Lilith

Please indulge me as I share a little of this story. I know the telling is crude, especially as I've been brutal with the word count - I know it doesn't seem like it! - and I just bash these posts out in snatched moments between juggling a million balls, but I feel there are elements of this story that are important to share. Why that is, I don't know. Perhaps, in time, we will find out.

“Lili! Lili!” came the shouts of a child from inside the palace, “the feast is about to start!”

    Lilith turned around and smiled at the sight of her sister’s unabashed enthusiasm. The girl, in the beginning of her blossom, was flushed with excitement as she came running across the terrace towards them.

“Come on!” she gushed as she jumped onto her sister’s arm adding, “Hi Jeda,” as she leaned over to kiss him on his ancient cheek.

“Everyone is gathering,” Ayvah gushed, linking her arm with her older sister’s and steering her back towards the palace.

    Even though her sister was much older and had a position of authority within the community, Ayvah only ever saw her as her big sister who had always been there for her to play with, or carry her when she was tired, or listen to her stories when no one else would.

Lilith turned and put a hand on Jeddah’s arm, “we will speak of this again. I promise you.”

    He patted her hand gently and smiled but the warmth didn’t quite quench the sadness in his eyes. He too felt the shadow stalking closer, hiding his view.

   Perhaps part of this approaching energy was blindness. A sudden loss of sight, or worse, loss of memory.

    He shook his head as if to shake these thoughts away. Yet he couldn’t shake the visions of shadowy forms lost in a world of hazy shadows.

   They stumble about. They don’t know where they’ve come from and they don’t know who they are, so, they construct these characters and storylines that they act out like grand plays.

   The thought made him shiver and despite himself he beseeched the universe to protect the ones he loved. He saw in his mind and heart a thread, a long line who would keep the memory alive. They blazed golden for a few seconds before settling into a pearly thread that wove itself through the shadow, unseen.

   Saying the words of protection he blew them into the wind and watched as the trees swayed and shook with the gust. Somewhere a crow shrieked and he felt a rippling of energy course through his spine to the top of his head.

“Guide us through the night that comes,” pleaded the old man as he turned back to his vigil.

…

“You’re not wearing that are you?” asked Ayvah incredulously as the girls made their way through the palace.

“What’s wrong with it?” Lilith asked looking down at herself.

“You smell like lions! Have you been out riding cave lions again?! You know - Oh, oh, I remember what I wanted to talk to you about,” she gushed, changing subjects as sharply as Lilith’s falcon Ahobar when he is on the hunt.

 “I heard in the kitchens that a stranger was seen in town today and he is very handsome, is it true?”

    Lilith looked down at the younger girl’s face full of life and hope. Looking at Ayvah, the older girl felt the edges of her vision shimmer slightly. She swayed gently and was engulfed by a wave of overwhelming sadness, as if this would be the last time she would see her sister so free and happy.

   She shook her head. What morbid thoughts are these? Why was she feeling these things and having thoughts like this? She brushed the energy away with her hands and for good measure dispersed it by blowing.

Turning back to her sister, she smiled.

“There is someone new and I am happy to report he is indeed very handsome!”

“Really!? Will I get to meet him? And most importantly does he want to marry you?” she asked, wide-eyed. Brown eyes with flecks of gold in them. Eyes Lilith knew better than she knew her own.

“Yes really. And yes, you will get to meet him when he is officially presented to me and the council later. And I don’t know what his intentions are here. But I can tell you with absolute certainty, I have zero plans of marrying anyone!”

“Oh Lili! How could you say such things! I want to look dazzling at your wedding!”

“Ayvah, how could you say such things!” she said mimicking her sister.

“I know but you love me. Hang on stop, before we go in there, let me tidy your hair,” she said, grabbing Lilith by the arm and stopping her before two large, solid wooden doors.

“There’s no point, I’m not interested,” she exclaimed huffing good naturedly.

“Interested or not, there is always a point to looking your best!” replied Ayvah with a little flick of her pointed chin.

“Ugh, you sound like mother. All done?”

“All done!”

They turned to face the doors and smoothed their clothes back. Lilith nodded and waited for Ayvah to stop fidgeting. She made a motion with her arm and the doors softly swung open. She was getting better at that.

Before them the whole council had gathered, along with quite a number of the people. This is unusual, Lilith thought to herself.

   The grand room, lined with enormous, smooth pillars on either side still felt buoyant and cavernous despite the extra people in it. Light came in from perfectly placed sunholes, holes carved into the stone walls or ceiling, making the polished surface of the walls almost shimmer.

   It was a beautiful room, with an exact frequency that nurtured harmony.

   Today, however, there was a different air in the room. A ripple of energy that sent the hairs on the backs of Lilith’s arms on end, flicked passed her like a slightly sour odour.

   There was something different about the room tonight. Another current. She could feel it in her chest. A buzzing. Ever so slightly uncomfortable.

   Her eyes scanned the familiar faces as she felt her energy mingling with theirs. Her awareness lapping at the edges of their fields.

   A movement in the shadows at the back of the hall caught her attention. A group of men huddled around a pillar, their faces hidden by shadow. There was something murky about the energy in that dark corner. Even they seemed shrouded somehow.

   I wonder what they have lived through to make them disassociate so, she observed briefly.

    Just then, one of them shifted his weight, moving into a small sunbeam that cut across his face.

   His eyes, amber in this light, locked with hers and she felt a jolt in the pit of her stomach. Electricity ran through her, causing her fingers to tingle. She began to breathe faster and deeper.

   In that look she felt a recognition on a soul level. A recognition of significance - and it scared her.

   She let her gaze slide past him and on to the others standing around the room but she couldn’t shake the feeling that he was still watching her and she had to use all her willpower to resist taking a peek to check. After all she is a high priestess, the Oracle, embodiment of the Earth, conduit of Source energy.

   What is this? Get a grip, she told herself.

   Breathing into the space once more she took a couple of steps in, followed by Ayvah, and descended the few steps to the main gallery.

   Members of the council stepped forward forming a rough circle around the central space leaving a small gap occupied by Lilith alone.

To someone from our time you would think she was superior in some way but that is not how it worked.

   Each person had a function within the community, a skill they were recognised as master of and were empowered to speak for the people in recognition of this mastery.    

   And this was by no means fixed. You could explore any new skill you were drawn to. In fact, learning, change and growth were very highly valued concepts for the people. Leadership and working with people were also considered an area people might be drawn to at some point in their lives.

   Roles were fluid. And the spirals of growth bloomed like a rose.

   Her role was different. Hers was treated with deference for it was a powerful skill. Equally it was a legacy that could have taken form in any of them but chose her due to an activated frequency marker embedded in her DNA.

Around the outside of the hall, people shuffled slightly closer, taking a couple of minutes to settle down.

   Lilith waited but could still feel her skin tingling. She quickly glanced over to where the men had gathered in the corner but he was no longer there. She knew he was somewhere though, in the shadows, watching her, she could feel it. And the thought unnerved her.

   For a moment she felt the feeling of being hunted. She could feel a pull at her awareness towards him and a pressure in her mind as if his thoughts were bent towards her.

   She shook herself slightly. This celestial alignment was messing with her. She needed to get to the bottom of whatever this was as soon as possible, before these energies derail her. Not on such a special night.

   She looked at Ho’rab, a sturdy farmer with a magic touch that makes anything green thrive and gave a slight smile.

    He nodded and cleared his throat.

“We have come together, the members of the council and people of our community to stand witness to the light summoning, that we may take the energy out to the people and our land.”

   The hall was completely silent. Only the wind in the leaves outside could be heard. It was as if every living thing in the area knew to hold their peace in this moment.

   Lilith took a deep breath.

   She let her gaze soften as the hall began to flicker in and out of her awareness. The people watched with interest. Some bowed their heads or shut their eyes in reverence.

    Opening her mouth, she began to sing.

   The sound started like a deep hum that quickly took on a life of its own bouncing around the walls. Almost a deep vibration rather than a note.

   Playing off the end of the note that continued in the echo, she shifted higher and started weaving other tones into the mix. At the same time others, acolytes at the temple, stepped in with the low notes, holding them in a continuous base that built to a thunderous almost machine-like hum.

   Sound waves bouncing around the granite walls creating majestic patterns in space.

   Suddenly they dropped their volume to barely perceptible leaving her to go ever higher, subtly weaving in and out them.

   It was a masterpiece of sound and echo. The building singing with the people.

   There was an intake of breath when Lilith’s hands began to glow bright. Some of the people on the outside strained their necks to see what was going on but there was no mistaking the light that was growing around her.

    She began to sway as she stood there, arms opening up beside her, palms facing outwards. Her eyes began to flicker under her eyelids as her head rolled back before slowly coming full circle back. Her chest began to heave, her breath getting sharper until she let out a choked sob and then it was as if she was physically jerked back here. Thrown back into her body.

    Her eyes flung open, her chest still visibly moving.

    She bent over, with her hands on her knees and dipped her head. Thoughts raced through her mind quickly. She could not tell the people what she saw. It would risk a panic. If only it was just the council as usual, she would have been able to share with them and they could decipher the meaning together, deciding together what to tell their community.

   These men have caused enough trouble already. We need to address them quickly.

   Putting a smile on her face she took a deep breath and stood up straight.

“Oof, that was intense,” she said laughing slightly.

  The people smiled. Shifting their weight eager for good news.

“I saw that everything was bountiful. Life was flourishing. The people were happy.”

A buzz zipped around the hall. Everyone smiled in relief at one another. She paused, closing her eyes to centre herself and allow for the words to flow.

“I saw many good things but – shh, my friends, I must stress a but – unaware to us a shadow was slipping in. I saw it seeping under doorways and taking over until we couldn’t see anymore. We stumbled in the fog and cried out to each other in fear.”

   She ended abruptly unsure what else to say. She couldn’t bring herself to tell them the rest, even if she could understand all of it herself.

  Some things, her grandmother had taught her, are not meant to be shared, for they would only cause more harm than good.

“How will I learn when to share or not?” an 8yr old Lillith asked the older woman.

“Through heartache and trial, my dear. Heartache and trial,” she replied, looking, suddenly, very sad.