HOLY MOTHER-PROLOGUE

 

What follows is an account of the most fantastical of tales. So much
so it would not surprise me should it's veracity be doubted.
Sometimes, even I myself doubt it. A part of me suspects that I am
lying in a ditch somewhere, blood seeping from my broken body and all
that has followed was merely a hallucinated crafted by a dying mind. 


Said events though have been such a panoply of sights, sounds, and
sensations that have challenged my own notions of fantasy that should
they not prove to be real, then the afterlife has been more generous
than the dreams of the most devout divine believer. 

It all began...a lifetime ago. In many ways it was. At the end of my
old life in every way. 

My name is Saria Wilhelm and this is how I began my journey. 

I was born in a typical surburban life the midwestern region of the
United States of America, one of Earth's many nations. In spite of
what people who know me today claim: I was a normal girl. The only
difference was my mixed heritage gave me what many said was an exotic
allure. 

For the first two decades of my life everything was as normal as it
could be for someone like me. School, vacations, homework, proms, and
plans for higher education. A few relationships here and there but
nothing worthy of the epics. All in all, a good life. 

But life is the biggest obstacle to one's plans. Often in the cruelest
of ways. Before the accident, my family consisted of my mother, my
father, older sister, and a younger brother. We had out share of
arguments and disagreements but we loved each other regardless and
deeply. 

I see them all to this day...In the faces of the children I have
borne. 

We were driving home from a family dinner one night when our vehicle
was struck dead on by a larger Earth vehicle known as an 18-Wheeler.
It's driver had been overworked and had fallen asleep at the wheel
which lead to them colliding with my family's car.  My mother and
sister were killed instantly. My father, younger brother and myself
were severely injured. The recovery was long and painful. Adding to
our agony: my brother's body was too broken and he succumbed to his
injuries. My father and myself were all that was left. It took us
months for our bodies to heal. The injuries to our souls were just as
deep. The pain of losing our family was a constant source of agony for
both of us. 

My father had never been a cruel man but my mother was very much the
heart of our family. When she was so suddenly and so cruelly taken
from us, my father's heart shattered alongside his bones. 

It does not do to dwell on details but the pain, both mental and
physical took a heavy toll on the two of us. Eventually the weight
became too much to bear for my father. You could say that he had
succumbed to his wounds as much as my brother. He turned to drink to
numb the pain but it could not soothe his anger. 

One morning, I woke up and my father was gone. 

I never saw him again. 

I do not wish provoke anger though many of my friends have wished to
avenge me. 

It is true that my abandonment wounded me greatly but enough time has
passed where I comfortably say that I was as much relieved as grieved
when he departed. The man I so adored growing up had disappeared and
had been replaced by an angry, hurtful stranger. I no longer hold any
hatred or resentment towards him. 

I genuinely hope my father has found a measure of the peace that I
have found. 

Such sentiment didn't change the fact that when my father left, he did
not take family's tremendous amount of medical debt with him. Being a
legal adult, I was responsible for paying them off. Having no paying
job and still too burdened by aches and pains to get one, I was forced
to sell all of my families worldly possessions. As painful as that
task was, hindsight has shown taking such actions would aid me in the
events that were to follow. 

When the whole mater was settled, I had just a little money left along
with my family's car. Try to understand reader, I was younger then and
still largely untempered to the harshness of life. My happy life had
been destroyed.  I had no desire to keep up with the one I had left. 

I do not share this account in order to bring pity upon myself, I only
tell it to establish context. In all honesty, it makes my eventual
triumph all the sweeter. 

There was nothing left for me. My family home belonged to someone else
and I little more than the clothes on my back. I got in my care and
drove off in a random direction. I wasn't really sure where I was
going. I had no other family and I just wanted to get away. From
people, from my pain, from...everything

My body might have healed but my mind and spirit remained broken. The
random direction I chose turned out to be north, to the great forests
and mountains. 

During my travels, I spent my leftover money on food and fuel.
Eventually, those funds ran out. I was so depressed that I didn't
really care. I made the decision and used my last fuel to take my
vehicle as far as it would go. To the end of the line. 

I drove further and further north. The slate grey highways soon gave
way to brown dirt. When my car could finally go no further, I found
myself on a lonely outlook quite far away from civilization. With no
desire to stop, I abandoned my vehicle and departed for a little used
trail leading from the outlook. I was like an automaton that some had
forgotten to shut off. Destined to keep going until I could go no
further.

In spite of conclusions drawn by well-meaning counselors, I was not
seeking death. Truthfully I am still not really sure what I was
looking for. I know this because...as I tread among the ancient rocks
and trees and listened to the birds, I felt a serenity I had not felt
in quite some time. Life filled me. 

It was nearing nightfall, when I reached the end of the trail. I had
arrived at the face of the mountain. My long dormant curiosity was
piqued by the sight before me. The ground was covered by boulders of
various sizes and the jaggedness of their edges meant they had been
broken recently. Perhaps the results of a recent rock slide. Even more
intriguing was the crevice that was open in the rock. It seemed to
lead deep into the mountain. 

It occurred to me that it would make a good shelter until morning. I
don't know why, considering my ennui. It was unlikely that anything
had made shelter there, considering it's recent formation. 

As I crept a few feet into the cave, I realized something unusual. At
first I attributed it to the light of the moon rising outside. But it
was not the moon. The cave was illuminated from within,. 

At first, I assumed that hikers or campers had the same idea I had to
use the cave for shelter. Soon after...I determined that the
illumination was not of natural means. 

As a recount these events...it now occurs to me that it felt like
something was calling to me. At the time, I did not recognize it. 

As I journey further into the cave, it became apparent that this was
not a recently created geological phenomenon. The jagged walls soon
gave way to stalactites and stalagmites. Curiously, the path before me
remained strangely clear and even. The natural cave gave way to
smoother walls that were clearly constructed by artificial means. The
stalagtites and stalagmites were replaced by columns and pillars.
Etched upon them were strange runes and symbols that I did not
recognize. 

I was driven by more than just a desire for shelter. The light was
drawing me in like a hoverbug. The deeper I went, the construction
became more elaborate. 

This was no mere cave, it was an entire temple buried inside the
mountain, long forgotten by the rest of the world.  

It is obvious now but even then, it was clear that this place was not
the result of Earthly hands. The creatures and figures depicted on the
walls did not depict any culture or history of my birth world. 

Finally, I entered what could only be the main chamber. A domed
cathedral of stone that glimmered with fixtures of crystals and metal.
The icons and statuary remained magnificent in spite of their
partially ruined state. 

I barely noticed them. For I had finally discovered the source of the
light. 

To this day I remain ignorant of the exact nature of what would become
the start of my new life. Theories abound and even the finest scholars
I have consulted with have only scant knowledge. 

But that is a story for another time. 

I took a field trip with my classmates to a recycling plant when I was
child. I remember watching in fascination as cans of aluminum were
melted down and the silvery liquid was poured into ingot molds. The
object floating before me at about eye level looked very similar to
that molten metal. It was shaped into a sphere and crystal clear water
blended with the liquid silver. The interior of the sphere ebbed and
flowed like an ocean contained, but never mixing. A form of energy was
definitely emitting from it. Stranger still, it was not heat I felt.
The orb was the source of what had called me but I had no idea as to
its purpose. 

Thoughts of this did not occur to me at that time. I was only
concerned with getting closer to the sphere. It called to me. 

I have yet to identify the exact mechanisms. I didn't hear any
beckoning voices or a mysterious song. I just felt a...pull. 

A pull deep in my soul. 

It grew brighter as I approached but my eyes did not feel any pain. 

A hand reached out toward the shimmering sphere. I belatedly realized
that it was my own. It felt like it belonged to someone else. 

I couldn't stop myself...even if I wanted to. 

Just when my hand made contact...I had the briefest impressions of the
sphere suddenly freezing into the image of  a globe.

I struggle to describe what happened next...

There was a brief moment where it seemed time itself froze. My heart
stopped beating, my lungs ceased expanding and the electricity between
my neurons failed to spark. 

I did not have time to panic. The pull had transformed from a gentle
tug to what I imagine a cannonball feels like. 

The sensations were not entirely physical either. It was as if my very
soul was filled with energy. 

Then...I was gone. 

The buried temple, the sphere, the mountains, my whole world fell away
like a rock into the sea. Up into the heavens I rose. I was completely
enraptured by the view ahead of me. An aurora of colors flowed between
the stars and galaxies and quasars that passed before my eyes. 

It lasted for both a blink and an eternity. One heartbeat and a
hundred lifetimes. 

But it was not the end.

It was a new beginning. 

-End of Chapter-