fantasy fiction

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Elsa’s Song, Dec 8th 2021

Nejla sat with her hands wrapped around a fresh cinnamon scented oat milk cappuccino, in what felt like another dimension.

The Crew – her band name for Tuva, Kriya and Starlight – lay sprawled out and curled up between the crackling open fire place and the front door.

The blizzard had quietened down. Now there were just grey, plump clouds dropping snowflakes in a dancing slow motion.

Ricky sat at the sturdy wooden table across from Nejla. How she and The Crew had ended up this close to Pinehome with the train was beyond her comprehension. 

One moment they had been engulfed by the blizzard. Which was not a bad thing. There were few things she loved more than the cold wind and snow touching her cheeks. 

“Embrace! Embrace! Embrace! Align!” had travelled through her mind. As she said the spell out loud she had felt very powerful from within.

Seconds later , the sound of someone whistleing, followed by The Crew howling in reply. A black labrador appeared as the sun broke through the storm making the snow flurry dissipate.

“Dio!”, Nejla could not believe her eyes. “Dio! Where is Ricky?”

“Here!”, Ricky’s voice reached her before she could even see him approaching on skis. “Welcome to Buffalo Land!” He almost fell forwards as he swung his arms up to greet her with a hug which made the skis move backwards. “Soulsister, soulsister. So good to see you.”

“So, what really brought you here this time, sister dear?” Ricky reached for the sugar. He liked his coffee sweet to the point of it being sugar with a bit of coffee.

“The Adventurer. Storulven. Spells.” Nejla shrugged her shoulders. “Not entirely sure, but it’s definitely something to do with those three. And maybe more. I felt, and feel, instructed to take one step at a time, not envisioning anything behind those steps, just listening. I know this was big one. I had some sort of inner knowing telling me I had to go north, in the direction of White Buffalo Land. So, here we are.”

“Here we are”, Ricky echoed. “Listening to the light.”

Cecilia Götherström, December 8th 2021 

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Elsa’s Song, Dec 7th 2021

“Can we travel through time with our questions? Is love alive? How many “out there” questions can you have lingering in your head in the space between waking and sleeping? Love can definitely travel through time though. I just know it.”

Watering eyes are glancing out across the landscape. Scarf masking mouth and nose, keeping the blizzard out. Beanie pulled tightly over eyebrows and ears. Nejla has been walking for what feels like hours but it can’t be more than fifteen minutes.

The train had stopped in the middle of the night. A huge tree, an ancient oak, had fallen across the tracks taking part of the overhead line with it as it went down, the conductor had reported over the intercom. The train could not get any further until the tracks were cleared and the overhead lines repaired.

Fortunately Nejla had booked a sleeping carriage for herself, Kriya, Tuva and Starlight.  It was some sight for the passengers boarding the train at the later stations as they passed through the narrow corridors on the way to their carriages. There, in coach  28 D, E, F & G, a woman reading in the top bunk, a husky, a malamute and a samoyed sprawled out on the two lower bunks.

The blizzard moved in less than an hour after the announcement, making it impossible for the railway repair crew to climb the poles to fix the overhead lines until the storm had died down.

The passengers were kept warm with nutmeg spiced gluhwein, steaming hot soup, extra blankets and hot water bottles. Saved by the fact that the kitchen on the train still ran its stove on gas.

Seven hours in to the wait, the dogs really needed to get out. For some reason Nejla had decided to strap on both her own as well as Kriya and Tuva’s backpacks. Starlight was a little too slender for those dogpacks so she’d gotten a smaller one. The only one available in the store that day was a glittery version, originally made for “glamorous poodles’ and not for huskies. But hey, her name was Starlight, so why not!

They stepped out of the train, Nejla planning to follow the tracks ahead, past the fallen tree and check  what the situation was. 

The same insight had guided her to attach the dogs harnesses to each other with the longer skijöring lines as well as attach two of them to her own skijörning harness.

Lumps of ice are beginning  to form on her eyelashes.

Cecilia Götherström, December 7th 2021  

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Elsa’s Song, Dec 6th 2021

The cold, cold mist touched Nejla’s face as she began her morning ceremony. The grass was still wet, the mist felt cleansing. It was nevertheless still too warm. For snow she would have to travel north.  To the land of White Buffalo.

It was time to prepare.

He sensed her weaving in the morning shadows. The first threshold she would need to cross was to be-come The Adventurer. 

She and The Adventurer were TwinSouls. One soul shared in two Be-ings. Through the mirror portals of others she could see sparks of The Adventurer as she saw flickers of herself. She would need to  embody the knowledge that speaks. In every thought, movement and breath. Be-come.

Nejla was ready. She felt nervous, yet she had never felt more ready in her whole life. There was so much clarity in this morning mist.  Clarity which last night had started to show its silhouette. It had just been a matter of letting go through Dreamland during the night. 

“To sleep on it”, very valuable advice from her grandfather. “To let the night chew and churn away, like the cows alchemizing the grass in to milk”, was how grandpa used to explain it.

That first morning breath held a promise. It whispered “Sacred Fierceness”. She felt the pull of The Adventurer inside her whole Be-ing. All dimensions, all these writings, these tidings were coming together as one.

As she had tiptoed down the stairs on her way for the morning ceremony, noticing the keys in the front door, she had heard a voice saying “I gave you that. All the keys. Now, use them!”

He made his way up the last part of the hill alone. The pups were still sleeping. Mums, dads, brothers and sisters would be waking up gently as soon as the first ray of morning sun touched the Silver Rock. This was to be a journey through the seen and the unseen for her. He wanted to connect his inner eyes to hers.

There it was. The spot where he could peak over the ridge in to the next valley. The valley where what once was a small village had slowly spread out to become a town, now bordering on the definition of city.

A sliver of starlight fell on the rock, reflecting back in to his eyes.

Nejla felt something gently touch her forehead, like a kiss of rain. It felt warm and sparkly.

Cecilia Götherström, December 6th 2021  

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Kringlans Kalender 2020. Sacred. Part 21. Dec 21st.

Dawn.

One star.

Half moon.

Samantha was standing at the ridge of the space which lead in to what the Everything the wolf called Nothingness. He said it was a mirror of himself. That only through Nothing can you find Everything. That only Everything can be Nothing. And Nothing be Everything.

She held her golden dragon magic knitted Listeners gloves clad palms open to the sky. Listened through her palms to the Mountains of Stillness and Silence. To their song.

Vayu, her HeartKingdom Sameness SoulStar, stood next to her, his grey and white winter fur grown really thick. He was no wolf pup any more. He was a wolf teen.

“You said you would write songs if you really listened with all filters gone”, his wolfness spoke. “Off you go my dear, what magic spell would release your first song in to this void of Allness, Nothingness and Everythingness?”

She looked with loving eyes at the wolf. This bundle of joy, wisdom and power. She turned around. Marcus, Grey and Storulven joined her there at the ridge. Barry did the same.

There they were, two humans, three wolves, one polar bear, facing the void of the Dawn. 

Flanked on both sides and behind by the entire pack. Everything placed a little step in front of the rest of them.

Josephiel took to the skies. Mama D waited. Said it was not her time to adorn the skies with her dragoness yet, that Josephiel was to float the first tune.

It sounded like a mix of happy violins, bagpipes, wolf howls and the singing of the Northern Lights. The wind whistled. The snow furled around them. In a dance.

Looking up Samantha saw The Great Bear. It seemed to nod at Barry, who let out a “top of the morning old pal”, as he nodded back to his star ancestor.

A single white feather danced through space, landed in front of Marcus. 

Samantha inhaled.

“Feather white,

Feather bright,

Share with me,

Your Sacred Light”.

A light show began on the heavens. A dance of glitter, of colours, against the velvety sky mixed with the glow of the dawning sunlight. All intermingled, intermixed, intertwined.

A song never heard before came out of the two mountain tops, one granite with deep, soothing, grounding, homefeeling tunes. One moonstone with soft, enticing, heartlightning, sacredly wrapped jewelclad tunes. Together they mixed. Like Shiva and Shakti. Like Yin and Yang. Like Creator and Creation.

“Sssssssshhhhhhhhh……shhhhhhhhh……shhhhhhhhhh”

The sound of whispers in the void, in the skies, in the space surrounding them all.

“Listen. Listen well.” Vayu said. “The dreams are arriving. The dreams are speaking. Listen. Listen. Listen. All will be revealed.”

“How can all be revealed if we don´t have all seven instructions yet?” Marcus wondered.

“You do, my child”, Mama D took to the skies, filled it up with her gorgeous silverwhitegrey dragon energy. “You all do. You unlocked them on your way here. Storulven, shall we?”

The large white wolf stepped forward, placed himself in the center of all of them.

“My dear Lightwarriors. My dear strong pack. We are on our journey to find the eternal pieces. We are very close. We all need to take our personal responsibility for our path, and we all need to walk in connection with each other at the same time. The instructions on how to get there, as these dreams are arriving to embrace us, we may now practice from this day forward. All seven. Vayu?”

Vayu The Wind Whispering Wolf sang in to the Stillness, in to all their hearts;

“The Seven Sacred Secret Instructions are calling us, one after the other, here they are, like a string of pearls, like a string of bright shining Stars;

Concious Dawn.

Life inside Life.

Sacred Listening.

Choose that heart of yours.

Let your journey find you.

Find your Star where she resides.

Sacred Fierceness. “

The lightshow sacred geometry hologram in the sky had ended. A bright light shone. On large, bright

Star.

The Beginning.

  • Cecilia Götherström, December 21st 2020.
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Kringlans Kalender 2020. Sacred. Part 20. Dec 20th.

“Stars shining right above you. Night breezes seem to whisper “I love you”. Birds singing in the full of pine needles tree. Dream a little dream of me, humptidumptidumtidum…..”

Barry was singing his way ascending the last piece of the slope ending at the plateau between the two mountain peaks.

“Not sure those are the true lyrics”, Marcus commented. “Think it should be a sycamore tree”.

“Come on! You can’t expect a polar bear to have any clue about what a sycamore tree is!” Barry shook his large head at Marcus.

The wind picked up. It came out of nowhere. All of a sudden there was a huge whirlwind of feathers, large and small, silvery, white, grey, golden, being blown around in a ferocious dance. 

Storulven and Grey signalled the whole pack to a halt.

“The Whispers don’t take the singing jokes lightly today”, Grey spoke. “Usually The Whispers have the greatest sense of humour as they are totally egoless. It is just that right now we are really in The Stillness and Silence territory and here singing has the greatest of magnanimous purposes”.

“What is he talking about?”, Marcus asked the wolf next to him. A gangly little red and white male called Everything.

“Dreams”, Everything replied. “You see we are all made of dreams, sung in to existence by The Whispers”.

Storulven continued;

“Vayu The Wind Whispering Wolf is waiting for us. He’s the keeper of Dreams. The everlasting pieces. His time is now. So is all of ours. Right now. We are here to sing all that Sacred Fierceness in to existence. First the dreams need to be dreamed. I believe Samantha and Josephiel begun the knitting of that some days ago. We all will put our own spice in the mix. Josephiel The Cloud Shrouding Dragon and Snow will filligraphically project them through the sacred geometry in the skies between the two peaks of Moonstone and Granite. Then The Whispers will speak. No clue what they will say. What they will sing. We will be the chorus. We will all Be.”

“Let’s get inside the woods before we are blown off the slope by all these feathers”, Grey turned his head to point in his wolfy way towards the thin line of pine trees between them and the open glen behind.

“Star Seeker, Star Seeker, find your Star, find your Light. Star Seeker, Star Seeker find your Light, find your Star.” 

Was that the feather-filled wind singing Marcus wondered?

“Star Seeker, Star Seeker, feet on the Earth, Heart in The Heavens, Star Seeker, find your Star where she resides”.

Yes, the wind was singing.

  • Cecilia Götherström, Dec 20th 2020.
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Kringlans Kalender 2020. Sacred. Part 19. Dec 19th.

“Star Seeker, Star Seeker, find your Star, find your Light. Star Seeker, Star Seeker, find your Light, find your Star.”

Samantha listened.

Was that Vayu? It was! 

He was singing, yet it sounded like a whisper. 

“Vayu, The Whispering Wolf”! She finally got it! That is what Josephiel had called him as they had met the dragon for the first time down there in the valley.

Two days ago the whole lot of them had set off from the First Dragon Cave in The Mountains of Stillness and Silence. They had moved through many sacred places in the mountain range. Today they had travelled through a plateau, just in between the two largest peaks. Quite a large open space, just a little below the tree line. Some moments they found themselves above the tree line, other moments just below.

Vayu was standing out on the edge of a cliff, howling his songwhisper out in to the vastness of space here in the Stillness and Silence.

Samantha walked a bit closer, sat down on a rock a few trees away from the wolf who now seemed to be a little older than the young pup from a few days ago.

“Who is Star Seeker, Vayu?”

“The one who is seeking Star”, Vayu replied.

“Marcus? But, but….”

“Yes, my dear Flower Of The North”, Vayu interrupted. “Of course he knows that Star will not be found back in the body she once inhabited. He is seeking the Essence. The Essence she embodied, the Essence he can find through his own Star in The Heart”.

“He’s on his way here?” Samantha looked around the trees, the rocks, the open space between the mountains.

“With my whole heart family of all wolf ancestors ever existed, yes”, Vayu replied. “I know that might feel a bit exaggerated but hey, if there’s a journey to be taken why not do it with all bells and whistles possible right? Star in her Essence even sent Storulven himself to lead the pack. He has not walked this dimension for at least 9 years. I am just singing them closer. The Moonstone of The Granite is inside this rock you see. The heart compass will lead Star Seeker right here. If he listens”.

“Still not sure what my journey is….?” Samantha wondered.

“Let your journey find you. Instruction number five, my dear. Openness to be found. Conscious Dawn leads you to that too. No one is ever lost.”

“Ssssshhhhhh, shhhhhhhhh, shhhhhhhhhhh”……

Northern Lights.

Samantha knew by now that the silvery green glow was just a cover up for all the Dragons of All The Secrets landing. If the human eye was bound to the magic of the Northern Lights, the real magic could land closer. Quite clever.

“Tomorrow”.

A little white dragon with gold coloured ears and wings landed next to her.

“And you are?”, Samantha asked.

“Snow The Dragon. Or just call me SnowDragon”.

  • Cecilia Götherström, December 19th 2020.
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Kringlans Kalender 2020. Part 18. Dec 18th

There was something different about this morning star. Usually as the dawn turned in to morning the light of the morning star would fade in to the blueness of the new dawn. Today it didn’t. It grew brighter and stronger by every moment passing.

“Polaris”. Barry spoke.

“What?” Marcus asked. “I thought Polaris was in the skies with your ancestors and that morning star was always Venus?”

“Polaris, Star of The North, Venus, Dawn Light, The Star Which Leads The Way or simply Star. She is guiding us right now. And we shall follow, no matter what name we feel she has.”, Grey filled in.

“Wiseass Wolf!”, Barry laughed as he shot a pawful of snow towards the wolf.

“Posh Polar Bear!”, Grey ducked just a little too late.

The pack was ready to leave. It seemed everyone knew where they were heading or at least what was going on. Aside from Marcus.

“My dear human”, Grey looked his way. “Just listen with the sense you use when you write your music. It knows where we are heading. It knows what we sense. There is no difference between your senses and ours, believe that to be as true as we know it is.”

The bright star shone even more lucid in the sky now. It seemed to move and then stopped between two of the highest peaks in the mountain range northwards. 

“All I can sense is something I can just translate as “the moonstones are calling” “, Marcus replied.

“What have I told you about that darn translating Marcus?”, Barry was getting slightly upset. “Every time you use that phrase you deny yourself the trueness of the moment. The chance of living Life inside Life then stays on the other side of that veil you just wrote in to the equation”.

“OK, OK, OK”, Marcus got his backpack mounted, staff now in hand.

They all got started up the path into the woods leading north. Marcus realized they were heading for the dragon caves in the Mountains of Stillness and Silence.

“How will we be able to find the last pieces of the symphony in The Mountains of Stillness and Silence?” he wondered to himself.

The huge white wolf, the upper guardian of the whole pack whom always took the lead, sent Marcus a picture of a diamond shaped hologram, pulsating all sacred geometry patterns ever created, then nudged at him to come closer.

Marcus walked his way as Storulven spoke “Everything possible and impossible is to be found in The Mountains of Stillness and Silence. Everything ever written, ever danced, ever woven, ever to be, is there. Only there. Through the Moonstone of Granite you can call on your Star as you enter in to your true name of Star Seeker. Step in to your Being with every step you take through these woods, up these mountains my dearest friend and Listen. The Moonstone will speak to us all through The Whispers. Now, walk with me Star Seeker and you shall see that we are not looking for any last pieces for your symphony, we are looking for the everlasting pieces”.

  • Cecilia Götherström, December 18th 2020.
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Kringlans Kalender 2020. Sacred. Part 16. Dec 16th

“Sacred. Sacred. Sacred. Invitation. Invitation to write. Invitation to Be. Fierceness. Holy. Fierceness in Being. In writing. In creating. In moving through Earth. In moving through dimensions. In moving through this life, this love, this fullness of existing. That is sacred. Sacred Fierceness.”

The whispers were so clear Marcus could hear them like words being spoken in to his Soul and then echoing clearly in to his beingness. What he heard vibrated. Or did he hear first and then sense the vibration ?

“Not important”, the large Grey snoozing next to Marcus let go. “You humans can get so caught up in defining what came first, the whole chicken and egg thing. When you get stuck in details you lose the wholeness. Stepping away from that stuckness demands fierceness, passion, determination, Sacred Listening, Concious Dawn.”

“”An invitation to write”. I get it.”, Marcus said. “Everything is an invitation. To write. To listen. To sense. To be.”

“Yes, my child”, the great grey wolf got up, shook the snow which had settled in his fur during the morning’s gentle snowfall off himself, some of the crystals still lingering in his eyelashes. “Everything is an invitation. To be in Life. With everything which is put in front of you, behind you, above, below and around you. You in the center. Just like a Medicine Wheel.”

Grey sat down closer to Marcus and continued;

“You are the centre of your own individual Medicine Wheel. Intertwined with every other Medicine Wheel, in this and all other dimensions – or you can call them layers if you’d like. Koshas. You see, Above and Below holds the meeting of the dimensions. Center is where you are invited to hold yours. Sacred. Every moment.

The cardinal directions are Life. You are always facing one of these directions during your day, your week, your month. From the Center you can see exactly that. 

Do the work. Receive the guidance offered. Learn the lesson right there. You can also choose by Concious Dawn every new morning, every new sacred moment, to move towards another direction. With guidance. With support. Doing the work. Being the Fierceness. Allowing for Sacredness to come in and open all the senses, the hearts and the minds.”

Grey made his way towards the icy lake in search of the morning’s drink. There was a space where the currents of the rivers running to and from the lake were strong enough to allow for openness where they could all drink.

As Marcus watched the gangly, strong and so extremely wild wolf gently moving down the hill, he realized 

– “That is sacredness. That is fierceness. Every step is Concious Dawn. Every movement is Sacred. Every breath is an invitation.”

He laid back down on his back, resting on the stack of pine branches that held his sleeping bag, looking up towards the morning star.

Star.

  • Cecilia Götherström, December 16th 2020.
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Kringlans Kalender 2020. Sacred. Part 15. Dec 15th

Stillness. 

It was still.

Silence.

The Sound of Silence.

You could hear it.

You could feel it.

In your bones.

In your soul.

Such peace. Such lightness. Such a sense of being carried, held, embraced.

It had arrived with the golden-dust-sparkle-carriage. A flowing cloud of gold dragons. Many, many, much smaller than Josephiel and Mama D. They were everywhere, yet nowhere. 

They were all around in the cave, on the slope at the opening where Samantha and Vayu were sitting, on top of the ridge above the cave – yet it felt like they were not really taking up any space. They were space.

“This is the joy, the magic, the gold of Stillness and Silence”, Vayu sighed.

“Splendid, isn’t it?” Josephiel added. “Realizing the space we all inhabit is filled with the magic sparkle dust of these golden dragons, every cell and non-cell encircled, this magic gold is what is All. We see them as dragons right now, as dragon energy is the one energy which can carry magic, peace, serenity, truth – in other words Life inside Life – in this dimension, and quite a few other dimensions too for that matter.”

“Then why are dragons being slain in some of the old stories and myths, portrayed as threats and dangers to humans?” Samantha asked. “All of you who I have met are just gorgeous, powerful in a sacred-life-energy-carrying way. I don´t get it.”

“There was a time when magic, connection and knowing the secrets became considered wrong my dear. Dragons were the first to be banished from the magic of the myths. The myths were changed in to legends. Along the line wolves were added to the long list of sacred connections removed from you humans. More legends added. And the rest is history.”

“It is time to bring the true myths back then”, Samantha said resolute.

“They are still here.” Vayu replied. “All you need to do is listen. Exactly what you were doing. Did you notice you saw more dragons as you listen to the Sound of Stillness and Silence?”

“I did”, Samantha said.

She slid back in to Silence. Here in the Mountain of Stillness and Silence you felt it getting enlarged. You became the Stillness and Silence. You became Every Thing. Every One. No Thing and No One at the same time. It was like being lost without being lost, an amazing sense of being Home.

As she looked inside her heart she saw a huge troop of wolves pulsing through the trees in the deep snow. Led by someone who looked like Star, just grey and larger. Where were they heading?

  • Cecilia Götherström, December 15th 2020.

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Kringlans Kalender 2020. Sacred. Part 14. Dec 14th.

Marcus was floating in that space between dreaming and waking. He felt like a feather swirling through space, gently landing on a soft, soft deep- sleep – breathing wolf belly. He felt the warmth, he heard the breath, he was one with that fuzzy, thick winter fur there in his featherness for a while.

“Oh, if I could grasp this and put it in the symphony”, a thought drifted through his mind. He woke up.

“Nooooo, I want to go baaaaaack”, he stretched out under the duvet.

“The grasping brought you back”, Barry’s voice from outside the bedroom window. “Just lean in to that tune again, drift on the first octave, let yourself be featherly carried and you can go back. Through any music.”

Barry had taken the habit of sleeping under Marcus bedroom window. That way they could both breathe in symphony he’d said. Marcus quite often got the feeling that the polar bear took finishing writing this symphony even more serious than he himself did.

“OK”, Marcus said. “I am awake already. Might as well get up and get out. I am done with this onyxing. I can hear the moonstones calling.”

“That can only mean one thing”, Barry’s voice now came from the front door. “There is just one way to journey to the place where we meet all the moonstones. Make sure to pack more than lunch my dear Marcus.”

Marcus made his staple breakfast of oats, apricots, bananas and nuts for himself, a full side of smoked salmon with some dried lingonberries for Barry. Sat down out on the porch with the bear as they both watched a full show of Northern Lights making its way through and around the Milky Way. It was 3 minutes past 3 in the morning. No moon.

“New Moon today”, Marcus said. “I guess there could not really be a better time to start the journey to the moonstones. I mean, we finished quite some chapters yesterday, both the movements for the symphony and the heavy chapters for the book”.

“You are so right my dear WolfHearted Human of the Wilderness”, Barry replied. “I can sense that our guides are not very far from here. They heard the cry of readiness in your dream as you landed and started on their last leg this way already.”

Marcus had just finished making what Barry had called “not just a lunch package”, closed his backpack, got his “good walking shoes” out as he called them, staff in hand – no clue why, but he felt he’d needed what his neighbour Gina called “the witching wizard’s staff” for this walk. It was a pretty long staff which Star had found in the river when she was just a little puppy. She’d pulled it out of the water with all her might and dragged it up to the house. Put it in front of his feet. He smiled at the memory as he tied it to the backpack.

A howl. Quiet. Then a choir of howls. Through the treeline at the back of the house he could see countless eyes shining in the dark. One large, grey wolf stood out front. The rest of the pack waited in the trees.

“Our guides are here”, Barry waved at Marcus with his head and then gestured towards the family of greys.

  • Cecilia Götherström, Dec 14th 2020.