A strong wind blew through the swaying trees that seemed to bow then stand and bow again in a hypnotic dance. Not too far inside the ancient premises, there were carved stone figures a little ways off the path. Evah approached them. One seemed to be a man floating in the air and beneath him, sitting in what appeared to be some sort of prayer, a woman. She seemed soft and peaceful. The growth of the forest had overtaken the carvings. She pulled away some ivy  to better see her discovery.

Then the familiar voice came again. “Evah,” it whispered. And looking in the direction of the voice, she could see what appeared to be an old stone structure. This, too, was suffocated with overgrowth.

“This is not the cradle of death or stolen dreams,” came the voice of a woman. Standing there where she was not before, only a moment ago, was the person who spoke. Her jaw was strong and square, her eyes penetrating and her body thin yet shaped with taught muscle and ligature resembling the untamed roots and vines of the forest. She was in her fifties, Evah guessed. But as you know, when you are young, anyone older than twenty-five looks ancient. Evah was petrified and did not move. “You have seen, little mother. It has been wrecked by the ages. Clean away the destruction then you will receive. But you must tell no one.” Evah looked to the stone structure. “There,” the spirit woman said. Then, without a sound, she was gone. After assessing the work that would have to be done to clean the stone structure up, she turned and headed for home.

That night, lying in bed before she slept, she had a psychic feeling. It was as if the woman was calling to her. She was consumed with the need to return to that place. The next day, after her lessons, while Kofutu played his string instrument and the neighbor children made percussion instruments of all they could find, and danced, Evah slipped away to her hidden place and started cleaning the stone structure. She did this for many days during that winter. The work was not easy, and sometimes she was filled with fear to know what she might discover lurking inside, but she remained brave. After twelve days, the space was cleared and even washed with supplies brought from home. She understood then that the structure was some sort of sanctuary. The construction was simple. There was a stone foundation and four carved pillars with a carefully carved stone slab above for a ceiling. In the center of the ceiling was a circular opening perhaps a foot and a half in diameter. On the eastern side of the structure, there was a direct view of the largest pyramid where the observatory could be seen. On the north side, was a spring that pooled gently and led off as a stream into the depths of the old city.

Connected to the hole at the center of the ceiling was a metal ring. It had once been supported by three chains, but only one was still attached. The other two dangled down freely. She climbed up to the top of the sanctuary and made her way to the opening. There were two hooks in the stone where the two additional chains attached. She reached inside, drew up the ring, and readied the chains to be connected. There were grooves in the ring where something must have sat at one time, suspended from the ceiling. She hooked one chain up with no problem, but the third was missing a link, so she pulled a tie from her hair for a makeshift connection. She even got the length right for the ring to sit level. When she was about to drop the ring inside the opening, a loud buzzing dashed past her that she thought was a bug of unnatural size. She jerked back from the hole aghast, thinking for sure she was about to be a late lunch for some hungry damselfly, but looking up in the direction of the buzz she saw it was a hummingbird. It zipped back and forth fast, its wings a blur. It was not afraid of her. It flew in close several times. Intrigued, she stood to watch it, and when she was firmly on her feet, it zipped away towards the deepest region of the old city.

“Huh,” she uttered. In the distance were other ruins protruding from the fertile Hypathian soil, all covered in knotted vines of the old forest. The bird disappeared so fast it seemed unreal. Then as she stared its direction, the harbored soul within her sprang forth. It whipped ahead like a loosed thack ball down over the side of the sanctuary structure. She ran after it, throwing herself down on the edge of the sanctuary roof to look below and see where the spirit had gone. Peering over the edge, the light that came from within her was still as a stone, levitating in mid-air over the waters of the spring. Beneath it, she could see that small items along the ground were levitating as if it had some gravitational pull. There was a leaf that looked like some city passenger vessel floating above the ground. She made her way back to the tree used for climbing to the roof and made her way down. After her descent, she expelled a frustrated sigh. “Oh! The ring!” She had forgotten to lower the ring down. Now she would have to climb back up again. “Thanks!”

The light shot quickly to the right a short distance, and where it went, more objects in the water and soil popped up into the air. She went closer, and it moved away. This time gently, evenly, it floated back towards her and then away again, further downstream. 

“I don’t get it. You want me to follow you?” The light whipped back towards her fast and bobbed up and down as if to say yes. “Oh, brother. Ok. But it’s getting late, and I have to go back home soon.” The light shot downstream again. With another sigh, she began her pursuit. And so it went, slowly moving on towards the heart of the old city, all the while lifting lightweight objects in the air as it traveled along.

Evah was beginning to feel a sense of familiarity with the environment. There was a sense of synchronicity, and in her head images of the sacred dream began to appear like flashing memories. The memory of the Mystery and the Mother of the Unborn returned to her. It was as if she was meant to be there. Then it was as if she knew what she was going to see next as they turned through the twisting curves. She thought to herself. ‘I’m going to see a lake.’ and sure enough only fifty yards later after climbing through a knot of plants the view opened onto the place where the spring ran. It was a giant lake, and though the jungle was so untamed, now, she could see long walkways of refined stone in the distance. From different regions of the lakeshore, three more white lights soared through the air to the first that had led her so far, and they all merged into one. Being a bigger orb then, it moved over the water, causing it to tremble and race upward like strange rain in a fast cycle. It burned three times brighter and was slowly drawing towards her.

Evah stumbled back a little. Adrenaline pumped through her body. The light charged toward her quick as that buzzing sparrow. Unable to stop the collision, Evah tried to jump back, uncertain of what such a power would feel like inside her. The only difference she felt was a humming vibration. Then she noticed that she was floating a little ways off the ground as she gently moved backward in the direction she had leapt. She was levitating.