Rise

Chapter 5

5

The tent was made from heavy waxed canvas the colour of raw linen. I pulled back the flap and peered into the dim space beyond. It was quiet inside the tent, only soft murmuring could be heard from the periphery of the large room. Royal stepped into the tent and took the flap from my hand. He gently closed it and my eyes finally adjusted to the light.

My heart began to beat a bit faster as I really looked around the room. There were more injured minions than I had anticipated, at least fifteen, maybe twenty, and they were spread out on little cots arranged in a circle around a central fire. The fire was held in a deep black cauldron, the flames licked the air as the smoke was drawn up to the apex of the tent and out into the sky beyond. A tunnel of sunlight beamed down on the fire itself creating a column of light in the middle of the room.

Each injured minion had a friend beside them, speaking words of comfort, holding their hand or tending to their wounds. I looked to my left and watched as a minion dabbed gently at its friend’s bloody brow. The pace of my heart increased yet again as it suddenly began to swell. I felt my heart move in my chest and my hands shot to my sternum in some vain attempt to hold it in place.

“What’s wrong, honey?” Royal asked quietly.

“My heart, it feels too big,” I looked at Royal, the edges of his face were blurry. “You’re edges are going all weird.”

“Okay, maybe we should get out of here.” He moved to usher me out.

“No!”

The word came out loud, every minion in the place looked at me. The ones that could dropped to their knees immediately as the injured ones bowed their heads or closed their eyes in an attempt to genuflect.

“We need to go.” Royal’s words were quiet and even.

“No,” the feeling in my heart started to make sense, “no, I am here to help my people, my heart grows large with their need. I will heal them.”

If Royal said more, I didn’t hear it. As the final words left my mouth, the feeling in my heart burst free and filled my limbs. I looked down at my hands to see tiny sparks of lightning arc between my fingers. The centre of my chest glowed bright green, and the light bounced off my suit turning me into a chakra disco ball. To my eyes, the minions and all their edges had begun to glow in a strange mix of colours. As I looked at each in turn, it became clear, it was so obvious really, that each colour represented their pain, their injury, be it physical or spiritual.

I walked to the centre of the room and stretched out my arms. The light within me grew warmer, brighter and I felt its energy as I watched bands of green lightning move from my heart, down my arms and out my hands.

The lightning moved slowly through the room, it undulated like a wave over the minions, each strand locking onto an injured body, penetrating its chest and coiling around its heart. I stood in the centre of that room, a maypole of energy, feeling my self, my power, wrap around the heart of each minion.

I closed my eyes, I didn’t need them to see what my people needed. I pushed my power deeper into their bodies feeling it turn from green to blue as I explored them. I sought out each wound, each hurt, each fear and I coated it with my power. I felt my energy stitch every rip closed until all their hearts beat in unison with my own.

I heard the minions sigh.

And then, like a mother kissing her child before turning out the light, I gave them all one last pulse of energy before gently pulling back my power, uncoiling it from their hearts, one by one, until I stood alone and glowing in the centre of the room.