Divine Apostasy Book 12 - Chapter 15

Chapter 15

“The Heart chakra is the pivot between the lower and upper energies,” Pine said. “It’s the bridge between the physical and the spiritual. It has a green color and will resonate with the note ‘F.’” Pine crossed his thumbs over his touching index and middle fingers, hands at chest level. “This helps to open the heart and awaken love.”

Ruwen copied the hand gesture.

“Your Heart chakra is the seat of love, compassion, and empathy—for others, but also for yourself. To Awaken it, you must learn unconditional self-acceptance. Most struggle with this chakra because it’s easier to give compassion than to receive it.”

The words struck Ruwen hard. He’d do anything for his friends and make excuses for their failings. When it came to himself though, he was nothing short of cruel, demanding, and unsatisfied. Hamma had helped him see how unfair he was to himself, but he still hadn’t broken the behavior. He needed to be better, do better, because he was responsible for so much. His shoulders slumped because he knew this would be another difficult chakra for him.

Pine gave Ruwen a sympathetic smile. “Do you wish to stop for the day?”

“No, please, I don’t want to stop. I’m just surprised and, I guess, disappointed in a way, how inwardly focused chakra magic is. It’s no wonder I didn’t discover this on my own. It’s like a combination of all the things I hate doing or don’t do well.”

“They tend to be the same.”

“That’s true. Maybe I’m spoiled by all the shortcuts I’ve found. Shortcuts is probably the wrong word. I guess what I’m trying to say is up until now, I’ve successfully leveraged situations to my advantage to multiple my gains. As my abilities grew, the more I did this. It’s like I’ve been opening a door. As it opened wider I could see the sky and trees and grass, but now I need to turn around and study the dark room that always existed behind me.”

“The good news,” Pine replied, “is once your Heart chakra Awakens, the world will possess a new warmth. Be warned, it also opens you to greater sorrow. True compassion can be painful. Yet it’s a noble pain, one that forges you into a better self.”

Ruwen remembered when he’d piggybacked on Gunder’s Harmonic Sight and how the world had exploded into a complicated tapestry of colors and shapes. Ruwen had also glimpsed Hamma’s interface, and the riot of colors and lines had given him a headache.

Hamma and Gunder had both helped Ruwen improve and now his Harmonic Sight displayed more than sharp lines and soft colors. Almost certainly working on his Heart chakra would improve this further.

“Next is the Throat chakra,” Pine said quietly, touching his neck. “It’s about communication—internal and external. It glows blue, responds to the note ‘G’ and this will open its channels.” He pressed his thumbs against his pinky fingers, hands near his throat.

Pine continued. “Inhaling and exhaling expose each breath to the truth. The further you develop your Throat chakra, the closer it approaches the truth, the better prism it becomes. It makes manipulating words easier. It reveals what others wish to hide. It hears the subtext in every conversation. The key to Awakening your Throat is honesty with yourself and with others, coupled with the willingness to hear uncomfortable truths.”

“I have many secrets,” Ruwen responded.

Pine nodded solemnly. “Awakening the Throat chakra doesn’t mean shouting your secrets to the world. It means learning when silence serves a higher purpose and when words are necessary to expose the truth. It’s about clarity of intent, which comes from honesty.”

“I understand.”

“The sixth chakra,” Pine continued, “the Third Eye, is located on your brow.” He connected his thumbs to his ring fingers, raising his hands to his brow. “Indigo light and the sound of the note ‘A’ can help with Activation. Your Third Eye is about insight, perception, and intuition. Meditation is the primary means to Activation. In these meditations, you might visualize a glowing eye opening in that spot, seeing both inward and outward more clearly.”

“Is it a real eye?” Ruwen asked, a little averse to having an eye on his forehead.

“You tell me.”

Ruwen studied Pine but other than his intense gaze nothing appeared. Out of curiosity, Ruwen used Harmonic Sight, and a burst of colors appeared emanating from Pine’s brow. When Ruwen activated Harmony he leaned back in shock. A literal third eye sat on Pine’s brow. It was open and larger than a normal eye. It stared intently at Ruwen.

Pine’s Third eye closed and the scattered rays of prismatic light disappeared. Ruwen released Harmony and the eye disappeared. Now Pine looked normal.

“I wish Ash were here,” Pine said. “Despite his problems with meditation his Third Eye sees quite clearly. Probably because of the constant attacks we suffered. I would love to know how his Third Eye sees you.”

“What do you see?”

Pine winced and touched his head. “My apologies, give me a moment. I stared to long at you and it has triggered a migraine.”

Ruwen leaned forward and gently touched Pine’s forehead, above where he’d seen the Third Eye. It felt wrong to stick a finger in the spiritual eye. He recognized Blapy’s magic filling Pine, so he refrained from casting an all body heal. The last thing he wanted to do was mess up whatever Blapy was doing. Instead, he focused his healing on Pine’s brain.

Ruwen calmed the cascading electrical surges in Pine’s brain and dilated the blood vessels that had constricted. Ruwen was no Healer, but Hamma had given him enough training to not be the brutish Healer of the past.

Pine visibly relaxed. “Thank you. I think that would have been a bad one. Even my Root couldn’t counteract it.”

“What did you see if you don’t mind me asking.”

Pine rubbed his brow where his Third Eye had appeared. “Blinding light. Like looking at the sun. You had four sets of wings.”

Ruwen frowned. “Four sets as in eight wings. Or four wings.”

“Sets—eight wings.” Pine waved a hand as if dismissing the words. “When Third Eye doesn’t know how to communicate what it sees because of a lack of vocabulary or knowledge to understand, it will replace those concepts with visions like that.”

Pine had mentioned earlier that he’d seen Ruwen on the television. That meant Pine had seen Ruwen with two wings. He didn’t know about the Destruction Realm set. Still, that only accounted for half of what Pine had seen.

“What do those visions mean?” Ruwen asked. “Are they the future?”

Pine shrugged. “I’d like to believe that, but honestly with abstract visions it’s easy to connect them to many events. It’s like looking for familiar shapes in the clouds and then finding them.”

Ruwen opened his Architect Role, something he hadn’t done in a long time. He navigated to the Resonance Offset to check if it remained at zero. It did. That value followed him around everywhere. It meant prophecy, foretelling, time travel, and related abilities didn’t work. The System had recognized Ruwen as a critical component of the universal timeline and had restricted telling the future or manipulating his place in time, impossible.

“What would Third Eye do if it tried seeing the future but it was blocked?” Ruwen asked.

Pine laughed. “That’s what normally happens to me. My Third Eye is much better at giving me hunches or feelings than actual insight. The world looks basically the same with my Third Eye, so it surprised me that you appeared differently. Like I said, it interprets what I can’t comprehend. Obviously, you’re something like a spiritual lighthouse.”

Ruwen only had four wings, not eight, so that was confusing. Even if he was forced to go into the Creation Realm and it resulted in another set that would leave him short. Unless maybe the Creation Realm gave him two additional sets. Regardless, none of that was the issue. How did Pine see anything when Ruwen’s Resonance Offset remained at zero?

Two things occurred to Ruwen. He needed to learn how to control this spiritual lighthouse as Pine put it. Ruwen didn’t want to walk around like a miniature sun, visible to anyone who’d opened their Third Eye. Secondly, this ability might allow him to bypass the System’s Resonance Offset restriction. The ability to see the future consistently and accurately would be incredibly valuable.

“You said Ash’s Third Eye is more developed than yours?” Ruwen asked.

“Significantly so. Ash has used it so much he doesn’t even need to open it any longer. Even closed it guides him down the golden path of best outcomes. His intuition and instinct are weapons. This had come at the cost of his Crown chakra however. He hates thinking.”

“How do I Awaken mine?”

“Third Eye relates to perceiving your own illusions, acknowledging the ways you deceive yourself. It’s also about recognizing the illusions of the world. Only when you are free from self-deception can you truly see. The Third Eye holds significant power, but many regret its opening. Too late, they learn Illusions are often more comforting than the truth.”

The ominous warning hung in the air between them.