Chapter 17 -
01/28/2018
The light above us went out. We were left descending in complete darkness. I shifted uncomfortably in the moment of silence that filled the bowl.
“Shall I explain?” I heard Sye’s voice.
“The floor is yours,” replied Bulkee.
“Sasha. Can I call you that?” Sye asked. When I didn’t respond, he went on. “Let’s take a step back. You have heard about the originators who removed time from AohhoA, right?”
“Yes,” I replied softly, feeling out of my element in the dark.
“It goes without saying that the process was intended to abolish all types of change. But at some point, the originators feared that the course of action might be too drastic. And it could lead to certain consequences.”
“What kind of consequences?” I asked.
“Nothing specific that the originators could foresee,” Sye replied. “But they dreaded dire outcomes like that their plan would backfire. Or they would lose control. So they called a meeting and voted on creating a mechanism to prevent catastrophe. In the end, they selected three individuals as the AohhoA Seekers of the Enlightened and granted them special abilities to re-instill change.”
“Wait,” I interrupted, again feeling hollow like I was talking to air. “Am I missing something here? The originators stopped time to prevent change. But they went on to create Seekers to bring back change. Isn’t it –” I stopped short, catching myself. I might be risking Sye’s patience by appearing to challenge him.
“Contradicting, right?” Sye finished my thought. “I understand how it could seem that way to you. But the key is the arrangement,” he said evenly. “The originators set it up so that each Seeker is limited in his ability. No Seeker can sway the status quo on his own. Change will not happen unless all three Seekers combine strengthens. And something has to go off the rails for them to join forces. Something that makes it absolutely necessary to redirect the course of action.”
“Something like the Period of Chaos?” I asked.
“Possibly. The Period of Chaos certainly had opened the floodgate,” Sye replied. “I’m sure that you have more questions, Sasha. Feel free to ask as many as you’d like.”
I nodded, relaxing my shoulders. It was nice talking to Sye, his tone calm and non-judgmental. “Do you always know that you are the chosen ones?” I asked.
“No,” Sye said with a soft chuckle. “As Seekers, we are designed to remain unaware of our purpose until the moment of Awakening.”
“What is the moment of Awakening?”
“It’s a process initiated by experiencing a Flash, which is a sudden mental clarity. By having a Flash, we rise from a dormant stage and become aware of our role as Seekers. The Flash is marked by developing a symbol ‘A.S.E.’ on our bodies.”
“Is that why you and Bulkee both have it on your necks?”
“That’s right,” The two of them responded in sync.
“The initial Flash can be triggered by circumstance, such as when two Seekers cross paths,” Bulkee jumped in. “Sye, you must have experienced it, when I ran into you.”
“That seems to be the case,” Sye confirmed, “When you approached me, I went through the initial Flash of recognizing my new identity. But I was too exhausted to speak at that point.”
I remembered Bulkee standing in front of Sye, and Sye swinging his arm to his back before collapsing to the ground. “What is it like to have a Flash?” I asked. “Is it painful?”
“To an extent, yes,” Sye replied. “Think of a Flash as a blow to the mind packed with insight. The initial Flash is the least pleasant experience, because learning can be a very painful process, especially when our minds have to consume so much knowledge in an instant. Being marked by the symbol ‘A.S.E’ is like having an open flame burn into your flesh.”
I cringed at the notion. But I forced myself not to dwell on any gruesome image.
“After the first incident, Flashes come to us without a hitch,” Sye went on. “They allow us to fully understand our role as Seekers and become enlightened. That’s why we are called the AohhoA Seekers of the Enlightened.”
“I see,” I nodded. “So does being Seekers allow you to have special abilities?”
“It allows you to improve upon the special abilities that you already have,” he said.
“Like I’ve told you, Ears,” Bulkee cut in. “These special abilities are collectively known as Imajigo Trades which are the essence of the mind. We have already unlocked them, even before awakening to the role of Seekers.”
“The Imajigo Trades aren’t always perfect,” Sye said. “But that’s the beautify of it. Enlightened Seekers are supposed to have limitations in our individual Imajigo Trade, so there’s a need to combine abilities.”
“My special Trade is to create BionicShapes, which are tangible items that come to real life from a thought in my head,” Bulkee said. “But I haven’t figured out a way to keep the BionicShapes steady so that they don’t go off disappearing on me.”
“We can certainly work together on that,” Sye said. “My Imajigo Trade is to see with Syoncept,” Sye replied. “It allows me to see beyond what is there or barely there.”
But the Enchantresses had called him “blind,” I recalled and remembered his opaque eyes.
“I was born blind. And I still am in the sense that I don’t have eyesight to see as you do,” Sye continued, like he had read my confusion. “I have the aid of a crystal ball. It drills my way around, figuratively and literally. I also use Syoncept, which I became aware of during a previous Period of Chaos, to perceive and understand the reality around me. I hadn’t told anyone about Syoncept until now.”
“With our Imajigo Trades, we can be catalysts for change,” Bulkee said, sounding excited.
“What kind of change?” I asked.
“It could be drastic, like revolution all around. Or it could be modest like finding a breakthrough to move from one Pocket to another,” Sye said. “But the scale depends on the last Seeker. There are three of us. And all three AohhoA Seekers of the Enlightened must work together.”
“Where is he, the third Seeker?” I asked again.
“Dormant. Unaware. And unawaken,” Bulkee said somberly.
“What do you mean?”
“We have to wait for the last Seeker to awaken to this new role,” Sye explained. “It is a process and we will need to be patient.”
In his tender voice, my subconscious drifted to Ori, the golden falcon. He had rescued me from the popcorn explosion, transformed the TimeBook into the pendant of a necklace, and whispered in my ears the instruction for me to return home.
I blushed at the thought of him. There was something dangerously intriguing about his presence. Be it his kaleidoscope eyes or his magnificent wing bars. What really gave me tingles was the profound mysteriousness about him. I tried to recall if he had the symbol “A.S.E.” blazed on his neck. But my mental search turned up nothing because I had been too flustered to take notice. Perhaps still dormant, but Ori must be the one. The last Enlightened Seeker.
We continued moving along with the crystal bowl. It was difficult to determine the speed with which we traveled. But soon enough I spotted a subtle source of light ahead of us and it was coming at us fast.
A tremulous thud erupted. I felt a quiver through my body separating me from the crystal bowl. In the twinkling of an eye the darkness flipped into a sea of brightness, gobbling us all.
“Something just came out of the ground!” I heard someone shout.
“Shall I explain?” I heard Sye’s voice.
“The floor is yours,” replied Bulkee.
“Sasha. Can I call you that?” Sye asked. When I didn’t respond, he went on. “Let’s take a step back. You have heard about the originators who removed time from AohhoA, right?”
“Yes,” I replied softly, feeling out of my element in the dark.
“It goes without saying that the process was intended to abolish all types of change. But at some point, the originators feared that the course of action might be too drastic. And it could lead to certain consequences.”
“What kind of consequences?” I asked.
“Nothing specific that the originators could foresee,” Sye replied. “But they dreaded dire outcomes like that their plan would backfire. Or they would lose control. So they called a meeting and voted on creating a mechanism to prevent catastrophe. In the end, they selected three individuals as the AohhoA Seekers of the Enlightened and granted them special abilities to re-instill change.”
“Wait,” I interrupted, again feeling hollow like I was talking to air. “Am I missing something here? The originators stopped time to prevent change. But they went on to create Seekers to bring back change. Isn’t it –” I stopped short, catching myself. I might be risking Sye’s patience by appearing to challenge him.
“Contradicting, right?” Sye finished my thought. “I understand how it could seem that way to you. But the key is the arrangement,” he said evenly. “The originators set it up so that each Seeker is limited in his ability. No Seeker can sway the status quo on his own. Change will not happen unless all three Seekers combine strengthens. And something has to go off the rails for them to join forces. Something that makes it absolutely necessary to redirect the course of action.”
“Something like the Period of Chaos?” I asked.
“Possibly. The Period of Chaos certainly had opened the floodgate,” Sye replied. “I’m sure that you have more questions, Sasha. Feel free to ask as many as you’d like.”
I nodded, relaxing my shoulders. It was nice talking to Sye, his tone calm and non-judgmental. “Do you always know that you are the chosen ones?” I asked.
“No,” Sye said with a soft chuckle. “As Seekers, we are designed to remain unaware of our purpose until the moment of Awakening.”
“What is the moment of Awakening?”
“It’s a process initiated by experiencing a Flash, which is a sudden mental clarity. By having a Flash, we rise from a dormant stage and become aware of our role as Seekers. The Flash is marked by developing a symbol ‘A.S.E.’ on our bodies.”
“Is that why you and Bulkee both have it on your necks?”
“That’s right,” The two of them responded in sync.
“The initial Flash can be triggered by circumstance, such as when two Seekers cross paths,” Bulkee jumped in. “Sye, you must have experienced it, when I ran into you.”
“That seems to be the case,” Sye confirmed, “When you approached me, I went through the initial Flash of recognizing my new identity. But I was too exhausted to speak at that point.”
I remembered Bulkee standing in front of Sye, and Sye swinging his arm to his back before collapsing to the ground. “What is it like to have a Flash?” I asked. “Is it painful?”
“To an extent, yes,” Sye replied. “Think of a Flash as a blow to the mind packed with insight. The initial Flash is the least pleasant experience, because learning can be a very painful process, especially when our minds have to consume so much knowledge in an instant. Being marked by the symbol ‘A.S.E’ is like having an open flame burn into your flesh.”
I cringed at the notion. But I forced myself not to dwell on any gruesome image.
“After the first incident, Flashes come to us without a hitch,” Sye went on. “They allow us to fully understand our role as Seekers and become enlightened. That’s why we are called the AohhoA Seekers of the Enlightened.”
“I see,” I nodded. “So does being Seekers allow you to have special abilities?”
“It allows you to improve upon the special abilities that you already have,” he said.
“Like I’ve told you, Ears,” Bulkee cut in. “These special abilities are collectively known as Imajigo Trades which are the essence of the mind. We have already unlocked them, even before awakening to the role of Seekers.”
“The Imajigo Trades aren’t always perfect,” Sye said. “But that’s the beautify of it. Enlightened Seekers are supposed to have limitations in our individual Imajigo Trade, so there’s a need to combine abilities.”
“My special Trade is to create BionicShapes, which are tangible items that come to real life from a thought in my head,” Bulkee said. “But I haven’t figured out a way to keep the BionicShapes steady so that they don’t go off disappearing on me.”
“We can certainly work together on that,” Sye said. “My Imajigo Trade is to see with Syoncept,” Sye replied. “It allows me to see beyond what is there or barely there.”
But the Enchantresses had called him “blind,” I recalled and remembered his opaque eyes.
“I was born blind. And I still am in the sense that I don’t have eyesight to see as you do,” Sye continued, like he had read my confusion. “I have the aid of a crystal ball. It drills my way around, figuratively and literally. I also use Syoncept, which I became aware of during a previous Period of Chaos, to perceive and understand the reality around me. I hadn’t told anyone about Syoncept until now.”
“With our Imajigo Trades, we can be catalysts for change,” Bulkee said, sounding excited.
“What kind of change?” I asked.
“It could be drastic, like revolution all around. Or it could be modest like finding a breakthrough to move from one Pocket to another,” Sye said. “But the scale depends on the last Seeker. There are three of us. And all three AohhoA Seekers of the Enlightened must work together.”
“Where is he, the third Seeker?” I asked again.
“Dormant. Unaware. And unawaken,” Bulkee said somberly.
“What do you mean?”
“We have to wait for the last Seeker to awaken to this new role,” Sye explained. “It is a process and we will need to be patient.”
In his tender voice, my subconscious drifted to Ori, the golden falcon. He had rescued me from the popcorn explosion, transformed the TimeBook into the pendant of a necklace, and whispered in my ears the instruction for me to return home.
I blushed at the thought of him. There was something dangerously intriguing about his presence. Be it his kaleidoscope eyes or his magnificent wing bars. What really gave me tingles was the profound mysteriousness about him. I tried to recall if he had the symbol “A.S.E.” blazed on his neck. But my mental search turned up nothing because I had been too flustered to take notice. Perhaps still dormant, but Ori must be the one. The last Enlightened Seeker.
We continued moving along with the crystal bowl. It was difficult to determine the speed with which we traveled. But soon enough I spotted a subtle source of light ahead of us and it was coming at us fast.
A tremulous thud erupted. I felt a quiver through my body separating me from the crystal bowl. In the twinkling of an eye the darkness flipped into a sea of brightness, gobbling us all.
“Something just came out of the ground!” I heard someone shout.
