Edataka

They stood outside of the temple doors waiting to be let in. The temple was beautiful, in the middle of the forest yet looking like it was sitting on a cloud, very tall white and sky-blue columns going to the sky. “How long do we have to sit here?” she said

“Look we each got the golden trinkets so we came and now we wait” she said

“The two of you are very dramatic, you drug me along for this ride! I wasn’t going to come even with the invitation.” he said

They stood outside the temple still waiting to go inside. A tall golden woman walked out of the building from the entrance hall.

“Welcome Belinda, Daksha, and Elias. I am Ziva, I will be showing you how to hone your inner vibrancy. Tatakala is a power beyond comprehension, your village has always had to choose three. Come you will find your path” Ziva said

They followed Ziva down the halls of the temple, the room was the walls and tables were made of marble chiseled to perfection. They went all the way down the hall, she led them into a room in the middle of the room. There was a fountain that flashed fire, water, dirt and air. The walls were decorated with beautiful pictures of a woman dressed in green with thick long curly hair and espresso color skin, she was holding the big yellow orb, gold, rubies, and emerald were dancing at her feet. They marveled at how beautiful the room was, Ziva stood in front of the fountain, she looked at each of them with hunger in her eyes.

“Each of you will enter the room and begin your journey, Edataka will guide you through the encompass” Ziva said “First you will go Belinda”

“Me?! I- I can’t go, I mean I should not go first maybe Elias or Daksha” Belinda exclaimed

“You were picked to go first, you must enter” Ziva said to her

Belinda slowly but cautiously walked over to this wide silver and gold door, she looked back at the other two, she entered inside of the room. It was daylight she was in the middle of a meadow, she turned around to go back but the door was no longer there.

“Welcome” a tall chestnut man wearing all red said behind her she turned around to him.

“Obi” he said to her “And you are Belinda, yes?”

“I am” she said

“Do you have the trinket?” Obi said

She reached into her bag she pulled out an oval mirror that was gold, red and green. He reached out his hands, she sat it in the palm of his hands.

“Thank You” he said calmly “Have you looked into it yet?”

She shrugged her shoulders “I know I’m not supposed to but I did”

Obi smiled at her “The casual honesty. I like it. Come on, let’s begin”

“It’s nothing but field out here where are we going?” she said

“You won’t get out of here with that mentality” he said cocking his head to the side with a smile

Belinda scoffed as she reluctantly followed him through the meadow, she felt as if she walked for hours, the sun never went down. When she looked up, she noticed there were four suns in the sky.

“Why are there four suns?” she questioned

“Now you ask questions, It’s the forever light four suns, never ending light” Obi replied

“Never ending light? Wait- I'm supposed to ask questions I thought you were the guide” she said

“A guide, a mirror, a reflection, a river, what’s the difference?” Obi said

“Three of those things are inanimate objects” she replied

“All of them give meaning to a person’s life” Obi replied “Why do you think your parents chose you when you do not believe in the tatakala? You do not believe in the power that has brought you here” he said

“I don’t know because like you said I don’t believe in this abnormal stuff; we were chosen and we came” she said

They continued to walk in the field for a little while longer in silence “How long will we walk in silence going nowhere”

“However long it takes you to realize that it is you going nowhere” Obi said

She looked at him surprised “Ah, I’m going nowhere?”

He raised his eyebrows at her “Even if you do not want to, people in your village come to you for answers because know that you know them that you can give them what they seek”

She scoffed “I can't be the one giving answers all the time!”

“You don’t want to be the one giving answers all the time. You are lost, you have an unwielded ability, you like books, to create and yet you can master the reason for which you stand in this meadow. Instead, you stay content with walking through this field mindlessly” Obi said to her

“WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?! HUH?! BELIEVE THAT POWERS AND MAGIC EXIST! BELIEVE I CAN HELP MY VILLAGE WITH KNOWLEDGE AND THE POWER YOU ALL CASUALLY CLAIM I POSSESS?!” she yelled

A gust of wind shook the field, leaves, poppies and iris flowers formed a tornado around them. Obi stood there calm; Belinda covered her face with her arms. The flower tornado calmed down and flew off into the sky, when she lifted her hands, she stood in front of a river.

“Now look” Obi said while holding the mirror in front of her face, she looked into the mirror and saw herself with her eyes glowing lavender, her clothes were lavender colored silk wrapped around her body. Belinda looked down to see her clothes had changed, she lifted her hands and a purple light emitted from them.

“What is this?” she asked

“Not only will you be knowledgeable, you will have the power to see the past and the future, to see all outcomes of all paths, all the methods that can and would be taken, to levitate things with your light that can also grow life” Obi said

Belinda laughed “This is real, this is me”

“And no one can take this from you trust in yourself” Obi said

Belinda laughed and danced with the meadow, the ground sung beneath her feet with every move, she closed her eyes and got carried away with the wind.

“How did you get back here? What are you wearing?” Elias said

Belinda opened her eyes, she seen Elias, Daksha and Ziva looking at her. “It was successful” Ziva said with a smile

“It’s your turn Elias” Ziva said

“Uhm, okay” Elias walked up to the door, he stood there for just a beat he slowly reached his hand down and opened the door, as he walked through, he noticed the room was dark. He heard the door being shut behind him. A fire stick was hanging on the wall, he grabbed the fire stick and noticed the room he was in was made of rock. He walked through entranceway in the cave, he walked down and noticed three small caves of water separate from each other with blue light emitting from them, he turned towards the way he came down deciding if he wanted to go back. Behind him he could hear splashes of water when he turned back around, he seen three tall almond toned women with long curly hair emerging from their own cave of water. Their eyes were covered with cloth, they stepped onto the surface of the cave, he could hear water dripping from their clothes onto the pavement of the cave.

“Hello” they said in unison

“I I think I’m in the wrong place” he said alarmed

“No Elias you are not” they said to him

“Look my friends brought me here, I’m not really keen on the funniness of this situation” Elias said

“Liar” they said in unison as they moved closer to Elias

“What?! NO! I “he said frustratingly

“You came because you were curious, curious if it were true” they said

Elias laughed in disbelief “I am curious about if the rumors are true” he pulled out of his pocket a golden figurine of a little boy holding a staff “Here, I know the stories I know I give this to the guide”

The three women lifted their heads up to the sky, the water from their coves lifted up into the air, moved through the air and created a dome in front of Elias. He placed the figurine in the dome, the water retreated back behind the women. The figurine lit up in the closer it got to the pool of water; the women moved back towards their respective coves.

“We are the Mieke, why do you think you were chosen?” they said

“I know that the villagers choose who goes” he said

“No, the trinkets choses, they call to you, they hum to you” the Miekes’ said

“I feel like I belong here that this is what I’m supposed to be doing, this is my calling. I want to be here. I didn’t think that I would be chosen, Belinda, everyone loves her, she is smart and creative, Daksha is a natural leader she takes charge but I have nothing but I still wanted to be here, I wanted to bring peace to our people” he said

“You hold the people together, bring solutions” they said

“Excuse me?” he said bewildered

“You tip the scales” they said

“No, I-” he started

“Yes, when people have problems they seek to you for solutions, to mend the final decision” they said

“I am the balance” he replied the figurine shone brighter in the water and started humming the sound vibrated against the walls of the cave and the water, the Miekes’ lifted their hands and their heads to the sky. The entire cave lit up with the blue light, Elias opened his eyes he had a staff in his hands that was yellow, he looked down and his clothes were yellow. Elias spun the staff around, it hummed with each turn, he stopped and stabbed the staff into the ground. The entire room went silent, he looked at the staff in shock.

“You will continue to be the balance, the calm within the storm, the waters, the earth will dance when you speak.” the Miekes’ said in unison

The room went darker, when he looked around, he was back in the room with the three women. Ziva and Belinda smiled at him; Daksha looked at him confused.

“Now it is your turn, I will personally go through with you. I will be your guide” Zivaa said

“Cool” Daksha said as she followed Ziva to the door, they opened it and walked through. They entered a dark vast room, there was a bowl with symbols on it, the sun, the moon, and water were on it. There was smoke coming from the bowl, Ziva sat across from the bowl, she pointed across from her and motioned her head to guide her to sit. Daksha sat down across from Ziva and the bowl, she watched Ziva close her eyes.

“What are we doing?”

“Shush” Ziva said

“Okay” Daksha sternly whispered

They sat in the dark with the bowl, for what seemed like hours of watching paint drip, Daksha looked up to notice that the darkness was moving, she thought her eyes were deceiving her.

“Why do you think three are chosen?” Ziva said with her eyes still closed

“It used to be four, but fourth decided to not have children, they felt like they couldn’t give a child their full attention” Daksha said

Ziva smiled at her “The three of you are descendants of the three that did continue the legacy, every third generation since one child is chosen, your families are always big.”

“Your brothers and sisters weren’t happy you were chosen.” A voice appeared behind her, Ziva looked up at the espresso toned women wearing all orange her hair was big and poofy.

“Where did you come from? You are the woman on the walls. Edataka?” Daksha said

“Yes I am, the creator of all magic the tatakala” Edataka said

“The trinkets chose the three of you but do you know why you?” Edataka questioned

“No Madam I do not” she said

Edataka smiled “Sense of duty, the warrior. Of course, there are people who surpass you in training but you think first”

Daksha held a golden throwing knife towards Edataka, she clasped the knife and Daksha’s hand in between hers “Thank You” she said

Daksha nodded, she stood in front of the tall woman looking at her, Edataka lifted her hands and stars appeared in the sky.

“You don’t think I’m a warrior?” Daksha

“Honey, I don’t talk to the sun if it doesn’t shine” Edataka said

“I’m not a leader, I’m too afraid to lead the people toward the wrong end of the river” Daksha said

“You mentioned, the fourth that didn’t want children, not believing they could give attention, full attention. She too thought she could not lead, that she could not give people what they really needed” Edataka said

You really want me to believe that?” she asked

“Hmm ask Ziva” Edataka said

Daksha turned to Ziva; Ziva gave a knowing smile to Daksha “You mean?” she said surprised

“The four are here, the Miekes’ used to be one and their power split them into three. If we could help our people long ago so can the three of you, everything you need is right in front of you, begging you to be released. Unleash yourself from yourself before you can free yourself from someone else. When you question yourself, look in yourself and then to the sky to know that we have blessed you. That you blessed yourself for being the first to give you a chance, for opening yourself when you need to” Edataka said

Stars fell from the sky, the danced around Daksha her clothes changed she had indigo pants and shirt embroidered with diamonds along her neckline, she had a sheath on her right hip and on the left hip she had brass knuckles with a circle obsidian extending from the fingers. Daksha looked up at them, she disappeared and ended up in the room with the other two and Ziva.

“You all have passed, go back to home and protect our people, you have horses waiting outside for you and they are yours to keep. Have a wonderful journey. Good Fortune from this day forward” Ziva said smiling at them “I know you will do great things.”