Chapter 6 The Warriors within (eve of the Awakening)

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Bring forth your power

Desc: Animus summons the warriors from within Ayi in her dream state to help him prepare her for the battle she must fight soon. They have one dream in which to teach her as much as possible and embed their varied skills and talents into the Fear Chaser.

Notes: Traditional Native American religions exhibit much diversity, largely due to the relative isolation of the different tribes that were spread out across the entire breadth of the North American continent for thousands of years, allowing for the evolution of different beliefs and practices between tribes.

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Native American religion is closely connected to the land in which Native Americans dwell and the supernatural. While there are many different Native American religious practices, most address the following areas of supernatural concern: an omnipresent, invisible universal force, pertaining to the "three 'life crises' of birth, puberty, and death", spirits, visions, the shaman and communal ceremony.

 

[1]Native American spirituality is often characterized by animism or panentheism, with a strong emphasis on the importance of personal spirituality and its inter-connectivity with one's own daily life, and a deep connection between the natural and spiritual 'worlds'.

Native American religions tend not to be institutionalized but rather experiential and personal. This has been a source of a great deal of misunderstanding. Individual asceticism through sweat lodge ceremonies and other events along with rituals that appear to resemble idol worship make understanding their faith and religion problematic at best. Native American religions tend to be carried out mainly in a family or tribal location first and are better explained as more of a process or journey than a religion.

 

[2] It is a relationship experienced between Creator and created. For Native Americans, religion is never separated from one's daily life unlike Western cultures where religion is experienced privately and gradually integrated into one's public life. Conversation about theology and religion, even within their society, is extremely limited but to live and breathe is to worship. For Native Americans, a relationship with God is experienced as a relationship with all of creation which interestingly, is ever present and does not require an institution or building. All of creation has life. Rocks, trees, mountains, and everything that is visible lives and is part of creation and therefore has life which must be respected. Achiel Peelman suggests that, “strictly speaking, Amerindians do not believe in God but know God as an intrinsic dimension of all their relations.

 

”[3] God is known indirectly through an awareness of the relationships or links between various aspects of both the physical and supernatural realms. Spirituality of the Native Americans makes no distinction between these realms; the living and dead, visible and invisible, past and present, and heaven and earth.

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Most adherents to traditional American Indian ways do not see their spiritual beliefs and practices as a "religion"; rather, they see their whole culture and social structure as infused with 'spirituality' - an integral part of their lives and culture.

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As Ayi sleeps Animus stands over her. To enter her dreams he must be precise. At the deepest moment of her sleep at the very peak of exhale, just before she inhales he must enter. It is a split second or less and must be timed to perfection or great damage will be done, even for Angels it can be tricky that is why it is forbidden by the great one.

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Only certain Angels can do this. Animus knows how to do this, but he has never done it before and for the first time in thousands of years he feels something he has never felt before. Animus is nervous. At the very peak of her exhale with perfect timing Animus enters the dream state of Ayi. He has no time to waste. “ZhiGeALu, Kheju Roaza, Konieschquanoheel and warrior-queen Njinga, I summon you into this dream!” Out of the darkness one, by one they appear. They form from particles of glistening light into their human looking shapes. They stand surrounding Animus. Warrior-queen Njinga is the first to speak; “Yes Lord Animus we have been waiting for someone to summon us. We have been walking with this special one and we have been guiding her as best we can from within her subconscious ever since the day we first joined with her. Longing to come forth into the conscious and fully bind with her.” Animus smiles. “You have done well, she does not know yet how many times you have guided her, saved and influenced her. She is not aware that she holds the very essence of all humanity within her. Over time she wil l come to realise the gifts that are within and how the blend of your abilities and skills will enhance hers, but right now we have little time to spare as if we do not teach her well she will not have that time to learn.” Animus then informs them of her impending battle and tells them they must all work together to teach the Fear Chaser as much as they can in this dream so that she may survive the impending battle.

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In her dream Ayi is taught the ways of the warrior to be tenacious, fierce to take calcul ated risks, take charge and have courage to be the Bison but also the Jackal hunter by warrior-queen Njinga. She is taught strategy, tactical thinking and application, healing and trickery as well as how to use nature, blend with it and bend with it and to think quickly like the squirrel but forceful and powerful like the White Buffalo by Konieschquanoheel the Native American warrior and leader. She is taught how to conserve energy, rationalise facts, contemplate and meditate to be like the Bear by Kheju Roaza. She is schooled in the ancient arts and the ways of attack like the praying mantis and the monkey, shown how to slow time and space and see from a distance like an Eagle, and taught how to summon the energies of culture into a physical power and use it against her enemies by ZhiGeALu. Just before the dawn, before she wakes she is finally taught how to lead through example rather than just words. She is taught how to appear to be in two places at once like the wind.

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She must combine her skills when needed to increase her strength speed and agility to be the wolf by Animus. It has been a long night. A dream can last a thousand years and Animus together with the others have done all they can to teach Ayi a thousand years of learning in a few hours. They know she will only retain a part of what they have given her. They hope she has absorbed enough so that her instinct will kick in where here mind forgets. What they all know is that until the battle, until the moment no one can be sure.

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As Dawn is about to break and before Ayi can take her final inhale from her dream state Animus gathers the four elements of Ayi‟s „Totem‟. “You have all done well, return to the oculus mentis as it will be a while before she can summon you to stand beside her in the conscious and longer still before she can bring you forth. You must all work from within the subconscious to trigger what we have taught her tonight and hope that it is enough to see her through the battle, for surely Hysterix Max will send his most powe rful against her today.” ZhiGeALu, Kheju Roaza, Konieschquanoheel and warrior-queen Njinga, all nod and meet in a circle. Putting their hands together above their heads these four seemingly disparate spirits are indeed one and they dissolve into rays of light and combine as one disappearing into the subconscious mind of Ayi. At the perfect moment of inhale Animus then leaves Ayi as she ends her dream state and wakes up, feeling like she had hardly slept at all. She feels somehow different. What a night she thought to herself, one crazy dream after another and they were so real. Ayi was used to strange dreams. She always dreamt a lot, but this one seemed different somehow, even more vivid and real, plus she woke up sweating as if she had done a full work out. Ayi lay‟s in her bed for a while contemplating her dream, half asleep and half awake.

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Medicine Wheel

Desc: Ayi's medicine wheel birthmark on her back begins to glow and for the first time she stops to think about what it could mean. She has spent her whole life hiding it. She does not truly understand what it is and now all of a sudden she finds herself thinking deeply about what it could be.

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Notes: Medicine wheels, or sacred hoops, were constructed by laying stones in a particular pattern on the ground. Most medicine wheels follow the basic pattern of having a center of stone(s), and surrounding that is an outer ring of stones with "spokes", or lines of rocks radiating from the center. Some ancient types of sacred architecture were built by laying stones on the surface of the ground in particular patterns common to aboriginal peoples. Originally, and still today, medicine wheels are stone structures constructed by certain indigenous peoples of North America for various astronomical, ritual, healing, and teaching purposes. Medicine wheels are still "opened" or inaugurated in Native American spirituality where they are more often referred to as "sacred hoops", which is the favored English rendering by some. There are various native words to describe the ancient forms and types of rock alignments. One teaching involves the description of the four directions. More recently, syncretic, hybridized uses of medicine wheels, magic circles, and mandala sacred technology are employed in New Age, Wiccan, Pagan and other spiritual discourse throughout the World. The rite of the sacred hoop and medicine wheel differed and differs amongst indigenous traditions, as it now does between non-indigenous peoples, and between traditional and modernist variations. The essential nature of the rite common to these divergent traditions deserves further anthropological exploration as does an exegesis of their valence.

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On her back the birthmark tattoo starts to itch in a way it has never quite done before. As she scratches it she remembers her mother‟s words that she must not show her birthmark to anyone. If anyone should see it she must say she had it done when she was younger, she must never forget to say it was a tattoo, not a birthmark. “Tell no one you were born with this” Her mum would always remind her at bath times when she was a kid. “They will not understand little one.” She also remembered how as a young girl even on hot days her mother always forced her to cover up. Wu ZhiXia would also convince the teachers at her school to let Ayi wear different clothing to others during exercise and gym time. This was not an easy task in China, and Wu ZhiXia‟s husband being part of the local Government obviously helped her get her way. “She has delicate skin” Her mother used to tell everyone. “She must remain covered up at all times.” Ayi herself never understood any of it, but she just did as she was told. Her father GuGe Jihu died not knowing about the birthmark. Her mum kept it a secret from him also. For a moment Ayi felt sadness come over her. She was only 9 years old when her father died of liver disease. She did not even know what that meant at the time and she remembers one of the kids at school spreading a rumour that her dad died because he was always drinking too much.

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She remembered how angry she became when she heard that and how she reacted by knocking the boy to the floor with one blow to the surprise of all around her. The boy was twice her size. She also recalled the trouble she got into for that not just at school, but with her mother at home. Funny enough she remembered her birthmark itching then also. Ayi missed her father. Although he was very strict and a bit strange now and then, he taught her many things that she could see the use of today, He taught her restraint, and made her tough. He taught her how to defend herself and he taught her about nature and animals. She knew that if he had been alive she probably would not be in the West. There is no way he would have allowed her to go. However with him gone Asha was now the strongest in the family. When Gugue was alive only he could control Asha, only he would stand up to her auntie. Now no one could, or would.

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Because of her prowess at sports no one ever questioned what she wore most of the time, as long as she kept winning, and after knocking that boy out few kids in her school would dare to make fun of Ayi. Hiding her birthmark became so ingrained in her that she went through her whole life doing it. Not even her boyfriend‟s saw it. She would find ever more complex ways to hide it or make sure no one touched it. Once one of her friends accidently touched it and jumped back saying "What‟s that!" Ayi remembers inventing some silly story to explain it. She never even stopped to think until just now how bizarre it all was and how weird she must have come across to people.

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Ayi got out of bed and walked to the mirror. Looking closely over her shoulder at the birthmark on her back she could see it was glowing slightly. It must be infected or irritated she thought. How the hell could I have been born with a circle of yellow, red, black and white sections? She thought. “Hey, Ayi!?” Carroll was calling from the other room. It interrupted her thought process. “You awake yet?” She looked at the clock; it was 7.30am time to get to work. She never understood why Carroll always shouted at her from next door. The apartment was so small you could hear someone breathing in the next room. Ayi knew Mr Lee would bitch all morning if they were late and he always seemed to have it in more for her, than anyone else. She did not need it today.

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Hidden strength

Desc: Ayi's hidden strength comes through when she gets angry but she still struggles to make the connections that will explain who and what she is. She has not been awakened yet. She knows deep down something is just not right.

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“I‟m first in the shower!” Ayi shouted from her room, doing the same thing she hated Carroll doing; shouting for no reason. Carroll always took way too long in the shower and often left Ayi with little time to get ready, so getting in the shower first was a must for Ayi. “Too late!” replied Carroll. “I‟m already in it ha ha ha ha!” Ayi threw her hands up in the air. “Dam!” she said and stamped her foot down on her bedroom floor.

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'CRACK!' Her foot hit the carpeted floor with such force that it cracked the wooden surface beneath. “OMG!” Exclaimed Ayi, “How the hell did I do that!? This place must be full of termites it‟s rotten to the core, what a dump!” She rationalized. "What was that?" shouted Carroll from the shower. "Oh, nothing." replied Ayi. Angry and frustrated she walked over to her wardrobe and starts throwing her clothes on the bed cursing her luck concerning Carroll getting to the shower first. What Ayi could not know was that it had nothing to do with termites or the state of the apartment as bad as it was. Deep down she knew this, but she did not want to think about it. The spirit and strength of the White Buffalo flows through the veins of Ayi and when she is angry it comes out and can be destructive if not controlled. If Ayi had taken a moment to really think she might have been able to assemble the puzzle that was her life and notice that she was very different to those around her, but even if she did, what would she do with that information? If Ayi survived the night many of her questions would be answered.

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Little OX

Desc: Ayi begins to recall her childhood and realises she was always different, but she still cannot put the pieces of the puzzle together in her head. As a young kid her powers began to show and others around noticed, but they also could never have imagined who or what Ayi truly is.

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Ayi remembered that back in her home town she was already a local star of sorts when she was younger. Whatever she put her mind to she excelled at it, she became the best. She was faster and stronger than all the boys in her class and year, but smaller. She would lose races deliberately to avoid the attention winning brought her. Ayi always had this love hate relationship with attention or being noticed. When she was singing and performing she loved it, otherwise she hated it. She could never make sense of it. She rarely got the attention she wanted in the way she wanted it.

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Even as a just a little girl everyone would marvel and comment at how strong she was. Ayi can‟t even remember ever being physically hurt. She could carry more water back from the river than any child her age or older often making several trips down the mountain without stopping to take a breath. While grown-ups sat puffing away on the mountain side she would be singing and dancing her way up and down the moutain. She loved the attention she got from working hard and always wanted to impress and do more, while at the same time she hated when her parents made too much fuss to others about her abilities. She also hated it when she got things wrong. Ayi was not good with mistakes. She felt embarrassed and always tried to play herself down. Her mother Wu ZhiXia called her the 'special one'. Her father called her his 'little Ox'. He would take her with him riding on his shoulders into the woods to hunt and also collect snakes, something he liked to do. He was surprised that even as a baby she was never afraid of nature or the animals. Once he did not have hold of an Orthriophis rat sn ake properly and it lunged to bite Ayi on her hand. He was shocked to see Ayi catch the snake in mid-air and hold it by the head, passing it back to him smiling. Yes GuGe Jihu knew his daughter was special. He just did not realise like anyone else, just how special she was. He thought she could be a great athlete and represent her country and bring honour to the family one day. Only Ayi's mother had some idea that her daughter was somehow blessed by the gods, special in some way.

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She had no idea to what extent and she was mostly afraid for Ayi that if others suspected she was different or somehow special they would make life hard for Ayi even persecute her. So she never spoke of it to anyone, not even Ayi. Ayi was small curvaceous and powerful and extremely beautiful like her mother. From a very early age she realised that she was attractive to men. She did not like it most of the time. It seemed to only bring her mother trouble. Many nights she would hear her mother and father fighting and arguing because of the attention she got from other men. Ayi‟s mother is also extremely beautiful and at the time she was desired by many men in the village. Ayi remembered thinking at the time; "How can she help being beautiful? It's not her fault. Why does being beautiful get someone into so much trouble?” She would ask her mother. She spent many moments in her youth avoiding the attentions of older men, which was not always easy. She often wondered why they would always pick on her rather than the other girls. She was used to boys following her all the way home from school, offering to hold her books or keep her safe, any excuse just to be around her, again she found she liked it but hated it at the same time. The boys though she could handle. It was the men Ayi found hard to figure out, they had wives and still they came to her. To avoid trouble she would dress like a boy wear baggy clothes and try not to be noticed, but it did not always work. It was not until she got to the West that she was able to really express herself in the way she dressed, feel free to express her sexuality and be a woman without so much fear. Although she still found herself being chased by men all the time at least she felt more powerful and in control, able to stand up and be herself, be sexy and not hide it away so much. She learned quickly that most men did not want to know her they just wanted to have her and she could tell the difference. Ayi was used to the attentions of men indeed and coming to the West did not make things any easier in that regard. There were many instances where had she examined what really happened it would have raised many questions about who and what she truly is now, but Ayi never stopped to think about these things too much it made her head hurt. It threw up too many questions which she could not answer.

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Super Power?

Desc: Ayi recalls saving the life of a friend on a dangerous mountain road, but can't figure out just how she was able to do it. Her memories are vivid but provide no answers because certain bits of the puzzle are missing.

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Notes: In China, the number of deaths caused by car accidents has nearly doubled in the past 20 years, climbing from 3.9 to 7.6 per 100,000 of the population between 1985 and 2005. The Sichuan-Tibet Highway, a high-elevation road between Chengdu and Tibet where landslides and rock avalanches are common, is undoubtedly part of the problem.

The 2,412km long Sichuan-Tibet Highway starts from Chengdu of Sichuan on the east and ends at Lhasa of Tibet on the west. The road stretches into Lhasa passing Ya‟an, Garze and Chamdo. Sichuan-Tibet highway traverses 14 high mountains which average 4,000-5000m, spans dozens of famous rivers (Dadu River, Jinsha River, Lantsang River, Nujiang), crosses primeval forest and numerous dangerous sections. It has spectacular views along the line, with unique ethnic customs.

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Leibo is a mountainous region of Sichuan with badly maintained dirt roads and steep falls. On one clear starry night as a young girl Ayi was travelling on the back of Azhi‟s bike. She knew better because he was much older and he had been drinking with his friends. He should not have been riding his bike that night. In fact she told him so, but he would not listen. He was the boy in the village every girl fancied, but he seemed to only have eyes for Ayi at that time even though she was six years younger than him. She begged him not to ride home that evening, she told him to walk that she would walk with him and t hey could talk as usual, but he would not leave his precious Wuxi Yunlu 250cc Cruiser motorcycle behind for someone to steal. He listened to Ayi's protestations for a while but still started up 'his baby' and began to ride away. “See you tomorrow Ayi!” He shouted as he opened up the throttle and peeled off.

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Ayi instinctively chased behind him and jumped on the back of his bike, leaping over the chopper style rear seat. Azhi was too drunk to notice what she had just done and Ayi was too concerned to think about it either but the bike was doing 20mph when she caught up with it and jumped on! How did she manage it? Catching up was one thing, but getting on was almost impossible she thought as she reminisced. Feeling Ayi behind him (as she wrapped her hands around his waist) he smiled and just continued to ride on. Ayi just wanted to make sure Azhi got home safe. Too many of her friends had died from crashing and going off the mountain especially when they had been drinking. Ayi lost her train of thought as she considered the fact that most Westerners could not even walk on those roads let alone drive on them.

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She remembered many times when on long trips to the nearest city having to get out of the car and walk as it was just too dangerous to be in the car as the driver negotiated the treacherous conditions. Back then the roads where very bad. Speaking to her friends now it seems things have improved much „thank god‟ she thought. Ayi remembers she kept shouting in his ear “Azhi Slow down!” or “Azhi corner, corner!” Ayi never told Azhi but she fancied him too. She did not want to look stupid, what if he laughed at her!? She could not bear the thought of him getting hurt. She never for one moment thought about herself. “OK calm down Ayi!” Azhi replied. “Relax and enjoy the ride. I got this!”

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If Ayi had taken the time to reflect on that day and others like it, she would have questioned how, when he lost control of the bike she was able to pull him and herself off before it flew over the side of the mountain smashing into a dozen parts and then exploding at the bottom. She was little more than half his size. How did she foresee several seconds before what was about to happen and save them both? Ayi could not have felt the four great warrior spirits working within her. In the heat of the moment she would not have been able to feel her birthmark start to itch and glow on her back as the strength, speed and foresight of the hero‟s within guided her movement, sharpened her awareness and provided her with the ability to leap from the cascading bike with Azhi in her arms before it left the mountain, landing like a cat on her feet with Azhi cradled in her arms. She was just too concerned at the time with Azhi as he lay unconscious on the ground. “Azhi, Azhi are you alright? Say something please?” Azhi groaned and slowly opened his eyes to see a frightened and sobbing Ayi starring down at him. “What just happened Ayi, how did I get here and where is my bike?” Ayi broke into a smile. She was so relieved and happy to see he was ok. “Oh Azhi, I thought you were dead. I told you not to ride didn‟t I?” Ayi did her best to explain what had just happened, but in truth she did not really know herself. How did they get where they were? How did she get him off the bike? Why weren't they both at the bottom of the mountain … dead? “I don‟t know what happened she said, you must have hit something like a rock and we both got thrown from the bike. We were lucky, but your bike is gone Azhi, I‟m sorry.” Azhi looked up at Ayi. He could see she was still frightened and shocked. "Ahh don't worry about the bike Ayi, My parents will get me another one." Azhi forced out a smile.

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He could see Ayi was still upset and tried to think of something to take her mind of what just happened. "Hey Ayi!" said Azhi. "Look where we are? I think our special cave is just down there, you remember it?" Ayi and Azhi used to hang out in caves on the side of the mountain. Some Yi people use the caves as make shift homes so it was tough to find one that no one knew about. They had stumbled across a small little cave behind some bushes several months ago and would go there to talk and drink. It was their secret place. Ayi was too young to drink, but Azhi never made her feel like a little girl and he would always allow her to have some, even if it was just a little bit. Ayi smiled and Azhi smiled back. A few months after that incident Ayi was on her way to the West and Azhi never saw her again, but he never stopped thinking about Ayi and he never stopped wondering just how she managed to save both their lives that day.

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Ayi snapped out of her day dream. Now she was really late and like it or not she would hear the mouth of Mr Lee all day. She rushed to get dressed, throwing on her light blue faded jeans, her white camisole top and her leopard print high heels. No more time for daydreams, birthmarks of old friends. She had to get to work. Ayi put on her tight leather jacket and rushed out the house. “Bye” she called out to Carroll who was still in the shower.