Gate: Six of Swords

I stepped through the vision gate and found myself standing under a bright sun in a desert world. The landscape was dotted with cactus that had been stunted by the tremendous power that was pouring from the sky. Heat rose from the ground in waves and caused distortions in the air which took the shape of hovering salamanders who circled in space, perpetually swallowing their own tails. I found myself wiping the sweat from my face and forehead mere moments after entering the gate.

“I hate being overly warm,” I said as I began my trek through the sand. “Hopefully there won’t be any dangerous spirits here too.” I carefully watched my steps, looking for telltale signs of any stinging or biting desert creatures and thankfully found nothing.

After marching past a particularly tall sand dune, a great ziggurat burst from the sand to stand beneath the scorching sun. “How lovely,” I said, admiring the construction and well-placed blocks that made up the monument. “I wonder how long it took the engineers and builders to make that. I imagine quite a lot but since I’ve never made one of these things myself maybe I’m being overly pessimistic.”

I approached the ziggurat and began climbing the stairs, noticing serpentine artwork running along both sides of the steps. The art came alive as I made my way upwards so that two mammoth emerald green snakes were soon climbing the stairs as well.

“Thank you for taking the stairs with me,” I said. “I really don’t like to take these sorts of passages alone.”

The serpents didn’t respond to my words but I felt their presence as additional physical strength in my own body. I also discovered that the desert heat didn’t touch me anymore as well. Their silence and struggle upwards was a form of companionship that worked just as well as words.

“I’m so lucky to have you both,” I said. “Anybody know what’s at the top of the stairs?”

All of a sudden, my sun-reflecting clothing of white linen disappeared. A cloak made of brilliant red and orange feathers appeared on my shoulders and bracelets made of the same materialized on my ankles, upper arms, and wrists.

“Would you look at that?” I said as I took a twirl on the temple steps. “It doesn’t do a thing to protect my skin from the sun but this attire should be much cooler. Where are your feathers, twin serpents?”

The snakes did not respond in words but halted their climb to wrap themselves around my body like two protective chains. One brought his face level with my own and stuck his forked tongue out at me. I laughed and stuck my tongue out back at him. Then, both snakes melted into my spirit to become one with me. I felt their strength animating my limbs even more than before. As we continued upwards on the seemingly endless steps, a rhythmic chanting began, the sound drifting down from the top of the ziggurat.

After more climbing and sweating beneath the merciless sun, I finally reached the top of the monument which was shaped like a square platform. Other dancers appeared when I reached the summit and they were also dressed in bright feathers like me. As they chanted and swayed to the beat of many drummers, I went among them and we danced, swirling our limbs and feathery cloaks about ourselves in a primal coordinated pattern which the serpents in my spirit knew as well as their own names. I allowed the twin snakes to move my limbs in the ancient rite, trusting that they knew what they were doing, and lost myself to the dance.

The raw beauty of the song and dance absorbed our consciousnesses, making the many dancers and I into one being as our living energy rose from that sacred space and sent its unclaimed power up into the sky. As the power built through the collective consciousness upon the platform, I felt the serpents separate themselves from my spirit once more. They changed into lithe young men who were dressed exactly like everyone else. The twin serpents took my hands and danced on either side of me as they had on the steps, creating a smaller circle of the three of us within the center of the ecstatic feathered dancers upon the platform.

A crowd gathered around the base of the ziggurat far below. They did not dance as those of us upon the platform but they chanted along with the song and so added to the energy of the ceremony through their voices. As the energy built into a frenzy, some of the dancers began to wail, losing control of their minds in the ancient and powerful ritual of the ziggurat. Just as I began to fear for my own sanity because of the unclaimed and uncontrolled power rising all around, the song ended abruptly with three massive drum beats. BOOM BOOM BOOM.

My two dancing serpents changed back into their animal forms and leapt back into my spirit. All of the other dancers and the observing crowd threw themselves to the ground as a dark shadow moved in the sky above us and began to descend from on high, circling down from some immeasurable distance. As the shadow plunged, it changed into an enormous bird with feathers the color of our cloaks and landed atop the platform to survey the ritual participants.

I did not bow down with the others and the sky spirit spotted me immediately as I stood amongst the featured dancers in a place of prominence within his earthly temple.

“Why do you not worship me?” the massive sky spirit croaked. “I am a god and deserving of your obeisance.”