That night in my dreams I walked by the shore of a great lake. A bewitching melody filled the air. It was the song of the mer-woman! I looked into the dark depths of the lake and saw the golden carp, and all around him were the people be bad saved. On the bleached shores of the lake the carcasses of sinners rotted.
Then a huge golden moon came down from the heavens and settled on the surface of the calm waters. I looked towards the enchanting light, expecting to see the Virgin of Guadalupe, but in her place I saw my mother!
Mother, I cried, you are saved! We are all saved!
Yes, my Antonio, she smiled, we who were baptized in the water of the moon which was made holy by our Holy Mother the Church are saved.
Lies! my father shouted, Antonio was not baptized in the holy water of the moon, but in the salt water of the sea!
I turned and saw him standing on the corpse-strewn shore. I felt a seating pain spread though my body.
Oh please tell me which is the water that runs though my veins, I moaned; oh please tell me which is the water that washes my burning eves!
It is the sweet water of the moon, my mother crooned softly, it is the water the Church choose to make holy and place in its font. It is the water of your baptism.
Lies, lies, my father laughed, through your body runs the salt water of the oceans. It is that water which makes you Marez and not Luna. It is the water that binds you to the pagan god of Cico, the golden carp!
Oh, I cried, please tell me. The agony of pain was more than I could bear. The excruciating pain broke and I sweated blood.
There was a bowling wind as the moon rose and its powers pulled at the still waters of the lake. Thunder split the air and the lightning bursts illuminated the churning, frothy tempest. The ghosts stood and walked upon the shore.
The lake seemed to respond with rage and fury. It cracked with the laughter of madness as it inflicted death upon the people. I thought the end bad come to everything. The cosmic struggle of the two forces would destroy everything!
The doom which Cico had predicted was upon us! I clasped my hands and knelt to pray. The terrifying end was near. Then I heard a voice speak above the sound of the storm. I looked up and saw Ultima.
Cease! she cried to the raging powers, and the power from the heavens and the power -from the earth obeyed her. The storm abated.
Stand, Antonio, she commanded, and I stood, You both know, she spoke to my father and my mother, that the sweet water of the moon which falls as rain is the same water that gathers into rivers and flows to fill the seas. Without the waters of the moon to replenish the oceans there would be no oceans. And the same salt waters of the oceans are drawn by the sun to the heavens, and in turn become again the waters of the moon. Without the sun there would be no waters formed to slake the dark earth's thirst.
The waters are one, Antonio. I looked into her bright, clear eyes and understood her truth.
You have been seeing only parts, she finished, and not looking beyond into the great cycle that binds us all.
Then there was peace in my dreams and I could rest.
The setting for this dream is the hidden lakes which Cico described to Antonio. The lake is divided into a Marez side and a Luna side symbolizing Antonio's internal division.
On the Marez (left) side, the mer-woman, and the Golden Carp and the people he saved float in the rough red sea waters. The mer-woman, and the Golden Carp are symbols of Antonio's ties to "pagan" religions. Red is a color synonymous with blood, war, and conflict, the turmoil of a Marez life. The bright sun also represents this rough and ready Marez life. Gabriel Marez (Antonio's Father) stands on the llano of his upbringing surrounded by the rotting carcasses of the sinners and begs Antonio to join him.
The Luna Moon glows quietly over the gentle blue waters of the right side. The moon, a symbol of gentleness is also symbolic of the Lunas (they are named after it) Antonio's mother (Maria Luna Marez) is standing on the green farmland in the form of the virgin. The green farmland represents the Lunas' way of life. Maria is calling Antonio to return to the holy water in which he was baptized shown by the cross.
From a distance the line separating the two halves id very clear. Closer, though, it blurs and, as Ultima tells Antonio, "The waters are one." And through Antonio, the blue and the red become one flowing purple stream.