The Temple of Kronos wants her dead. The Stoneslayer wants her destroyed. Neither will have her.
(In the fourth book of the Stoneslayer dark fantasy series, Helen Andros awakens her spiritual mastery to gain the skills and power she needs to survive a death mark. Following is another excerpt.)
Helen and Obadiah stood facing each other on either side of the redwood. Maguari directed them to open their hearts as much as possible and ask that their hearts be filled with love.
“The warmth in your chest is the love,” the Mist-Weaver explained. “Claim as much of that love for yourselves as you can. It is very healing.”
Asking Obadiah to place his palms against the tree trunk and keep his heart open, Maguari gave different instructions to Helen. “Once you feel that warmth and have claimed your fair share, hold up your hands and turn the palms toward the tree. With your thoughts send the excess of that love and warmth along your arms, out of your palms, and into the tree.”
Obadiah gasped. “I can feel it!”
“What is it like?” Helen asked.
He had some trouble putting his impressions into words. “It feels like popping soap bubbles. It’s not like the rough bark at all. It is not, well, solid, if that makes any sense.”
Maguari cackled. “It makes a great deal of sense, Hope-Bringer. Love-energy vibrates at much too great a frequency to deliver the same sensations as the objects in your material state, which of course vibrate but at a much lesser frequency. That is why they feel and seem solid to you. Yet love is as solid as wood — and even more powerful, as you will experience soon enough.”
Once Helen had her turn receiving energy, the Mist-Weaver asked his students to place their hands in front of them, not quite at shoulder level, and begin to gather the seemingly empty space between their fingers.
“Take your time with this,” Maguari added. “Imagine you are
pulling leaves into a pile if that will be helpful.”
Helen moved her hands closer, thinking about Erin running her hands over the cutting board, collecting scraps of dough to roll out another sheet of biscuits. Suddenly Helen’s palms bounced and sprang backward. The impression was subtle and fleeting yet very distinct.
She shared her experience with her companions.
“I felt something much like that,” Obadiah said. “How very odd.”
“Keep going,” the Mist-Weaver encouraged them. “Continue to narrow the gap between your hands.”
“The sensation just gets stronger,” Helen said. “It almost feels like a ball now. What is going on?”
Maguari gave off his strange laugh. “It is a ball, in a manner of speaking. A ball made from your own energy fields. Even if your eyes cannot see it, it is as tangible as they are.”
Copyright © 2026 by Candace Lynn Talmadge
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About Candace Lynn Talmadge
Candace Lynn Talmadge is a USA-based author of dark high fantasy about political intrigue, demonic warfare, and spiritual awakening. Get a free excerpt from Stoneslayer: Book One Scandal when you sign up for her free author newsletter on her Substack channel, Wider Realities.
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