Valkyrie Black

Chapter 19: Seer's Sage

The next week, Val found herself sneaking away from her friends at dusk to meet with Morgessa. The passage through the caves had quickly become second nature, though there were many areas left to explore. Morgessa had not stopped her curiosity, but cautioned her to never go deeper into the caves without chalk and string. She warned that more than one foolish youth had been lost in various cave systems after losing track of time, and direction, not to be found until several days or weeks later.

When she made it to the magma room, Morgessa was waiting.

“Come, today I teach you the first level of Spark Meditation. Desmond likely would have liked to lead you through this, but he doesn’t have the time nor the depth of mastery to unlock your full potential.”

“Spark Meditation?”

Morgessa frowned at Val, “Girl, tell me. How have you been leveling your spark? I can tell that you clearly have but without the meditation how have you achieved this?”

“Umm… well the runes just appear and normally when I need something I see a prompt offering it.”

“Interesting. I have heard of a few with this but it is only among the more advanced Elite sparks and then, only when the previous owner had managed to preserve their advancements during the transfer. It takes a very special ritual in order to achieve that level of transfer.” Morgessa offered.

“You, on the other hand, seem to be getting a guided tour through the leveling which gives me hope that Azrael is still preserved. Now, follow me.” Morgessa led Val deep into the cave system until they came to a blank wall. Morgessa produced a crystal and placed it against the wall. Blue shot out along hidden cracks before Morgessa grabbed Val’s wrist and pulled her through the solid stone. On the other side of the wall there was a large room with a ceiling hundreds of feet above where Val could see a tiny pinprick of light.

Along one wall were a series of workbenches with glass tubes that swirled and curled around each other in strange contraptions.

“What is all of this?” Val asked, slowly walking down the bench staring at the odd glass loops.

“These are the tools needed for many of the forgotten arts. Alchemy to most is a fantastical concept of making potions and other fake ‘snake oil’ concoctions. What they don’t know is that the ancient ones who created the sparks to begin with knew far more about science than we could ever figure out in a life time. These days, likely only the elders of the council have any notion of these skills, and they have little to no use for them so never make use of it.”

Morgessa worked her way down the bench and walked to a huge set of shelves with various jars. She gathered several full of dried leaves before pointing to another room. “Meet me in there.”

Val obeyed and found the room had a curved section covered in large cushions, blankets, and other fluffy soft items.

In the center was a large glass object. Val had never seen such a contraption but the bottom had a low burning flame, with a large glass sphere over top. There was a tall stem of glass extending above the sphere with a long hose that reached all the way across the room to the cushions.

Morgessa entered a few minutes later and began working on the glass device, adding oil, herbs and other ingredients Val was not familiar with.

“This leaf is called seer’s sage. It is not a common plant but it grows high on the Parcian side of the mountains. It is rare, but not too hard to grow. If you ever consider fetching it, people across the realms would pay well for it. Perhaps not as much as scorpion venom, but almost any city would love to get their hands on it.”

“When mixed with this Cannabis sativa, the Salvia divinorum leaf has an extended effect. This will let you access the deeper consciousness needed to interact with your Spark.”

Val hesitated when Morgessa handed her the hose.

“I… what do I do?”

“Inhale dear.”

“I have never smoked anything before..”

Morgessa sighed. “What are the youth coming to when you haven’t even had a decent smoke yet.”

“I have never had much money, barely enough for food.”

“Girl, many people would pass up food if it ment they could get a hit of this mix.”

“Its that valuable?”

“Value? Girl, this is beyond any crazy dream you have ever had. Those without a spark to guide the journey will live entire lifetimes in a span of half an hour.”

Val was hesitant but excited. Here was an instructor, a master no less that was about to let her partake in a sacred ritual that likely cost more than a whole years worth of begging in Dockside!

She eagerly took the end of the hose and sucked in a huge lung full. A second later she was choking, gagging on the smoke and nearly retched all over the floor.

Morgessa sat next to her patting her back while laughing her ass off at Val’s expense. “Well, that is one way to embrace the experience.” Morgessa laughed until tears poured down her cheeks. She finally got herself under control and when she saw that val was done choking she demonstrated the proper technique, speed, and volume to breathe in, hold and release.

This time when Val tried, it was a bit easier but she still coughed. Morgessa directed her to lean back on the pillows and let the dreams take her.

Val closed her eyes, willing to accept a quick nap after the long day of training she had been through. While she loved all the training, today the rock climbing instructor had been particularly difficult and her forearms ached now. She knew tomorrow she would be even more sore.

Val opened her eyes and nearly let out a scream in sheer surprise. A man towered over her, dressed in some ancient garb that looked like a monks robes.

“Peace, young one. You are safe within the valley.”

“Valley?”

Valkyrie looked around and realized she was not in the caves but in a forest meadow next to a fire. All around were tall mountains under a brilliant starry night. Neither of the moons could be seen anywhere.

“Welcome to the Sanctum of Azrael, the proving ground of the mind.”

“What the actual fuck is going on?”

“Has your master not instructed you on reaching this place? Speak her name and see if she has guidance for you. it has been some years since an acolyte has bonded and made it this far, so I am unsure the current practices, but in my day, you would be consider quite young to have taken on this responsibility.”

Val hesitantly called out into the night, “Morgessa?”

Morgessa’s voice came to her, but it sounded like a whisper on a cool night breeze.

“Have you found the meadow, child?”

“Yes, but someone is here.”