Death itself had been quite an education. Lucian’s life to date had flashed through his mind’s eye as he’d departed his body, and he was intrigued to view memories of an entire timeline, involving several missions, that he did not consciously recall living through prior to his demise. This must have been the second mission in the universe parallel that Zeven was claiming they had completed. The reason Lucian did not, and could not have remembered this mission during his lifetime, was because Lucian’s host body in that other universe had been killed during the mission.
Despite a gift for tapping into the Akashic memory, Lucian’s searches were still limited by his own knowledge — he couldn’t reference an instance he didn’t know existed. During this future mission he had learned he was capable of not only time-jumping backwards, as Taren had done before to save the AMIE project, but that they could quantum jump their consciousness into the body of any of their past life incarnations, but not without losing all conscious memory of the fact that they were on a mission in the first place. So they’d had agents working inside and outside of time, to ensure the entire team were awoken to their true purpose for being in that particular time and body, and not lost in the timelines.
But even with these precautions, Lucian wasn’t the only crew member who’d lost their life in the universe parallel and subsequently forgotten the sidetrack. Ringbalin’s memory of the event would never return either, for he had also been murdered before he could abort the mission and return his consciousness to his original body, residing on AMIE. Lucian had seen other allies die in this cross-universal expedition also, but no death pained him so much as learning that Taren’s host body during the assignment in question had conceived his child. The one known constant of their timekeeping activities was that when they jumped their consciousness from one body to another, their consciousness was all they took with them. It saddened Lucian that their child must have been lost between universes and timelines somewhere, and what was sadder, he could not even discuss this with Taren as — according to Zeven — her memories of these events would not return for another four years.
When he considered all that was going on in Taren’s world at present, her absent memory was probably a blessing. The last thing he’d wanted was to leave her to contend with a rebellion on Phemoria and freeing their crew, but someone needed to find out where Zeven and company had disappeared to, and as he was the only one who could see the portal that had engulfed their team members, he was the only sentient for the job.
Beyond the light barrier between worlds, Lucian entered an entirely white sanctuary, just in time to see the last of his crew pass through the portal at the end of the elongated circular structure. The advantage to being a spirit was the swiftness of motion; no need to coordinate a bunch of limbs to get you there — just set your intention and you arrived where desired. He was hoping this little trick would get him back to Taren’s side when needed, but he hesitated to test the theory before he’d gathered the intel that he’d come for.
Beyond the portal was a corridor, of the same smooth, white, curved, light-filled design, and Thurraya was up ahead, skipping towards another portal at the far end. Behind Zeven was the portal he’d just come through and beyond there appeared to be nothing but countryside. ‘Whoa.’
‘It’s like the building just appears as you need it, and responds to your wishes,’ Ray advised him, as he admired the views out the long oblong shaped windows to either side of him. ‘Watch this. Blue.’ His daughter pointed to the walls and they immediately changed colour.
‘Goodness,’ Aurora entered to catch the trick.
Thurraya turned to face the side wall and pointed. ‘Door.’ She walked towards the wall and a doorway appeared to grant her access to outside.
‘Ray, wait right there,’ Zeven called to her through the opening and she stopped still as he headed through the doorway and into the countryside to catch her up.
In the field of assorted flowers, Thurraya stood with her hands palm upward, fascinated by the millions of tiny orbs of light that were swarming all over the field like millions of tiny bugs. ‘How amazing and beautiful is this?’ she said. ‘They’re elementals, Dad … I’ve never seen so many!’
‘I didn’t know that you saw them at all.’ Zeven finally reached her.
‘Well, not in space obviously, but when I am in nature, I have seen them.’ One finally landed on her hand, and turning to show him Ray glanced back to whence they’d come, and her excitement waned. ‘Oops.’
Zeven looked back to see nothing but nature. ‘Oh shoot, Ray.’
‘Sorry,’ she winced, as he took hold of her hand and headed back in the direction they’d come.
An opening erupted out of thin air, and Telmo stood in the orifice shaking his head. ‘Come along, children, let’s not get lost.’
Zeven forced a grin as they returned to join the rest of the crew. ‘Now, stay close.’ He let Ray’s hand go.
‘I will,’ she assured.
Zeven, satisfied Ray had learned her lesson, led off towards the portal at the far end.
‘Kitten.’
Ray’s request brought him to a halt and looking back he found Thurraya holding the said animal and cooing over it.
‘Smaller,’ she instructed and the animal in her hand shrunk to palm-size. ‘Aqua.’ The kitten changed colour. ‘Aww … how adorable! Can I keep her?’
Zeven was a little wary of how quickly his daughter was adapting to her new environment; perhaps she’d learned her lesson a little too well? ‘If it will keep you out of trouble. But no more creative animal making,’ he thought to add.
‘I promise.’ Ray’s full attention reverted to the miniature aqua kitten in her palm.
‘What do you make of all this?’ Zeven consulted Telmo.
‘Semi-causal plane, semi-causal beings, semi-causal construct,’ he concluded.
‘Well, that clears things right up.’ Aurora had not a clue what he was talking about, but Zeven did.
‘So this is part of the Otherworld?’ Zeven theorised. ‘Or is this the realm of the Grigori?’
‘No,’ Telmo clarified. ‘They function in a realm that is purely causal, but here in the etheric world they can manifest a form, much as the Dropa do. You could say that this place is akin to the Otherworld, as it is somewhere between the physical and the spirit realm, or otherwise we would have had to leave our physical bodies to enter this place.’
The celestial city of the Phemoray could be accessed from here, Zeven deduced on the quiet. Jalila Lamus had claimed the women whose souls dwelt there were the best psychics that Phemoria had to offer — powerful allies, if they did not approve of his mother’s rebellion.
Upon confronting the portal at the end of the corridor, which also appeared to lead into the countryside beyond, Zeven took hold of his daughter’s hand. ‘Let’s do this one together.’
‘Good call.’ Ray pocketed her kitten to take hold of Khalid’s hand and he was surprised when her mother took up his other hand.
‘A bit of moral support.’ She smiled, also linking hands with Telmo.
The corridor in which they stood and the portal entrance before them immediately widened, to permit them all to stand side by side and enter together.
‘Ready?’ Zeven queried down the line, but Khalid knew the question was mostly for his benefit. Everyone else nodded.
‘How does that matter?’ Khalid replied. ‘As far as I can tell this is our only way forward.’
‘Put that way,’ Zeven warranted, ‘I should probably just have said, suck it up and good luck.’
Khalid was amused. ‘That sounds more like you.’
Khalid found it extraordinary to suddenly remember knowing Zeven and many of the other timekeepers in other lives and situations. It had taken a long time to earn Zeven’s friendship and trust, but he was like a fierce canine, and once that bond had been established there was clearly no breaking it — it had transcended universes and the sad circumstances of their history in this tim
eline. What was truly amazing to Khalid was that, with all his political plotting to secure his position in the world, in the end it was one true friend who had saved him from the hell that was his everyday reality in this life.
Time to discover who I truly am. He stepped into the portal along with his company, feeling truly supported for the first time since he’d been in Wu Geng’s skin.
The passage through this portal felt different to the first. Like plunging into water but without the associated moisture and airlessness, the atmosphere of the huge space beyond was darker and more buoyant — to both the body and the soul. The weightlessness lifted their party up as they emerged from the passage and they floated into a huge expansive arena, hands still linked and mute with awed anticipation.
A huge reflective bowl-shaped floor mirrored an equally huge reflective bowl-shaped ceiling, but the construct was barely perceivable as the outer arena fell into shadow, and gave the optical effect of an infinite space.
All eyes were glued to the centre where masses of colourful, light-filled vapour performed a resplendent dance and sung in a chorale, the sound of which filled the body with a vibration of pure exhilaration and joy.
The vapours intertwined to form different geometric shapes, simple at first, like a sphere that linked to another sphere, then in between formed an equilateral triangle. From within this formation a pentagon emerged, within it a pentagram. But then bursting apart into spheres, the formations became more complex.
‘The seed of life … the tree … the egg … the fruit …’
Khalid noted Telmo uttering to one side of him.
‘The flower of life. Metatron’s cube.’
‘You know these formations?’ Aurora queried Telmo first as she was closest to him.
‘It is the sacred geometry on which all of creation is based.’
‘Whoa, really?’ Aurora looked back to the spectacle.
Khalid recalled that this teaching had been among the first of a plethora of knowledge that had been imparted to Wu Geng by his spiritual mentor, Dorje Pema — the sole survivor of the Dropa people, whom the timekeepers had encountered in the ancient world, of another planet in the universe parallel. Was this coincidence, or a message?
Your survival is far more important than you, or any of your team mates, realise.
Dorje Pema’s final words to Wu Geng sprang to mind, and they made his dormant heart break; yet it was hope and excitement that poured from the old wound, not sorrow.
Your soul source may be different to theirs, but it is just as splendid. You are no more alone in your plight than we are. Make it home and you shall know we have not led you ill.
‘Pema?’ He only whispered the query, and the formation of vapour contorted to form the image of a closed flower, which opened into a lotus.
The sight brought tears to Khalid’s eyes, for Dorje Pema meant ‘indestructible lotus’. From the centre of the formation a vaporous form rose up, shimmering silver and purple tones, and wound its way towards them. The entity came to hover before Khalid and from it emerged the upper body of the childlike Dropa master that he, Zeven and Telmo had known.
‘Is it really you?’ Khalid let go of Aurora and floated closer, finding it difficult to believe it could truly be his beloved mentor.
‘It is us …’ she replied, using thought projection as Ahura had, once liberated from his physical form. ‘Although this is no more our true appearance than the body you are wearing is yours.’ Dorje had always referred to herself in the plural, as even with all her fellow Dropa deceased she remained telepathically linked to them.
‘But how did you end up here? In this universe?’ Zeven asked.
‘The Eternity Gate,’ they both concluded at once.
‘Ansel claimed it was a myth!’ Khalid was intrigued, as he’d not lived to see the resolution of their mission.
‘It exists,’ Zeven assured. ‘But very few craft ever successfully entered it and none ever returned to the universe from which they’d come.’
‘The Grigori made the passage,’ she stated, attention on Zeven, and Khalid was again baffled, having no idea what Grigori meant.
‘We were invited to make the passage and advised to take no weapons,’ Zeven answered. ‘The Dropa were too,’ Zeven assumed in conclusion. ‘That’s where you were headed when you got stranded on Earth. But how do you remember that timeline?’
‘Akasha,’ Telmo answered on her behalf. ‘Nothing happens in any timeline that is not recorded there.’
‘So you see we have been in this universe far longer than you,’ Pema enlightened. ‘We built the inter-system gateways, and have been working in cooperation with the Grigori to pave the way for human development in this universe, just as we did in the last. Many souls, both Grigori and Dropa, have incarnated into the royal houses of Phemoria and Sermetica, in the hope of ending the war and the curses that the progeny of our cross-breeding with Phemoria instigated. Until finally our beloved Sharrujahan insisted on incarnating into the human race to redress the balance himself, and our son volunteered to assume human form in order that this divine person might be conceived.’
Khalid felt a trembling deep within his being that caused his entire body to quiver.
‘When Ahura did not return, and you were born a male instead of female, the relations between us and the Phemorians of the celestial city became too strained to continue. But we were all betrayed, by one soul who should have returned to us long ago.’
‘Chironjivi,’ announced Ray, who’d been silent to this point. ‘I remember now, why I came.’
‘What could these events have to do with you?’ Aurora gasped, as Zeven noted his daughter was trembling.
‘Thurraya?’ He took her in his arms to comfort her.
‘Calm yourself,’ Pema coaxed Ray with her soothing presence. ‘There are many reasons why you returned to a physical state of demonstration.’
The child calmed and smiled, forgetting whatever disturbing thought had upset her.
‘Is Ray’s soul one of yours?’ Zeven queried the spectre.
‘We could not have retrieved our Sharrujahan without her assistance,’ Pema advised.
‘That explains why she is so protective of Khalid,’ Zeven considered.
Khalid couldn’t contain his inner quake any longer, and his body quivering drew the attention of everyone. ‘What is happening to me?’
‘Your true self wants to break through the consciousness barrier that encapsulated you when you were born into that physical form,’ Pema advised. ‘You must shed it, in order to comprehend all that you truly are.’
‘Can I return to this form?’ Khalid battled against his urge to shed the heaviness of his physical existence.
‘We can assume a human form, as Ahura did in order to seed you, but we cannot be truly human unless reborn into that race.’
‘Is there a difference?’ Khalid stammered.
‘Of course,’ Pema emphasised. ‘You shall regain your causal perspective, and shed all the pain and suffering of your past.’
‘So I won’t remember my life as Khalid?’
‘I believe what Pema is trying to say,’ Telmo bridged the comprehension gap, ‘is that you will remember Khalid, but in a causal state of being, you will no longer be emotionally connected to that life and detach from the outcome.’
‘No,’ Khalid rejected that notion very strongly and ceasing to desire to know who he really was, his trembling lessened. ‘I’ll lose my motivation. I have to go back.’
‘We barely managed to retrieve you, and had you died in human form, you would have been trapped by the same curse that binds Chironjivi to the physical plane of awareness.’ Pema outlined the risk of following his desire. ‘Clearly, we are not equipped to withstand the stresses, vices and seductions of the physical world any longer. We must allow the Grigori to resolve the situation.’
‘I have been dealing with Chironjivi’s curse longer than any soul living; I am better equipped than any to end this suffering,�
� Khalid explained his reasons. ‘You were the one who told me I must endure and right all that had been wronged by Khalid’s actions.’
‘All Khalid’s wrongs have been undone. The family you sought to slay, lives.’ Pema motioned to Zeven. ‘The curse that had hold of you, has been contained and parted from its minions.’
‘I had no part in that recompense. And even if I did return, deal with the curses and restore peace to the united systems, that would still not come close to balancing the karmic debt Khalid racked up in the universe of his birth,’ he concluded, a little shocked by his own resolve and conviction.
Pema was smiling. ‘After all you have been put through, you invite yet more suffering upon yourself?’
The query brought tears to Khalid’s eyes, for the answer was a revelation to him. ‘I find no peace in the prospect of leaving good souls to deal with the horrors with which I have been intimate. I know for a fact that suffering for a good cause brings me more joy and peace than freedom from caring does.’
‘Amen.’ Telmo backed his reasoning, and the smiles of all present seemed to show their unanimous support.
‘Then the Grigori have done their job well, and you are now ready to embark on the quest you took form to accomplish,’ Pema allowed, shocking Zeven and Telmo a little.
‘You arranged our intervention with the Grigori?’ Zeven now realised why he had been so compelled.
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