Transformation

Aaron stood looking at the cottage, awestruck and flabbergasted.

"There's one more thing…" Aura looked at him.

Aaron was confident there was much more than that.

"I can take you places." Her smile transitioned.

"I know, I followed you all the way to Eros."

Aura shook her head. "Yes, but I can take you places… instantly."

There was a moment of silence.

"Instantly?" Aaron replied. "To where? …Where would you take me?"

"Anywhere you want… anywhere you can imagine."

Aaron stood in silence, gazing in wonder at the materialized cottage. He wanted to rebuttal, and doubt her claims, but he looked at everything else she accomplished, and could not deny he already believed.

"What if I imagine us to the bottom of the sea? Won't we be in trouble… you know, us humans need to breathe, right?"

"I would never hurt you. That is not what I'm here to do."

Chills ran through Aaron's body. He suddenly realized that she had a reason, a purpose of her own for being here. She had been guiding him to this moment, and to an understanding of who she is.

"You want to go somewhere… don't you?"

"Yes," Aura said. There was a galaxy in her eyes. "My home."

Aaron's face flickered in the light of the fire. "You're not human!"

"I am a part of all humans," she said with a coyness aimed to sway Aaron to her side.

It was too much for him. He would have followed her anywhere, beyond all that was known… but this was even more.

"Where are we going?"

"There is a kingdom… rested in a nebula, at the beginning and end of the universe. Once you can see it, we can go."

"Once I can see it!?" His disgruntled annoyance rose. A memory of Aura fast asleep in his farm flooded his mind: a beautiful girl wrapped in blankets he provided. If he had known what she was then… would he have followed?

"Breathe, Aaron."

Aaron's attention tuned to the present, and he drew in a deep breath. There was a tingling feeling in his fingers, and he wanted to sit down.

Aaron's grand adventure suddenly felt like a grand trap. He desperately tried to sort out how he had gotten to this point. Was it his idea to seek out the teacher, or was it hers? Aaron thought that Eros was Aura's home… but had she ever said that? He remembered the distrust he felt for Aura in the marketplace, and the pieces fell together.

"Trust me, Aaron."

"I'm not sure how trustworthy you are."

"We work together. You imagine and I create…"

Aaron looked at the cottage and the babbling stream passing through it.

"You saw it in your mind, didn't you?" Aura spoke softly. "You saw it before it was there."

Aaron reached in his pocket and rolled the thousand-faceted gemstone between his fingers, testing to see if it was still there.

A gentle breeze blew between the trees. Peridot's front hoof kicked the ground, but then fell back into silence.

"How would we get there?"

"You have to release your imagination."

"My imagination?"

"Yes, to untether yourself from the now."

Aaron took a few steps back.

"…You're holding on to this place with your mind, but you don't have to be here."

Aaron nervously laughed. "You know, that might be a bit difficult for a non-eternal being."

A light sparked in Aura's eyes.

"You imagine what to eat before you eat it, you imagine what clothes to wear before you wear them, and you imagine where to go… before you get there."

"How can I imagine a place I have never seen?" he exclaimed. "It's one thing to travel someplace new, but it's entirely different to imagine a place at the beginning and end of the universe."

Aaron rubbed his temples. Why was his world being constantly turned upside-down? Where was the sanity?

"Come sit with me." A new tranquility arose in Aura's voice.

Aaron continued to rub his face. This was absurd, if The Teacher was right, and Aura was a product of his imagination, then why would he be fighting about what was possible?

Aura waved her hand and a ripple of pacification passed through the woods. Aaron became a disembodied observer, watching his legs walk, stop in front of her, and sit on the ground. This had happened to Aaron once before, when he found himself wading in the middle of a split river, heading towards a newly created mound.

"Close your eyes, Aaron." Aura's words echoed in his mind.

Aaron closed his eyes and sat alone in the dark. His breaths felt heavy, and his attention turned towards the beating of his heart. What am I doing? Is she going to tell me where we're going? …Where are we going? We're going to a Kingdom… The Kingdom at the beginning and end… it's a palace, sitting on a nebula, amidst a trillion stars…

He saw it.

He wanted to speak, but there was no need. A connection existed between he and Aura that transcended words. A fluid conversation of emotions flowed between them like a river, channeling all his anxieties, anger and longing at the same time.

I Will Always

An immense wave reversed the stream, and Aaron felt the pacification of Aura.

In this moment, Aaron understood the exactitude of his purpose. He knew who he was, and who they would become together; they were a team, and would travel the universe side by side.

Aaron disconnected from Aura's connection and opened his eyes. For a timeless second, they both sat staring at each other without saying a word.

A few breaths later, he stood up, walked to Peridot, and untied her from the tree. Rubbing his hand across her side, he took one last look around.

"Well… I suppose I should untether then."

He removed his hand from Peridot's side and walked towards Aura as she rose from the ground. Once again standing face to face, Aura stepped into him and leaned against his chest. Aaron slowly wrapped his arms around her, and paid attention, as though he were witnessing a miracle.

Aaron could feel a warm glow emanating from his chest, the same glow he observed from Aura. A distortion reverberated isotropically through the air around them, expanding and contracting, changing the distance between all things.

Let me…

An invisible force pushed them from all sides, accelerating them in a direction Aaron had never felt before. The dynamo sparked flashes of light that whipped around them, diving in and out of sight.

Aaron tucked his head into Aura's embrace, resting the side of his cheek against her hair. He could feel terra firma slip from under his feet like sand through a sieve. The wind roared in the shape of a sphere, and a deep tremble shook the atmosphere around them.

The wind kicked up dust that turned to sparks of light as Iron and Magnesium plasma illuminated the sphere. The more Aaron untethered, the more visceral the lights became. Aura dug her head into Aaron's chest even tighter, and a new wave of chaos erupted in plasma around them.

The intensity was becoming too much to bear. Ammolite and silver swirls turned into turquoise flares, as Aaron's existence disorientated. His desperate embrace with Aura was the only constant of time.

Reaching an apex of velocity, the deafening roars began to recede. Silver and azure plasma decayed into gold, and the lights slowly transformed back into wind. When the ground returned to his feet, Aaron looked to see a dry and cracked regolith. The dust finally settled, and Aaron let go of his embrace.

Endless lights shone through what looked like a million holes in pink silk. Aaron could feel the warmth on his skin. It was neither day nor night, but an aduro twilight of stars. When Aaron turned back to Aura, he saw what they came for; Along the regolith fading into the horizon, was a palace amidst a trillion lights.

Its walls of purple amethyst reflected the light of the stars, giving the impression that it was made of the heavens.

"Well," said Aura.

Aaron remained firmly planted, his locked gaze over the horizon had transfixed him speechless. Indeed, they had arrived at Aura's home. Gathering the strength to look away from the palace, he placed his eyes back on Aura and reached for her hand.

Aaron felt like he was walking through the stars. The audacity of lights was so spectacular he could barely focus. With each step, the palace's imposing structure grew more profound, and a magnificent entrance drew into view.

Aaron was admiring the great amethyst gates when he detected the striking feeling of someone watching him. His eyes quickly scanned the palace entrance as a deep chill surfaced in his body.

At the entrance stood an epic figure presiding over the palace, awaiting their arrival.