Divine Awakening

The unexpected fight didn’t mean Ash could take the rest of the day off. He had searched the bodies for cash before letting the lake claim them and now added that money to his hoard. Each group had fifty thousand in American hundred-dollar bills, their payment to kill him and Grandpa Pine. The vehicles had another five thousand in them, and Stash had ten grand plus a twenty-four-word seed phrase for a crypto-wallet which Ash memorized.

Ash used his Root chakra to increase his strength and lifted a massive boulder near the shed. Pulling the nearest duffel bag closer, he tossed the money inside before dropping the rock. He hadn’t counted in over a year, but he estimated the rock hid over ten million dollars and all his crypto wallets probably held ten times that much.

Money didn’t hold any power over Ash, as he had everything he needed, but over the years he’d experienced the various ways other than assassination the cartels used to force them off the farm.

So now Ash had the money to pay property taxes and the utilities, even when vast sections of the avocado crop got ruined somehow, or if the trucks with their harvested crop disappeared with no trace, or a dozen other schemes used to bankrupt them.

The irony wasn’t lost on Ash that with his seventeenth birthday coming up, he could have bought a thousand motorcycles had he wanted. Once again, he felt tempted to purchase one, just to see the look on his grandpa’s face.

The dirty business of cleaning up such a massive attack consumed all his allotted time for chakra awakening, so he started his chores instead, heading out into the grove with a ladder and pruning pole.

Ash returned to the house six hours later. The old pickup sat between the house and shed meaning grandpa had made it home safely. Music escaped from the open windows, and Ash smiled at his grandpa’s love of old salsa music.

Opening the shed door, the hinges complained loudly, and Ash slid into the dark interior, hanging the ladder and pruning pole from some large rusty hooks. As he exited the structure, he heard laughter from the house, causing him to freeze.

Ash hadn’t heard his grandpa laugh like that in years. Did they have company? No one ever came here, except to try and kill them. Confused, he slapped the dust and leaves covering his ripped jeans and tucked in his t-shirt. He glanced at his dirty feet, wishing he’d worn boots instead of sandals.

Moving cautiously toward the front door, Ash heard the laughter again, followed by a softer, lighter laugh. His chakras lay dormant, not a single sensation coming from any of them. It felt like they’d all fallen asleep.

Ash opened the door and stepped inside, the music becoming louder. His grandpa sat at the table with a guest, telling the story of when six-year-old-Ash had found a nest of eggs and come running home crying with eight baby crocodiles hanging like jewelry from his body. The tiny creatures biting so hard, Ash couldn’t rip them off.

Grandpa Pine finished the story, laughing as he showed the guest a polaroid picture he’d taken to commemorate the event, causing more light laughter from the guest. Ash already knew who the person was, the white hair giving her away. It also explained the other set of dead ambushers. The Bamboo Viper Step Master his grandpa had requested had arrived.

“Clearly an example of child abuse,” Ash said, closing the door as he stepped into the room.

Grandpa Pine looked up at him and frowned. “What did you do to your face?”

Ash touched his face, confirming the skin where the bullet had grazed him had healed completely, and he’d changed out of his bloody clothes after disposing of all the evidence. His Root chakra would take longer to heal the calf wound, and it burned with pain, but his grandpa had focused on Ash’s face, not his leg.

“What’s wrong?” Ash asked.

Grandpa Pine strode over and studied Ash’s face. “The side of your face is streaked with blood. Did you get hurt?”

Ash cursed himself for not cleaning his face. The wound had healed so fast, he’d forgotten about it until now.

The woman stood and faced Ash—her movements so perfectly balanced his eyes widened in shock. He had long ago learned to never judge anything by its looks, but the fact this woman looked his age or maybe even younger, made the movements seem impossible. This close her eyes looked normal, although her irises matched the black of her pupil, and he wondered what he’d seen earlier today. She had sharp features, and he couldn’t place her ancestry. Regardless, her severe beauty would turn heads.

Grandpa Pine stepped to the side and bowed to the woman, before speaking to Ash. “This is Viper Grandmaster Echo. Our Step Clan sent her to do an evaluation.”

Ash immediately made a fist with his right hand and placed his left palm atop it, bowing deeply. “Your presence honors us, Grandmaster.”

Echo repeated the palm over fist gesture and bowed slightly. “It is an honor to serve,” she replied in perfect Spanish.

An awkward silence followed, and Ash couldn’t get any indication of her personality, so he fished for information. “Did you travel far?”

Echo shrugged. “That depends on your perspective. I arrived early enough to stroll around, though, and found things more interesting than I expected, before your grandfather picked me up in town.”

Ash tried to hide his discomfort and worry at Echo’s obvious allusion to the men she’d watched Ash kill. Grandpa Pine wasn’t stupid, and he knew Ash fought to protect their land, but Grandpa certainly didn’t know how much killing Ash had done. If it came out now, it would trigger hours of lectures on the sacredness of life and killing as a last resort.

Echo turned to Grandpa Pine and continued. “I especially appreciated the plaza del diablo. The sculptures of the damned trying to reach the central fountain contained a truly dramatic flair.”

Ash mentally sighed in relief, thankful for the Grandmaster’s discretion.

Still trying to understand what her visit involved he asked another probing question. “Will you be here long? There is a lot to see.”

Echo shook her head. “One, maybe two days, and then a short business trip for my father.”

“Let’s sit and talk,” Pine said.

Ash knew the Grandmaster had come to evaluate him, but he didn’t know when that would start. He didn’t want to wash up if they were going to spar in a few minutes. “Is it okay to clean-up?”

Grandpa Pine waited for Echo to sit, and responded while he did the same. “We so rarely have guests I thought we’d celebrate your birthday a little early, and the Grandmaster graciously pushed your evaluation to tomorrow.”

Ash bowed again. “Thank you, that is very considerate.” He excused himself and strode directly to the bathroom. Looking in the mirror he cursed again. His face had streaks of dirt in addition to blood, and his hair contained crushed leaves.

After washing up, Ash rubbed the healing salve his grandpa made on his calf injury. The medicine numbed the pain considerably, and he changed into unripped jeans and a clean button-down shirt before returning to his grandpa and their guest.

“I brought your favorite,” Pine said with a happy smile.

Ash took in the mound of deep fried quekas occupying the center of the table, and his mouth watered. A small birthday cake sat to the side. He stepped up to his grandpa and hugged him. “Thank you, abuelo.”

Ash sat facing the window, which placed his grandpa to his right and Echo to the left. A can of michelada sat unopened in front of him, beads of moisture covering the cold can. He picked it up and slowly rotated it upside down, giving time for the lime and tomato juice to remix with the beer.

Echo sipped hers. “Much better than I expected. The only other time I visited, I had a much darker type.”

That simple statement highlighted what Ash still hadn’t wrapped his head around, because if he and Grandpa were the only practitioners of the Bamboo Viper Steps on Earth, it meant Echo had come from someplace—not Earth.

Ash couldn’t shake that thought as he considered how crazy his life had become. Who would believe he’d spent his almost-seventeenth birthday having quekas and micheladas with a kung fu alien.

“Your grandpa told me you accidentally triggered the Journeyman trial a couple of years ago,” Echo said.

Grandpa Pine laughed as he served the quekas. “I had really hidden that crossing stone, too. I’m still confused on how he found it.”

One of the few times Ash had sensed his Crown chakra was when it had triggered while snooping in his grandpa’s bedroom, leading him directly to the false floorboard.

“It still feels unreal to me,” Ash responded. “Like a fever dream. I’ve never experienced anything like that place.” He shivered. “Such terrible memories.”

Echo smiled, her teeth white and perfect like only braces could create. “I can relate. When I finally went, I’d overprepared by decades. Or at least I thought I had. It turned out the hardest part was mental.”

The “decades” comment confirmed what Ash had guessed. Echo was far older than she looked. Like an elf or hobbit or something.

“I still have nightmares about the big snakes that spit out the little ones,” Ash said. “I don’t know how that guy actually killed one.”

Echo froze, becoming so still, it triggered Ash’s Third Eye, which had remained dormant until now.

Ash put down his michelada. “Are you all ri—”

“What guy?” Echo asked, interrupting Ash.

The faint scent of cinnamon appeared from somewhere.

Ash sighed. “I’m a little embarrassed to admit this, but I got stuck at the top, and—”

Echo interrupted again. “You didn’t stop at the glade? Why would you venture farther than you needed to?”

Ash shrugged. “I didn’t think any of it was real, to be honest. I kept expecting to wake up.”

“The guy?” Echo prompted.

“Right,” Ash continued. “I got stuck near the mountain top. I mean right at the top. I could see the grass just pass the barrier, but all this mental baggage I didn’t even know I had crushed me, and I couldn’t move. Then those giant snakes surrounded me, and I had to meditate to keep them from attacking me.”

Echo studied Ash, her focus so intense it made his heart race.

“Anyway, I don’t know how long I sat there. Too terrified to move as three of those massive snakes circled me. Then out of nowhere, this guy appears. He’s wearing the head of one of these snakes like a helmet. Dried blood covered his face, and I don’t know if it was his or the snake’s. I’ll tell you this, it scared the living hell out of me.”

Echo nodded. “What did he do?”

“He smashed a bunch of those magic berries into my mouth, picked me up, and threw me. Threw me right past the boundary. I landed in the grass, my terror turning to confusion, and then horror as I realized that guy was alone with three of those large vipers.”

Ash’s voice grew quiet, and he couldn’t keep the immense sadness he felt from seeping into his words. “He’d used the last of his energy saving me, and he collapsed to the ground. He struggled to move toward the boundary, but whatever burdens he carried must have been immense. As the snakes attacked, he reached out, trying to get a finger past the barrier, but it looked hopeless.”

Echo remained silent, absorbed by the story.

The scent of cinnamon grew stronger.

Ash swallowed hard, his mouth dry and his throat tight with emotion. “I tried to go back, to help him, but I smashed into that barrier, and it wouldn’t let me back. He seemed content, like saving me was enough.”

Ash cleared his throat and took a sip of his drink. “In a blink I found myself near a temple, the man, the snakes, the boundary, gone. It’s the worst part of that nightmare, knowing a stranger had helped me when I’d failed, and it cost him his life. It’s something I just can’t fathom and a burden that crushes me.”

They sat in silence for ten seconds, Echo not even appearing to breathe.

Finally, Echo broke the silence. “What did he look like?”

Grandpa Pine nodded at Ash in encouragement.

Ash sighed. “Like I said, it left a strong impression on me. People don’t help me, but when I needed it most, he did.”

Ash nodded toward the window, at the small table with the plant and drawing. He had captured the man’s fierce blue eyes, determined jaw, and horrifying helmet perfectly. It was probably the best picture he’d ever drawn.

Echo slowly turned and strode to the picture, picking it up. She studied the drawing for thirty seconds, and her hands trembled. Ash wondered how the man was important to her, and if she might punish Ash for getting the man killed.

Finally, Echo shook her head, and gently returned the picture to the table.

Ash and his grandpa exchanged a concerned look, but they didn’t speak.

Echo faced Ash and whispered, as if talking to herself. “They said you and I shared a connection. One of those three witches could have warned me.”