Harrigasti: welcome, guest.
Together we stand on edge of self-discovery.
Together we delve to depths of uncertainty.
We walk the road of foundation shifting.
Close your eyes and there follow me.
Close your eyes and see what I see.

Cold wind stings with salt sea air,
Clouds above rage and roar, there
Jagged lights dance to drums nowhere
To be see, but felt and heard in streams
Trickling at our feet to dark-fathomed dreams.

Chill creeps with fingers frozen
Up legs of lookers, dozens
Peering down pit's rushing fringe.
So wide it is, a world away.
So close it is, shall you stay?

Keep eyes closed or open now.
Keen they are, they serve you well,
Or claim them crowned post treading Hell.
Fear inside poisons the soul.
Fear inside strips bare the bold.
Fear it not, this pit is yours,
Fraught only with inner wars.
Fear it not, this pit is yours.
It is yours.

Breathe.
Will you stay, or step away?
You are not alone.
Choose now, we're on our way.
You are not alone.

We join hands now and step forth
Worn and ready to be transformed
Once where few tread, into icy thorns.
Down and deep we go.
Drifting beneath, risk below.

In waters warm, here sun holds sway.
Warping, flowing, gently away
To wonder's comfort, a dreamscape.
Light in ripples dancing in
Low blues, drifting currents
Along steady waves, clear sight to all.

Lustrous knowns here, seen before
We plod into the storm, solace
Yet lost in this ocean calm.
Look down, this is not our port
But deeper still, only the start.

Slow and sure mild ease fades
As shadow closes and day
Sinks to sullen sky, held at bay.
Blue still the world is here
Burned by shade and inky tears.

Pulled we are, sunk to weeping
Pales of surging currents, seeping
Into periled ocean flesh.
Cling not to the fire in your chest:
Clutch no more, release, this test
Is cold. The flame you must reject.
Come and drink, and chill be kept.

Breathe.

Tongues of sea rise to greet us,
Tang leaves brown and green, grouped thus
In teams of tangled, reaching weeds.
Lightly prodding, no tasting.
Licking a morsel, favoring
Long moments to savor a feast.

Ears ring with a low hum, a
Harmony born of feral drum
And ignorance, locked and shunned.
Nearer we are now, the shadow base
Of a nest where something lay in wait
New, yet familiar.

It grows, the sound, a growl
To greet us. Its ripples so foul,
Cast through water thick as tar.
A warning, a touch of the shoulder.
What was it? A tail, somewhere over
Toward the inky dark. It moves, bolder
And warped, a nightmare older and
Wandering our thoughts of yore.
Whispers fickle and doubts before
Now wanting to be heard, ignored
And waned to forgotten lore.

But no more: it is here, and it is yours.
Breathe. We are nearly there.

Feet touch bottom, a sandy
Finale to the descent of sanity
And a faint grey glow about us.
Is it familiar, this faded place few times you have been?
What do you remember?
What do you see?
What do you fear?
What does it mean?

Dark shapes drift about, dancing
In the depths of echoed dreams.
Defamed beasts, drowned and scattered.
How they swarm and swim,
Surge violent and sing tunes
Insidious, rage in scorned eyes.
Now seen, they see you
Sunk with them, sunken to their home,
Starved and forsworn.

Turn not away, train your mind
To take in what you betrayed.

Breathe. Your mirror this is, more so
Mighty than what was meager
And meek, before you met here.
Confess its credence, or cave
To cancer of denial.
Only one ends with ascendance.

Peeled back, their lips pare
Exposed sharpened teeth, power
Pouring from monster's roar.
Test you have too, so tear them
From tame chamber and return
A tiger's toothy grin.

Voice you have as well, not
Vague but vibrant with volition.
Give them a return in votive,
And send such a sound that
Inspires dread in the worst of savages.
A scream to quell the crowd.

So now scream and roar!
You were merely purring before:
Again, now fiercer!
Good, the challenge is met. Breathe.

A despot draws near,
The delegate from darkness
Drawn to violent display.
Reaching with hand rendered
Freely, now recognized and reflected.
Return the favor, or refuse?

Your shadow this is, sundered
And seeking solace in synthesis.
Inner harmony comes hither.
Two halves of one whole
Once harrowed beyond haling,
Now tempted to tether.

Return the favor, or refuse?
Choose. You are not alone.

Rebound or broken still,
Radiant rays above reach
Down to call us home.
From ocean floor our feet
Bid farewell, and float as back
To company of the Sun.

Returned you are, after taking
Time to talk with your lost traces.
More whole you are, I hope.
If so, if not, sojourn back
And sow more seeds to that garden.
These are the starting steps to
Ascendance.

The Invocation is accepted.
The Meditation is completed, and
Integration now commences.