Teriah & the Tree of Life. (2)

The dimly lit cave was unerringly cool despite the dimming embers of fire beneath the large black concocting pot. Warmth was a luxury that Teriah had long forgotten. The simmering pot occupied her entire senses as she stirred its contents at a slow even pace.

"Mmm.. It is ready now."

"I believe its time for us to cross over to the spirit realm." the Tshamari's deep cold voice boomed from behind her.

"Put the spirit severing potion into these vials. Take one and store the rest."

The magical potion felt smooth in her mouth. Teriah gulped it down at once filled with apprehension and excitement urged on by the Tshamari's soulless eyes.

Putting the empty vial down Teriah felt her whole body tingle and the whole cave around her began to swirl. She staggered back and fell to her knees. She felt the Tshamari's cold hand hold her left hand to steel her.

"Don't fight it. Just let go and close your eyes."

Teriah did so and a bright white light engulfed her. She was falling. Falling and swirling away so far down or was it up. And what was that sound. It was like the roar of a huge waterfall so far away. Was she imagining it all.

The sound of the huge waterfall came closer and closer until it was all she could hear. Teriah began to panic. Her eyes were still tightly shut and she held on to the Tshamari's hand tightly.

"Open your eyes and follow me child. Walk ahead and do not fear."

Teriah opened her eyes and in front of her was nothing but raging water rushing down with pure viciousness. They were inside the hugest waterfall she had ever seen in all her life! She hesitated fearing to approach lest the raging waters swallowed her whole and sent her plunging down to a deep, dark wet abyss.

The Tshamari urged her on impatiently. As she stepped forward she was stunned as the raging waters parted in front of her. Like a magnificent white curtain, the waterfall parted to reveal the most beautiful magical land that seemed to have no end, undulating on and on to forever.

"Everything you see before your eyes exists in spirit form. We are partly in spirit form hence we are not welcome here." the Tshamari's cold voice explained as they walked forward stepping into the spirit realm.

As they walked Teriah was truly amazed. She lifted her hand to feel the air. Her hand was so light it was unreal.

"Jump."

She did and she felt herself float effortlessly, like a weightless feather sliding through the air under the soft wind. As her feet slowly came down to touch the ground, the tall lush grass retreated back slowly as if her touch was harmful to them.

Teriah frowned at this development.

"You cannot touch anything here for you are not of this world."

The Tshamari leaned to touch a beautiful blooming azure flower. She picked it up and smelled its golden fragrance and let it go. It floated away like a celestial butterfly. She smiled at Teriah's quizzical look.

"You are more human than spirit. As you deepen your connection to this world you'll be more attuned to it and it will slowly come to accept you."

Teriah nodded. Looking back at the raging waterfall behind them she now understood its parting.

"How does one deepen the connection?"

"What does the spirit realm require of a tshamari?" Endless questions surfaced in Teriah's mind and she voiced them out in a rush of excitement and awe.

The Tshamari with the rarest of smiles gestured forward to the center of the vast ethereal world , to an enormous tree that stood majestic at its center.

Teriah gasped utterly surprised that she had not noticed it at first. It was as if it had suddenly appeared only after the Tshamari had gestured towards it acknowledging its existence.

Simply saying the tree was an enormous existence would never give it justice. This would be a lie. The giant magnificent tree was so tall it easily overshadowed the tallest mountains and hills in all of Sereti. It spread so wide and vast it cast a humongous shadow beneath it that could cover and shame the African sun.

All around it, from top to bottom bloomed surreal, exquisite golden flowers that radiated with rich spiritual essence. At the center of each of these beautiful flowers was a tightly sealed bud that shone even brighter giving the tree a glowing twinkling essence and vibe.

These exquisite golden flowers bloomed in every shoot, in every branch. It would take literally tens and tens of years to try and count them.

"This is the tree of life."

Teriah stood extremely still, her face fixated on the wonder tree, her eyes unmoving and wide in utter wonder and astonishment. Her mind could not fathom a reply or a question at that moment.

"The golden flowers you see are called life flowers."

"Every blooming flower signifies the spirit of a being in the world of the living."

"At the very top are human spirit life flowers, below them are life flowers of animals, then birds and lastly at the bottom are insects and all forms of miniature life forms."

"Every time a life form is born in the human world, a life flower opens up and every time a life form dies the life bud at the center of the life flower opens, releasing that spirit into the spirit world."

"When the life bud opens up, the life flower completes its function and it withers and falls off."

As if on cue, Teriah watched as numerous life buds within the exquisite golden flowers from the bottom and middle of the huge life tree opened up releasing a surreal misty essence into the air.

The golden life flowers then softly withered up and fell off, slowly falling towards the ground. However they too turned into a surreal golden mist and disappeared before they reached the ground.

Teriah's human mind struggled to grasp and understand what she was seeing before her eyes.

"These spirits, where do they go.?"

The Tshamari let out a small bemused laugh. It did not escape Teriah that today was the day she had heard the Tshamari's laugh for the first time in her life. She however did not interrupt her and remained silent, her eyes observing the unnatural scene that was unfolding before her.

"Where do they go? Haha back to the spirit world of course."

" This world before us is the gateway to the spirit world. It exists between the human and spirit world."

"The spirits come here before they can move on to their next life."

"They are everywhere, all around you. But you can't see them now , your eyes are human after all."

Teriah followed the Tshamari's gaze that wandered all around them and settled just next to her but not at her. The Tshamari held a bemused mysterious smile.

Teriah understanding at once stepped closer to her master holding her gray robe. Her panicking eyes wandered left and right, she suddenly felt very self conscious. This got another laugh out of the tall usually stern and gloomy spirit medium.

"Err.. So the spirits released here eventually move on. How do they? and how long are they permitted to stay here? Is the real spirit realm similar to this one?" Teriah launched a barrage of incessant questions as she forcefully tried to steady herself. She also willfully stopped looking around like a frightened deer.

"That is another process altogether. One that you'll come to know of much much later."

The Tshamari stopped walking ahead, but they were still far far away from the magnificent tree of life.

"This is the limit that you can approach. Now listen closely..."

"As you can see before you, for every life flower that opens its life bud and withers away a new one blooms to take its place."

Sure enough life flowers had began to sprout and bloom where the previous golden life flowers had withered and fallen off.

"This is the cycle of life. This is the balance that must be maintained. Death begets life and thus life begets death."

"A life lost, a life gained. This is how it was ever since the inception of life, and this is how it shall remain to be. Forever."

"This where as tshamari, the spirit mediums come in. To ensure this vast cycle of life is forever untainted."

Teriah still shell shocked at the revelations she was experiencing could not find her voice to ask but the experienced tshamari read her eyes.

" The world as you know it would come to an abrupt end. Only darkness and utter chaos would befall both worlds if this balance were to one day be completely disrupted. Utter chaos that I would never wish your beautiful eyes to witness my child." The tshamari spoke softly as she raised her head to look at the top of the majestic tree.

"How do we maint...." Teriah suddenly winced in pain as a sharp excruciating pain welled up in her head without warning.

"Its time we went back. The spirit world is not for the living."

"Do you hear that sharp shrill scream inside your head?"

Teriah gasped. She had felt it for a while but it was so slight, so distant. Now it was becoming louder and louder and her head felt like it was splitting into two.

"The more you stay here, the more excruciating it becomes. If you ever get trapped here, that scream will drive you insane but the pain alone will make you gorge out your eyes long before you die the most excruciating of deaths."

Moments later a profusely sweating Teriah breathed a sigh of relief when they passed through the passing waterfall of rage. The world started spinning and spiraling and before long they were back to their dark underground lair.

"That was just a glimpse into the spirit world. There are more secrets to be revealed before you can truly begin on the path to be a tshamari."

"When the time is right, we shall continue. For now you need to close your eyes and rest. The trip today has taken its toll."

"Come to me when you are fully rested."

Teriah nodded, feeling overwhelmed to the core. She was looking forward to learning more about the mystical spirit world and of the divine tree of life but as she battled with the repercussions on her body and mind, the spirit world didn't seem as magical and ethereal as it once did.