Grandma Chrys sadly replied, "I wanted to spare you this, but you asked. Since it is our determination to always be forthright with you, I shall tell you the rest of gruesome tale.

"Every Keeper in the Kingdom witnessed the death of Kon. They would carry the memory of that horror all their lives, but what happened next was even worse. One of the first deserters of Kong's army stepped forward to address the Grand Keeper. 'What we have done is unforgivable. As for myself I deeply regret what my actions this day and in the days prior. Ruling the Kingdom seemed a good idea until my eyes were opened. Rule by force is against everything we stand for.'"

"There was a murmur of agreement from other controllers."

"He looked around and with tears streaming down his face said, 'I could not participate in the wholesale slaughter of innocent Keepers. The thought of murdering women and children was my breaking point. Kon, I could see, was not of the same mind. He would conquer the Kingdom no matter the cost.

"The other controllers were in tears too as his words struck home."

"'I cannot blame this all on Kon. I wish that I could. There must be a great darkness in the souls of every controller to allow us to give in to blood rage. Kon may have started the ball rolling, but we all participated willingly. The shame I feel is overwhelming. As I beg for the understanding of all my fellow Keepers, I know that I will never, ever be able to forgive myself.'

"The man whose name was Kos slumped to the ground, full of soul deep regret, at the feet of the Grand Keeper and High Council. The Grand Keeper bent over to the shaking black cloaked form that was Kos and lifted him up by the arms. Standing with his head hanging down and with the Grand Keeper's arm over his shoulder, the Grand Keeper addressed the throng, 'This Controller has shown a degree of bravery seldom ever witnessed. From the depths of his shame he confessed boldly of his guilt. He did not ask for mercy, only for understanding. He did not promise to change, but admitted that change may not be possible. He expects we will turn our backs on him, but we will not.' The crowd roared its support.

"'We Keepers made their leader, Kon, an offer which he soundly refused. We wish to repeat this offer to Kos and all other controllers here today. We wish to give you a chance to start over in a world of your own.

'You would never again be happy in this Kingdom. Even with our forgiveness, the enormous burden of guilt is an awful price to pay. A fresh start is what you need.' At that Kos looked unbelievingly at the Grand Keeper.

"The words Fresh Start were repeated throughout the crowd. It became a chant. Fresh Start. Fresh Start. Fresh Start."

"'Be it known that once you leave our in-world, you will never be allowed to return. We will send you supplies for you to rebuild. All you have to do is tell us what you require. If we have it, it is yours.

"We want you to be happy in your new in-world. You must all try to forget the Kingdom and what has happened here.'

"'One more thing. You are welcome to the body of Kon. You may bury him either here or in your new world.'"

"Someone from the collected group of controllers yelled, 'Burial is too good for the likes of him!'"

"Another hollered, 'He should be treated the same way as he treated the abducted Keepers!'"

"Still another, 'Tear the flesh from his bones!'"

"All the controllers shifted into timber wolves. They growled, snarled, and began to rip, tear, and shred Kon's body. It was horrendous. The keepers kept well back from the gory scene. It appeared that each and every Controller took bites of his remains and ate them. When the circle broke there was nothing left but a pile of picked clean bones."

◽️◽️◽️

What could either Freck or I say to that? I never imagined anything so horrible. Maybe we should't have asked. We did ask, though. I wish we hadn't.

Some wounds never heal. Grandma Chrys' eyes were glassy with tears. Her hands shook a bit. I felt sorry for her. It was obvious that the loss of the Controllers and the eventual change to lairbeasts were exquisitely painful memories. Now once again they had to deal with the fallout from long, long ago. As Grand Keeper the full weight of the current problem was on her.

I was amazed to see her tears recedin' like the tide goin' out. She gathered herself together and smiled that wonderful all inclusive smile. I wondered if she could feel her own healin' aura. I hoped so. I hope it washed over her like the warm bathwater we all felt when in her presence.

She looked at me and thought, "Yes."

"What?"

"You wondered if I could experience my own aura to heal my emotions. Yes, yes I can. You and Freck will be able to do it too some day. Psychological pain is just as hurtful as physical pain. What good would it be to block the pain of injury if you could not salve your feelings too?"

Huh...I remembered how I used cigam after the rockslide in the cavern. The pain stopped, but I am still, terrified of caves. I don't care if I don't ever go in one ever again. We tried and failed to get to Shamballah. I was afraid to ask, but I did, "Grandma Chrys do you still want us to to find the lost people?"

"It is vital, Wishes, but not right now. You will go once more after our lairbeast problem is solved."

"Are you sure, Grandma Chrys?" Freck asked.

"Sorry dear Freck, we really do need your help. It is a task that only the two of you can perform."

"Why us?"

"As far as we know the only outsider ever to penetrate their defenses was your Admiral Byrd. Keepers made many attempts, but failed. We are now thoroughly convinced that only humans can get through."

"But he was a grownup, and we're just kids," Freck complained.

"Only in calendar years, and size," Grandma Chrys communicated. The so-called maturity adults talk about comes with experience. Everyone makes mistakes. You do something wrong, and you learn not to repeat it. You neglect to take care of a responsibility, and it ends badly. You promise yourself to be more diligent. You carelessly hurt someone's feelings, and you become more aware of how you say things. How you handle yourselves when you fail is the true mark of maturity and the only one that counts.

"Both of you endured more challenging situations than most adults will ever face. You experienced horrible things that would break most grownups, but not you. You demonstrated great presence of mind, no matter what. Understandably you allowed yourselves a good cry after a terrible fright, but that is good. Crying is a cleansing release. Never be afraid to cry when it it safe to do so.

"What I see when I look at you, is two young people I could trust with my very life."

Gulp. I doubt if anyone could ever get a better compliment than that. Imagine, the Grand Keeper would trust us with her life. I bet I grew six inches taller.

Freck read my mind, "Ain't that an amazin' thing ta say?"

Grandma Chrys mind-spoke, "I have only told you the truth."

Since we had her permission, we let the tears stream down our cheeks.

◽️◽️◽️

We met Gee at our favorite in-the-Palace meditating place. It was the reconstructed Burns City park. We love the pavilion by the cheery stream burbling happily b'side a long stretch of freshly mown grass. Our special place always smelled of honeysuckle and jasmine.

Gee gave us a moment to breathe it all in before he mind-spoke, "This lair-beast defense practice will be substantially more challenging than manifesting an apple. You must dig deep into your imaginations and picture vividly what you see there. Also, and this is even more difficult, Cigam is strongest if you two can mentally link. If Freck is thinking one thing, and you, Wishes, another, it defuses the power. Does that make sense?"

Freck was twistin' a pigtail and I was pullin' at my ear. We looked at each other and nearly cracked up because of our concentration tells. We nodded yes.

He continued. "Do you remember your mind-mesh with the high council?"

How could I forget? That experience blew me away.

"You can do the same thing with the three of us. It does not require a large group. You begin by following the meditation path down into your deepest essence. You know how to get there. You have done it many times before. Now you must learn how to do it instantly. In meditation practice you had the luxury of gently drifting into your sacred space. It was a gentle stroll on a lovely day. Lives will certainly hang on your ability to dive."

"Gawd! Look!" Freck shrieked. Running straight for us at top speed was a gigantic T-Rex with claws and jowls drippin'. It left a trail of scarlet blood on the green grass. We was horrified. Freck leached onto me. Goners for sure; I said the quickest prayer ever. Rancid breath blew in our faces. The mouth opened wide enough to chew us both with those long gory teeth. Mere inches from certain death—POOF—it vanished right b'fore our shocked eyes.

I screamed, "What the holy ...?"

Any lightness in Gee's manner was gone. He looked sternly at us and said, "I created that dinosaur to show you how fast you must be. You can save neither yourselves nor your town if there is a split second hesitation. For the rest of this session I want you to practice diving down into your core as fast as the beat of a humming bird's wing. I will be watching closely."

The next three hours were exhausting. We had werewolves, dragons, and poisonous snakes coming at us from every direction. Sometimes they were right in front of us and sometimes a ways away. As soon as we saw one we plunged to our depths. It was never quite quick enough. Gee hollered, "Again!" Sure enough as soon as we heard "again" we could be certain another of those demons was chargin'us.

Someone once said that mind work was the hardest work in the world. I'm here to tell ya it's true. After I couldn't hold my head up anymore, Gee gave us a break. He said, "You have both died so many times today, I lost count. You will improve though, and that is a promise."

Gee kept his word. The next day in Cooperative Cigam practice we did a little better. We was only kil't most of the time, not all. I asked, "Gee, do ya think we will be able to do this b'fore it's too late?"

"You are giving it all you can. We do not know how long our protections will hold Topside. That is why I am pushing you both so hard."

Freck said, "I don't mind none. The first day was discouraging, but now that I see progress it gives me hope. You're a really good teacher Gee."

We was charged by another realistic lookin' lair-beast comin' at us from the side. We was improvin', but in a way Gee was too. The more monsters he created, the more frightenin' they was. This one was the scariest yet. It had shifted into a giant red octopus and was runnin' on its knife tipped tentacles. I swear I saw fire shootin' out its eyes. We dove for our cigam spots.

"Excellent! Again."

The next one was an enormous black widow spida lungin' off the top of the pavilion. We didn't see it comin' 'cuz  it was above us.

"You are dead." Gee grumbled. "Again."

"Wait! Wait a gosh darn minute. How are we supposed to see somethin' above us?"

"Good question, Wishes. Just like the other abilities you have developed, total danger awareness, by that I mean sensing unseen danger is vital for your survival."

I was overwhelmed. No wonder most Keepers didn't develop Cigam . It's very demandin'. Once you master one ability,  there's two more ya hasta do.

"I did not tell you this to discourage either of you. The spider attack was created to introduce you to another cigam facet. If it was real, I would have warned you. This was just an exercise to remind you how vulnerable you are. Lairbeasts will exploit every advantage. They will never hesitate—not for an instant. You must always expect the unexpected. The one thing they will not do is come at you in daylight. We are practicing in the day for now, but we will soon start nighttime practice.

"I think you have had enough. Get some rest, and we will pick it up again in the morning."