Legacy.

My memories will be the memories of my children and of their children and so on and so forth. Ultimately, they will possess the memories of the Earth Mother and the Great Heavenly Father and of all the elements, the Fates and even the infinite universe, for we are all but one essence. Because you see, I was merely a vessel that which was used to gather and obtain vital information for the survival of our species. I was to pass down all that which I have learned unto my children. Who in return, were to become vessels of such information themselves and as a result, furthering their own evolutional process.

At the time of each Queen’s death, physical death, that knowledge and unique legacy is to be passed down so to ensure that the past, present and impending future, can be better envisioned by the next queen.

The Mystique Legacy is truly a tale which must be told, because our beginning is just as important as anything else’s beginning is within its own right.

So, finally I made my decision to accept the life that had been offered unto me and as a result, I had sprung from the womb of Mother Earth like the phoenix rising up from the still burning embers of the, Desert of Reality.

The Earth had given birth unto me, for she is thy mother. The element of Air, had formed and filled my very lungs from its own breath. The element of Fire, had heated my blood and formed my heart within thy chest. The element of Water, had given unto me the tears to shed for all the fear and ignorance this increasingly selfish world all too often embraces and the Holy Spirit, had given unto me a soul and the eyes to that soul, in which to see the truth no matter how pleasing or disappointing the truth may actually be.

Upon awakening, I beheld the beauty that the universe had so unselfishly given unto all life and as I gazed upon this world, I could see the unequivocal magic in everything that which existed. I gazed upon that which was different from me and I couldn’t help but to relish in all of those magnificent differences before me.

I dread to think what life would be like if all things were exactly the same, identical in shape, color and size or if there were only but one season. Do you think that you could even remotely begin to comprehend what life would be like, if you were to awaken every day unto the same exact day? How about to never encounter new people or places or to never be able to grasp the enchantment of adventure and to never experience the passion of thought. Because truthfully, what would there be the need to think if everything was the same? I personally, wouldn’t ever desire to envision such an atrocity, let alone live in such a world.

The point that I am trying to make clearly visual within your mind’s eye, is that although we have our differences, we are also quite similar in many respects. You must try to understand as best as you can, that there are links between our species, just as there are links between all life in existence and no one is any lesser or any greater, than another is of another.

At all costs, we must not lose sight about what is important. Not what is merely important for the survival of my species, but crucial for the survival of all life, all peoples, for the entire world.

Last, but certainly not least, there is a bit of information that I must express. There shall be a uniting between you and ourselves, because this knowledge has come from beyond the boundaries of immortal consciousness, so shall it come to pass.

Very soon you will know the story about the Mystique and even if you choose not to believe, I feel deeply within my heart of hearts, that it must be told. In fact, this tale has already been written in the blood of the universe and so shall it be so.

This story is to be bestowed upon Samantha, so that she can continue on where I have no choice but to leave off. When in time you come to know Samantha, I am positive that you shall come to love her as deeply and as completely as I myself have come to love her and even those who did not want to love her, have.

So please open up your hearts, as well as your minds and absorb all that I am about to give unto thee. If you do, you just may be surprised by what you are about to discover and perhaps, you may ever learn to live and to love upon a deeper and different level of understanding.

Who knows, if you decide not to restrict yourself, you may even unleash the good that cries out to be released within us all. Then, just maybe then, you shall truly come to understand what it feels like to finally be free.

Now it is time for me to gracefully step aside and allow the green to finally fade, for a new time and existence are about to begin.

CHAPTER ONE

Allow me to begin by introducing myself. My name is, Samantha Doven and I feel that my life is finally nearing its final performance. There is so much that I must tell you before my departure from this earthly world and I just hope that I have enough time to tell you everything that needs to be told.

For countless centuries, I have kept a secret locked away so very deep within the core of my being and truthfully, there is still a part of myself that wants to remain keeping it safely tucked away. However, there is also another part of whom and what I truly am, that possesses the understanding that this cannot be allowed to happen.

Throughout my seemingly endless existence, there have been those who had in fact known about my secret and had shared in it with me over the millenniums. Sadly, they are no longer alive to share in its burden any longer.

In any case, I know that I have made the right decision by telling my story, because the Mystique legacy is a story which must be told. I cannot keep this secret any longer, absolutely not for one more second. If I were to keep this secret, I would die with it still locked away inside of my soul for eternity and that just isn’t the way it is supposed to be nor can it be allowed to end in such a manner.

I can still remember everything as though it had only just happened yesterday and these memories are still fresh in my mind and as clear as the coolest and most delicious drink of sweet water.

Everything had actually started long before I was even born. However, for me physically, everything had begun with the untimely and unexpected death of my beloved husband, Robert Sebastian Doven.

Robert’s death had left me feeling utterly and completely lost. I felt numb to the world around me and just as this numbness seized its iron clad grasp upon my soul, I felt like I was submerged in the proverbial icy waters of death’s embrace myself. This was perhaps the deepest and most profound sense of loss I had ever known and I felt like I was completely hollow inside, nothing more than some empty void of total despair and chaos.

Robert’s death left me feeling like I didn’t know what I was supposed to do next, let alone how I was supposed to continue on with the frayed and scattered fragments of my so called life or what remained of that life, if anything at all.

When Robert had died, a very real part of me had also died right alongside of him that day and in this, I wasn’t myself anymore. My beloved and I had been one, one heart, one soul and one breath. We had completed one another and without him, I was incomplete mind, body and soul.

I could honestly say that I had loved Robert more with every passing second, minute and hour of everyday of our lives together. I lived, felt and breathed him into my very essence, and I loved my husband in a way that I knew that I could never love another after him.

There were innumerable moments when I felt as though we were the only two beings alive upon the face of the earth, because the moment that our eyes met, we lost ourselves within the fiery liquid depths of one another’s soul. Whether we embraced physically or upon a mental level of connecting, our souls merged together and as our hearts embraced, we were filled to the brim of our souls with true and complete unconditional love for one another.

Even at this precise moment in time, I can still vividly recall his eyes with perfect clarity. Robert’s eyes were the color of soft warm chocolate that danced mischievously with playful flecks of green and amber. Whenever I would peer deep into those intense eyes of his, I could literally feel my soul weeping over the profound love that radiated from them whenever he gazed upon me.

Robert’s lips were full and pouting and so utterly kissable and when our lips touched, his kisses tasted like pure sweet honey. Even unto this day, I can close my eyes and still taste the haunted nectar of those kisses. His hair was think and long and it was so black, that it was even darker than the heavens upon a starless night.

Robert was a tall man of muscular build. He stood approximately six foot six and despite the fact that he was a towering man, he was also the gentlest of souls. In fact, when he held me tightly in his protective embrace, I felt as surely as the clouds must have felt being embraced by the heavens.

When Robert had died, my safe little world that I alone created selfishly within the core of my mind, had literally came crashing in and down upon me and thrust me harshly back into realities cruel grasp once again. In my mind, I believed that I had lived because Robert lived and because he was no longer alive, neither was I anymore either. After Robert’s passing from the physical realm and into the next plain of existence, I was never really quite the same again.

Dear Father in heaven, please help me, I begged. But it was true. You will truly never comprehend all of the times that I had seriously considered taking my own life, just so that we could be together again. However, no matter how desperately my soul seemed to long for this release of life, there was just something inside of myself that just wouldn’t allow such a thing to happen. The only real thing that I can think of that had stopped me, was the lives of our unborn babies. Because if not for that, I know that I would have surely joined my husband in the land of the dead without a single regret and I too, would have left the land of the living behind as well.

With the passing of time, I continued to draw deeper into myself and I continued to mentally block out the rest of the world. I slammed shut the door that lead to life and crossed over into the desert of my own imaginative reality. In this infant form of reality, I told myself over and over again, that nothing that had happened was real. I tried to convince myself that everything was nothing more than a horrible nightmare, one that I would soon wake up from. Which to say the least, was probably the biggest lie that I had ever told myself.

I was aghast. I couldn’t bear the fact that Robert was actually dead and was never coming back to me. I wouldn’t allow myself to accept all of the terrible things that had befallen me and so in return, I created a world where it was no longer a reality for me and where the real, became a delusional nightmare.

I had tried repeatedly, but I simply couldn’t control all of the emotions that rampaged throughout my entire being nor could I cease the constant weeping of my soul for my lost love. I was attacked constantly by the images of his once magnificent body, decaying and rotting beneath the earth’s rich dark soil. It was literally all that I could do to keep the sickening images of maggots and other vile insects from devouring his steadily decaying flesh from the grave like depths of my mind.

My entire being trembled in the aftermath of destruction, because I desperately needed to hold Robert in the vacancy of my now freezing embrace. I wanted my husband alive and well again and I would have sold my soul to the Dark Prince below to have him back where he rightfully belonged. There wasn’t a single thing that I wouldn’t have sacrificed, so that Robert could see the faces of his children when they were brought forth into the world. Absolutely nothing and the fact that this wouldn’t ever be possible, literally shattered my heart into a million shards that pierced my milky white flesh.

The image this knowledge invoked and the sheer pain of it all, sliced straight up through my aching and trembling core, because this miracle, our miracle, Robert would never witness.

As much as his death devastated me and the fact that I had never told him that I was pregnant in the first place, was what had destroyed me the most. My soul screamed obscenities’ at me, because I had allowed Robert’s life to pass from this world without the slightest knowledge that our greatest of dreams had finally been realized.

Then, as if I had completely undergone some massive and hideous transformation, the grief began to disperse and a relentless anger began to settle its poisonous toxins deep down into my heart. I demanded to know why Robert had abandoned me and his children. I cursed him for leaving us behind and in return, I cursed God for calling him home.

Oh, I understood that everything happens for a reason, but what possible reason could God possess for taking my husband and the father of my unborn children away from me? Surely, God must have possessed angels plenty high above the fluffy white clouds and if that were indeed so, why was God in such desperate need of my husband? Moreover, for what purpose did he need him exactly?

How was it that the great all mighty that dwelled safely behind his golden gates and his legion of angels’, had so thoughtlessly removed Robert from our lives? I demanded to know why and I screamed my demands into the heavens above, as I shook my fist of rage in God’s face as though it was indeed Thor’s mighty hammer.

I simply couldn’t understand any of it, not that I hadn’t tried time and time again. Surely, I had to have had done something terribly erroneous, but for the life of me, I couldn’t understand what I had done so wrong for God to do this to my life.

A life that once held meaning, a life that had been happy and fulfilled, was now nothing more than some vast and empty void of sheer nothingness.

This wasn’t supposed to happen to me, to us, because Robert and I were supposed to be together forever. We were supposed to grow old with one another. Furthermore, what happened to us was the nightmare that happened to other people and not to our lives. It shouldn’t have been allowed to happen to us, not Robert and me. Nevertheless, in one immortal blink of God’s cruel eye, he had stolen it all away from me and I just couldn’t seem to bring myself to forgive him for that nor would I ever forgive God for such a blatant theft or so I told myself at the time.

I felt like I was wandering around in some unreal and delusional haze and I wasn’t even capable of closing my eyes without seeing his haunted face staring back at me, day and night.

I cried until I felt as though I hadn’t a single tear left to shed and then, I cried some more. Sure, I knew that no amount of tears would or could ever bring Robert back to me, but I also knew that I had to put an end to my pain and the anger that burned within me so profoundly. I also found out that that was a whole lot easier said than done. It’s easy to know what must be done, but nine times out of ten, it’s a whole lot harder to actually do something about it.

God and Robert weren’t the only ones that I detested. I especially hated myself, because I had allowed myself to become so selfish in my grief. I had forgotten about what was important and that was quite simply, the love a mother has for her child or children.

Unfortunately, this was something that I didn’t become consciously aware about, at least not until the finger of Fate was pointed in my direction. The real crime in all of this, was that it had to take something of such a devastating magnitude for me to realize something I should have realized a hell of a lot sooner. Reality had to literally reach out and slap me across the face for me to wake up and pull my head out of my own ass long enough, for me to see what was really important.

CHAPTER TWO

Even though I didn’t know that everything had already started, things had been set into perpetual motion and once this proverbial snowball started its downward descent, there was no stopping it.

I left Doven Manor early that morning, because I felt such a rush of urgency course through me. Suddenly, I felt the most profound need to be near Robert. Nevertheless, Robert was dead, had been for well over a month now, but that didn’t change how I was feeling. So I got dressed, fixed my hair and makeup and when I took a quick look around me before leaving, I couldn’t shake the feeling that my life was about to change.

I arrived at Oakland Cemetery around nine in the am, this was the place where Robert had been laid to rest. I placed pink and white roses, kissed with baby’s breath down upon the front steps of the Doven Crypt. Enveloped in my shroud of sorrow, I sat down upon the left stone bench next to the crypt door, the right side was vacant. This was nothing new for me, every day since Robert had died, I had come here and took the same seat I always sat upon and talked endlessly with my husband.

I did know that the essence that had made Robert, Robert, his soul, was no longer inside of his quickly decaying shell nor would it ever be again. I understood that his soul had ascended unto a higher level of existence. Still, it seemed to comfort me to talk with him as though he were still alive. I think that perhaps there was a certain part of myself, a part of myself that wanted to believe this was the only tangible thing that I had left of my beloved.

As I continued to sit there embraced by the silence of the Cemetery, I could almost visualize Robert sitting across from me upon the vacant stone bench. He was leaning casually back against the smooth cold back of the bench, with his large gentle hands clasped upon his lap and his feet crossed at the ankles comfortably. Try as I might to keep this vision anchored, it never lasted long before it faded back into the engulfed sadness of lost memories, lost love and lost everything that had ever meant anything to anyone.

Despite the fact that his vision faded like the somber violet of the twilight heavens, it seemed that I could still sense his undeniable presence. Mostly, I believed that I just missed him so much, that I just wanted to believe he was near. Sometimes, there had been moments when I had to really wonder if Robert had actually decided to pay me a brief visit from beyond the nothingness that I was now engulfed in these days.

Sitting there lost in a million chaotic thoughts, I shivered and shuttered softly and wrapped my arms instinctively around my slightly thickened waist.

When I had first left the Manor, it had felt like it was going to be a rather warm day. However, the moment I had stepped upon Oakland’s consecrated grounds, the temperature felt like it had instantly dropped ten, maybe fifteen degrees. As I continued to sit there, the wind began to pick up force. As the wind continued to gain strength, it seemed to roar in anger as it tugged upon the many leaves clustered upon the surrounding trees a little ways off in the distance. I knew the rain would soon follow, for the air was moist with its invisible kiss.

I had managed to lose all track of time and honestly, I didn’t have a clue as to where all the time had gone. I am not entirely sure what possessed me to stay at the cemetery for as long as I had; all I knew was that the day had flew by in a blink and I had stayed far longer than perhaps I should have. By the time that I had finally decided to leave and head home, it was nearly dark and the once powdered blue sky, was now replaced with twilight’s violet kiss.

Before I went home, there was someplace I needed to stop, somewhere important to both myself and Robert. This was a special place that Robert and I shared and every Sunday after church, we would stop off there on our way back home. We never missed a single Sunday. In fact, stopping there after church had become a ritual for both of us.

I wanted to deny why I had initially stopped here to begin with. However, I knew why and what my purposes were, I just didn’t feel like acknowledging them at that moment. Whatever the case, I suddenly found myself propelled backward in time. Back when life had been good, back when Robert and I held eternity in our hearts and within our souls, back when we were one and not separated by death.

This particular part of the woods held a special meaning for me in particular. I believe that this was perhaps because this was the very place Robert and I had met and entirely by accident. Although later, we had both called it fate. Even unto this very day, I seriously believe that Robert and I were supposed to meet; it was almost as if some greater force had planned the entire meeting. When we both started to talk and lost ourselves in conversation, it felt like we had known one another forever. I remember that we talked for hours on end and after that moment, we were inseparable.

Our special place, which was what we both had come to call it, was only a short distance from our home and despite the fact that it was rather deep into the woods and that it was getting darker by the minute, I found that I wasn’t worried a bit that I couldn’t find the spot that I was looking for. I had been here so many times, that I knew every inch of this place by heart and I simply knew that there was absolutely no way I could get lost here or so I had assumed.

I hated to admit why I had stopped off here before heading home, but denying the truth wasn’t going to do any good. The reason I had stopped here, was because I wanted to finally tell Robert about our miracle. Well, there was that and I needed to finally tell him good-bye. Deep within the core of my aching soul, I knew that Robert wasn’t at peace and that I was the sole cause of his restlessness.

You have to understand something, I had just loved Robert so much, and that I had literally drowned myself in his life’s waters and his love had ran just as deeply for me, as mine did for him. Even though my heart still continued to ache tremendously for my beloved and despite the pain this caused me to feel, it was finally time for me to get on with my life or at least what remained of it at any rate.

I was still grieving for my dead husband, but I still desperately needed him to be at peace and I knew that this couldn’t happen if I didn’t set him free first. For one thing; I simply couldn’t bear the thought of his spirit wandering in total chaos. Robert had just loved me so unselfishly and completely, that even admitting the reasons for my decision literally felt like it was killing me inside. However, how could I not set him free and how could I continue to torture his soul like this? I couldn’t, I simply just couldn’t.

After leaving Oakland, the closer I got to this spot, the more it felt like I was being pulled there by some unseen force. A force that was somehow magically pulling me closer and closer to my inevitable fate. Then once I had arrived, it just simply felt like I was supposed to be there. It just felt right somehow to me. Moreover, you know what else as crazy as it sounds; I felt like Fate had dealt me their final hand and I was ultimately upon their mercy.

The incandescent light of the moon, possessed an eerie orange halo encircling it as it peeked down through the breaks in the many branches along the path overhead.

As I lifted my eyes to the heavens, the sky was perfectly clear without a single cloud in sight. It was difficult, but I had managed to pull my gaze away from the stars. I wanted to ignore what I was feeling inside, but like it or not, I was sensing the same unseen presence that I had felt earlier at the cemetery. With this thought in mind, goose bumps kissed the backs of my arms and the nape of my neck, suddenly chilling me to the marrow of my bones as the cool night breeze gently kissed my lightly flushed cheeks.

Continuing on with my walk and lost in a million thoughts, I knew exactly where I was headed. One could even say, I knew my way through these woods as well as I knew the sound of my own voice. Even though there was no real reason for me to be so agitated, my heart felt like it was slamming full force against the walls of my chest. So much so, I was filled with both fear and excitement all at the same time.

My mind literally felt like it was spinning out of control and as it continued to dance feverishly to some inaudible melody, my heart rate continued to soar.

I wasn’t sure when everything had begun to change, but it sounded like the wind had been replaced with a semi-soft melody of a phantom violin. The once towering and massive trees, weren’t trees anymore. Instead, they too had been replaced; only now the trees were tall elegant people, all singing and dancing to the sweet haunted music that filled the surrounding darkness.

I couldn’t seem to shake the visions before me. I knew what I was seeing, but I still couldn’t bring myself to accept what I was seeing. I closed my eyes and then reopened them again, perhaps to gain my bearings and clear my vision. I had even repeated this process several more times, but each time I did, I continued to conjure up these strange and fanciful images within the core of my seemingly drunken mind.

Before I knew what was happening to me, I found myself running frantically toward the unknown and in my haste, I seriously couldn’t have cared less about what could possibly befall me. It was like something fragile snapped inside of my mind all of a sudden and fear simply took control of my entire body and mind.

It didn’t seem to matter just how fast I was running, because I didn’t feel like I was moving fast enough. The faster the ghost dancers twirled around me, the faster I ran and the faster I ran, the faster they spun out of dominance.

As I continued to make my frantic way throughout the maze of dancers and tangled vines that appeared to be suspended in midair all around me, it seemed that the music began to swell and grow louder with each passing second. With every pound of the invisible drums, my erratic heartbeat echoed out into the surrounding darkness like a thousand voodoo drums all beating in perfect rhythm with one another.

To my utter amazement, what had once been a tangle of foliage, vines and wide-spread trees, had somehow been transformed into a lavish and fantastic ballroom lost in the haunted millenniums of closed mindedness.

Suddenly, I found myself filled to the brim with such a profound sense of urgency, that I could barely stand it. It felt almost like thunder and lightning had somehow become entrapped within the core of my being and was screaming at me to release them at once.

In reverence to all of these overwhelming and profound emotions pulsating violently throughout my mortal core, my mind felt like some vast tornado gaining universal size and grander. Insane visions tormented my mind and as they consumed me, they conjured maddening images to flash like lightning inside of my jumbled and chaotically confused brain. I had remembered thinking at the time that a witch from some foredoomed fairy tale must have cast her spell upon me, a spell that was no doubt responsible for all of the insane and fantastic visions playing themselves out right before my eyes.

As I continued to run through what had once been the woods, I wrapped my arms protectively around my slightly swollen abdomen. Since the first time that I had found out that I was with child, I found myself worried about the safety of my babies. My mind wouldn’t stop yelling at me as it demanded to know what I thought I was doing, running like some insane and crazed animal and taking unnecessary risks that could possibly harm my unborn. This I couldn’t answer, too many emotions were ruling me at the time and I felt like I had to get out of there as fast as I possibly could and running was the only way to accomplish that objective.

In all seriousness, I tried to slow my pace and when that didn’t work, I had even tried to stop running. However, try as I might, my legs just wouldn’t seem to listen to reason. As absurd as the thought actually felt, it felt like some unseen force was in total control of my mind and body and I honestly felt like my soul didn’t belong to me any longer.

It was like my legs possessed a mind of their own and nothing that I had thought or tried to command my body to do, seemed to be working.

There seemed to be one thing that was constant and that was the lone thought that kept penetrating the core of my brain, which was, ‘run Samantha before it is too late, run as fast as you can and do not stop running’. Too late for what? I had asked myself mentally. Of course, I received no answer. There was however, a distinct knowledge that there was this profound urgency to achieve something of the utmost importance. Something which damn near felt predestined to an extent, something I couldn’t explain even if I had tried. Despite this craziness when I thought these things, they felt true just the same.

My entire life was flashing before my eyes and I can tell you one thing, this was not an exaggeration. Everything that I had ever done, spoken, seen, touched, tasted or felt, was all playing unbound inside of my head. Flashes of color so radically intense and vibrant, splashed like multi colored raindrops across my mind’s eye and they nearly blinded me with their profundity.

Suddenly, visions of magnificently beautiful winged beings rushed up into my face. All my mind could seem to think was, am I seeing angels? For surely they could have been nothing else. However, I knew beyond all doubt that they weren’t angels. I didn’t know exactly what they were, but they weren’t angels. My brain insisted that I knew these creatures, but I couldn’t conceive how such a thing could even be a possibility.

Although I will tell you that there was a distinct familiarity about them, but despite this profound feeling, I still didn’t know what caused that sense of knowing to erupt like hot lava within my mind. I was certain I knew these beings or had known these beings, perhaps from a different life other than this life. However, I had no clue how something like that was possible and so I quickly dismissed this thought immediately.

Before I knew what was happening, my body shut itself down and as if I was indeed nothing more than a pebble, I fell down upon the earth’s floor. As I laid there, I felt like I was going to literally die. My breathing was harsh and my heartbeat burst like lightning as violent clasps of thunder echoed inside of my head. Sheer exhaustion all but swallowed me whole and left me feeling like I couldn’t move a single muscle.

Each harsh and raspy intake of breath that I greedily sucked deep into my lungs, made my throat feel like it was literally on fire. My body was shaking so badly, that I could scarcely catch my breath. After a few moments of getting my breathing under control and gathering my bearings, I lifted up my still slightly dizzy head off the grass and looked around.

What I had seen caused much relief to fill my heart or perhaps it was what I didn’t see that had caused a much deserved and needed calmness to fill my core. As I looked around me, I could see that the trees were once more trees and the haunted music was now once again the wind. The ballroom had completely vanished almost as if none of the fantastic visions had ever occurred and although I would have loved nothing more than to accept this, I knew it was only my mind’s way of keeping sanity in and locking insanity safely outside of my deeply troubled and confused mind.

Mentally, I willed myself to calm down and suddenly, I felt enveloped by a sweet sense of peacefulness washing down across my aching body like a warm summer rain. I felt like a vast and intense white light was washing my soul, cleansing and purifying my essence for some greater purpose that I could not ever dare attempt to imagine.

Closing my eyes briefly and inhaling the sweet smelling fragrance of the emerald green grass beneath me, I breathed in this rich earthy scent and gazed up toward the heavens. I couldn’t believe my eyes, the sky overhead was intense and was glowing like some larger than life magical sphere of orange fire. This illuminating light seemed to come from no place at all and yet, it seemed to come from everywhere all at once. This eerie and yet beautiful incandescent light pulsated as though it was becoming a living and breathing being right before my very eyes.

My mind kept insisting that my eyes were simply playing tricks on me, but I knew that everything I had seen and was continuing to see now, had indeed all been real. There was just no way everything was a figment of my imagination, no matter how badly I wished it to be so.

Yes, all real, I had thought and I accepted this as the truth. I could see the trees and their vivid green leaves, the flowers, the dirt and even the pebbles upon the ground were all pulsating with undeniable life. Everything I had gazed upon, was more alive than anything I had ever seen in my entire existence.

Even as I stood there mesmerized, the very ground felt as though it was alive and breathing beneath me. Standing as motionless as I possibly could, I could feel the distinct slow and pulsating energy of the earth herself rising up from the terra firma and entering into my entire body.

Standing there simply watching the world around me, I realized that something about this section of the woods was very different from the more familiar area I was used to.

For the very first time in all of the times that I had ever been here, I found myself in unfamiliar territory. To say the least, this discovery shocked me more than just a little bit. I was taken back, because what I was seeing at that moment, just couldn’t be right my mind argued and conjectured.

In the past, I had been here many times and in all those years, this was the first time that I had ever gotten lost here. Even though I refused to believe that I had actually gotten lost, I knew that I had never seen this particular part of the woods before now.

In disbelief, I looked from one end of the woods to the other or at least as far as I was able to see, but I still didn’t have a clue as to where I was exactly. Even though I didn’t recognize a single thing, there was this feeling of familiarity that I didn’t quite understand. Despite the fact that my mind was questioning all of my overwhelming feelings and emotions, I still felt like I had been here before, even though I knew that I had not.

Frustrated more than I cared to admit, I looked down at the ground. Swirling almost protectively around my ankles and feet, was this pale violet mist. The mist had simply appeared from out of nowhere and as I watched in curiosity and wide eyed wonder, I couldn’t seem to figure out where it had come from. Because of the eerie orange fire around the moon and the enchanted fog clinging to the earth’s floor like devilish imps, these combined ambiances created a haunted glow to envelope the woods.

Everything that I gazed upon, was overwhelming me beyond imagining. I was exhausted and exhilarated at the same exact time and to tell you the truth, this was perhaps the oddest sensation I had ever experienced. Honestly, I had never known a feeling quite like it and this left me feeling unsure how to deal with all of the intense emotions I was engulfed in.

Suddenly, I couldn’t seem to shake the uncomfortable feeling that I was being watched from somewhere off in the not so distant shadows. Trying not to be too obvious, I looked around to see if I could see who might be watching me from God only knew where in the woods. I tried to strain my eyes a little so I could get a better look, but it was just too dark for my limited sight to penetrate the night. Honestly though, if I would have found someone or something watching me, it would have been by the grace of sheer luck alone. However, you want to know something? I really didn’t need to see who or what was watching me to know that I was being watched, because I felt it and I was feeling it quite profoundly.

The longer I stood there, the more paranoid I was becoming. Which was causing my mind to panic and over react to every tiny movement and sound that I had seen and heard. Several times, I thought for sure that I had even seen movement off in the shadows, of which I desperately tried to dismiss.

Distracting myself, I walked over and sat down at the edge of a pond that was just a little off to the left of me. Sitting down close to the water, I sighed and closed my eyes briefly before opening them back up again. At this point, I was beyond sheer exhaustion and honesty, I don’t think I had ever been pushed this close to my limits before.

The water seemed to call out to me; I could almost hear it begging me to put my feet down into its silken smoothness. Taking it up on its unspoken offer, I slowly swung my legs around and placed my aching feet down into the water. Closing my eyes, I sighed. If heaven existed, it was here and held captive within the water’s shallow liquid embrace, I had told myself mentally.

It seemed such a shame to disturb the water, but in my opinion, it had been well worth it. At the time, I knew it was merely my imagination, but it felt like the breeze was caressing my skin with invisible fingertips, fingers that felt as soothing as the water did upon my sore and aching feet.

As hard as it was for me to accept, this had been the first time since Robert’s death, that I had been in the woods and even though he wasn’t here to share its beauty with me, it felt absolutely wonderful to be back here again.

A thin film of dew tenderly kissed each blade of emerald green grass and the tantalizing fragrances of night jasmine and lilies, created a magnificent new scent to be born. I think what amazed me the most under my current circumstances, was the fact that this was the first time in a long time that I had actually felt at peace with myself. There just wasn’t any words