Veritas | Meditative Adventure | Elemental Ep 1: Shardfall

Welcome to Veritas…a meditative adventure like no other!

First and foremost, what does it even mean? Veritas is Latin for “truth”. The question is, of course, which truth? Well, hopefully your truth.

In this episode, you explore a strange new world, and the destination of your new quest is revealed.

Transcript

So how we're going to begin is you're going to sit comfortably,

However that means to you.

Could be legs crossed,

Could be sitting in a chair.

Whatever it is,

Sit somewhere comfortably that you feel relaxed and comfortable.

And you're going to close your eyes and you're going to take three deep breaths.

Deep breath in,

Count to four.

Deep breath out,

Count to four.

And each time you exhale,

You're going to try and relax your body a little bit further.

So you're going to inhale,

Inhale,

Pause,

Exhale,

Pause.

So as you're doing this and you're relaxing,

It's in those pauses between breaths where we're going to go.

That is where your creativity meets your imagination,

Meets your subconscious.

So let's see what awaits you in the spaces between breaths.

Stepping through the door feels like a freezing cold shower,

Except across all your senses.

It is an overload of experience that feels both overwhelming and all-encompassing,

Coupled with the sensation of falling.

Although you have the faintest notion of falling through rather than falling down.

And then you snap out of it and you truly are falling down straight into the branches of a large tree,

Which rather painfully breaks your fall and deposits you on the ground.

It is moments such as these where your mind needs to catch up with your body.

Where am I?

What happened?

All good questions,

Yet they are fundamentally the wrong question.

What and where are revelant?

What you should be asking is why?

Why me?

Why am I here?

Simply realizing this calms you and brings you to the present moment.

With an inhale,

You breathe and sit up.

The sky is an alien orange with shaded clouds of purple and blue.

But what is most striking is the ring slicing the sky like a blade.

They begin just beyond the horizon and extend up into the cosmos.

It is mesmerizingly beautiful.

So much so that it takes a moment to realize that this planet is ringed like Saturn.

And what you are looking at are those rings from within.

You suddenly feel very small.

Around you there are no signs of movement.

There are trees,

But they are reddish color and lack the luster and life of earth trees.

These seem solitary,

Like lone soldiers guarding a wasteland.

At the edge of the horizon,

A mountain towers over,

Harshly shading the red forest.

Instinctively you know it is there.

You must go.

And so it is that alone on this ringed alien world your quest begins.

The mountain is close,

Enough that before you know it the ground is sloping upward.

The terrain is rocky and difficult.

Several times you have to double back to find a better route forward,

Yet still you persevere.

The eyes of the golden dragon haunt you,

Like a dream just beyond memory.

With each step it feels closer,

And now you are sure you saw the mountain in those eyes.

Above you dusk is setting in.

The rings sparkle with starlight as the sun goes down beyond the horizon.

Just as the last rays of light bless this world with their brilliance,

The majestic ring begins to move.

Like a signal from the sun,

The inner radius of the ring begins to collapse in on itself and break away from the rest.

Large shards at first that begin to fall and collide with other shards,

Creating smaller and smaller pieces until the sky is full of the starlit reflection of ring shards descending from the heavens.

The first one strikes you like a large raindrop,

And although it looks like glass,

It splatters like water and soaks into your skin.

Instantly your mind is full of doubt and self-loathing.

Another and your self-esteem feels low.

Another and you feel the infinite sadness of depression.

Voices in your head,

You can't do it.

You're not good enough.

With a gasp,

You realize these are the shards from the mirror which you had thought you destroyed.

With a whimper,

You steel yourself as more and more shards rain down on you.

Soon you will become overwhelmed with helplessness and give up.

You can feel it already.

With a cry,

You crest the top of the ridge and run.

Ring shards splash the ground all around you and the voices of your inner failure resume chase.

The sound of water is music to your ears,

Anything but the voices.

You've come to a chasm down one side of which a great waterfall spills from within the mountain like a great mouth.

The bottom of the fall is hidden behind mist.

There is one bridge across.

It extends out from the rock like it has been grown rather than built.

It is wide enough for several people to cross at once.

Crying now,

Tears leak from your face as your soul cries as you stumble onto the bridge.

Still the ring shards rain down until at last,

Halfway across,

You collapse.

The power and violence of the waterfall roars around you but all you can hear are the doubts and oppression.

You truly are your own worst enemy.

But then at last you succumb and fall to your knees,

Nothing more than a silhouette against the raging water.

Your fingers grip the pebbles and for a moment you are grounded.

You feel the sheer immensity of the rock and lo and behold movement within the rock itself.

Subtle at first but then an animal begins to take form as the rock turns fluid.

You are left staring at an animal made of rock.

Its eyes are shiny pebbles that bore into your soul clearing the fog.

You know what you must do.

With a cry you feel the earth and rock around you.

Every pebble,

Rock and boulder and you call to them.

Demand their response and so they respond.

The ground begins to tremble and then shake until the bridge shakes itself apart.

The last thing you see before you fall are the eyes of the rock beast and then you are lost amidst the falling rock as you disappear into the mist below.

Cold,

Shockingly cold.

Your senses light up as you plunge into the watery depths.

You're not sure if you're conscious or not.

All you see is dark and yet it is so peaceful.

The voices are gone and your soul feels cleansed of dark thoughts.

You float in the embrace of the cold water and drift away.

As you do so you shift from vertical to horizontal and light from above pierces the dark stillness.

The light dances as it refracts with the turbulence of water above but then the refraction changes as the water takes on a unique shape.

The light bends around structure as the shape of an animal slowly forms.

It is invisible except for the bending of the surface light around it.

It is strikingly beautiful and its eyes glow with sunlight.

Your arms extend and your hand caresses its head and then you were being pulled through the water.

Faster and faster until the direction changes and you realize you were traveling up through the waterfall.

Your body skips along the vertical surface until at last you emerge to the top of the mist and straight into the air.

The water beast is gone and you barely have time to catch your breath before you panic but you never fall.

The mist around you parts and swirls as a new animal takes shape.

This one made of air currents.

Its eyes are blue and piercing and it grabs hold of you and you are airborne.

Truly you are flying as you catch air currents and soar past the jagged surface of the mountain.

Up and up you soar and you can't help but cry out in delight.

From here you can take in the breadth of the mountain.

The chasm of water looks small and insignificant and then disappears as you pass through a cloud.

Your mind gains clarity and perspective and your initial question returns.

Why are you here?

The answer lies behind your grasp but you have a sense that you are close now.

Up and up you fly until the top of the mountain nears.

As you emerge from the next cloud the sky glows red with fire.

The top of the mountain is a cage of fire.

Great spires extend around a platform like a claw.

Each one burning with flame.

There is no peace here.

This is where you must go.

The air beast turns and looks back at you as if to say,

Are you ready?

You lick your lips and nod.

As you approach the flames they begin to flicker and change as a shape begins to form.

A great animal much larger than the rest emerges.

Born of flame and chaos its eyes are black coals and it looks at you hungrily.

Inside something stirs.

The passion and desire within you comes alive without thinking you roar.

The creature grins and roars back and there at the top of the mountain your emotions are set ablaze.

Never have you been so alive as you scream at the fire creature.

The energy within you builds and builds until it lasts.

It bursts forth in a final cry as you scream your own name with all that you are.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

The fire monster extends its arm,

An offering.

Its giant hand rears closer but there is no heat.

It is then that you realize that you are burning.

No,

Not burning,

You are fire.

And then you and the fire beast are one and you are pulled into its embrace.

In the heart of this place you can see the physical and spiritual as one.

The fire offering a gateway between worlds.

There are shapes,

Images,

Memories.

And then you are alone on top of the mountain.

The ground is flat and cold.

The fire blazes around you but here it is silent.

Ahead of you there is an entrance.

It is black and foreboding and tantalizing.

You are here.

With one step and then another you transcend the entrance and then there is black.

Your footsteps are the only sounds as they echo off the walls.

Deeper and deeper you descend into the mountain and still you move forward.

At last there is light although from where you cannot tell.

You emerge into a great cavern.

Water sparkles from the surface of a pool below which a light is shining.

There is a golden door beneath the water.

Your focus shifts.

Across from the pool is another entrance.

Stairs descend down into the black and you can make out the outline of another door.

This one is made of wood.

You continue walking.

There is a third door.

This one a flame.

Shadows dance all around it as the flames flicker.

Finally the ground stops.

There is a cliff reaching down into the blackness.

Lastly a fourth door stands hovering in midair above the chasm below.

This one looks to be made of light.

Four doors.

One choice.

You turn.

Your eyes drift from door to door.

You make your choice.