Eye of Horus.

 It is not a particularly troubling memory, nor it is frightening, but is haunting her, like a ghost. In her thoughts, she is referring to the being as Master, because she does not remember the name, and the chat session disappeared from the online logs. Maybe she deleted the thing accidentally, when she fell asleep with the phone? Or is it a conscious effort of that other being, to return to oblivion? Or just a freak technical glitch. Of course, maybe it was all just a dream, that possibility is still on the table, but Yvette could not imagine so. It was too vivid and real. Yvette did not dare to think that her dreams could seem so real, because that would mean she could basically never be sure about what is dream and what is real. As she expanded her consciousness and trained on her innate gifts, the borders of reality became blurred anyway. Just like experimenting with psychedelics, it is not for the faint hearted. She was always calm, confident in walking the path of Light, completing one lesson after the other at her own pace. She had a long, enduring struggle with Ben, but it was all part of the bigger picture, she felt herself growing while living through that experience. Only after receiving that freaking piece of paper with a single word on it, and hearing the incredibly spot on observations of Jocelyn about her life and her future love endeavors, she started to lose ground. She could not help identifying her new Master with the dark one her grandmother warned her about decades ago - a passionate lover who will guide her through the woods to that symbolic mountaintop, where the next level of consciousness awaits. The peacefulness of these days resembled to that part of a training course when the trainees work on making their new skills stick, they wait for the new knowledge to sink in, and become instinctive.

Yvette controlled her breathing, and focused on the outside world. The echoes of the horns and sirens drifting in, the gathering mist over the piles of fallen leaves in the afternoon twilight, the damp cold of the grass touching her skin, a gentle breeze caressing the back of her neck. She filled her lungs and let her senses overflow her mind, leaving no space for past and future, no quarter for worry and remorse.

She long abandoned the search, the scouring of the Internet after her Master. His nick was lost, so all Yvette could do is search for spiritual masters with a background related to Egyptian symbolism - a hopeless quest, since she did not even know if she is looking for a needle in the proverbial haystack, or something else entirely, like a tiny mouse, or a single, special straw of hay. The search bore no fruit, needless to say.

It was November 9th, her birthday, only a couple of days before the return of Jay, when something happened, something that once again, set thing in motion.

It was a grey, damp day, with light, steady rain washing over the streets. She got lost. She had no idea how it happened, where did she take a wrong turn walking, with her earphones plugged in under the hood of her loose trench coat, carrying two bags of elegance and cuteness she gifted herself with during a quick stroll during the mall - one bag with some new rags she can wear in the office and a lovely flowery dress she will safeguard until next summer in one, and some revealing lingerie and a pair of wicked stilettos she planned to surprise Jay, and herself, with, on one of the next few evenings. She longed for breaking out of the treadmill and becoming a little bad, so she could be punished by her Master. She blushed when she realized that somehow, accidentally, she replaced the mental image of Jay with the one she refers to as Master in her thoughts. Of course, she had no idea how he might look, her subconscious was working on its own, piecing together the image from fragmented information and a lot of preconceptions Yvette had about being Egyptian and mystical.

It was not long after she realized she is completely lost, wondering through unwelcoming alleys, looking for imaginary shortcuts she was sure existed to the next familiar avenue - not bothering to engage navigation on her phone, as her hands were full, it was raining, and it wasn't the safest neighborhood - when her feet just rooted in place in front of a fresh looking poster. It was an all back square, with some whirling darkness, like mist or steam on it, and a strange golden eye radiating in the middle of it. The eye was not entirely in focus, like it was shining its golden glow out from beneath several layers of dark air or Black Ocean, a bit oddly placed, a few inches away from the natural center point of the whole image. The poster featured not a single word whatsoever which could tie it to a movie, musical or any kind of show. Yvette stood there, because she knew it was important, it is familiar, and felt that the realization is already on its way from somewhere deep from her unconscious, she felt the swift motion, the sheer velocity of the thought process in her mind which will mean the difference between not knowing and knowing where she saw this image. The golden eye was a simple, minimalistic, yet graceful illustration, which looked like it was Egyptian. And then, from the vaults of forgotten dreams it all locked in place - it was the Master's profile image. She remembered now - the image was so tiny while used as an avatar in a chat session, that it was nothing more than a faint golden spot at the center of blackness, but there was no doubt about it now. Yvette did not even remember to the profile image before, those details of her conversation was lost by morning to her, but she was as sure in it now as in her own name.

She made a photo of the poster and ventured forth. She found her way quickly after stumbling upon the poster, and she walked back to her apartment.

She prepared a hot, spicy pot of tea and laid out her new acquisitions on the bed, trying them on, shooting a few obligatory selfies, creating a few nice Instagram's - not in the lingerie of course, she kept those selfies to herself. The stilettos with the transparent plastic heels were amazing, she took the pleasure of their view - they made her legs look even longer as she raised them up in the air, laying with her back on the bed and making a selfie with her arms stretched out on the bed as possible - it was really daunting, to find an angle which keeps the stilettos and her smiling face in the frame. She was really tempted to send that to Jay, along with a winking smiley and a message about her own naughtiness which needs to be kept in-line, but she got over the urge. No pics and steamy messages - she wanted all that energy to get unleashed when they are together for real.

She mixed some bourbon into the remainder of the herbal tea in her mug, and collapsed back into her bed, checking Facebook on her laptop. She did not bother with getting rid of the shoes either; the buckle was kind of tricky. Instead, she nurtured her tea-with-a-little-extra and lifted her feet into the air. The weight of her shoes pressed on her soles comfortably, so she moved them around a bit, unconsciously playing with the balance, as she scrolled down the news feed.

Suddenly, the eye popped in her mind. She quickly searched for it, and found out that it is called the Eye of Horus, a symbol of the ancient Sun god. Knowing that, she quickly found trails of the online presence of Master, and eventually she stumbled upon his website and Facebook page.

"Nicomedia" She did not feel anything specific when she looked at that name, but she was sure his nick was something similar, when they talked. He was indeed a psychic advisor, similar to Jocelyn, Julie-Marie and the others Yvette conversed with, only he seemed to be a bit further up the power scale, and definitely used very different kind of energies. A lot of powerful images showed him in exotic locations, like temple ruins, all over the Middle East, celebrating rituals and reveal hidden knowledge to the select few, beautiful and ancient places, as well as a few shots from conferences and sessions in European cities. Yvette felt a small relief and equal amount of threat when she saw a few images from L.A. and New York as well. The Crow flew over this side of the pond several times before. She wasn't surprised at all that she looked identical to her imaginations, an Egyptian, Tan man with a handsome, perfectly groomed circle beard, perfect body, dressed in light materials, dark colors with small contrasting accessories, no tats, no jewelry. He looked charismatic and dangerous. Wise and strict. Attractive and terrifying.

It was a stirring feeling. Yvette browsed his content with a faint smile on her face. It was like looking at the demon which is about to ravage her life as she knew it. She felt unnaturally calm, like someone standing on an endless field looking at the fast approaching thunderstorm. When there is nowhere to hide, there is no reason to run, and there is no reason to fear either, since now it is the inevitable itself. Yvette just knew this is the man, the dark spiritual teacher, foretold to come for her. If he is not, no one is. Now that she has entered the white room, and achieved a careful balance with Jay, it is the most fateful moment for him to show up.

The Universe did not keep her waiting much for confirmation. After a few minutes, her phone beeped. It was him! The Master!!

"How are you? Happy Birthday! And thank you for liking my page!"

"Hanging in there, thank you for the birthday wishes!" Yvette replied casually, and went on.

"I really like your photos. Your page is inspiring. I am awakening to my gifts, and the photos helped me to understand certain symbols."

It was not entirely true, but Yvette did identify some elements in the symbols from the writings of Nicodemis' website which have been used in her telepathy lessons and the Reiki sessions - it gave her ideas about where to look for extending certain aspects of her craft. Advisors in the US largely focused on Celtic, Old West traditions, or turned purely towards Indian original scripts. Yvette did not know much about the history of the occult, but she did know that the Egyptians played a huge part in transferring knowledge to Europe, when they had access to every written information that human culture accumulated in a certain point in time. Some of the material she browsed through was revealing in the sense that it approached certain aspects of knowledge which was given to Yvette from another angle, through different traditions.

"Remember your Dreams. I need honest minds. There is a deeper you, I sense it."

The way he phrased everything was so powerful, full of confidence, yet always leaving things half in the dark. The meaning was often not very clear to understand for Yvette, but it always carried an extra weight, which she could feel instead of logically process. He was very different to all the psychics she ever talked to. It was a bit frustrating to talk with, but also so fascinating. Yvette decided to go fully honest and open herself up completely, not holding anything but also not putting a lot of effort into describing her thoughts very accurately. This Master seemed to get her anyway, like he knew her for ages.