Collection Of Horror Tales - Chapter 9 Trance Pt.1
I was sitting on the one side of the room. Directly opposite to me sat the old Shongo, Angeni. The atmosphere was tense. So tense actually, that you could hear the wind whistling through the tent. Strangely every sound beyond the tent was completely silent. It was dark. In the middle stands a glimmering candle. The room had a slightly spiritual nuance.
The calm voice of Angeni was giving me slow but clear instructions. “Open your mind. Let your spirit roam free.”
These were ritual words spoken in every trance.
“I am a free spirit. My mind is open.” I answered in the same otherworldly calmness.
I answered with the same words that my ancestors have spoken. This ritual was one of the oldest and scared things of our tribe.
Today I was going into trance because the tribe hoped to nurture another Shongo. Shongo are the strongest and most eccentric humans we know. They live with the power of nature by their side. They are known as the great mystics of our Senecas tribe. From clairvoyance to thought transference, transformation, invisibility, levitation, wandering spirits, thought therapy and magical cures. There were all kinds of powers.
“Now look for the bond between your spirit and the Great Spirit.”
The bond between the Great Spirit and yourself was a special connection. It’s wasn’t something u could be born with. It was more like love. It had to be found captured and nurtured. The bond was the basis of the mystic power of the Shongo.
“I can feel a strange connection. The Great Spirit is getting active when I try to touch the bond”
I knew beforehand I would feel it. It was not something the trance made me feel. The trance just lets me become connected with it. What it was that was on the other side of the connection, I couldn’t tell. It was not like something I could comprehend. It was not like the feeling nature, the animals gave me here. It was bigger, more spiritual, more dangerous.
“Good if the Great Spirit is active it’s a sign of harmony. If u feel the bond clear enough to determine a direction we can finish the trance.”
The reason for the trance was exactly this. The way I had to go to find my part of the Great Spirit.
“Angeni, the bond is strong, way stronger than just a simple sense of direction. I can hear it, Feel it, almost like I can see it.” I said almost euphorically.
Through the trance it made my whole existence feel it. It wasn’t like anything I have ever heard about the trance. It was like I found the other half of my soul. I could nearly fell the will of theother side. According to the teachings this was not something that should happen. It should be more like a soft vague sense of the Great Spirit. But Experience shows that the stronger the connection was, the better one could connect with the Great Spirit.
“Good, Good the stronger the bond the stronger your totem will be.”
The totem was the physical form of the connection. It was made to help the Shongo stay in connection with the Great Spirit even outside of the Trance.
“But it feels like there is a disturbance. Like something is working against it, trying to interrupt it. Could it be the Great Spirit itself?”
The Opposing force seemed to be one with the Great Spirit. The thought that this hyper aggressive and beastlike part, that had an endless will to destroy, was also part of the connection crossed my mind. The moment it came I discarded the thought already. The Great Spirit was the symbol of harmony and peace. Although it is hard to describe it in words the Great Spirit was the omniferous life-force of all things.
“It shouldn’t be. In all my life I have never heard of the Great Spirit interrupting a totem bond. Your bond is probably just not strong enough jet to see where the problem lies.”
“Your wisdom always knows the right way teacher.”
“Let’s close the trance you have the direction. That’s all we need for now.”