Core Confliction

The following is such: An epic spirit-fantasy which was began in 2008 - the story follows the themes of life, energy, love, war, spirit and the will to discover ones true purpose; meanwhile dealing with the struggle to find balance and harmony along the way ~ set amidst a rich fantasy world of chaotic beliefs, energy manipulating to technology merging with traditions and the conflicting war of dogmatic religions.

The story itself follows a long list of intertwining characters, amidst the different settings of their past and future; following the character's different inner and personal discoveries and development; amidst the myriad of atmospheric situations;  peace, nature, war and vast contrasting cultures & belief systems.

Respectively; the novel is a reflection of this world we live in and has been shaped and influenced great ways from the experiences of travel and the different spiritual beliefs and philosophical conversations I myself have had and am having with life since embarking on this novel.

The seed of this story has been in my awareness since I was a child; and even when I dedicated over a year to writing it through 2007-2008. I found that it would take another few years at least to do its service. Recently my life changed though and the living art and creation of music through yoga and travel has become a full time life and service; so its difficult to keep giving the novel the attention it deserves in order to finish the story.

However those experiences have only fueled more and more fantastic inspiration. So I am hoping to start again; and to share it once again; the feedback from people like you who are reading this; slowly and surely to help inspire me to keep delving into that other reality; so that I may finish what I have started so long ago ~

There is already vast pages and chapters from over the years & I am happy to share should you desire to keep reading the Spirit Fantasy of Core~Confliction. At present I am even creating sound tracks to certain chapters ~ * ~

Please post on the Aumbience Page; Spirit~Fantasy / CoreConfliction ~ or send us an e.mail for more reading and Info: All feedback - positive and negative will also be appreciated; so be as honest as your heart desires!

By reading this we hope you acknowledge the journey of spirit in life and respect the copyrights, time and energy it takes to create, inspire and share the work of ones heart & soul within a conflicting world that does not always choose to recognise.

Pranams and Prayers from author Shivam Rath

 ~ ? ~









҉      CӨRE CӨNFLICTIӨN       ҉

Life is but a perplex paradox of parallel polarities
For it was not started with a start
Nor will it be ending with an end
A wheel it is and like a wheel it does turn
Eternally it moves towards everything and nothing…….

The Worlds Eye
Chapter 71 of:
Will of the Wheel.


( < ~ 101 .CIL. World’s Eye Report:101.Rising StarZ C.v.0 ~ > )

SetaCore, a world where two predominant continents live side by side in complete contradiction of one another, hence it is only natural that people wish to view both sides of the story. Anarchy versus law and order in a subtle dispute that is only recognised in what could be usually claimed as confidential politics, intentionally enchanting its citizens to dream of what’s on that other end of the ocean.                                
*This compilation of testimonies, statements, C.v recordings and eye witness accounts to the events you are to examine is a procession of such*. Aimed to insightfully weave together the characters, the circumstances and the events that would change our world. I have come to learn that there are certain moments in time that pull individuals out in a point of ineptness to define indefinite answers that not only change the future but also answer many questions of a history long passed. These moments are often made known when a large variety of humans are faced with a challenge and the need to overcome this challenge draws itself on the core strength to survive. It is the natural instinct to reveal themselves amongst the countless others which becomes apparent in a time of desperateness. It is during such times these individuals make their conscious or sometimes rather subconscious or perhaps instinctive and intuitive decisions; which undeniably affects the entire being of existence.  



The World's Eye.
Synopsis:
~ A journeys end.





< ~ ( ~ *  ) ~ ScratCH Sphere: 59380 ~ Marxexe 97522 ~ ( * ~ ) - ~ >
Entitled: Save the World Syndrome.
Like my teacher before me, call it Save the World Syndrome if you will, but…… I simply followed in what I believed in. The spiritual equations that summed up the past - present & future of my life.There is a story to be told; but who really has time to hear it and then again time to tell it?
My life was a strange course, and a bit to unreal for all those around me, including myself. Having to do with a sacred and yet undeniably persistent consistent universe and its ability to lock one into its vast system of memory banks - I.e the cosmos & all those who happened to be apart of it.
The forces at work pushed me in ways that humans seldom no how to push a man, in ways that I cannot really begin to describe in words, because in those times there were no words in all the languages I knew which could express those emotions. Emotions that chokes a man in a grief reflecting a million piercing cries of utter despair and anguish; emotions that tear your ego upside down so the blood flows to your head and inflates it like a giant CloudCruiser, just to have it come crashing & colliding into the hard solid stone of reality.
Such is reality; a fragmentation of awareness like shards of sharp crystal clarity shattering into obscenity…….The rhythmic patterns of life had locked me into gear. I knew what the bonds were and how I could cut them, but I could not stop the perpetual currents of fate anyhow…..or was it simply passion….. desire…… fear…….. and the emotional forces that constructed just what my fate would be?
The rhythm is perpetual to a sensitive fool such as myself. A great flurry of brilliance in the form of shooting star like ideas - so many bright ideas………So which is the one that is right for this path of life and which is the one I will eventually say was indeed my true path…. or fate?
In retrospect, they all look like perfect choices given the timing and various frames of mind they were given in, even the ones that led me to utter misery and misfortune eventually succeeded in my metaphysical and spiritual advancement through which I could succeed in compiling this journal data.
The chords of society were never one that harmonised with me. I could dream and watch each reality crumble like water upon a house of sand. The everlasting customs of normality that come only through the ever constant tide of changing values which flow through it. No society could ever bind me, only my inherent nature to myself and to the greater forces of nature at large could do so - ‘so too us all’, and so too it was.
But it did not take me long to realise mine was a fate that belonged to seldom few living or perhaps even seldom to those historically dead….. But then again neither did she.











When Life Cries For Love

                                             ҉                         ҉                        ҉

<( * ~ Source ~  Disclosed ~ *  )>
~ Reports on ~ Steph’en’oua Farla Tooks  ~


Aboard a small unknown aircraft heading towards the Battle of Rockshire; {The battle which marked the fall of the Qwairow Ocean Core}. Steph cried with disbelief. “Zesh! How can you……… Oh it doesn’t matter! I can’t believe you are really here!? You always appear at the right time!”
“Ha-ha, you know I am the most cunning of spy’s!” He smiled bashfully. “So where else would they put me? Or should I say where else would I let them put me; but by your side?”
She hugged him tightly, “How long has it been? How long have you known I was here?”
“Come on Steph, don't get all personal. We are supposed to be setting on mission!”
“Yes my brother. You are always on a mission; as are we all.”
“Still calling me brother hey! Speaking of which have you heard anything on Zake?” Zesh flicked his straight brown hair, slightly agitated at the mention to his own elder brother. “Do you really think he will be somewhere out there, in this war?”
“Yes,” Steph smiled. “The information I have gathered has told me Zake has formed a faction. But the enlisting remains anonymous and despite recent hints of him undertaking the armour ordeal and surviving there is no registered information on any Sphere-CellZ. So I cross-examined the information in the Qwairow database concerning all recently formed factions and hancient armour updates. Normally as you know, when someone achieves the hancient armour symbiosis they are presented with a new name to wear upon the armour, a kind of harnessers rite of passage to their new identity. However, there is a strange modification to a recent trial. It was concerning a new approved harnesser with only a random generated number for a name. I believe this anomaly is our Zake.”
“Sure I believe Zake is an anomaly… But who gave you the access to the Qwairow records…… No wait I don’t care.” Zesh breathed deeply. “Just tell me why you believe it should be Zake out of all people?”
“Because I am such a great spy of course,” Steph winked with delight. “The numbers shown were supposed to be seemingly random, but actually align to the date taken of the trial. That date which corresponds to the same day as Zake’s birthday.”
“Precisely the type of day someone like him would attempt something like the armour ordeal.”
“Precisely!” Steph cheered.
‘After all this time of separation……’ Zesh smirked. ‘She still really loves him…..’
Suddenly memories of their lives, in a crashing dance entwined before his eyes. Steph, Zake and himself, crippled by their torn feelings for each other, crippled by the impositions bestowed upon them by their commanding father and mother. The challenge of their lives holding monument to the genuine love that carried them through, but was that enough? The last conversation Zesh had spoken with his parents had left little hope for helping their foster sister Steph achieve those very dreams…..

            ҉                       ҉                             ҉

“Don’t be stupid Zesh,’ his mothers voice wafted on. “We have arranged her to be intentionally married into the Ayshe Rodeegen family in order to better conjoin our connection with the Ayshe military corporals and of course the elite Sedradannas to which she belongs. Her beloved Ic’u you met a number of years before; is her destined fiancé.”
“How can you just set her up!?” Zesh cried. “But what about Zake, she loves him…..”
“And you too ‘love’ Steph?” She scoffed. “Quit this emotional nonsense and listen rationally. We as your parents understand her life best and we knew who would be in the best interests of - ”
“You! Just as you want to control all of our lives! Steph is not your rightful daughter so what gives you the right to determine her future!?”
“How dare you Zesh! Your father saved her and if it wasn't for him ~”
“Mother…… Both Father and your treatment of us is the reason why Zake escaped from here in the first place! This is why he has joined the Ocean Core and left our family behind! Why can’t you see it! Steph will do the same thing if we don’t find a way to bring Zake back! In whose interest ~
“In the interests of us all - the family - the Nation - the Core!”
“Mother…..” Zesh uttered in despair. “When you speak like this, how can we trust you…….?”
“Enough! Such selfish behaviour on your part will have sever consequences - Don’t think we are slow to cut certain ties quicker than it could ever take to make them! You will not mention any of this to Steph or there will be much to regret for both of you……”

Mother was right….. But in the end it was Steph that cut the ties quicker than they could make. After the battle of Rockshire, reality sunk in. Steph was following a ghost. Our family also received confirmation of Zake’s death but in surprisingly quick and acute detail, it was as if we had been watching and waiting for it to happen all along. My brother Zake had been the focus of a lot of dangerous attention, but the mystery that remains is ~ why?
When I finally told Steph, she broke….. I had never seen her so distraught before, as if all the life in her body had deserted and drained her of all colour. She became something else entirely after that; like a machine. Cold, ruthless and empty of personal will or favour; she clings desperately onto the faint strands of a forgotten hope. If only to remember a forgotten love…….
The next time I saw her was after our return from the field. That was after she killed the infamous fiancé of her ‘pre-arranged marriage’, Icu’ Rodeegen or known more commonly as Seticus. He was another love of her life from an earlier time; that later simply became an easily disposed block in her way. Whether knowingly or unknowingly, they had come to arms by chance on her investigations and this had led to his sudden disappearance and presumed death…..
Another year goes by and the chase remains the same, another year goes by and more of her heart declines but then again in spirit nothing has changed…

( < ~ C.v Report by Zesh Grove ~ > )




    ҉                         ҉                        ҉

    <( * ~ Arkashian CodeName: Naish ~ Addar08 ~ *  )>


Naish awoke in a bed of nature; atop a mushroom like post he was literally laying within a thick sheet of bedded silken leaves. Removing the warm infested fabric of nature’s own making, he found he was naked without any sight of clothing, armour or even a SenegiZer to be found. Thick walls of stone and bark surrounded his small mushroom nest with only a small thin clearing between the massive walls. Leaves and floating spores of light glistened through the wooded cove, he stirred their progress midair by flipping the organic bedcovers and wrapping apart of it around his waist.
A sharp sound of running water was the first sense to touch him. It arose beside his head moving through a natural gutter like system carved inside the cave of wood he entered. He followed it down and deeper into the cave, observing the many various natural plant life phenomena’s that grew alongside. The stream fattened in size and hit crystal like water where it met with a hollow chiming as it streamed further through the incredible wood formed crevice.
Sweet sounds of flowing water became the playful drone for the song of the forest. The arrhythmical rhythms of nature humming from the swarms of insects and melodious birds exercising their diversity in harmony. Rubbing his hand along the crystal wall that divided the water, he noticed a soft glow at his touch which soon circulated throughout the entire chamber like a kind of electrical nerve network. As he followed its expansion outwards he came to an entrance of beaming gold sunlight and here the water flowed gracefully out into a glass set of still lakes and smaller still, rock pools entombed by a roof of gigantic twisted trunks, heavy puffing ferns and rich spiralling vines.
A soft swish of water rippled out from the central lake. Whilst subtle as it was this intrusion did play dominance in taking his attention from the greater tranquillity of his surroundings. He stepped down upon the foremost rock ledge moving closer to the source of the ripples. The air was crisp in taste and quality reflecting mind and body in its clear calm placidity. Vibratory pulsations like of those from the crystal arteries seemed to move through him in a field of natural energy, his heart reverberating the same tone and pace of it all, his lungs holding and storing and then releasing it, floating upwards. Floating upwards, his mind felt like it was floating upwards, like a rush of blood moving in reverse to escape through the pit of his skull; each time the air escaped his lungs.
A small crystal like splash framed his mind and brought it back down from an astral sense of ascension. Then came a soft gleaming arm stroking the waters and another to catch a crag of rock. The feminine quality revealed itself not simply in her nudity but in the way she moved from the water, one with water and rock as her shoulder blades retracted in line of sight. Her hair a solid spiral of soft tinted amber dripping crystal drops back into the source of waters. Her skin as if one with the celestial lakes, her hair as one with the wooded surrounding set and fixed into a perfect lock, she regarded his presence for the first time.
Naish however remained thoughtfully thoughtless and speechless to the state of beauty fixated upon him. Everything in all its natural divinity seemed far too surreal for him to be here. The unknown woman, naked, alone and yet entirely empowered within her own poise of presence. It came and cracked in his head as the ultimate illusion. He moved his toes to where a wider crack ran beneath him. He was questioning too much, such ugly thoughts were polluting the atmosphere!
The woman’s smooth glistened lips as if in reaction to this smiled briefly. Her face was a simple spell of beauty with a constant expression of wonderment, her eyes wide and outcast like the still lake waters of lucidity, they told an age old story of a never ending search towards something that only she would ever see…..
Her lips spoke; but not in words, a song. The melody soft and simple; but deep and penetrating. Nash felt the foreign sound sink into him; a cushion to the cluster of pain he still clung to. The voice soft and youthful; but old in the traditional wisdom of heritage and respect to the laws of life. It was a song for someone or something; but it was not for Naish alone; though he could share in the same feeling.
Now it was Naish who could see this, and it was she that could see Naish. The thoughts that rose before him seemed absurd and out of character, the self of his own proportion allocating less acuity for his being. Denial for such expressionism or propitious ideas, limited goodness of things naturally attested, restricted complexity and holistic repression. Cynically acclaimed.......
“Are you like the goddess of the lake?” His blurted voice echoed over the pools to escape into the dense shining bark up and above. He smiled to hide the embarrassment he found over the ugliness of his own voice and comment.
From the smile that was once, her lips cracked into a thin bent line, snide and withdrawn she turned her head from him, straight and erect her figure dropped her arms and turned palms outwards to the soft shades of sunlight reaching upon her. Naish breathed deeply feeling a new movement of energy awaken from below the pit of his stomach. This feeling soared from the next breath outwards in a glow of light as from the crystal nerves and flowing arteries that moved from the pores outwards. Like a wave that surfaced externally diving into water and rock and then from the woman’s small petite feet to her ankles Naish could see them. Glowing to the pulse of his heart which was beating to the pulse of his lust and lower movements of energy; he gazed the spiralling veins rise laterally to the round curvature of her hip to waist then spreading out further in all directions entering the unseen and hidden recess of her inner thigh, then moving again up and through the droplets of her body to the firm right breast outlining her figure to throat and at last to the crack in her smile.
A sound escaped her, but rather than hear, Naish could see and feel it. More than anything; it was warm and full of her own expressed pleasure like a moaning whisper. She turned from her neck back towards him thereafter with her curious clear cut eyes and then a lull of sweet song like laughter stole the silence of their ambient paradise. It grew louder in pitch, volume and manner. Lucid waves of laughter; a large liquid bubble rose out from the water and over between them just as she turned from the hip with a hand raised out for him.
Divinely naked and in the posture of an open embrace Naish felt his own desire of action return. The bubble however obstructed both passage over the rocks and even her image, slightly blurring and censoring her bare image. Her laughter still audible, growing ever acute in sync to the frustration Naish felt as he tried to barge past the massive floating blob.
Suddenly more appeared around him, merging from the waters, the mysterious woman’s image cast within each of them like she were reflected in a hundred different sphereZ and shapes.
From all directions her glistening reflection strode gracefully towards him, her hand as it seemed on the edge of their small barrier outstretched for his own. Naish turned back to the largest bubble that held her delicate frame in centre to him, reaching out his own hand his fingertips flayed and rose to hers as if they were moved by a magnet of some kind. An electric like jolt connected on contact and as the shock ran through Naish, the mirage of the naked goddess swirled, rippled and changed like the visual display of commercial Screen SphereZ. The power cut, it went black, she went black, her laughter magnified as the waters blackened to the void of night and space, turning upside down this new space dropped him into the liquid pools from above rather than below, and thus darkness became his new light.

~ Naish woke to his chamber; grumpy and disgruntled that such a dream could slip so easily when it got to the best part….. Real as it was he lost control to the passion of lust, and now he had only himself to fulfil it. Though he began to recall tips of dream direction and altered states for adjustments; he wondered whether recalling his dreams in virtual diary or ScraTch Sphere may prove useful.






Ly’LiLa’s Cry
    ҉                        ҉                          ҉

(< ~ *~ > )
( < ~  Revisions of Akarshes Deep Forest Priestess LALyLA prior to her Coming of Age: ClearSphere 108.216 ~ > )


‘After the eruption of Flair’s Volcano - the Great Exodus occurred…..’
Most of us were forced to retreat back into the Forest homelands that drew across the heart and borderlands of southern - central Setaria which then connected onto Akarshes Forest……
The sounds of nature became something not so distant to me, the songs of the Ly - Li - La  or otherwise known as the Lalyla Birds singing their sweet - ly-li-ly-la - softly - ly-li-ly-la - like a soothing lullaby ly-li-ly-la mixed with warm slow laughter - ly-ly - li - ly-ly -la - sometimes the tone would change lyyy-li-ly-laaa and the timing may alter ly-li-ly  —la…..;  but the syllables almost remained constant. Like a powerful chant turned into a song and hymn of the forest, the Lyla birds would only sing in the ancient forest of O-zenril; especially by the parts that were older, quieter and full of the coursing life energy of the forest. Like the Mandana Mountains or Lotinia Lakes; they too appeared often but only did they sing during sacred times; such as on a clear night sky before the setting suns and the rising moon or to the catch of light between the Infant sun when it crosses its first orbit at dawn to align in harmony with the ever slightly delayed Hollow sun.

~ Ly - li - Ly - la - They sing - Ly- li - Ly - La - they chorus; and then the emerging patterns begin :
~ Ly - Li - Ly - Li - Ly - Li - Ly - La -
~ erupting in building harmonies ~
~ Ly - Li - Ly - Li - Ly - Ly - Ly - La /
~ Ly - La - Ly - Li - Ly - Ly - Li - La ~
 ~ Building in layers upon layers:
~ Li - Ly - La - Ly - Li - Ly - La  ~
Natures great cooing orchestra!
~ Ly - Li - Ly - Li - Ly - Li - Ly - La
 It is a lullaby from nature; for nature with love….


Oh and how I love them! That my words are not nearly enough for all these parchments to fill!  That my voice cannot begin to emit or fill even the tiniest of ClearSphereZ with such a vibrant signal of pure pitch in cosmic resonance and clarity. Oh such purity! And then they stop singing, for days even they will not sing, and never alone! If they are to sing in has to be in full symphony, or so it seems!  
So, they just quietly feel into the rhythm of the forest in order to listen to the other songs around them and wait - reflecting on the sounds of the day in and day out. They wait patiently but diligently, quietly but vigilantly, meditatively and meticulously for the forest to grow soft and supple; like an old deep lover; they wait until all is quiet and still and for that inner intuitive knowing; to simply shine bright and clear from within and throughout them; they wait ever ready for the surest signs and rhythmical timings of the cosmos, that points towards the acute moment for them to sing again.
Ly - Li - Ly - La ~ The temples built in just about all of the remote, ancient locations would also become associated with the spirits of these sacred syllables and majestic melodies; beaming in many ways like spiritual amplifiers in order to increase the volume and above all the message of their calls to the divine. Thus the goddess was born LyLila. In the hearts of all men and woman within Arkashes Forest she would be worshipped as the mother manifest of all nature’s creation. Born from the sacred breath of one of natures sweetest songs she was birthed out of natures mercy and love to represent the virtuous patience which the Ly-Li-La birds constantly demonstrate for all beings to understand the great practice of silence in stillness and the profound volume that is generated from that space and silence.
She also represents the one of cosmic order, and divine timing, knowing always when to act gracefully and when to rest peacefully. Rising out of natures bosom like a Lotinia flower ready to bloom she is the child of explosive potential and the wise harnesser of simple yet ever-changing patterns of perplexities. Her out breath is LI - and her in breath is La; she sings the eternal hymn for nature to dance within the beauty of its own web; she teaches us the natural rhythms to the cycles of life, season, weather and how each one is a masterful creation of art, music and inscribed literature to the special special language of our lives.
Ly - Li - Ly - La - and so it was the first words I ever spoke; as far as I can remember after having left the Fire Core, and losing my parents during the eruption. Not that I remember them so much, well I remember my mother having great strands of thick shiny hair, dark in tone yet strongly reflecting her surrounding shades like the dappled sun light through the trees. My father, remembering even less, only that the fire which glistened upon his shiny polished armour, reflecting the fire and molten blood the world released when the eruption occurred…..
His was not a fond image to call upon as I grew older, but one that reflected the war and death of our people, so I naturally reached out to recall, rethink and regather all that I could of my mother in the variously sculptured images of the goddess herself. And I began to sing to her during my visits to the temple. On one of those days, I was singing inside the LightWind Temple of Lylila where we were living at the base of the Mandana Mountains; it was twilight and actually a dark moon that night so nobody there could have guessed but the Ly-Li-La birds began to sing outside; and there were at least a hundred of them!
And everybody in Akarshes forest know that if somebody else is to just start singing or make any kind of disturbance or sound in the presence of the Ly-Li-La birds then they either fly away elsewhere or they stop singing completely; and without much tolerance. Beings of such sensitivity; nobody in the grounds could fathom what triggered the gathering of song, but eventually it was indicated by some few close to me in the temple garden, that I was the one.
I was something close to a mute at that time and under the age of ten, so no one believed such a story during that instance, but those few who heard my voice with the Ly-Li-Ly-La melody knew otherwise and took me to the next sacred clearing on top of the mountain ranges by a sacred stone prism where they were predicted to sing for the rising dawn on the beginning of our Spring Solstice.
Not since the Great Exodus had I seen so many people gathered together, and the ceremony that took place was incredibly detailed, yet as always with Arkardian architecture; it was incredibly matched to the simplistic stone and plant furnishings of the mountain woodlands. Banners of gleaming starlight silver and black bamboo domes with glitters of white and gold waterwood paste, paraded like a quilted patch of geometric living structures, all with the purpose of acting in accordance to the Grand Temple monuments that surrounded Mandana Peak.  
Not by choice but by the guardians and powers that surrounded me I was guided late one night to the very front of one such ceremony. I did not know that on the following morning this was the predicted day that the Ly-Li-La birds were supposed to sing and I did not know or care for any of the ceremony formalities that forbade talking, coughing, spitting, chewing, laughing, farting, crying or even having an infant that was not without a ‘silence mask’ of some kind. The head priests and with good reason I suppose, were sceptical at my reported miracle knowing that few such cases have existed and especially not within any of their lifetimes; so they did not really care to attempt it let alone have me sing in the presence of the Ly-Li-La birds least I should scare them off and ruin the ceremony for the thousands of people that had travelled and worked hard to be there in the creation of that majestic atmosphere.
It was reported that once every few years when the Spring Soltice comes on a clear starlight night, and the moon is marked by the cross ward crescents, caused by the lights from both suns splitting from both opposite angles across the moon; the Ly-Li-La birds fly from the forests up across the ranges and towards Mandana Peak itself in order to sing for the first rising rays of the infant sun.
So while they were not completely against the idea of me being apart of the ceremony, they were  however behind the scenes heavily debating how and what was the best way to do that without spoiling the show for anyone.
I shouldn't really use the word show, because the ceremony has many many cultural, historical and spiritual references imbued within it, but really to me back then that’s just what it was. A great big show of nature that everyone wanted to have front row seats for. So my special ticket to the front row just happened to be my audition, which was presented at midnight rather than morning to save me from disturbing the harmony of their anticipation and the electrical like charge of atmosphere for everyone else when the big moment was supposed to take place.
At that stage, young and still shaken by the world; I didn't really care to sing for any humans in my life, and especially not at that late hour of the night having been woken up and then persuaded with pushy pressure to march up a mountain!
But a close Swadhiat (which is basically what we Arakshes call a NaZa or spiritual wanderer), who knew me from the time of the Great Exodus and who had come from the other side of the country itself to be with me on that night. Well you see he knew who I was, and who I sang for; that the songs were not directed at people, but at spirit from spirit with the purity of love. So he led me away from all the shadow faced, acolytes and monks; to the most beautiful statue of Lylia I had ever seen. The most remarkable aspect for me though at that time, was not in shape, form or lustre but in the rounded face which was just how I remembered my mother. Everyone who was in the temple there, was waiting for me, a hundred purple, blue and green coloured robes, flapping with the silent wind that blew through the open chambers and shutters. They hovered around me, like purple flower trumpets growing ever fatter with pollinated honey nectar.
However; I didn't sing at that time, rather I recall bursting into tears for an hour in front of that statue before they finally could shut me up by gagging me with face frames and leading me outside of the temple.
I do not think my emotional sentiments or spiritual fervour towards the goddess icon stirred them; well perhaps not in the right way; or the way my Swadhiat mentor had hoped anyways. So when morning came, there I was sound asleep back in my room and guess who comes barging back in demanding once again in a great impatient huff; that I march back up the mountain at once before the suns’ rise!
Well a child I was, but I knew enough about my own powers of will and tolerance towards rude and intolerant behaviour! So when I made no attempts to get out of my covers, feigning sleep once more; my Swadhiat mentor scoops me up, while I remain wrapped up still in my bedding and begins to carry me like a giant rice noodle up the mountain!
I began to scream in protest; but I still had the face frames on; so it wasn't hard for him to silence me with a quick pull of the straps. However he didn't take me to the temple this time; but rather somewhere close by, I just didn't know it.
It was a very beautiful clearing where both tree and rock had grown entwined together over centuries; like a special cocoon; overhanging out of the mountainous cliff; facing the rising sun. Then before he released me from his grip he made me promise not to cry out and spoil the ceremony for the other hundreds of people somewhere above us in the temple clearing. I promised him; but secretly was prepared to scream and run back down the mountain towards the dome with my bed. I really didn't like to be woken up from my sleep, you see.
But as he released the tension of the face frame, and my mouth became exposed to the bite of the fresh morning mountain mist; I was temporarily lost. My breath and the mist became one as I inhaled and watched it merge back out from my lungs. It had an amazing taste and sensation that rippled throughout my small child being. Exhaling; the steam and vapour of my own form seemed to descend and merge with the mist across the awakening valley.
Into the horizon our conscious eye of breath appeared touched by the faintest violet blue of the goddess herself, ever tenderly she prepared herself as dawn crept beneath the crisscross crescent moon. The sky above her was like a fragile sheet of clear marble glass, its deep etheric tone of blue and purple fading fast. It was a magnificent mirage of colours I can never forget; as if it had of been bent and shaped by the crystal lagoons of Northern Setaria. Descending from the heavens, a celestial lake of absolute quiet and stillness; my mind immediately followed in suit. Caught somewhere between total awe and a thoughtless wonderment I allowed my entire being to be absorbed in the entirety of the setting. Even the trees, I could feel, sense and see, were as captivated as I was at the miraculous morning. Stretching from their roots, and waving their branches up high into the air as if like us they were trying to keep the misty blanket wrapped around them; so that the day ahead may yet be delayed by this majestic hour and that we may hold onto it just for a little longer…….
But it was to late, for the first light of the day had already pierced through the line between heaven and earth, impregnating the etheric blue with a small line of deep radiant gold. It was in this divine  display of all the elemental magic before me; that I lost all body conscious and withdrew from my senses. I could feel the first touch of warmth sweeping up across the entire landscape; for its energy was that of all vitality, and all that inspires to motivate, think and act. It was the energy that allows one to move, and project; the energy that gives one the chance potential to create a future; and the energy that sustains all life.
That’s when the Swadhiat spoke to me, he said in a faint; nonchalant voice; as if simply to remind me who and what I was before I completely merged into that one cosmic consciousness. He said; ‘everyone is worried because there has been no sightings of the LaLyla Birds. Dawn has come but Ly-Li-La will not…..’.
At that moment; the image of Flair’s volcano flashed before me; the eruption of fire and lava covering a dark ominous landscape raging with machines of war and the scramble of life upon the dead. The sky was a solid matter of black density. Dark fumes of ash had obliterated our great expanse, high and low, forming one thick layered cloud. The light that did come through, did so only from the shady level of ground base machines, spitting fire and lethal intention when they rode through. Life became a great serpent of slow moving shadows, constructed by the thousands of fleeing people; young & old, women & children; flocking together in a vast caravan of connected transporters and cargo-wheelers.
Far from untouched or unmoved from the warfare, the surpassing exodus was forced to flee through the centre of this chaos; mostly by land and mostly on foot. The various Core nations that had combined an attack; were suddenly turning on each other in the struggle to be the first to conquer and pillage the life force of our home & claim the source for their own. There was no code of honour or ethical law of warfare to grant safe passage for the hundreds of thousands forced to flee their homes; it was a pure act of impeachment drawn from the blind greed of man.
Those of us who made it out of the rampaged mountain were forced to bear witness, face to face, the horror and merciless slaughter that this raging greed had transformed the core of our world. Harnessers and soldiers alike from all sides and from all the different CoreZ would attack, kill, rape and plunder any and all they could for a quick mere gain of pleasure, merit and excitement. We moved in a marked display of surrender and with little use of military defences but they still attacked us from all sides. Thousands of us were murdered for nothing, forced to watch everyone and everything taken away. Our homes, our possessions, our families and then our very lives……
Many of us who could not bear to witness such injustice and inhuman behaviour, chose to remain behind and leave the world through the mighty explosion and ash fall; by the eruption of our sacred home  ~

~ Fire burst through and with it was born the hollow sun; the past and present had collided once more and I shook away the sadness that welled deep within by gazing deeper into the glimmer of awakened light that bore open the celestial lake like sky. The dawn had come; and I knew now why the Ly - Li - La birds would not. The repercussions of that event; even though it was almost a year apart and separated by thousands of miles; would be felt farther and further into the years then any of us could have possibly imagined. For this reason alone; the sacred song of the Ly-Li-La birds song on this very day had already been long disturbed.
The sadness that transcended over me as I gazed back into the past distance and the patterns of time which had now been ruptured and altered for the continuation of our future. The scenes and images that arose left in me an emphatic feeling that suddenly was not simply the concern of my own sentiments at stake but about the very happiness of the hundreds and hundreds of people that had travelled all the way into this forest to witness the song of the Ly-Li-La birds and hear the auspicious song of their sweet nature and life. The symbolic song of prosperity and promise for a brighter path would no longer be heard by any who had pilgrimaged here.
It brought a tearing pain to my heart when I realised they would not come and sing. It was because we not just as a people but as a human species were unable to abide and harmonise with each other and the natural laws. Because it was us; and the way we behave and the way we have treated each other which has rippled across the land of soil, sea and sky and now caused so much pain on this planet. It was then I thought about the spiralling impact one negative reaction would bring upon the other and the dim hope for life it would eventually lead towards; that it made me release my pain through tears. And as I cried into the pit of my self-realised burden; the image of you appeared; like a brief phantom of understanding from an unknown stranger who I was inseparably bound to but indiscernibly distanced from by the force of Father time and the magic of Mother space; you who I would never know until far later in this life; can know that it was known. Already it was known then and there without recognising who you were; an indescribable love of union and connection; and the emptiness of all that bore me with pain and sorrow was now only an added key towards our buried future.
All this happened within the immediate timeframe of the rising dawn; where I had suddenly been lifted into the angelic realm of the spirit-angels; experiencing a high, senseless weightlessness of pure connection and peace before being ripped back down into the demonic domain of a deep heavy existence and dark rooted despair. In the great duality of life I had experienced both extremes to the fullest of my limited comprehension, inner and outer senses dawned in time to the moment of my own spiritual awakening.
Ly - Li - Ly - La - !
Oh the compassion and uncompromising love that flooded over me for all humanity and living creatures on this planet, how I desired to uplift the suffering and the shattered spirit that threatened to spread and infect the goodwill of humanity. How could I not! So I started the change right there and then, in order to rectify all the wrongs that we as a race had done. Without thinking and without knowing why; I did the first thing I knew how ~ but in a way I never had imagined before. I sang to the sound of the sunrise.
I sang for the beauty and the gift of a divine new dawn that dawned before me; I sang with a heart of surrender towards the deepening of devotion; I sang for each new understanding I had been shown from life for the purpose and enhancement of life; singing a song of recognition and gratitude towards the simple truth and power of simply being aware of all such things. I sang for the pain, the joy, the beauty and hideous cruelty of all mankind and allowed it to be without filter or pause. All would ripple through me in a pitch and melody that resounded across the valley like the swirling mist; then dissolving in the rays of light that peeled their way across, layer by layer like unfolding jewels of light.
Simply a vessel; I am of truth felt emotion without thought and without hesitation; the jewels of light appeared in the divine mirage of life as they reflected their codes and patterns of sacred geometry. And in response to my cry of faith and devotion I received a soft reply that came first like a dream and echo to my own extraordinary high pitch glamour that only a child’s voice or perhaps a small female dwarf could ever really hope to accomplish.
The sweet note which replied; rippled back somewhere far from the distance. At first no more than a whispering ting that perhaps a drop of water mite have made had it landed hard enough on a steel bowl or drum. But it was that subtle note; at that time with the rising dawn as our witness; that the forces of our cosmos showed us how we can transform any negative patterns or spirals that may linger on our land into something positive…..
My eyes shot open as the note repeated itself, faint but shrill. So I called again in the same voice as before but holding particular emphasis to the note that was shared with me.
Ly - Ly - Lyyyyy - Laa - Laa - Laaaaaa.
From the centre of the horizon where the sun had spilled over the cusp and began gushing its warm golden juice upon the thirsty cold land, the wings of a bird like angel flew in the direction of our peak, it’s cry of song was terse but real and full of truth to the reality of what is. Gliding effortlessly across the valley it came towards the Peak of the mountain, alone but undaunted by the human participation that had guided it -  Ly - Li - Ly - Laaaaaaaaaa - It sang!
Oh how it unmistakably sang!
And although while it was only a solitary call this single bird had made it all the more clear and all the more powerful in such an atmosphere. Never had I or any of us there on that mountain; before that moment heard of such a phenomena; where a single Ly-Li-La bird would come and sing for a whole crowd of humans.
It was as if the message of nature had been heard, received and in response to the answer; had responded through the divine winged messenger of song ~ Ly-Li-Ly-Laaaa! The goddess of nature had answered in full form and with full sincerity and from that day on I became unswerving from this path, acting in accordance to nature and through nature.
I still remain as an open vessel for that knowledge and communication to come through me. I am known now as Lylia that is who I am - Lylia the goddess Gaia incarnate - Lylia the vessel of truth, music and compassion - Lylia the wisdom of nature and its surrounding space - Ly - Li - Ly - La - the sacred vowels of the Ly-Li-La bird: - Ly - Li - Ly - La - I am that which is pure - I am that which is truth - & I am that which is love.










She who follows a ghost

 
<( * ~ Source ~  Disclosed ~ *  )>
  ~ Reports on ~ Steph’en’oua Farla Tooks  ~

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Aboard a small unknown aircraft heading towards the Sky-Core citadel, Steph cried silent ghost like tears as Zesh held her tight, in an unspoken embrace. The other girl Luminia was not so fond of these emotional discrepancies however and with a small grunt broke the awkward silence; “You killed Seticus because you still want to find Zake so badly?”
Steph was momentarily quiet, avoiding either company or simply herself, she swallowed slowly;  “He was there for Zake too …… I was trying to avoid that……”
“But Zake is already dead,” Luminia snapped. “The synths just may have obtained his body for scraps thats all!”
“Seticus would not have been there, if Zake was dead.”
“And did you find him then or his body!?”
“……..No….”
“And did Seticus recognise you? Well I guess that doesn’t matter anyways. Geez what a stirrup this is going to cause the Core nations……. Such a famous Core dignitary too like Seti……”
“He did not recognise me behind my armour, even as we fought. That is why I could defeat him……He listens not with his heart, but I know what my heart truly desires….”
“Love?”  Lumunia asked nonchalantly.
“…….Yes”
“And you still believe Zake is alive and loves you in return……unconditionally that is?”
“……I believe so, yes”
“How do you know? How can you be sure!?” Zesh joined, old anger kindling towards his long lost brother. Steph looked cooly at Zesh.
 “……I just feel…..Just I can feel that if Zake is alive….. I don’t have to think anymore.”
“Whats wrong with thinking!?” Zesh retorted. “Look, I am human and Zake’s brother too. I know we have an intuitive nature and all that but you have to be rational in these situations..… For instance when was the last time you both even spoke? And besides all the second hand guess reports; when have you actually heard or received any direct signs of his whereabouts, let alone physical existence?”
Through her eyes alone Steph suddenly flashed a gaze of lightning, “Be rational!? How can any of this be comprehended through mind alone? Listen rationally and just stop trusting a direct form of inner knowing before its too late!? Is that how you swallow your parents story!? Listen to them rationally when they sell you off as their property and then slowly pay you off like a second hand product again when it suited their needs to have you around!?”
“Hey that’s totally different circumstances! This isn't about my life, its yours we’re dealing with here!?”
“Always hiding in the shadows, trying to pry your way into my life aren’t you!?  I suppose you suddenly just being here, apart of this conversation, assigned to this faction together with me to carry out the same orders in a cold corporative and efficient manner…..”
“Yes, yes if you put it like that!” Luminia pounced in between. “That’s why I am here too! Gosh Steph be practical! When did you become so pedantic all of a sudden? Must be a Corretian thing, or perhaps it has been imbibed by this great unspoken lover of yours? Must have been pretty good in bed to keep you this devoted eh!?”
Zesh sheepishly frowned, while Steph’s eyes lowered both in gaze and electric intensity.
“…………I never thought about that……”
Luminia scoffed, “You guys never made physical love or what!?”
“No… I mean, it’s just you are right…… I must have imbibed, or adopted a lot of his behaviours. Now I am afraid to show my feelings and he was always like that. Very shy about expressing himself. Maybe on fear of being ridiculed or criticised. It was like his heart was always trying to protect itself by hiding any real genuine act of affection he was having or feeling….. Just so that he wouldn't have to suffer for it later.”
“Yeah I can see him,” Luminia grinned. “The real cool but dangerous kind of guy. Someone who doesn’t like to let anyone get to close to him. Yeah?”
“So sensitive, so naive, so fragile…” Steph continued. “Maybe its that same fragility in others that he recognises and doesn't want to see…… Maybe he runs away in order to protect those around him……..”
“Protect who from what?”
‘The sweet novelty of death…’ Zesh thought cynically, in the background. ‘Dead people always seem way cooler than they really were….’.
As if reading his thought, Luminia laughed; “Because of Steph I can bet you have always been jealous of Zake haven’t you? Your cooler brother?”
Zesh smiled at them both with little more reaction, while Steph’s out loud thoughts meanwhile raced on; “I can recognise these patterns in my life….. I choose also to ignore my own instincts if it conflicts in any way with having to deal with these pending possibilities of not seeing Zake again……. Even his way of talking if I stop and think about it, has become my own speech. Even though I know its just me holding onto those memories of him, I can feel him inside of me; apart of me and yet remaining as a separate piece that is waiting to be reconnected for me to be made whole again. Ahhh will my heart never stop beating for his!”
With a sudden gasp of anguish Steph folded her hand by her chest and sobbed, slowly and naturally curling herself smaller and smaller into a ball shaped squat.
The other woman was not impressed, “Look, this is exactly why I had to come and check up on you. Your emotions are all over the place and if you don't get a grip now, what is going to happen to you if you find out this lover of yours has been rotting out on the battlefield for the past thirty two months already! You know what it means to be apart of the Sedradannas. You know what is expected of you, the code of conduct that is to be respected and upheld for the legacy itself. ”
“Look……I’m sorry, I know….. I know….. I just need some space……”
It was the other woman’s turn in flashing a jolt like stare, “Space…… Is something sacred we all use and share……. Space is only one and that one is for all! Do not indulge in this luxury too much longer or you will find your space here amongst us quickly unwanted. Zesh and Lormin have been on your tail favour for long enough now, but it only takes a few of us to concur otherwise…..”
“…….I know…… I’m ok…. It’s just deeper than I thought.”
“Look Steph that’s why you have to balance the mental sides with the emotional, even if the realities seem unpleasant, at least that way you can handle whatever situation comes your way. Now we are moving out towards one mission. It involves a particularly renowned celebrity meets harnesser. Carnus - you must know of him?”
Steph nodded, gaining her attention from within the distraught foetal like squat.
“His days of musical propaganda for the Sky-Core are over! It is to be done during a public parade when he crosses the boarder into the industrial outskirts where the old pilgrimage road moves towards the Triangular Temples. He is planning a public performance on that sacred ground, it would be another act of sickening pop wash; polluting the minds of the young with high frequency control and mindless binary code like rhythms. He uses the flashy costume of a harnesser to attract audiences of all those people and then sings about the glories of royal-bloodlines and their significant religious values of superiority.”
Without having moved, something shifted in Steph’s entire figure as she said coldly, “We are to silence his song……”
“On stage, in the public light of the day. But first you must find a way to join his entourage. That is why we fly now to the citadel; you will become his most irresistible groupie. From there you will travel on tour with him to the Triangular Temples and execute him during the ceremonial performance within the sphere of holy grounds……..”
Curled up on the floor, in an emotional heap; Zesh could see her new role taking form. She lifted herself up slowly. Long blond hair remained in a tangle across her face shielding her from their gaze.

‘Even in such a mess, she still remains beautiful…….’ Zesh mulled, sorrowfully. ‘Something indeed so sensitive and so fragile….. twisting itself into the lifeless dead she pursues. Was she really talking about Zake just now? Or was she just projecting about herself…….? Could she possibly know how much pain and devastation she leaves in this trail behind her? All in the name of her ‘hearts desire’? Does she have any idea how many others have loved her without such reciprocation? By following blindly in this path, will she too simply become the ghost of another’s obsession?’.

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<( * ~ Source ~  Disclosed ~ *  )>
Review Continued:
~ Steph’en’oua Farla Tooks  ~


The stage of the newly penetrated level was met with the scenic display of a thousand floating merchant pods slowly hovering between the various platforms and access points to buy or sell their wares. Dark vessels with boisterous calls crowded on all sides to gain attention. In both glow and shape they resembled a kind of floating candle bulb fostering the illuminated dimension of this famous sector to the citadel; known world-wide as the Sky Market.
Everything struck out at Steph’s senses in a hyper-active display to either bedazzle or distract; and the minute she stopped to look. She was swarmed!
“My lady! Buy this gold amulet to match your lovely gold hair?”
“How about a ride madam!? Above the sky~lights? Cheap price for sight seeing!”
“Would you like some salted viper cider? A local specialty! Or take this super-germinated mineral mush and you won’t have to eat another meal for three days guarantee!”
Steph eyed them all suspiciously, trying to remain moving and casually aloof. When that didn't work she began yelling at them with her own boisterousness. When that didn't work she began swatting the fat merchant vessels with force to move aside until there was just enough space to duck, cover and roll out beneath them.
All around, daunting dome like lights and fluorescent spheres of blaring sounds and advertisements appeared. One dome of holographic activity lunged out in front of her, almost sending her into battle herself with images of heroic military knights leading the campaign to victory. Laughter from her antics followed from the few obstinate merchants that continued to trail behind her.
“Is this place really any different to a full force Confliction Zone!?” Steph growled to herself, hurrying into a cover of connecting passages away from the bombarding advertisements. “Give me a really battle any day which I can actually fight!”
Finally feeling alone for the first time since arriving, she stopped by the drainage opening to catch her breath. She gasped rather and began to cough. The air was terrible here and the view in front was a massive drop into a polluted cloud like abyss where the waterfall of sewerage fell and vanished. Above her were Sky-Ways relaying thousands and thousands of large and small flying vehicles towards the various sectors of the citadel. She wondered how people could actually live here. Above all she realised the Sky-Core capital wasn’t anything like the pristine images she had seen depicting clear crystal waters flowing from cloud white castles and floating fortresses in the sky….. Or perhaps that was just somewhere above the Sky-Way traffic and wafting smog. Suddenly another merchant ballooned itself up from beside the drain opening.
“Would you like a trinket to protect your spirit in the next life?”
“No!” Steph glared; before rearing back away.
Unaffected, behind the small floating screen was a large dark woman. Her eyes twinkled over Steph as she removed the hand sown trinket from one and with her second hand waved something else; “How about a ticket to the upcoming show tonight?”
Steph turned back around, “Is this for the program with Carnus?”
The pod seemed to gyrate as the woman made a hoot of a laugh; “And who else could it be!?”
“How did you know I wanted a ticket……..And where exactly is the venue?”
“Oh that’s easy;” She said, wiping the ticket against her black dreaded hair, before pointing with it. “Back through the Sky-Markets centre-point sphere and towards the largest entertainment domes you will find the place. And it was easy from looking at you…… All the beautiful girls dressed up with no armour go running to Carnus!”
Disdainfully Steph looked back behind her. There was a young man standing idle and close by but at least he didn't appear to be a sales merchant. Behind him the flashing lights of the markets loomed with colourful menace. She remained paused as the hyperactive rainbow danced before her eyes; a world glowing from its own stimulation. The woman merchant on the other hand was quite dark and obese filling most of her small pod, but dim as it was it still looked safer……
“Can you take me there?”
“You want to buy it?” She glimmered, now using the ticket as kind of hand fan. “I didn't even tell you the price.”
“I already have a pass, just I want you to drop me there.”
As if breathing as one with the pod, the woman and machine hovered silently together. She then pointed her ticket again,  “What about your friend?”
“What friend?” Steph stammered, turning.
The idle man remained in the shadowed passage but suddenly stepped forward when sensing both women’s attention. “Sorry,” he apologised. “I just thought……. Sorry, just I mistook you for someone else.”
“Marx……” She gasped. “Is that really you!?”
“Steph!” The man exclaimed, rushing closer. “I can’t believe this! I must be dreaming! Is that really you!”
Her heart fluttered with his. She felt a surge of movement forward as her body flung itself closer to him. Ripples of emotions washed her from head down. A heat generating force that erupted in electric chills which then ran from the base of her spine right through to her brain, out through her eyes and deep into his. The feeling was surreal and she had no idea what was taking place; but the bond that became their embrace was more than enough to take her breath away.
“If I am dreaming,” Marx breathed, still clinging against her. “Then I won’t ever let go.”
“This ain’t a dream!” The merchant yelled out. “Cause I wouldn't be here if it was! So are you going to buy that ride or what?”
Tears fell heedlessly as Steph leaned back, her smile radiating a warm light that nothing on that artificial plane could possibly compare with.  Marx wanted to reach out and touch her tears, to feel the clear cold evidence that indeed he was not dreaming, but he wavered stroking her long blonde hair instead.
“Does he want a ticket or what!?” The merchant continued to call. “And you better get on, if you want that ride!”
As sudden as it came, the warmth subsided with Steph turning away towards the merchant’s pod. Marx released all but her left hand, as memories of the Core Academy in Corret came cascading  like the smog around them. Their last farewell and her departure to Setaland was over a year before, now rushing forth in a haunting vision; this short lived scene of deja’vu. The same scene, the same feeling as Steph drifted away on an unknown flight to an unknown destination. His hand tightened at the thought, “I don't care where you are going, just take me with you!”
Steph searched deeply into his eyes, soul gazing beyond their current time and space. She could feel the bubbling love and affection building between them but she knew the hidden pain that would be the result of their attachment. Her life had already been shaped into something that held no place for him…… She was searching for another……. And she was here only on a dangerous assassination attempt,  a high profile celebrity……  
Yet here they were…… Reunited miraculously together on the other side of the planet amongst incalculable millions of people within this Citadel let alone the rest of the continent!  So why was the universe so damn mysterious!?
As their grip intensified, her eyes naturally scoured across his right palm to where he held her hand. This revealed the curious fact that he did not have a C<v. She almost questioned that fact but despite the padding of her glove against his hand; the tingling energy of their touch stole her mind and senses. Soon their fingers fastened like a pair of sealed safety straps. Immediately Steph then turned and waved her own C<v towards the merchant; “I will buy that ticket and that ride for two!”
“You grime sucker! I still haven't told you the price!” The woman hooted, looking away for the first time into her pod. “I suppose you two won’t mind squeezing up close will you……. Ho-hoo me too! I guess we’re all suckers for love!”



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< ~ ( ~ *  ) ~  ScratCH Sphere: 59380 ~ Marxexe 97522  ~ ( * ~ ) - ~ >
Entitled: Jatchaa’ - synchrony


I first met her in Corret about a year before I left to Setaria. I remember when she arrived at the Core academy in a door of white and gold light, pure and untainted even by those dull grey seiger costumes we had to wear while in the Academy. Her presence was astounding in every way. Beauty, innocence, strength, courage, focus, love and empathy shone out like a 360 Ray-shield from head to toe.
Her eyes however, were those of a predator hunting her long lost soul……… But perhaps like me she too was afraid to search within herself for exactly that. Were it the same reason and fear of being haunted and victimised by a dark distant past I could never say, but she too wandered lost in the world. Searching for a deadman and determined to proclaim his ghost as her very own soul companion!
Could it be any more dramatic? And so her world too was that of a wheel of perpetual suffering, cosmic collisions and illustrious precisions. But boy did she know how to fight!  And boy did I love to follow…….
Her was Steph’en’ioua Farla Tooks…… Steph for short was like the sacred Lotinia flower-feather; a legendary flower in the Ednesish Forests of northern Setarian province famous mostly for its scarcity and short lived authenticity. It lives only for a day and through the night of a full moon. It then goes onto recede and explode in a fiery display of its own nitrogenous gas, either shooting its seedpods out in all directions or smouldering its own stock on impact. Once the fires go out, so to say; seldom it leaves an imprint of its own existence.
Steph too like this flower would appear out of nowhere in a brilliant display of miraculous rarity, exuding her atmosphere in its most ethereal appearance of the divine feminine, captivating any onlooker to drop all thoughts and previous activities of life - no questions - just so they could spend what they intrinsically knew to be a jewel like experience of life; which would be certainly short lived if they did not at once seize every moment of it now!
Her vibratory fields were a whole worldly display of awe and wonder - like a gravity charge pulling all things around her and upside down under the spell of her exuding magnetism! Then in an explosive flurry of fireworks her presence would trigger and erupt all that was around her before she too would suddenly leave within that same display of dramatic demeanour and disappear without a trace…….
I used to wonder how any man could ever hope to achieve finding a seed trace from her, let alone laying a seed inside her…… Something so precious, fragile and pretty can often be at best a deceptive mirage of ones own fanciful projections or just simply something so transient beyond comprehension.
But Steph would wander in out of my life just like that display each and every time. An explosion of beauty, passion and deep emotional resistance to my own point of existence. She would come into my life at all the right moments; just to ignite the very light and might of my heart and expose it to the whole world……… If only I had known.……..back then………
 Ahhh how my heart still cries out in poetic justice to the presence, and the stain of her wanderlust in this world and upon my voyaging soul through it. She showed me, through actions not words, but rather actions that were aimed at my entirety and all that I knew it could hope to be in which I believe so too did she. After our dispiriting farewells from the academy in Corret where we dared hope to ever see each other again, our next fated meeting was a year later in the heart of the Setarian Sky-Core Capital for an impromptu evening of music with the infamous Carnus.



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      < ~ ( ~ *  ) ~ Time ~ Space ~ ( * ~ ) - ~ >



Besides the hefty merchant herself, the Sho-P-od was crammed with all numbers of products, both raw, natural and mechanic metallics. There was a clear bed like area however at the rear of the pod layered with what appeared to be various animal skins and shawls where the merchant beckoned to sit. Despite the foul smell from the constant flow of black drainage falling besides them; the recent world of fierce artificial lights and loud obnoxious noise suddenly transformed into a fantasy realm of warm wondrous sights and sounds.
“So would you like the quick route?” The merchant hollered from behind the pods control screen. “Or shall we up the price and take the more longer say scenic route?”
Steph looked at Marx, then briskly waved her C.v in the air; “I don't care how long it takes, or where you take us. Just as long as you get me to the concert on time.”
“Hoo-hooo, you are lucky its not another your dealing with,” The merchant tooted. “They would charge you over the moon and back if you said something like that!”
Ignoring the merchants remark, they remained quiet, speaking only with their eyes until Marx finally broke, “Jatchaa ~”
“Jatchaa?” Steph repeated.
“Jatchaa!” The merchant repeated, hooting. “You know some Arka do you!?”
“There’s so many things I would like to say and tell but thats the only thing that comes to mind right now……” Marx explained. “It means like universal synchrony or something in one of the local dialects to these special meetings…… I mean I have never even been to this area before…..”
Steph giggled, “Today is my first day here also! I was just trying to run away from all those flying salesmen!””
“Me too!” Marx mirrored her giggle. “Its ridiculous out there! I felt hunted and I don't even have a C.v on me!”
The world radiated beneath the dancing rainbow of flying ships and city lights as they rose higher and higher. As the disturbing vibratory blasts from the monotonous advertisements, hollering salesmen and drilling campaign cries began to fade in the distance; the wind carried with it a stream of silent and slightly more fresh air. It stirred an array of bells, chimes and attached trinkets beside them.
“Jatchaa,” Steph smiled. “You have really been learning a lot since you were here.”
“Not really,” Marx shrugged. “I honestly don't know what I’m doing here.”
She reached out her hand, “That makes two of us then.”
“Jatchaa is not just any local dialect,” the Merchant announced. “That is Arka the language of old Setaria, the language of Lord Seta’s time before the Archaic Principle brandished its laws of Everlaa’Z and established their heir achy……. Then they overcomplicated the local languages with many different dialects simply to divide and segregate the people from the rich and the poor. Dividing and oh sorry, don't stare at me like that, I will leave you guys to talk….. But anyways just past this next Sky-Ramp is the Central-Edifice with the Royal Dragon Crown. If it wasn't for all this smoke and complicated regulations……. I could take you for a closer look on the old temple architecture up there. ”
“If its expensive I can pay,” Steph waved again her C.v.
“Is that why he doesn’t bring his C.v with him,” The merchant hooted, facing back around from the front screen. “So the girls have to pay for everything? You know they can arrest him for not carrying one!”
“Well actually we haven't seen each other since the training days back in Corret?”
“BALG-A-LALGZA! HARRA JATCHAA!” The merchant’s jaw dropped. “And you just happened to run into each other out here just when I met you!! Gods of odds! Well please don't mind me, continue talking, or staring I don't care……… But if you're going to get more physical back there, that will cost you extra. I’m not running any common love-a-pod you know.”
Falling against the skinned padding, Steph and Marx both collapsed in full free laughter opposed to the incentive passion. Breathing deeply to regain her self Steph peered back up, her green eyes glowing through Marx.“So you don't have a C.v because you are not a harnesser then?”
Somewhat taken aback by the question, Marx felt his embarrassment show. Since arriving to Setaland she was actually the first person he had met from his past. They had even trained together in Corret which meant she would fully understand what a failure he was for coming here without military recognition from the Core Academy.
How could he tell her of his horrendous immigration here? How could he begin to tell her he arrived here only as an illegal immigrant and has been surviving as such day to day ever since………
“Are you a NaZa?” The merchant interrupted again, pointing to Marx. “I knew it! That’s why you are wearing the white robe and don't have a C.v……. Who would have ever thought I would be meeting a NaZa from Corret! It must be my lucky day!”
Steph looked between them both, “What is a NaZa?”
“A spiritual holy man,” The Merchant continued. “ Someone who knows the arts of harnessing but has renounced their powers for the use of worldly war-fare in order to pursue the ‘inner affairs’.”
The green hue in Steph’s eyes twinkled briefly as she gazed back upon him admiringly.
“I am so happy for you….Marx.”
Marx went red. Somewhere torn between truth and the more complicated reality he was in, he chose to bounce the question back from himself. Reaching for her hand, he replied “And what about you?”
“Me……What do you want to know?”
“Everything……..What made you choose the Sky-Core Vwindrah’s? What you are doing here? Did you manage to find Zake?”
The strength of her grip suddenly faded with the light hue of her eyes vanishing as she grew quiet. If only he could recognise the deep conflict that Steph herself was in at that time and the mission she was sent here to do. But then again both of them were torn with an existent reality they would each rather in that moment at least deny and forget. Ashamed of themselves and afraid to reveal their weaknesses they held only in pained silence the unspoken and perhaps forbidden love they felt and shared for one another.
“You don't need to hide,” the Merchant’s voice returned, sensing the sudden tension and mistaking it for political purposes. “Don’t worry this place is uncensored, a politically free vessel. No spies or military knights to monitor us up here. Do and say what you like! But I must remind you that the festival will be starting soon……If you want me to descend that is…..”
“Take me there…….. I want to see Carnus sing.” With the words from her lips, Steph’s demeanour suddenly transformed. The green tint of her eyes vanishing almost completely. The lights of the city now mirroring the morphing complex between Marx and Steph while the ship itself darkened beneath the great domes growing all around them as they descended towards the centre stadium.
“So that’s why you chose to come here?” Marx jested, attempting to lighten the atmosphere. “To become a Carnus groupie?”
Steph allowed a smirk but dully replied, “You don't have to come if you don't want.”
Despite the hand contact; Marx felt that gap return once more between them. It was as if apart of her was already trying to escape. He could sense a deep fear or anger within her and that she was trying to hide or shield him from it. In truth however, whatever the reality was, he wanted to remain connected to her, with her life apart of his; only he failed for the right words to say so..…
“The entrance is just over there!” The merchant hollered. “And if your boy doesn’t go I’m not refunding the ticket!”
Marx tightened his grip whilst pulling closer he whispered. “I’m not losing you again.”
“You never did…..” She sighed, placing her right palm to his brow. “I had to leave…. & I will have to leave again……Because, I cannot remain with you.”
“Then I will follow you……” Marx said, his heart beating stronger than he had ever known. “Last time I could not come with you. But this time I will not let you go so easy, just tell me ~ ”
“It’s not your choice to make!” She shook her head slowly, “And its not my choice to make……. We are flowing in different streams, I am a harnesser, I am a killer, I am a monster that is moving always towards the blood of battle……”
“I will follow you!” Marx boldly declared. Because I am free! I will follow you anywhere Steph, because I don’t care where we go!”
“I don't want you to follow!” From side to side her head shook faster. “You will follow me into battle!? You will join me in the planes of hell then?” Her hand jolted back from his. “There I cannot protect you…..”
“I don’t care where you go!” Marx repeated, returning her deep dark glare. “As long as I’m by your side, even if I die I don't care!” He tried to return her hand to his. “Because even if I die, I will simply become like a ghost by your side.”
A force unlike any other repelled his hand from hers as a beating skip from his heart revealed the widening of their gap. Marx tried to move again but her eyes now kindled brighter with the previously hidden torment she had suppressed. Something he said had triggered her, but at that time he could not have known what. Blasting waves of sound and voices carried them below as the ship made for the musical festival already commencing..…
“Not the main entrance,” Steph said, removing her attention from Marx. “Take me to the stage entrance, the front house performance quarters.”
The merchant sounded hesitant, “I don’t have that kind of permit ~ ”
“I do,” Steph beckoned. “Go!”
“It’s just over that barrier.” The merchant suddenly reached into a inclined shelf beneath her control screen. “But before you go, I want to give you both something…….This was the first trinket that caught your eyes in the first place. It was how we were all able to meet and unite….. Hooo-hoo. You know we were all probably good friends in our past lives…… Go on take one both of you! If you can’t remain together now, this will help you find each other again in the next life…….”
Steph’s breathing deepened as she held up her C.v to scan for payment but the Merchant refused. “Harra Jatchaa! This is an auspicious meeting by the dragon lords themselves! Take them…. Put them over your neck…… See look! Your boy already looks more holy!  They are my presents for you. Now go and enjoy the festival!”
Steph leapt from her seat, covering the larger woman from behind with a big heart to hug. The feeling of harmony restored, Marx not long behind, joined in contact by stretching both hands behind both women. “Please tell us your name?”
“Ercha,” She laughed, grasping both their hands in a final farewell. “Ercha the Mercha!”
As they disembarked to the domes ramp way Marx turned back and shouted, “Come visit me Ercha! For SaZa Aroawa soup sometime.”
“Where is your place?” Ercha tooted with delight. “A boy from Corret who not only is a NaZa but also is a SaZa baZar!”
“SaZa Najja GaZo!”
“Gustover Gallop!” She gasped, gyrating the Sho-p-od with a little twirl in the air. “Not the one and only SaZa Najja GaZo; the seven headed dragon!?”
“Come visit soon!” Marx yelled against the sounds around him, waving as Core knights began to chase her from the ground.
“I knew you were not telling me something,” Steph laughed, taking him by the arm. “You are a Aroawa baZar! A soup boy!”
Marx scratched his head shyly, allowing the good humoured change to take place while they moved into the grand fluorescent dome. While Steph kept flashing her C.v to all security checks they soon arrived front of stage, decorated with hundreds of dancing flowers moving in rhythmic patterns and reflective swirls to the forceful dynamics and impact of the music. But those performing were supporting artists preparing the mass crowds for Carnus to appear.
“Hey I know her.” Marx announced, seeing the female artist on stage. “I met her in the restaurant….Wow I had no idea she was so famous……”
“Your restaurant must be famous too then soup boy!” Steph laughed. “I bet its good food! SaZa Najja GaZo right?”
“Yes you remembered! You have to come also!”
Steph poked out her tongue, “In this life or the next?”
On stage the next song announced was about watching the movement of Sevarn the Soloist during his conquest on the battlefields. His singing sabre crying a thousand soulful cries in toned ascendence to the ruthless justice in which he inflicts upon they who dare to oppose his divine existence. Female enemies however, no matter how deadly will not be silenced by his sabre. His sword shows compassion to the goddesses of war stunning but not killing, believing in the sanctity of the holy mother and her role of continual life reproduction.
The dancing flowers began to release their petals showering a rainbow of colours upon the female singer as she left the centre stage dancing side to side as if in a battle like trance. The movement swift and surreal against the glistening colours of nature. In contrast against the delicate frailty that was her singing voice only minutes before her movement was stoic and wild as she leapt to the air. Her voice then returned reaching not only a new octave but crying forth with a force of fierce emotional clarity.
Steph put a hand to her heart, spellbound and unable to move against such a sound and live performance display.  For sometime they remained blocking a larger line of public until Marx urged them on.“Reveal your tickets!” A Military guard poised, blocking the front sectors. “You boy! This ticket is not valid for this domain! Please leave now and return to the main entrance beneath the front of stage!”
Marx gasped; sensing his separation from Steph drawing near. Neither moving nor breathing the Core guard began to point his pulsator club threateningly. Calmly however Steph intervened, holding out her C.v once again. “Do not be offended at my friend here. He is a holy NaZa and wishes to invoke good will for the supreme work of Carnus……Look at his arm, he does not even have a C.v on display! I ask that you please check my ticket first before rejecting us from the front entry.”
As they continued onwards Marx whispered, “What did you show them? Do you even have a ticket?”
“I bribed them,” She smiled. “Its the way this Corrupt Core works…….I mean its a common Setarian joke that if you had enough merits on your C.v, you could bribe your way right to the Alphite’s elite door and probably have a good dose of the Core source itself before anyone got in your way.”
“I guess I could believe that,” he laughed.
“Marx, you have changed…..” Steph remarked, pausing again in their movement. “You have really grown. It’s like your spirit is now more secure with itself…….More harmonised.”
“My spirit.” He pondered on after her, before losing his mind and senses again to the sweet angelic music around them and the warm physical presence of Steph against his side. In matter of fact, there never felt to be a time where he felt so comfortable in all his stay in since arriving to this new city and land. With her by his side he felt safe, secure and riding deep on a red river of love. Steph seemed to be going nowhere soon, and nowhere without him. As such, this night, this life could only get better…….
Until Carnus appeared.