Chapter 9
16 Aug 2009 Leave a Comment
in Essence Of The Soul Tags: Phase I: Rebirth
“Hello? Hello? Are you okay sir?..”
Her words echoed off each other in slow-motion, and for a while Kurutio stood in silence, as if he was waiting for her words to bear meaning. Every sound- from his footsteps- to her breath, seemed to be shouting at him. He knew he should do something, But what?!
“What can I do to save her?”
The words came out without him knowing, betraying his deepest fears.
“Please save Airielu!”
“Illyr– It couldn’t be! Has the world already reached that dreaded point? Has the Essence finally revealed itself?”
“Wha-Wha-What-t-t-t-t do you mean?” He stammered the words out forcefully, through gritted teeth and shuddering lips. Kurutio began to hyperventilate, and looked around the room nervously, as it expecting the grim reaper himself to attack from behind….
“There’s no need to be afraid Kurutio. The paranoia is just aftershock from these dreams you’ve been hav-”
“What do you– how do you–”
“This just isn’t going to work, and we just don’t have the time. Take a deep breath right now- I’m taking you to my place…”
Kurutio hesitantly gulped down some air, and tried to calm himself. Then he heard a sharp rustling, and felt a heavy wave of wind. The next thing he knew, he was in a wondrously breathtaking room. Looking around in fear and awe, Kurutio tried his very best to calm himself, and understand this new environment. Setting aside all questions about how he got here in the first place, he instead focused on the reality that now lay before him. A fireplace in the shape of a spiral lay in the center of the room, providing the only source of light in this present darkness. Shadows danced off the acoustically-charged walls and ceilings of what he perceived to be a huge mansion, and at first they provided a small amount of comfort to him.
As he let himself be “spirited away” by them, the shadow began to come alive, taking on the partial semblance of primates, and joined hands in what appeared to be a tribal ritual. Then, to his complete surprise, the shadow-creatures began to act out the story of his own life, or rather, the life that he had with Airielu. As the climax of the story unfolded, Kurutio’s eyes ran afresh with tears, and he tasted the saltiness of his own sorrow. He now began to cry aloud for his Elly, letting loose all of his feelings and venting his suffering.
But his voice was almost immediately overwhelmed by the sound of chimes. Looking above him at the ceiling, he now became aware that the shadows were now changing form, taking on forms akin to chaos, and banging against each other over and over again. It was all so random- so disturbing- and yet, their actions seemed so synchronized- so purposeful. The chimes that he had heard- that he was hearing, were actually of their making.
A series of deep melancholic tones echoed off the ceilings, and the combined force of these channeled together into a spiritual arrow, which shot straight through his heart. The arrow passed through seamlessly, and no mark was to be seen, not at his chest or back. But the emptiness it left in his heart was clearly evident. As he glanced back to see where the arrow had gone, he saw a huge beam of light, taking the form of a shooting star. In the blink of an eye it ascended to join the shadow creatures, as if magnetically drawn to their presence.
Gazing up at the ceiling in wonder, he watched the beam of light transform into what appeared to be a supernova. It purred rhythmically at him, beckoning him to join them. Kurutio now realized that this miniature supernova was a piece of his soul- a part of his memories. Filled with a sense of urgency to retrieve this vital thing he had lost, he focused all of his remaining energy towards this purpose. Suddenly he found himself floating, then flying towards the light, and was about to collide– but then, he got pierced by another arrow, and then another.
He could now hear the whistling of arrows, and unlike before, there was now a terrible sting with each arrow that passed through. Now immobilized by this barrage of arrows, he could only helplessly watch as his soul broke away from him piece by piece. The shadows were now laughing at him in high-pitched voices, and he could now see the cruel expressions on their faces. The light had now combined into a massive and radiant field, revealing an intensely lucid image:
Airielu
It was Airielu, and she was displaying her beautiful, graceful smile. Kurutio savored the image with an unabashed and youthful longing– but an instant later, she was gone– enshrouded in a wall of flame, and finally reduced to a putrid ash, and blown away completely, disappearing into the shadows. The shadows then proceeded to consume his light, and as they did so, he felt his memories of Airielu disappearing along with them, until nothing was left. His soul was now consumed by shadows, and his memories gone!
In their place, he instead held a deep emptiness, a loneliness, and a strong desire to get his memories back. But one new memory stood above it all: He needed to find the Essence of the Soul! Nothing else mattered as much as this. If Kurutio could find the Essence, everything would come together- everything would all make sense. He could finally be at peace- or so he thought.
The shadows finally spoke– in a myriad of voices, high-pitched and low– their words intensified by the singing of chimes:
“You humans are so naïve, it’s pathetic. All of this time- trillions of years now- and none of you have learned a thing? But we just can’t have that- you’ve had too many chances! We sent you prophets from all walks of life- Buddha, Jesus, Mahatma Gandhi, not to mention how many people so conveniently recorded in your so-called ‘Holy Bible’?”
The aggressiveness of the shadows was ominously similar to the shinigami he had battled in dreams past. But in his amnesiac state, Kurutio saw them only as a source of knowledge– something to help him find himself again.
“…and all of that is just from the latest generation. You all seem to have a penchant for fucking up, and a terribly bad habit of taking all life down with you! You know how your archeologists say the dinasaurs were killed by an asteroid taking out the sunlight? Yes…- we know all about your people, and the rationalizations you make to go on living your blissful lives- without regard or appreciation for the world you were born into…Plants dying due to lack of sunlight– and deterioration of the food chain? What a load of shit!
As interesting as this all soyunded, none of it had any meaning to Kurutio. He wondered if perhaps that was proof he was part of the “ignorant masses” to which the shadows were referring.
“…You killed the dinasaurs, yourselves, and everything else alive– all in the name of science- your goddamn transhumanist experiments. K.I.S.S.- Keep It Simple…Stupid! All of your complications do nothing for you- they only keep you in an samsaric wheel- repeating your mistakes over and over again. In your own words, wouldn’t that be called ‘Insanity’? Which means that you’re all Insane! And ironically, those among you who are considered ‘crazy’ are probably the most sane, because at least they don’t repeat the same mistakes that most of your kind seem to!”
Kurutio’s head was spinning. His memories now lost, he hadn’t the slightest clue what the shadows were talking about. But sensing that it was somehow important, especially in relation to the Essemce, he listened intently.
“We archons are very patient, owing to having lived very long lives, and having to face the inevitability that we cannot die. But this is getting ridiculous! Do you have any idea how much we suffer because of you? Until you progress, we are forced to continue to waiting, and carry the burden of your evolution. We can give you suggestions here and there, and have some influence in your dreams, but there is onlyso much we can do! Do you have any idea how frustrating that is?…and to think that such primitive beings could be our pa–”
He had by now completely zoned out, overwhelmed with the ramblings of these embittered nomad archons. As Kurutio let go of all attachments he once had to this now-empty reality, the archon’s ramblings were reduced to mutterings…then vibrations…finally, he couldn’t hear anything at all. Time had now come to a standstill, as he lay motionless in a cryonic state.
Sound, motion- every kind of sensation around him now played itself back in slow motion. He let himself drift through the open space, not caring any longer for this world, wishing only to rest. He felt his heartbeat slow down until it seemed not to move at all. He was finally becoming ‘one’ with the Essence. He could rest.
The silencer was broken by the creaking of a door, one that opened from within the dark expanse of the shadows; The darkness was flooded by countless rays of warm, sparkling, vibrant light. As he peered into the light, Kurutio’s eyes shone with a strangly vacant awe. It was heaven. Flying towards the light now, he was blocked by a person who appeared out of thin air.
Confronting this stranger, he was indignant that someone would dare to block his pathway to heaven. He met her eyes, and was taken aback by what he saw. Kurutio instinctively shouted out “Airielu!“, and collapsed into her arms.
