Gate: The Sun

I stepped through the vision gate into a packed arena where charioteers raced in a circle.  Their horses were made of flame and as they rushed by, the light sparkled and reflected off of the cheering audience.  The charioteers went around and around in a hypnotic pattern as I began to levitate above the crowd.  As I looked down upon the race and observers from a higher vantage point, I saw the interaction of both revealed a pattern, the ancient symbol of the sun, a circle with a dot in its center.

“Heidi, wake up!” I heard and was jostled.  I blinked and found myself somewhere new, sitting in front of a fire burning deep within an ancient forest.  “You must wake up,” said the voice.  “There is something in the woods.”

I pulled my attention from the fire and beheld my friends, Badger and Snake in their human forms, standing close to me and gazing into the trees which suddenly appeared all around us. Though both appeared unarmed to my eyes, they were on high alert, prepared to take the necessary measures if shadows came from the surrounding darkness.

“There is always something in the woods,” I said, taking their arms in my own in an effort to comfort them.  “Let’s be patient while it comes. Have either of you met anyone new recently in the Inner Worlds? I had some interesting experiences with Cernunnos, very near this glade I think. There is also this stone from Hades which you must see…”

As I shared my latest adventures with Badger and Snake, groans, sighs and a cold breeze moved through the trees, but our cheery fire kept most of the unpleasantness at bay.  I fell silent when a gray mist came from the forest edge and crept towards me and my friends.  “Heidi…” the mist whispered. “Heidi…”

“I am here. Who calls?” I said as Badger and Snake rose to their feet once more, placing themselves between me and the mist.

“We do, the spirits of the forest,” came the answer and the mist began to coalesce into humanoid figures.  There were soldiers, hunters, women, and children in the crowd.  Some had terrible injuries and all stared with blank, blind eyes at a reality that only they could see.  My friends and I were soon surrounded by a ghostly host of undead mist.

“Who are you?” I asked, aghast at their appearance.

“Stay back,” Snake warned as a particularly dangerous looking warrior brandished his weapon.

“We are those who died in these woods and now are trapped here,” came the sighing answer.  “Some had mishaps while hunting.”  A spirit moved away from the others with an antler hanging from his translucent mid-section.  “Others were felled by treachery.”  Another ghost moved past with an arrow in his back.  “And yet others of us chose our end out of despair.  We are the suicides under the trees.”  A young man with a noose around his neck approached us and his head swung at an unnatural angle from his body.

“We are the frightened, the luckless, the lost hopes,” the spirits whispered. “We own these woods and you are not welcome here, one who walks with Badger and Snake.”  As one, the motley assembly turned their blind eyes upon us and approached with grasping claws.  “You will die now and join us in our suffering.”

“Like hell we will,” Badger declared, changing into his animal spirit form and showing his sharp teeth.

“I walk where I will to alleviate suffering wherever it may be found,” I said. “We can help you. Give us a chance to put your ancient grudges to rest.”

The ghostly host was undeterred by Badger’s warning or my appeal and continued to approach, their ghastly claws passing through my form as if they were nothing more than the mist they had emerged from.  “We may not touch you,” the spirits sighed after some fruitless attacks. “Then we will take your friends in your place.”

As one, the spirits turned and ran at Badger and Snake. When their claws began to rip into my companions, I raised my hands in warning and a building anger.  “You will not harm my friends,” I declared. “They are protected by Love as much as I.” As I spoke, Snake and Badger’s skin glowed with a golden light.  The ghosts who had lain hands on them cried out as their claws began to smoke with the fierce energy that poured from my friends.

Grumbling now but wary, the ghosts hovered around us, contemplating their next move. “Why do you not pass into the realm of the dead and leave this unnatural state?” I said. “I have walked in the Halls of the Underworld and they seem a far better place than this.”

The ghosts moaned but did not answer so I reached into my pocket and pulled out the stone Hades had given to me.  I held the stone to my eyes and the spirits were not visible when I peered through the sapphire.  “Strange,” I said. “This host appears only on this level of reality and not a deeper one. I wonder what that means. Do you guys know?”

While Badger shrugged, Snake held out his hand for the stone which I gave to him. Then he repeated my experiment of peering through it at the ghosts. “I would love to hear Lord Hades’ opinion on the subject,” Snake said at last, handing the stone back to me. “But I think it means they’re trapped here, unable to access the other worlds for whatever reason.”

“What are we going to do?” asked Badger. “We cannot leave these lost ones in a spiritual purgatory.”

“I agree for the ones who walk this path next might not share the same divine protection that we enjoy,” I said. “We must find what is keeping these spirits from their rest not only for their sake but also the future.”

“First things first,” Snake said. “We’ve got to get out of this glade without injuring the ones who need our help. I have an idea. Badger, help me.”