Life Passed

A Transgender Paranormal Fantasy

From the Paranormal Visitor Universe

Chapter Fifteen: The Ruth Revelation

By Sasha Zarya Nexus

Can Laura and Minuet learn from mistake Tabitha made at the ancient altar?
Should Minuet risk everything to go back in time with Helen to find out how Ruth was to become submerged into Elias?

Copyright 2008, 2025 by Sasha Zarya Nexus.
All Rights Reserved.

The resolution to my discovery that I could travel back in time spiritually and my determination to heal Ruth's wounds before they created Elias—had filled me with desperate hope. But as I prepared to reach across decades to offer the love and acceptance that Ruth had been denied, Helen's spiritual form materialized beside me with an urgency I'd never seen before.

"Sprite, stop!" Helen's voice carried a sharp authority that made both Laura and me freeze in our meditation. "You cannot do what you're contemplating. Not yet."

"But Helen," I protested, my twelve-year-old voice cracking with frustration, "I can reach her. I can show Ruth that she's loved, that she doesn't have to hide who she is. If I can prevent the trauma that created Elias—"

"You'll create something far worse," Helen interrupted, her spiritual energy flickering with distress. "Minuet, you must understand—this is exactly the mistake that Tabitha made at the altar."

Tabitha's Original Mistake
Helen's form grew more solid as she prepared to share knowledge that would change everything we thought we understood about our enemy and our own abilities.

"When Tabitha's circle discovered the ancient altar, she was filled with the same righteous determination that drives you now," Helen explained, her voice carrying the weight of hard-learned wisdom. "She sensed the fire elemental's pain, its centuries of twisted rage, and she believed that her love and power could transform that hate into something pure."

Laura's hand tightened in mine as we absorbed the implications. "What happened?"

"Tabitha overestimated her own power and underestimated the concentrated hatred that had been building at that site for centuries," Helen continued. "She attempted to channel love directly into the elemental's prison, believing she could heal wounds that had been festering since before her ancestors built the containment."

I felt a chill of recognition. "And instead of healing it, she awakened it."

"Worse than that. Her premature intervention shattered the carefully constructed barriers that had kept the elemental contained. The love she tried to pour into it was like throwing water on a grease fire—it didn't extinguish the flames, it spread them."

The Spiritual Journey Begins
Despite Helen's warnings, I felt the irresistible pull toward Ruth's past growing stronger. The Celtic Triquetra necklace around my neck pulsed with warm light, and I could sense the traumatic moment calling to me across time.

"I have to see," I said, my voice steady despite my fear. "I need to understand what we're really facing."

Helen's expression grew infinitely gentle. "Then we go together, but as observers only. You must promise me, Minuet—no matter what you witness, no matter how much you want to intervene, you will not try to change what happened."

"Why not?" The question burst out of me with desperate intensity. "If I can prevent Ruth's abuse, if I can show her that she's loved and accepted—"

"Then you'll create a paradox that could destroy not just Ruth, but the entire timeline that led to your own transformation," Helen replied firmly. "More than that, you're not yet powerful enough to heal wounds this deep. The time and concentration of individuals and their abilities is premature. Your powers are still developing, and attempting such an intervention now would be like Tabitha's mistake all over again."

Laura squeezed my hand, her own magical sight showing her the same truth. "She's right, Minuet. I can feel it too. There's something about Ruth's trauma that's connected to forces much larger than we understand."

The Vision Unfolds
With Helen's spiritual presence and both our circles anchoring us safely in the present, Laura and I allowed our consciousness to drift backward through time. The pull toward Ruth's past was overwhelming, drawing us to a moment of such profound trauma that it had created ripples through decades of subsequent events.

We found ourselves in a small mountain cabin, perhaps thirty years in the past. The scene that unfolded before us was heartbreaking in its cruelty and devastating in its implications.

A young person, perhaps thirteen or fourteen, stood before a mirror in a shabby bedroom, trying on a dress that had been hidden beneath the floorboards. The joy on their face was radiant—for just a moment, they were able to see their true self reflected back at them.

"Ruth," I whispered, understanding flooding through me. "That's Ruth."

The person in the mirror was unmistakably the soul that would later become Elias Vire, but in this moment, they were simply a transgender girl trying to express her authentic identity in a world that offered no understanding or acceptance.

The bedroom door burst open, and a man—clearly Ruth's father—stood in the doorway, his face twisted with rage and disgust.

"What in the hell do you think you're doing, boy?" he snarled, advancing on Ruth with his fists clenched.

The Trauma That Created Elias
What followed was a scene of such brutal violence that Laura and I both recoiled, our spiritual forms instinctively trying to retreat from the trauma we were witnessing. But Helen's presence kept us anchored, forcing us to understand the full scope of what had shaped our enemy.

Ruth's father didn't just beat her—he systematically destroyed every trace of her feminine identity, burning the dress, cutting her hair with savage brutality, and screaming religious condemnations that would echo in her psyche for decades to come.

"You are an abomination!" he roared, his voice carrying the same fire-and-brimstone cadence that Elias would later use in his sermons. "God made you a boy, and by God, you'll stay a boy, or I'll beat the devil out of you myself!"

As we watched Ruth's spirit break under the assault, I began to understand the true tragedy of Elias Vire. The fire elemental hadn't possessed a willing host—it had found a soul so traumatized, so fractured by years of abuse and self-denial, that it could reshape that pain into a weapon of hatred.

Minuet, Laura's mental voice was filled with tears, she's still in there. Buried under all that rage and self-hatred, Ruth is still in there.

I know, I replied, my own consciousness aching with empathy. The fire elemental is feeding on her pain, using it to fuel its own destructive purposes.

Understanding the True Enemy
As the vision continued, we witnessed the systematic destruction of Ruth's authentic self. Each blow, each cruel word, each act of violence drove her deeper into hiding until she learned to survive by burying her true identity so completely that she forgot it had ever existed.

In Ruth's place rose Elias—a man who preached against the very authenticity that Ruth had once desperately sought, because acknowledging that authenticity would mean confronting the unbearable pain of what had been stolen from her.

"Now you understand," Helen said as the vision began to fade. "The fire elemental didn't create Elias's hatred—it found a vessel already filled with self-loathing and twisted pain. Ruth learned to hate herself so completely that when the elemental offered her a way to project that hatred outward, she embraced it."

"But if we could reach her," I insisted, my young voice trembling with the need to help, "if we could show her that it's safe to be herself again—"

"The time for that will come," Helen replied gently. "But not yet. Ruth's redemption requires more than individual power—it will take the combined strength of all the circles, working in perfect harmony, channeling love instead of force."

The Premature Intervention
As our consciousness returned to the present, I felt the weight of what we had witnessed settling over me like a heavy cloak. The knowledge of Ruth's suffering made my heart ache, but Helen's warnings about premature intervention echoed in my mind.

"Why can't I help her now?" I asked, my twelve-year-old voice small with frustration. "I have the power to travel back in time. I could reach her before the worst of the abuse, show her that she's loved—"

"And in doing so, you would create a paradox that could unravel everything," Helen explained patiently. "If you prevent Ruth's trauma, you prevent the creation of Elias. If Elias never exists, the fire elemental never finds its host. If the elemental remains contained, Tabitha never makes her mistake. If Tabitha never awakens the elemental, I never transform you into Minuet."

The circular logic made my head spin. "So Ruth has to suffer so that I can exist?"

"No, sprite. Ruth has to suffer so that you can learn to save her properly." Helen's expression grew infinitely compassionate. "Your transformation, your awakening powers, your bond with Laura—all of this is preparing you for the moment when you can truly heal Ruth's wounds. But that healing must come from a place of wisdom and strength, not from the desperate need to fix what seems broken."

The Greater Pattern
Laura, who had been quietly processing what we'd witnessed, finally spoke up. "It's like my grandmother always said—the old magic works in patterns that span generations. Sometimes what looks like tragedy in one moment is actually preparation for triumph in another."

"Exactly," Helen confirmed. "Tabitha's mistake at the altar wasn't truly a mistake—it was a necessary step in awakening the forces that would eventually lead to redemption. Your transformation, Minuet, wasn't just about giving you an authentic life—it was about creating someone with the power to heal wounds that span decades."

I felt the truth of her words resonating through the Celtic Triquetra necklace around my neck. "So what do we do now?"

"Now you observe. You learn. You gather the information you'll need when the time comes to free Ruth from her prison," Helen replied. "The elemental's power is growing stronger with each act of destruction Elias commits. Soon, it will become powerful enough to break free of its human host entirely."

"And that's when we can reach Ruth?"

"That's when you'll have to," Helen said solemnly. "When the elemental no longer needs Elias as a vessel, Ruth will be left alone with her pain for the first time in decades. That will be your moment—not to change the past, but to offer her a different future."

The Next Revelation
As Helen's explanation sank in, I made a discovery that would change everything about our approaching confrontation. The spiritual journey to Ruth's past had awakened something within me—not just the ability to observe across time, but to understand the deeper patterns that connected all our lives.

"Helen," I said, my voice trembling with the magnitude of what I was beginning to perceive, "I can see it now. The connections between all of us. Ruth's trauma, Tabitha's mistake, my transformation, Laura's bloodline—it's all part of something larger."

"What do you see, sprite?"

"Love," I whispered, the word carrying more weight than I'd ever imagined. "Not the kind of love that tries to fix everything immediately, but the kind that's patient enough to wait for the right moment. The kind that's strong enough to heal wounds that have been festering for decades."

Laura's eyes widened with understanding. "You're talking about redemption, not just rescue."

"Yes," I replied, feeling the ancient magic of the Celtic sisterhood flowing through our joined hands. "We're not going to save Ruth by changing her past. We're going to save her by showing her that love is stronger than hate, even when hate has had decades to grow."

Helen's spiritual form blazed with pride and approval. "Now you understand the true nature of your calling as guardians. Love isn't just more powerful than hate—it's the only force capable of healing wounds this deep. But it must be applied at the right time, in the right way, with the right understanding."

The revelation settled over me like a mantle of destiny. The war for Cedar Hollow's soul wouldn't be won through force or even through changing the past. It would be won through the patient application of love at the moment when Ruth was finally ready to receive it.

My circle wrapped me up in hugs of love as Laura 's circle did likewise. We all needed the love to renew us so that we would be ready for what was coming.

The ancient altar was calling, the fire elemental was preparing for its final manifestation, and somewhere deep inside Elias Vire, a frightened girl named Ruth was waiting for someone to tell her it was finally safe to come home.

But first, we had to learn everything we could about our enemy, gather our strength with all the circles, and prepare for the moment when love would finally triumph over the deepest wounds of the human heart.

The real battle was still to come, and it would require not just power, but wisdom, patience, and the unshakeable belief that even the most broken souls could be healed when the time was right.