The Rending: The Dreamwalkers of Larreta, Book 2

Glossary

Ah-min – Two dreamwalkers with the ability to join their fields in the tantrea. Ah-min are resonant spirits and hold information needed by their potential partners, although both may be unaware of what it is.

Biofield – The energetic layers of a dreamwalker’s body. Normally not visible, it holds information about all their experiences. It can be seen selectively during fusion.

Center – The geographic middle of the inhabited lands of Larreta. Surrounded by mountains, it is the home to the Keepers of Larreta. It contains an educational center, the great library of Larreta, and the Sair, the ancient temple where ceremonies are held.

Council of Stewards of Earth – A body of Mentors who serve as overseers and guides to Earth and the other worlds of the dreamwalkers.

Dreamwalkers – Spirits who remember that their experiences on physical worlds are dreams of their own making. Often incarnate on Earth to further their education and are then considered human dreamwalkers.

Frequency – The speed of vibration of the atoms of matter. Greater speed means greater oscillation of the atoms. Beings who have physical form have lower frequency than those who appear in less physical form. For a being to move from a lower density to a higher density world requires an increase in frequency. Lowering frequency allows a being to look backward in time. Raising frequency allows perception of future time. So, for human dreamwalkers, practically speaking, frequency is perceived as time.

Fusion – The state that develops when two or more dreamwalkers raise their frequency to combine their biofields for communication, education and intimacy. The four levels of fusion are signified by colors: yellow for a basic merge; green, a slightly higher frequency, used for general communication; blue, the next highest, where education is conducted; and violet, the highest level, also called the tantra, used for the expression of intimacy.

Hub – An underground room in the Sair where the unfiltered frequencies of Larreta can be experienced.

Kālong – A lost world, once sister to Larreta.

Keeper – Beings who maintain the physical appearance of Larreta so dreamwalkers can re-orient themselves after returning from Earth. They assist dreamwalkers to complete the four tasks of Larreta so they can continue their evolution.

Lachtan – The home of the original animal species, many of which later appeared on Earth in different forms and sizes.

Larreta – The world of the dreamwalkers who educate themselves on Earth. Its physical appearance is similar to Earth due to the efforts of the Keepers, but it vibrates at a higher frequency.

Mentor – A being responsible for the continuing evolution of the dreamwalkers who return to Larreta. They appear in light bodies, which can take many forms.

Néta – Governor of the Council of Stewards.

Overseer of Larreta – The role taken by the being responsible for the Keepers of Larreta and the management of the Center.

Pantu – A perceptual passage that assists dreamwalkers to review their past experiences on Earth. It forms across time in one direction and requires a lowering of frequency. Two dreamwalkers must join their fields to form the pantu, which is not a method of time travel. Characterized by the color blue.

Sair – The great hall in the temple of the Center of Larreta.

Satu – Home of the races that sometimes appear on Earth as fairies and other mythical creatures.

Sverre – The boundary between the inhabited land of Larreta and the untouched Wild Lands beyond. It appears to dreamwalkers as huge waves of energy.

Tantra – Fourth and highest level of the fusion. Only used to express deep affection.

Tantrea – The joining of the biofields of two dreamwalkers who are ah-min.

Temena – The main building in the Center of Larreta. It is shaped like a giant teardrop.

Time Walker – A being who has completed advanced education in the physics of time and space. Time Walkers can travel forward and backward in time without the need for vehicles or stable portals.

Truan – A perceptual passage that extends backward and forward in time. Dreamwalkers forming a truan may experience past or future events as well as alternate timelines. Extremely volatile, it is used by advanced dreamwalkers on Verdallon. It is a rudimentary method of time travel. It evolves out of the combination of the pantu and zama passages and is signified by a pale pink color.

Verdallon – A world that vibrates higher in frequency than Larreta. Many dreamwalkers go there after completing the four tasks of Larreta.

Wild Lands – The land beyond the Sverre. Its frequency is so high that no dreamwalker has seen it. The Wild Lands are forbidden to all but Keepers and Mentors.

Zama – A perceptual passage formed by raising frequency that shows dreamwalkers future events in the timeline they are living or alternate futures that branched from past events. Rarely exhibited by dreamwalkers on Larreta, it can form only in conjunction with a pantu. Characterized by a copper-red color.

Dedication

For Lon, who asked exactly the right question.

Chapter 1

It is fortunate that patience is one of my virtues.

For many of their lifetimes, I watched my two dreamwalkers fumble about on Earth. They searched for each other, crying in pain at their separation, playing the victim of Earth’s tribulations. When they did come together, they found reasons not to remember who they were. Glimmers of memory surfaced, but they discounted them and found more reasons to separate. They seemed to enjoy their pain. Or did it become so habitual the alternative frightened them even more?

Leo, the old one, had the most difficulty. His search for his beloved was like a pursuit for a jewel too perfect to manifest in a world dominated by fear and violence. More than once, he gazed on the face of the one he loved and turned away in judgment.

Jesse was more open. He recognized Leo more than once, but could not convince him to let down his guard.

His empathy allowed me greater access, so I could plant images for him to find even before he attained Larreta. In his last lifetime on Earth, he often sensed me, but I denied him visual contact. My whispering voice haunted his dreams and convinced him that this was the time when he would find his beloved. What he believed became true, as it often does. The two are together on Larreta at last. My joy is so great it is difficult to maintain the utter stillness of my body that, if they could see me, would make me appear as a body of stone.

On Larreta, I have greater access to their minds. Leo can guard against me. He is strong that way, and practiced. Not the young one. He invites messages from other worlds. He cannot yet discriminate with the finesse of one more practiced in the art of knowing. He will learn, of course, but not so quickly that I cannot use his empathy and enthusiasm for my own ends.

I breathed on the house in the mountains. It was like executing a perfect journey through the stars. It drove them closer together. Exactly what I had hoped. For my plan to succeed, they must bond so tightly that nothing on Larreta can drive them apart.

Chapter 2

The stars of Earth lit the night sky of Larreta. In the pristine air, they shone brighter and looked close enough to touch as Leo watched them fade in the predawn light. He lifted one arm, musing that he could bat them across the sky and create new constellations to confound the earnest astronomers in observatories on the highest mountains of the mother world. He shook his head. Spending the night outdoors with Jesse had made him fanciful.

On a blanket in the grove flanking the Temena, Jesse was still asleep, his head pillowed on Leo’s shoulder. He had grumbled that their beds in the Keeper’s quarters of the Center were more comfortable but agreed to spend the night outside when Leo promised to show him something special. Leo had not lied. The first rays of dawn striking the crystal dome of the enormous teardrop-shaped structure known as the Temena produced an amazing light show. Plus, Leo wanted to see Jesse under starlight.

Jesse was one of the last two human dreamwalkers admitted to Larreta from Earth before the portals between those worlds had closed and, since Leo had met him, he was never entirely sure he was on solid ground. The newcomer had a mesmerizing effect, compounded by Jesse’s conviction that he and Leo were ah-min, two people with the ability to join their biofields in the tantrea, the joining of two souls.

Only dreamwalkers who found their ah-min were eligible to move on from Larreta and continue their destiny path. Leo had lived on Larreta longer than most, but until Jesse arrived, Leo thought his chance to join with his ah-min had been lost when the first time rift to attack Larreta had snatched his lover, Bobby, from him.

Leo had failed to join with Valerie four years later, so he’d fled to Earth. He only returned when summoned back to train Jesse as a dreamwalker. He had not counted on Jesse’s unique abilities revealing things about his own past he never knew. He had definitely not counted on being so attracted to the beautiful newcomer. On the day he’d returned to Larreta from Earth at Nara’s behest, Valerie had greeted him, and the old feelings had flamed between them. They had been friends all these years, and Leo was sure he would never find someone else he could love as much. On Larreta, though, love was not the only factor in the joining of dreamwalkers. A couple had to be compatible energetically, and on Leo’s second day back, he and Valerie had gone to the cove where they joined their fields, but failed, again, to pass the crucial test. They were not ah-min.

On Leo’s shoulder, Jesse snuggled closer. The night before, he and Jesse had lain in the grass under an oak tree and talked for hours. After they agreed to work with Adil, the Overseer of the Center, to find the source of the deadly time rifts, they had moved to the Center for advanced training. Not used by dreamwalkers on Larreta because of its volatility, the Council had deemed the truan passage necessary to discovering the source of the rifts. That passage loomed foremost in Leo’s mind. Their training was designed to give them the tools to protect themselves and each other during the truan’s formation, but Jesse’s talent vied with his volatility. He had a tendency to lose his grounding in physical matter, one of the dangers they had to guard against.

They’d spent the early part of the evening discussing what they had learned at the Center, until the Keepers who used the grove during daylight retired for the night. They alternated between watching stars move across the sky and leisurely lovemaking.

Pale light appeared at the edges of the darkness. Leo kissed Jesse’s forehead and gave him a gentle shake. Those mercurial blue eyes that mesmerized Leo opened and Jesse smiled. This was a good idea.

Now, the best part. Come with me.

Jesse rolled onto his side and sat up. Where are we going?

I’ll show you.

Jesse shivered in the morning air. The Temena is still glowing.

Here’s your jacket. It always glows, but in daylight, it’s hard to see. The walls are made of stone with luminescent properties. The light fades as morning comes, then recharges in the sun. Come on, the sun will break over that mountain any minute.

Jesse followed Leo through the empty grove as they made their way to the southwest corner. They left the trees and stood on a wide lawn lined with stone benches. Leo chose the best bench to view the crystal dome as the rays of the sun struck it. He motioned Jesse to sit beside him. He was glad no one else had chosen to watch the show this morning.

Jesse sat and slipped his arm around Leo’s waist. It felt natural, but it should. For the duration of their training at the Center, they had slept in the same bed every night, often making love, sometimes simply holding each other until exhaustion took them into sleep. The training sessions were long and tiring, and Leo found switching gears between being a student and Jesse’s instructor more taxing than he had anticipated.

On their second night in the Keeper’s quarters, Jesse had said it was all right that Leo didn’t love him yet. He was waiting for Leo to come to his senses and realize they were ah-min. He had faith, but Leo wasn’t as sure.

Every day and every night, Leo asked himself the same question. Did he love Jesse? Well, he loved the sex. He loved the way Jesse looked at him and how he smiled and how he ducked his head when he didn’t know what to say. He loved that Jesse curled himself around his back when they slept. But the question was, were they ah-min, true partners? Did he love him enough to change his mind about returning to Earth after this assignment ended?

Leo grasped Jesse’s shoulders and squeezed. The truth was, he didn’t. Jesse was intoxicating and beautiful, and his abilities continued to amaze Leo, but in his heart, Leo knew his ah-min had come and gone. Jesse was a fascinating dalliance, but couldn’t be more. Leo wouldn’t take the chance of being left again.

The sky over the eastern mountains paled to pink. Leo nudged Jesse. Any minute.

Jesse looked toward the mountain. What am I looking for?

You’ll see.

The clouds lightened to gold as the first tip of the sun peeked over the lowest mountain. The rays blinded Leo. They struck the dome, and the translucent crystalline structure caught fire. The light exploded and radiated toward them. As the arc of light moved in a clockwise motion, it contained every shade of every color spiraling around each other. It was like being inside a kaleidoscope of mirrors.

Jesse gasped. He stood and opened his arms, as if inviting the light to enter him. Leo, look. He waved his arms in circles. Spirals of light flowed with his motions. This is amazing.

Leo stood and turned Jesse toward him. Jesse’s face glowed with color, and his eyes were wide as he took in the rainbow effects surrounding Leo. I love this.

Leo laughed. I figured you would. It’s an effect of the dome. This is where you see it best. Jesse’s body was solid, but he seemed to be made of color. Leo looked at himself. He was glowing too. Look at the grass, the trees. They glittered, as did the stone benches. The dome itself gleamed so brightly he could not make out the physical structure under the light effects. It doesn’t last long. A minute or two.

Already, it was fading, the colors less brilliant. Jesse pulled him close. Our colors are mingling. As if they were one person. He didn’t have to say it. Leo felt what he meant in his biofield, the energetic layers that surrounded his physical form.

The inside of Leo’s chest expanded, enough to take a deeper breath. Without thinking, he kissed Jesse. As their lips met, the rainbow colors sparkled inside him. Like warm waves, they moved through his body into Jesse and Jesse’s colors flowed into Leo.

Jesse stood still when the kiss ended. His eyes had darkened to the color of the Sea of Larreta when a storm brewed over the mountains. Neither of them noticed the light from the dome had transmuted into normal daylight.

Thank you, Jesse murmured.

Leo didn’t know if the thanks was for the light show or the kiss. He pulled Jesse against his chest and stroked his sun-bleached hair. He didn’t like the uncertainty under his conflicting emotions, but he loved kissing Jesse.

A movement among the trees caught Leo’s attention. Adil approached along a path winding through the grove. Leo indicated the Overseer’s approach with his head. Jesse stiffened.

Adil was tall, well over seven feet, and very white, his skin a pearlescent color that took on pastel hues of pink, peach and sometimes aqua. Leo had no idea if the colors reflected his emotions or something else. His long white hair frizzed to his shoulders. Only his eyes were dark, deep-set and huge. His arms were longer in proportion than any human arms, and a white robe dragging along the grass completed the effect of a ghost gliding through trees.

Adil inclined his head. Was this your first glimpse of the morning lights, Jesse?

Yes, sir. Jesse’s shoulders tensed, and Leo remembered that Adil made Jesse more nervous than anything they did in their training sessions. Adil had taken them both to the hidden chamber under the Temena where Jesse had endured energies Leo could not even perceive. The experience had exhausted Jesse, but convinced Adil that he was capable of forming a truan passage with Leo, the key to locating the source of the rifts.

Did you enjoy it? This morning the Overseer’s dark eyes glowed warm with humor.

It was wonderful, Jesse said. I love this place. I hope to spend some time here later when things calm down.

Adil nodded. I think you will, Jesse. He turned toward Leo. "I have received excellent reports of your advanced training here at the Center. I am optimistic that Jesse’s foresight and your ability to see the past will, in time, combine to form the truan passage that we need to locate the source of the deadly time rifts attacking Larreta. You have made good progress toward that end in the short time you’ve been here. Are you ready to return to the Coast House? If not, we could extend your stay. I want you to be ready for the next phase of your training."

We’ll be ready, Leo said. Michel and John are going with us, so we’ll have four Keepers to assist. The sooner we start, the sooner we’ll know how much we’ve learned.

Adil nodded. You’ve always preferred action to theory, haven’t you, Leo?

I suppose. He wasn’t sure if that was a good quality from the point of view of a Time Walker who had mastered the advanced physics required to travel through time and space using only the power of his mind. The Keepers have put in place detailed protocols. If we have problems, we can always come back.

Of course. Adil seemed to approve. "Your safety is our highest priority. If you cannot establish a truan passage that is safe to use, we will abandon this experiment. My Keepers are working on other options should the truan prove too dangerous."

Leo glanced at Jesse who was staring at Adil’s long white feet. We’ll make it work.

Jesse looked up. I trust Leo. I trust the Keepers, and I want to stop these rifts. The loss of the Mountain House with its Keeper, Lupita, an old friend of Leo’s, had convinced them both to commit to this course. They had witnessed the rift from a neighboring meadow as it opened like an insatiable mouth and gobbled up the house with all its inhabitants. Neither of them would ever forget it.

We are fortunate to have you, Adil said. Now that your training nears completion, you will both have direct access to me should you need it.

That was unusual. Generally, a dreamwalker communicated to the Center through a Keeper or through Nara, Mentor of Larreta. Thank you, sir, Leo said.

Adil inclined his head again. Call and I will answer. He turned toward the main entrance to the Temena.

Jesse exhaled. He dropped onto the stone bench and looked up at Leo. He scares me.

Leo laughed.