Salmek's Crystal

By Maria Grima

One ten-year-old girl, armed with only a crystal, against all the followers of The Dark Serpent. The future of the planet is at stake.

On a balmy summer’s evening Salmek took her dog, Chewy, out for his usual walk. But there was nothing usual about what she saw – a meeting of the followers of The Dark Serpent. Suddenly a

• Language: English
• Publisher: Maria Grima
• Release date: Sep 2, 2013
• ISBN: 9781909121379

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

The Tor was shrouded in pale moonlight, as Salmek followed the winding pathway up to the top, where the Michael Tower stood. By her side was her small black and white Welsh collie dog, Chewy. He ran ahead of her, bouncing and barking with excitement, chasing his tail in circles before returning to give her hand a reassuring lick.

Salmek sat down on the damp grass and surveyed the view of Glastonbury. On this clear summer’s evening, as dusk began to fall, she could see house and street lights twinkling for miles into the distance, and a faint, amber glow edged into the sky. A playful breeze teased strands of her long, strawberry-blonde hair free of her loosely tied ponytail. It was perfect… a picture-postcard view.

Her eyes were drawn to a rich, creamy-golden, opalescent light that was rising up in a large dome-like shape from somewhere in the High Street. She leaned forwards, hugging her knees towards her, as she tried to work out what was causing it and where exactly it was coming from. She wondered whether it was a fire, but realised it couldn’t be, as there was no smoke. A beam shot towards her, and engulfed her in its spotlight. For a moment, the light blinded her and she was forced to look down, screwing up her eyes in pain, before the beam dipped downwards to shine upon the Tor itself. There was a bright white FLASH, as if someone was taking a photograph using a giant’s camera…

Then there was a BOOM! The earth shook. All around her, Salmek could see faint, glowing lines spiralling from just beneath the surface of the earth, to encircle the Tor. She followed the light-lines with her eyes as they stretched out before her, like thousands of oversized underground fibre optic cables gently pulsing with energy. They appeared to link the landscape via an intricate web of connections; it was as if the light channels were tracing out luminous pathways on an invisible earth map.

Her eyes were drawn back to the main light in the High Street. It was powerful and mesmerising, but strangely soothing at the same time. Swaying and enticing, the light expanded and contracted, rising up and sinking down, rippling outwards and back towards its centre. She had never seen a light like it. The movements were rhythmic and pulsing, luring her towards its centre and tempting her to go off in search of its source. She felt like she wanted to be close to it, to be engulfed by it and to merge with it.

Her body was pulled up by forces she had no control over. As she stood, she tried to steady herself by using her arms for balance in case she lost her footing and fell. Her feet began to move, and with no apparent control, she started taking steps forward towards the source of the light. She was compelled to continue, stumbling onwards, tripping on clods of earth as she went.

In moments, her hypnotic state was shattered, collapsing as quickly as it had risen. Chewy nuzzled his head under her hand, insistently searching for attention and breaking the spell that she was under. It was as if a switch had been flicked off and she came to after a few minutes, shaking her head to dislodge the cloudy residue that had built up. She blinked rapidly to clear her vision. The light in the distance subsided, as did the pull that drew her towards it. It was the strangest feeling, it really was. Looking around her, all the light pathways that had wrapped themselves around the Tor had disappeared.

When she was much younger, Salmek’s mum had taught her how to see auras – the energy light fields surrounding all living things – by just relaxing, drifting off into a daydream and allowing her eyes to kind of glaze over and defocus. An aura is similar to the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights: a glow of hazy light, like a magnetic field, that appears as a fluxing luminous cocoon, around someone, or something. But instead of only being green or red like the Northern Lights, they can be any colour of the rainbow, and depending on the mood of the person, they appear dense or light, sludgy or clear.

Seeing auras wasn’t anything special; anyone could do it, if they opened their minds to the possibility. Salmek could see the energy light auras around trees, plants, humans… Anything, really. But the light she had just seen was different. Different from anything she had ever seen; she’d never been pulled by a light before.

Stroking Chewy’s head she looked up and then down, in an attempt to ensure the world was still as she remembered, with the stars above and earth below. She even stamped down into the grass beneath her to double check all was as it should be. It took all her effort to bring herself back together; for that was what it felt like, bringing herself back into her own centre after being pulled outwards, as if controlled by external forces. She needed to sort herself out before she could even think about heading back home.

The Tor was a powerful place, and local people would often talk about the Michael and Mary ley lines, invisible energy paths under the surface of the earth that converged there, right underneath the tower at the top. It was said to be a sacred site; a place that held mysterious power, which was why many rituals and gatherings had been held there for hundreds of years. But there was no one else on the Tor this evening, no gathering of local folk and no ceremonies. Salmek was alone. She wondered whether the spectacular light had been something to do with the ley lines that she had heard people talk about?

She didn’t know if anyone else in the quiet market town had witnessed that light, and if they had, whether they had been drawn to it. For some strange reason, Salmek felt that the light and its energies were calling to her and her alone. But she had no idea why.

‘Come on, Chewy, let’s get home. I’ll race you.’ Salmek tried to muster some enthusiasm, thinking a run would clear her head. In reality, it was the last thing she felt like. Chewy accepted the challenge and bounded off ahead.

Outside her back door, Chewy lapped at his bowl of water, and Salmek leant forwards, hands on knees, slowly getting her breath back.

There was a rustling in the bushes at the end of the garden, and Salmek could hear George, her next-door neighbour, muttering to himself.

‘God-forsaken cat, get out of the Goddamn way! Salmek? Is that you?’ he called, from somewhere within the undergrowth.

‘Yes, it is. What are you doing?’ Salmek asked, quietly.

‘Over here. I want you to try something. A very special concoction from my cellar,’ George whispered.

She headed over to the bushes that separated the gardens, just in time to meet with George’s hand poking through a gap in the foliage.

‘Found four bottles of this stuff hidden under my encyclopaedias in the cellar. Quite forgot I even made the brew, to be honest. It’s sloe cordial, girl, the best you’ve ever tasted… and rather unusual rocket fuel, if I do say so myself. Now, have a wee dram before you go to bed, it will put hairs on your chest and you’ll sleep like a log,’ he said.

‘I don’t have a problem sleeping, George. And the last thing I want is hairs on my chest,’ Salmek said. She was a bit concerned about the ingredients that made up this mixture, as George could be a little slap-dash in his approach. Not all his recipes were ones that you could call ‘bona fide’.

‘Drink it down, girl, you’ll like it. Full of all the vitamins a growing girl needs,’ he said, mischievously. ‘It won’t knock your block off, but you’ll float up to bed as happy as Larry.’

Salmek took the glass and smelt it. It was… um, rather nice actually: rich berries, with a hint of spice in there too. She wondered if it was cinnamon. She took a sip, enjoying the warm sensation of the liquid flowing down her throat. There was a mild bite of bitterness, followed by a hint of sweetness.

‘What do you think, little lady? Is it up to scratch? Can you still feel your body?’ George asked.

‘It’s nice – strange, but nice. Thanks, George,’ she said, passing the glass back to him.

‘Now, don’t you go telling Lizzy about this or she’ll guzzle the whole lot herself. If she finds out where I keep it, that is. I’m telling you, Salmek, this is exceptional stuff. In actual fact, I would go so far as to say it was vintage, absolute top-of-the-range rocket fuel and only for the palates of royalty, test pilots and special young ladies like yourself,’ George said, as his hand disappeared from sight and Salmek made her way to her back door once again.

‘Goodnight, George. Give my love to Elizabeth,’ Salmek said, as she opened the door into her kitchen. No one else was allowed to call George’s wife, ‘Lizzy’, only him.

‘Goodnight, Salmek. Hope the bed bugs don’t bite. Not that you’d feel them anyway, after your little snifter of my magic cordial,’ George replied, before tripping on something in his garden and blaming the cat, Mango, once again.

Salmek sat with her mum at the kitchen table and drank a cup of hot chocolate, while Chewy lay under the table, licking his paws. The portable TV on the kitchen worktop was switched on, with the sound turned down to a whisper.

‘What are you watching?’ Salmek asked.

Salmek’s mum Angelica had a faraway look in her eyes and Salmek got the feeling that she wasn’t quite paying attention to the programme, or to what she had just asked.

‘It’s about the state of the world. The destruction of the rainforests, pollution, floods, wars; all the negative stuff, actually. And now this plague outbreak in Southern India… It’s a new strain that scientists have never seen before. Quite depressing really, that’s why I turned it down.’

‘A plague? That’s terrible! So many weird things are happening. Do you think everything’s falling apart, Mum?’

‘You’re right, weird things are happening, but I’m sure everything will settle down soon. You only hear the bad stuff on the news, don’t you? There’s plenty of good stuff going on too, it’s just we don’t get to hear about it.’

‘Mum…?’ Salmek hesitated, not sure whether she should mention anything or not.

‘Yes?’ Angelica cupped her face with her hands, waiting for Salmek to speak.

‘Err… Did you see any light displays this evening? Was there anything going on in town?’

‘Not as far as I know, why?’

Angelica looked interested.

‘I thought I saw a big light shining from town… Maybe I made a mistake.’ Salmek was keen to finish the conversation and go to bed. Part of her was starting to doubt what she’d seen. She was beginning to wonder whether it was just her imagination.

‘Perhaps the light display you saw was from fireworks or something like that?’ Angelica said.

‘Could have been, I guess. I’m going to bed, Mum, see you in the morning.’

‘Night sweetheart, sleep well.’

Angelica blew a kiss and Salmek felt a wave of her mum’s love wash over her.

Chewy sat in the bathroom doorway, watching Salmek clean her teeth. He had the usual questioning look on his face, with his head slightly tilted to one side. It was as if he had no idea what she was doing, or why, but had nothing better to do than watch her doing it anyway.

With ablutions complete, Salmek wrapped herself in a sarong, her usual sleeping attire during the summer months, and climbed into bed. She had sarongs in a variety of colours and patterns, which her dad posted to her from exotic places. They were comfortable and it made her feel closer to him, in a funny kind of way.

Salmek had been conceived in India, when her parents were backpacking together and very much in love, but she was born in Bristol. Now her dad was no longer around. Sadly, he had disappeared soon after she was born. Her mum told her he tried his best to settle down and become a good father, but his freedom-loving character fought too much with his heart.

He hadn’t been very involved in her upbringing and she’d only met him a few times during her whole life. The last time was when she was five years old, and she was ten now, so she only had vague memories of him. His smell lingered with her, long after his face had faded; it was a combination of vanilla and lemon, mixed with old leather. It was sad, as once she had had two parents – a proper family – but now all she had was her mum. Life was strange in the way it turned around and changed everything that seemed good. It didn’t make sense.

‘Chewy, in your basket, boy, or Mum will make you go back to sleeping in the kitchen, and you know how much you hate that.’

There was a long sigh as the dejected dog turned around, climbed into his basket and curled up. He kept one eye on Salmek, but managed to look swiftly away every time she glanced over at him, trying to make out he had no interest in her, or her comfortable bed. As soon as the lights were out and a polite period had elapsed (about a minute, at most), Chewy padded back across the room. He sniffed at the duvet, before climbing onto the bed next to Salmek, then licked her face and gave one last sigh, before dozing off.

‘You never listen, do you?’ Salmek laughed, as she curled herself into a ball and slowly drifted off. Her mind wandered to the light she’d seen. It wasn’t her imagination, it couldn’t have been. Deep down, Salmek sensed that the light was for her to see, and no one else.

CHAPTER TWO

Salmek knew she was in for one of her rare dreams, as while she was drifting off she could see a kaleidoscope of colours swirling before her closed eyes. The colours twisted and turned, changing from textured to smooth, undulating and rippling in constant movement. Once the process had started, she knew there was no way of stopping it. She had a certain amount of conscious awareness, but she could not will her eyes to open. And so the journey into another world began.

Fine hairs on the back of her arms stood on end, tingling with anticipation. Before her was what appeared to be a magical, imaginary city. She remembered this. She’d been here before in her dreams. But not for a long time… and not like this.

Crisp and well-defined, everything around her gleamed in high definition. Even particles of floating pollen seemed larger and in sharper focus, than in her world. The birdsong was clearer, the insects louder. It was as if someone had turned up the volume and upped the colour and contrast on a 3D television screen. In the dream, her eyes widened to take it all in, and she rubbed her ears, as they adjusted to their new level of audio sensitivity.

In the distance, she noticed a grand temple made of colossal, glass-like, transparent quartz crystals, shimmering and vibrating with life. As sunrays made contact with each facet of the crystal’s surface, huge rainbows extended outwards, their glorious arcs cloaking the whole city in different colours. It created a patchwork effect, swathing the landscape in blankets of multicoloured light. Everything was virtually trembling with life.

The air was delicately scented with a myriad of flowers. It was intoxicating. She couldn’t seem to breathe enough of it in; it was like the scent of rose petals on a balmy summer’s evening. She felt as if energy was flowing into every cell of her body, revitalising and refreshing her whole being.

The temple stood firmly in the centre of the city; the focal point in the landscape. Surrounding it were four other large crystal-domed buildings, each supporting a bronze, conical-shaped funnel. Grey, dusty clouds of smog shot out of the funnels in spurts and puffs and were instantly absorbed into the bands of rainbow light. Salmek thought it looked like the light was sucking away all the grime and pollution from the air. Below, snaking between the buildings, were pastel-coloured shimmering lakes, in powder blue, pink and lilac, with what seemed to be small, golden sailing boats drifting across the surface.

Lush foliage sprouted up everywhere. It was the only thing that looked the same as home. And there were beings: moving columns of light that had human-like shapes, but they were tall… very tall. Salmek knew she could be wrong as she was far away, but the way the light columns glided about, well, it made them seem human, made them look as if they were going about their daily lives.

Beyond the centre, forming the outer layers of the city, less grand sandstone houses spiralled outwards, gradually building into an enormous circle. Each rooftop sprouted metallic antennae that appeared to be receiving rays of energy from the surrounding crystals.

The only other landmark of significance was another group of large, smoky-quartz crystals set on a taller, lavender-coloured hilltop opposite her, overlooking the city below. She had seen standing stones at Stonehenge that looked similar. But unlike Stonehenge, whose stones were surrounded by fencing to protect them, these crystals stood free and proud and their arrangement appeared to form some kind of pattern. If she could look at them from above, she might be able to see what the pattern was, but it was impossible to tell from her current vantage point.

She tried to move down towards the city to have a closer look, but her body wouldn’t budge. Looking down at her feet, she willed them to go on, but nothing happened, nothing at all. Her mind was completely alert and she felt her heart racing with fear and excitement. It was a dream. It must be a dream, like all the others. But why did everything seem so real? Why could she smell so intensely? Why was she aware of her thoughts and her questioning mind, if she was dreaming? It didn’t make sense.

Salmek looked down upon the city and the crystal temple, desperate to understand more and explore this other world. She had never seen a place like this in storybooks or movies, so where did it come from? Why did it feel familiar?

Her legs felt wooden, allowing her to stand, but no more.

‘Move, you stupid things. Move! I can’t stand here forever,’ Salmek said, over and over again, looking down at her useless legs. Her voice grew louder until she was almost shouting, so she stopped. If this was a real city… It couldn’t be, could it? But if it was a real city, then someone would hear her and come to find her, and what would she do then? Even though she had been dreaming of this place for as long as she could remember, something felt different this time.

Without thinking, she sat cross-legged, closed her eyes and began breathing in deeply, right down into the bottom of her stomach, then slowly releasing the air from her stomach, chest and then throat. She continued breathing and concentrated on the space before her closed eyes, drifting into a deep, meditative state. Losing awareness of everything around her, she felt weightless. All her thoughts subsided. She lost all sense of her body. There was silence.

Salmek had no idea how long she had been sitting in that trance-like state, but gradually, an awareness of her surroundings returned. She was still on top of the hill overlooking the ancient city.

The only difference was this time a boy was sitting directly opposite her.

He appeared to be a couple of years older than her, with a mass of curly black hair and chocolate-brown eyes. His skin was tanned and silky and he had an open, welcoming face. And there was recognition between them that provoked an emotion in Salmek that she didn’t understand. She felt connected to him, like friends that had known each other forever. She was overwhelmed and her eyes filled with tears that blurred her vision.

He said nothing and continued to sit cross-legged just like her, looking deep into her eyes, deep into her soul. Salmek could sense a heady feeling building within her and a slight headache developing within the centre of her forehead. Completely mesmerised, she felt a great bond with this boy.

‘I knew you would come. It’s so good to see you, I’ve missed you.’

The words were not spoken aloud by the boy, but Salmek could hear them. It was as if he had planted them in her mind. She wondered how this could happen. She reminded herself it was a dream, anything could happen in a dream. He really seemed to be speaking into her mind…

‘I don’t think I know you, but you seem familiar to me and I’m confused,’ Salmek replied in her head.

No sooner had she finished the thought, than the boy responded.

‘You do know me. We’ve been friends for a long time. Don’t strain too much to remember, as your headache will get worse. Just relax, and all will become clear in good time.’

Salmek realised that the boy could hear what she was thinking. Her head began to throb again, she panicked and felt a wave of nausea well up inside. The whole situation was starting to scare her a little, as everything seemed too real now. She wondered if this really was a dream, or whether she had lost her way home, forever.

‘It will be okay. Each time it will get easier. You have great work to do. A healing of the world must take place, and it’s part of your purpose, to see that it happens. The earth is changing too quickly; there are so many disasters: floods, earthquakes, wars, environmental problems, and disease. Too many people feel depressed and have lost their connection to what’s important: the land, the skies, and the seas. But things can change. Take this, it was meant for you, Salmek. It was yours a long time ago. I found it here, in this place, and I knew that one day I would see you again so I could give it back to you.’

Salmek stared into the boy’s smiling eyes, hypnotized by him. She had seen him before, she felt sure of it, but still couldn’t figure out where. He handed her a pale pink, multi-faceted crystal that was pointed at each end and small enough to rest comfortably in the palm of her hand. As soon as she curled her fingers around it, it