by Martin Ash
The Chariness stepped forward through the haze, a glazed earthenware bowl in her hands. The voices fell ominously silent. The drum, too, ceased to beat.
‘Preparations are complete. There is nothing more to be done. Seeker, do you accept your trial?’
I swallowed, my throat dry. ‘I do.’
She knelt before me and offered the bowl. ‘Drink, then, of the Sacred Water of the Realms, that it may mingle with your essence and free your spirit for its journey.’
I accepted the vessel and raised it to my lips, drank the chill, bitter liquid in three large gulps. The Chariness’s grey eyes above her veil rested solemnly upon my face. She took the bowl from me and retreated to the edge of the circle of Witnesses.
‘Your time has come. You are to leave this plane and enter the Realms of Non-Corporeality, to find and if necessary do battle with your First Entity, in order to bind it to your service. If you are successful the entity will become your Custodian, the Protector of your Flesh, freeing you to journey at will beyond this realm of existence. Fail, and you may be lost forever to this world and doomed to an uncertain fate in the void beyond. Do you understand and accept this?’
‘I do.’
‘While your spirit is absent we of the Hierarchy will guard and protect your flesh. But this trial is yours alone. We may not help you in your wanderings beyond this worldly plane. Do you know and accept this also?’
‘I do.’
‘Seeker, knowing the dangers as well as the rewards of the path you have chosen to follow, custom decrees that you be offered one final chance to reconsider. You may leave this chamber without shame or penalty, never to return, if that is your wish.’
I took a breath. The fear was rising within me, the offer of escape a temptation. I pushed it aside. ‘I will face my Trial.’
‘Then by the grace of the Great Moving Spirit, Moban, journey now beyond this world. Go safely in the Realms and return when your task is done!’
The nine Witnesses surrounding me shifted into defensive postures, ready to protect my flesh from anything that might assail it while I journeyed in the other world. I prepared to enter trance, already aware of the Sacred Water performing its work within me. I took note, feature by feature of the physical world around me, in the way I had been taught over the years and months of study and practice.
The voices resumed their chants; the drum its beat. I centred myself, focusing on my physical being. Stage by stage I dissolved the corporeal world.
I ascended, to rest a little way above my body. The torchlight flickered below me, the nine ritual figures cloaked in wavering shadows around my solitary form. The Chariness stood, gazing up as if perceiving me. Her voice came as though from a great distance. ‘Go.’
I rose further, up through the dense ceiling of venerable, living rock, out of that central ceremonial chamber of the Zan-Chassin, up through the secret warren of chambers and passages that were the Zan-Chassin catacombs. I passed through the solid granite that lay beneath the Royal Palace of Hon-Hiaita, up above the Palace itself and Hon-Hiaita town. I rose into the skies over Khimmur, high above the forests and hills and the glittering waters of the inland sea, Lake Hiaita. I soared further and further above the physical world, and then, pausing only for the briefest moment, I rent the fabric between realities and passed through into First Realm.
~
This was not my first time here, though I had never before entered alone. And I had only rested at the edge. I had been taught the means to pass from the corporeal into the First Realm of Other-Being, that immeasurable, perhaps infinite sphere of existence that lies beyond our normal perception. I had glimpsed what awaited me there, and then I had returned to the flesh. I had never journeyed. The Realms are unpredictable, their nature varying, their denizens capricious and diverse. One does not venture there without long and proper training.
But now I had embarked upon my First Realm Initiation. I was to journey alone in the other worlds, to tame an entity-spirit and if successful to return to my body with that spirit in my service. Thus would I prove myself worthy of the title Zan-Chassin Adept of the First Realm.
And if I failed? At best I would return to my flesh, to undergo further arduous training, further devotion, developing myself and my inner powers until I was judged strong enough to try again.
At worst…
…the spirit-entities that inhabit the Realms possess unknown powers. Entities of the First Realm – that part of the greater reality that lies closest to our conscious experience of our everyday perception – tend to lesser power. The more potent denizens generally keep to the deeper realms beyond. Yet, by their very nature, even the lesser spirits can be fearsome and resourceful opponents. Should that prove so now, then the opposite effect to that which I desired might result. I risked death, or the possession and incarceration of my soul by the very creature I sought to bind to my service. I would be trapped forever in the darkness beyond the world.
Circumspectly I passed through into a mindscape of weird perspectives which changed even as I gazed upon it. I stood upon a wide, flat plain which stretched away in all directions. Shifting mountains, dark purplish blue, occupied the horizon. They rippled and swayed slowly, like enormous fronds touched by a watery breeze. The sky was more a vast river above me. Shapeless clouds of coloured vapours rolled across the plain, dispersing even as they appeared to be assuming form.
No particular feature held my eye, nor could it, for nothing held form for more than moments. I set off in a direction chosen at random, scouring my surroundings as I went, eyes peeled for signs of an entity. As far as I could make out I was not observed – this region of First Realm seemed deserted – but I was aware that here my senses might not serve me reliably.
I had walked for some time when I descried, seeming to form out of the vivid landscape ahead, an outcrop of rock. It thrust itself aloft in irregular formations, inert blue-grey slabs, translucent pillars and shards exploding out of an iridescent lumpy core. I changed direction so as to approach it, alert now to the feeling that I might be on the verge of my first encounter.
Drawing closer to the outcrop, I saw that it was not, in fact, inert. There was a sense of its growing and shrinking, changing form almost imperceptibly, altering substance, altering nature. This was quintessential to the nature of the Realms on Non-Corporeality, I was already aware. For this is the unformed world, that which has yet to wholly become and find rest within the dimensions of the physical and material.
And as I stepped into its shadow I saw something else.
I acted as though unaware – and indeed, I could not be certain that what had caught the periphery of my attention was not a figment of my imagination. But I stood before the rock, gazing without focus beyond it, after a few heartbeats I glimpsed it again. A movement, very slight.
Something lurked in the cover of the rock. Something hid there, observing me.
I seated my non-corporeal form cross-legged on the ground beneath the overhang of rock, taking some comfort from the fact that I had not been attacked outright. A hostile entity may strike without warning or hesitation, either to injure and then flee, or to annihilate – or, if it is of significant power, to capture and abduct. Alternatively, the entity may be fearful, or mischievous, curious, deceitful, certainly suspicious. I was a stranger in their strange land, a visitor, uninvited. I had to be prepared for anything.
I maintained the pretence of obliviousness of the entity’s presence whilst keeping it within the broad scope of my vision. Plainly I was being appraised and might yet come under attack.
Though bodiless and possessing no heart, I felt it pound within me. And now the merest flicker of two eyes, watching intently. Then followed a cautious movement as the creature slipped forward along a limb of rock in order to gain a better view of me. It was a slight, wispy thing, difficult to make out – and I knew that the image I perceived now might bear little resemblance to the actuality of the entity itself. Perception in this limitless ethereal re
alm is in large part a matter of judgement and guesswork – one can never be certain that impressions revealed to the discorporal sensorium are representative of what is actually there.
Satisfied that I was being observed with keen interest, I reached into my robe and withdrew a small cloth-bound package which I set on the ground before me. On the limb of rock above me I observed the blink of two huge pale yellow eyes and sensed the inquisitive craning forward of a slender neck, the twitch of a short brown snout.
I rested my hands above the cloth and commenced chanting in a low, rhythmic voice. Keeping this up for some moments I saw out of the corner of my eye that the entity was edging closer, leaning forward from the branch of rock until its foreparts were almost wholly unconcealed. I let my voice fade; I unwound the cloth to expose its contents.
‘What are you doing?’
I glanced up, pretending surprise at finding myself in company. ‘I’m conducting a small ritual. Why?’
The entity leaned down low, surveying both myself and my accoutrements. ‘I have never seen anything like you. What are you?’
‘I am a man.’
‘Man? What is that?’
‘It’s what you see before you.’
‘That doesn’t answer my question. I can see what I can see, but I still do not know.’
‘Perhaps you should have couched your question differently.’
‘But you are a strange thing.’
The entity hopped down from its rock and stood warily, keeping its distance. ‘Why have I never seen anything like you before?’
‘Perhaps you have never looked. Or never expected. Perhaps it’s only now, at this time, that you have that choice.’
‘A choice? I made no choice. I simply rested here and you arrived.’
I waited, seeing no gain in pursuing riddles or questioning the unknowable. Eventually, the same question in different words: ‘Why are you so strange to me?’
‘I come from a place beyond this. A realm you have never experienced.’
‘Innumerable strange things exist in the deeper realms,’ the creature said. ‘And it’s true that there are regions where I cannot go, yet you are far stranger than anything I could have imagined. If you are from those deeper realms that are closed to me, why have you come here?’
‘I didn’t say that my realm is closed to you,’ I replied. ‘Only that you have never experienced it. And I’m not from the deeper realms that you refer to. I come from a vast region of existence of which almost no realm entity has knowledge.’
This intrigued the entity, as I had hoped. ‘Almost, you say?’
I nodded. ‘Under specific circumstances, rare and privileged beings may visit there.’
‘Where is this place?’
I motioned with one hand. ‘Beyond… an explanation would take too long.’
‘But I might go there?’
‘Under highly particular conditions, it may be possible.’
The entity cocked its head quizzically. ‘Are you called by any name, other than Man?’
‘I’m in little doubt that I’m called by many names, but the one I use for my own identification is Dinbig.’
‘That’s a funny name.’
‘Some think so. And you?’
‘I am Yo.’
‘I’m pleased to make your acquaintance, Yo. Will you sit with me for a while?’
The entity appeared uncertain, but curiosity kept him from leaving. He pointed to the oddments on the cloth before me. ‘What are these things?’
‘Treasures, from my domain.’
‘They are pretty. I’ve never seen anything resembling them.’
‘There are innumerable similar treasures where I come from.’ I held one up. ‘You see? It’s beautiful.’
‘What is it called?’
‘It’s a flower. A rose. And this one is a feather, and here a small lump of crystal salt.’
‘Can I have them?’
‘I’m afraid not. I require them in order to return to my home.’
In a flash of motion the entity sprang forward, snatched up all three items, and was gone, speeding across the plain.
I had anticipated something of the kind and was on his track almost instantly, yet his pace was extraordinary and I struggled to keep up. We raced towards the distant, frond-like mountains. Yo darted and dived ahead of me, trying to throw me off this tail. As the mountains loomed large I grew afraid. They would provide cover where Yo might conceal himself and evade me. Other entities, more powerful, might lurk there in ambush. And the further I was drawn, the closer I came to passing beyond this realm into deeper levels where the perils would be greater.
Yo swooped, veering towards a narrow pass now visible between the weird heights. His path took him obliquely across mine, offering an opportunity for me to gain on and perhaps even intercept him. I shot towards the mouth of the pass which I perceived as being his objective.
He saw my manoeuvre and modified his path. At the same time he performed his first true act of aggression towards me. Something materialized in the space between us and shot towards me. A shapeless mass of rapturized stuff, plainly intended to cause me harm.
I darted to the side, invoking a chant of negation. I struck lucky; the stuff vanished. Now a pressure like an invisible membrane slowed my motion and began to push me away. Again, I invoked a dispellation. The pressure eased and I broke through.
Yo, apparently dismayed by my ability to nullify his powers, faltered. His pace had slowed, too, weighed down by the earthly baggage he had taken, as I’d planned. I moved closer to him, and called, ‘Yo, don’t be alarmed. I mean you no harm.’
‘What do you want with me? Why don’t you leave me alone and go back to where you came from?’
‘You have taken something that is not yours.’
‘I want them. They are so pretty. They call to me. Can’t I keep them?’
‘Yo, they do not exist. They are conjurations, sensorial constructs, images held within my mind. I brought them here as projections from my own domain. Look, what do you now hold in your paws?’
The entity opened his hands, and gasped. ‘What have you done with them?
‘I told you, they do not exist. As soon as you took them I dissolved their substance. They were just representations.’
‘That was an unfair thing to to.’
‘Was it fair that you stole things that you knew were not yours?’
‘I only wanted to look. Can you show them me again?’
‘Not here, Yo. But in my domain there are more. Many more. And untold numbers of other wondrous things, unlike anything you have ever seen. I can show you all of these things if you will accompany me there for a short time.’
‘Do you think me so guileless? You tempt me there so you can abduct me!’
‘No, Yo. That’s not my aim. In fact, I wish to offer you a compact.’
‘A compact?’
‘Between you and I. I want to show you my domain and its wonders, and then I shall offer you freedom to access it. You will have the opportunity rarely given to creatures of your realm. I will provide you with the body of a creature of my world, which will enable you to inhabit that domain, to familiarize yourself with it and partake fully of all the marvels it holds.’
‘And be torn forever from my own world?’
I shook my head. ‘You will be able to return here at any time.’
The entity eyed me shrewdly. ‘And in return?’
‘You pledge yourself to me, as helper, protector and companion. In itself, this bestows a further benefit. You will be required to occupy my body, become its guardian and custodian during the periods that I journey here in your realm and beyond. You will thus gain the first understanding of what it is to be human.’
‘Why would I wish that?’
‘To learn, to be active, in a world unlike anything you have experienced.’
‘And if I decline?’
‘I shall trouble you no further. I will leave now and return alo
ne to the corporeal domain. At a later time I will come here again to find another entity, one who is willing to become my assistant and custodian and partake of the bounties of two worlds.’
‘Show me,’ said Yo.
He was mine! I knew it, as, I had no doubt, did he. The allure of a world beyond his imaginings, combined with the knowledge that if he did not accept, another would, was more than he could resist.
I took him back across that ethereal plain, parted the fabric between realities, and led him from First Realm into the domain of the corporeal. We floated over the hills and forests of my homeland, Khimmur. I showed him the trees, the rivers, the herds of grazing animals, the wild beasts and monsters roaming the woods. We went lower. I showed him flowers, feathers and crystal salt. I showed him bees and butterflies, fishes, lizards and birds. I showed him towns and villages, and the people, my own kind, who passed their lives there.
He was agog; he had never known such wonders could exist.
‘All this can be yours, Yo. You have only to pledge your service to me.’
There was no hesitation. ‘I will do it. I will serve you.’
‘Then reveal to me now your true and secret name.’
He looked at me with dismay. ‘That I cannot do!’
‘You must. It is your sacred and binding oath, the means by which I measure your sincerity. I will hold it secret, never reveal it to another unless you betray me or in some way purposefully attempt to break your oath or do me harm. There is no alternative.’
‘But it will give you power over me.’
‘As I am also giving you power over me. Remember, you will be Custodian of my flesh when I journey. I must know, without a spectre of a doubt, that I cannot be brought to harm by your doing. Your true and secret name is your sacred covenant to me. Tell it me now, or be gone.’
He looked about him, just briefly, absorbing again the incredible diversity of the corporeal world, and his great eyes widened. He stepped close and quietly spoke in my ear the word that bound him to me.
