Chapter 40

Torah called out,” Excellent!! That will be all Blossom of Black Claws pack.”
And she removed her hand. This would only mean that Blossom was a strong wolf and the magic that ran in her blood was also absolutely pure. Blossom had a huge smile on her face seeing that she had passed the test of the Ambrose Crystal.
“Next will be Rubina of the Purple Poison pack,” announced Torah, which meant that I was going to be the last one. If it was anyone else then I would have definitely wished them luck but with Rubina there was no chance at all. The smug smile on her face said that she was almost extremely confident about this but that did not pose any kind of good feelings in me. I looked at Mason and he seemed to be intently looking in the direction of Mason who was intently looking at Rubina.
Rubina strode forward towards the Ambrose Crystal and then placed her right hand on the flat surface of the crystal. For a while, nothing happened, there was no pulse, there was nothing happening at all. Torah moved forward and said,” It takes some time for some wolves to connect with their core of magic, looks like you have not done that yet. But we still need to see what is happe….”
But she could not even finish the sentence and there was a blast of powerful magic from the direction of the crystal. It looked like that Rubina was still standing straight with a dazed look on her face while Torah was the only one who had been thrown back. She was helped up and we all saw that the entire crystal was blazing purple, from its core. This was some really heavy shit and Rubina was covered with a purple haze all over her body but it was a lot different than that of Blossom. She was like encased in a purple light with the magic never actually touching her.
It was weird but I had a feeling that even though she might have done something to win the contest today, the crystal was not liking this one bit at all. The crystal had been duped somehow and I knew that this was a grave accusation to make but after that light show I needed to definitely make sure that Rubina never sat on the throne. She would not be the Queen of Amorentia.
“You need to be calm and centred if you are going to allow the crystal to give a taste of your power,” said Serafina in my ears. She was still invisible and I knew that she had done something or seen something which she was going to disclose to me later on.
“ENOUGH!!!”bellowed Torah as Rubina took off her hand from the surface of the crystal. Mason’s eyes had narrowed to slits and it looked like he was one hair’s breadth away from turning into an wolf.
Calm is the forest right after the dawn light has kissed the colours into being. Just being there brings the soul into sweet surrender, at one with nature, vibrant yet relaxed. Every fragrance is fresh, like the page of a new book. Each burst of birdsong is unique, a live chorus to waken the mind, to shake off whatever sleepiness remains. Thoughts and feet wander, lungs fill, time rolls by in its silent and endless way.
Even though she told me that I needed to be calm, it was not that easy to be calm either. Torah was saying something about Rubina having crossed the Summit as well but I was not listening to her any longer. I was not listening to anyone.
I closed my eyes and breathed in the dark damp air of the room and I felt that my wolf was telling me that everything would be alright and we were close to home. Now all I needed to do was to let the crystal see what was inside my heart. Opening myself up, would that be easy? I had no idea but I had no choice either.
Serafina said in my ears,” It is time.”
I opened my eyes and then went forward towards the crystal. When my hand moves over the crystal it's almost like my mind is directing it without me, odd perhaps, but that's the way it is. My hand moves instinctively to the right spot, building a new picture, often one I have never seen before. In these fantastical worlds I see reflections of my own mind, the way I think, but there is something else there too. I don't know what, perhaps I just imagine it, but when I paint I feel closest to our creator and it gives me a peace and mental calmness I cannot find another way.
And the crystal had a music, I could hear it. My eyes were closed so I had no idea what was happening but I could feel that a light mist of lavender was shrouding me. It was the Red Queen, I would know her presence anywhere. And I opened my eyes. My feet were not on the ground any longer, and I was hovering but my hands were stuck to the crystal. It was bright red. The entire crystal was pulsing with power.
It’s the anger rushing through your mind. It’s the smashing of glass and watching the shards draw warm blood from your cracked skin. It’s the feeling of her warm lips kissing your cheek after your date. It’s the warmth in her cheeks as she smiles at the ground after you called her beautiful. It’s the dry pain in your eyes in the morning after crying yourself to sleep. It’s the empowerment and heartbreak of passion and love and the feeling of the never ending warmth of a blazing fire. It was the color of blood, but not the vivid red of the freshly spilled, but more the browning red of old blood.
Then suddenly the colour changed to golden….tingles were shooting right up my body and making me feel things that I had never thought that I would feel. The gold was the shade of bleached buttercups. In that array of free grass, the wands softly creating patters of green, were golden flowers. daisies of a sort. There were the blooms of my soul, wild as they were, yet with each petal so perfect, with the centre as a sun of the earth. And their in the midst of those flowers I saw a pair of golden wings….and then he turned…I could not imagine that I would have ever seen a more beautiful face than that.
And then the colour of the crystal changed to blue, it was a vibrant blue ad if it was trying to show me something and I again closed my eyes and I saw the face of the Prince whom I had seen in my dreams. He was smiling at me with a staggering arrogance as if he was saying that he was going to have me soon. It was the blue of forget-me-nots, that bright and bold yet ever so delicate burst of optimism that such tiny flowers are. For me blue is a cheery colour, one of honesty and life - for it is the colour of our oceans and skies.
And then suddenly the colour of the crystal turned to black…..it was the colour of midnight and my eyes were dark and the entire room should have been dark as well but something was still glowing from inside that crystal and I closed my eyes again. This time I saw the face of Credence, as he was gazing at a painting. It was a strong black, deeply soulful in the way all absolute things are. It was the sort of black that brought the silent music of the universe so deeply within one's core.
In the black my soul was free. The black let my beauty radiate from within. It was as if for the first time I could feel my edges, my skin, as the if were the boundaries of the heaven I contain within. And so, if the black has stars or if it is pure in inky darkness, I am entirely myself.
This was something that I guessed never had happened in the history of Summit. Because if it had then I would have been able to know about it when I had been given my history lessons.
The colours were simply hues of grey to lift the town from a monochrome existence. Each one was like a subtle watercolour wash over a pencil drawing, noticeable, but submissive to graphite underneath. After my home town, where music is life and the colours of buildings are as vibrant as the new flowers from every window box and sidewalk crack, I could understand why their culture had so much more depression. What was there to lift the spirit? In a matter of hours I'd bought new clothes, greyscale against the honeyed tones of my skin. The people that shuffle these streets both shun my culture and feel superior. Yet I only have to show them a glimpse, just a fraction of that inner sunshine, and they flock to me like lost children.
Finally I was down on earth again and I looked back, Torah’s jaws were wide open and everyone else was huddling round the corner scared that what might be happening. Rubina was glaring at me like I had done something again to upstage her. And Drima was smiling so widely that her face was stretched to the limit.
Finally Mason spoke,” It is enough, Heiress. I think that the Crystal has made it more than enough clear that whose power is the maximum.”