I enter the room and see Alithea has the entire floor covered in salt.
“Whoa, what the hell, bae?” I ask.
“It’s for purification, bae,” she replies. “Now disrobe.”
I look at her and smile. “Disrobe?” I repeat.
“Strip,” she says. “Get naked. You enjoy that, don’t you?”
I grin. “I do.” I reach for her, but she puts her hands up gently. “We can do that later. First this,” she says, and nods toward the salt covered ground.
“Promise?” I say, still grinning, now removing my shirt and tie.
Alithea grins back, then with a single movement, clicks a clasp at her left shoulder, and her entire garment falls down. She’s shorn and waxed all over, top to bottom, with the exception of the hair at the base of her skull.
I look her up and down, and feel myself getting excited. I pull off my boots, then undo my pants. As I do, I wonder if she’ll be able to smell me over all the fucking salt in here.
When I’m naked, I’m waiting for her to look me over as I did her, but she doesn’t. She just gestures toward the center of the room. “Lie down,” she says.
“You’re doing this, too, right?” I ask.
“Yes,” she says. “Of course. I will be right beside you, Tee.”
That comforts me as I walk across the coarse grains of sand, trying not to slip. It’s not deep enough to completely cover my feet, but it’s right at it.
I get on my hands and knees, and then roll over and down onto my back, put my hands behind my head.
“Be careful not to get any in your vagina,” she says.
I smile and try to be serious when really all I wanna do is make jokes and fuck. But I am accustomed to stoicism and maintaining good focus even while I am distracted by sensual arousal. And I know from experience that it passes with almost no effort.
“Close your eyes,” she says, though I already have. Not my first rodeo.
“Just allow yourself to breath naturally,” Alithea says. “A gentle in and out breath. No effort.”
I do and was, in fact, already doing so by the time she said to. But it’s still nice to hear her voice, raspy and sexy and strong.
She’s next to me on the floor, atop the salt. I feel her there. She has very powerful energy, this chick, and she is so fucking witchy. It’s very cool even to be near her.
“I’m glad you are here with me, Ali,” I say.
“I have been with you always, Tee,” she says. “In many forms and in many ways, throughout many lifetimes. We are constant companions, you and I.”
Upon reflection, I wasn’t sure I agreed about that cos I was pretty sure there were loads of times when she wasn’t around. But maybe I was being too literal? And, in any case, it’s nice that she said it.
I notice another smell then, sweet and pleasant.
“Dragon’s blood?” I ask.
“Indeed,” Alithea says.
“That’s your fave,” I say.
“No, it’s your fave,” Ali corrects. “Mine is sage.”
I giggle a little, then a deep silence fills me. It’s like it’s opening me, the silence. A warmth suffuses my body, creating a light pulse at my center.
“It’s not creating it,” Alithea says, having read my thoughts. “It was there already. It’s always been there, within you.”
I smile, and it’s like I’m opening my eyes, but I don’t.
There’s a hole in the ceiling—an architectural one, made that way, not from damage, so like a skylight or something—and I can see a swirling purple sky. The longer I look at it, the brighter and more polished it becomes, until it is like a mirror. I see myself in it, lying naked on the salt. But I do not have any tattoos, and I am a bit older. I have a penis and no vagina. Alithea is not there.
“I don’t see you, Ali,” I think I say aloud.
I’m waiting for a reply, but I’m not hearing one.
My nipples are hard, but not from excitement. It’s cold now. So very cold. And I am alone.
Play procedures
If you’ve chosen Alithea, me, or both of us as a teacher, then you can count this chapter as a purification ritual toward your initiation.
Likewise, you can gain one rank of magick from studying this chapter with Alithea, but not with me.
Think about a ritual you’ve participated in. It needn’t be a purification ritual. It needn’t involve sex, nudity, or magick. It could be something very simple and ordinary. Now, think about how that ritual changed you—or was intended to change you. Think about how you regard it now, and what use you might have for it. Write about it in your journal.
Story path
Alithea 1 < 2
Having heard all this, Arrian was puzzled, and said so: "I didn't realize you were on such good terms with Alithea, T. I thought she tried to annul some writing of yours (in salt then, too). What changed her mind about you? Or yours about her?".