Chapter 28 -
07/01/2018
My eyes cracked open at last. I couldn’t see anything initially, except several dark spots hovering over my head against the faint background. My neck was stiff and it ached like a piece of skin had been torn off.
“Sasha. Wake up, Sasha,” Bulkee’s voice shot to my ears. There was a squeeze to my shoulder and then one more, till it turned into series of urgent shakes.
What’s going on? I scanned around and was unable to focus.
“She’s back.” I heard Sye speak and became aware that I was lying on the ground.
I blinked at the silhouette discs over me and finally came around to recognize the faces. “Bulkee. Sye. Doe,” I called their names, as I propped myself up. “What are you doing here?”
“Ears. The question is –,” asked Bulkee. “What are you doing here?”
“What do you mean?” I became aware that we were all inside the lair.
“You were gone when we got up. We looked for you all over the Pocket. It was Sye who led us here,” Doe said to me softly.
“Sasha. I used Syoncept to see the path that you took and traced you to the cave,” Sye cradled my head in his arms, his hand gentle.
“We’ve been trying to wake you but you were unresponsive. What were you doing here?” Bulkee asked again, fire in his eyes.
“The Warden,” I murmured, glancing around the cave and finding no sign of the Timekeeper.
“Warden Gerkolli took you here?” Bulkee chewed over my reply, “Why did he take you here?”
My cheeks turned hot immediately, like thousands of blazing needles jabbing them all at once. There was no denial that the Warden had tricked me into believing that I was actually going home, when instead he had left me cold in the wild. But I was too embarrassed to admit to my friends that I was prepared to leave without telling them.
“It’s okay,” comforted Sye. “You must be confused. Whatever he’s done, Gerkolli’s up for no good.” He began helping me get up from the ground. “Good thing that we’ve found you before the sun makes to the Grits. Let’s get you back to the village first,” he said.
I felt weak and drained, despite Sye’s support. A dull pain in my head had sneaked up on me. My legs dragged like two rows of layered stones, heavy but floppy, as I managed to slowly walk out of the lair.
The sky was still dark and the crack of dawn was yet to come. But I had an uncanny feeling that I was being watched, as if the Warden was scowling at me somewhere through the trees high above the ground. I shivered, as I wondered how angry he must be, after his ploy failed to have me anchored in the cave.
We headed straight to Guru Gumii’s tree hut. While Doe decided to wait for us at the bottom, we climbed up the bark. The oracle, draped in white smoke, did not seem surprised to see us again. She waved for me to step closer and before I even spoke, she had me enveloped in a white globe of smog.
“You’ve figured out the riddle,” said the Interpreter. “He who seeks to seize time is seized by the lacking of it.”
“It’s Warden Gerkoli,” I said, cutting to the chase. I went on to recount how he had taken me to the cave. “What has he done? Is he a shapeshifter?”
“Not exactly shapeshifting,” said the Interpreter. “It appears that Warden Gerkoli has subjected you to his Image Extrication. It’s his ability to wheedle from you information that he used to mimic a world familiar to you.”
“He took my memories and manipulated it. Is that what it was? Warden Gerkoli had faked the whole thing so I’d believe that I made it back home?” A throb of anger ricocheted through me, as I recalled the way he glowed over his clever shortcut to send me home.
“Yes. He made everything up all based on your memories and fantasies,” replied the Interpreter.
I was trembling with anger and mortified beyond expression learning that my development with Lectyn was no more real than my own fantasies. A realization struck me that when Lectyn had asked me whether I was willing to stay “forever”, it was part of the Warden’s scheme to seal me into a world of repetitiveness. I clinched my fists at the awful possibility if I had agreed to the trap.
“But what he forged was unvarying in nature. He was restricted by what could happen and his fabrication resulted in reoccurrence of events,” the Interpreter said, snapping me out of my internal turmoil.
He explained that Guru Gumii was glad that I had been able to recognize the repetitiveness and come back to reality. But she was intrigued by how I had managed to flee from Image Extrication, because it was a powerful tool used by Warden Gerkolli, evidently a very formidable figure in AohhoA.
“Describe how you had escaped,” Guru Gumii asked through the Interpreter.
I detailed my experience stepping into the elaborate trap that the Warden had designed for me. I certainly skipped the part about Lectyn but I stayed true to everything else, including the strange moment of miraculously shattering the mirror without touching it.
“You’ve reached it, at last,” said the Interpreter. “The first stage of Enlightenment.”
I felt a lump form in my throat, when Bulkee jabbed a finger at the back of my bare neck. “Written backwards, A.S.E. You are one of us, one of the Enlightened Seekers.”
I reached behind my neck where I felt the sting. It wasn’t just the ink of my initials stamped onto my skin, when my friends shook my shoulders in an attempt to wake me. The rough ridges of the indentures were coarse to my touch like a band of scar tissues. The evidence was real.
A part of me was excited. But another part of me was terrified. I was afraid of how much worse things could spiral down, if I simply accepted this new role. I caught an urge to resort to denial. “How could I be an Enlightened Seeker? I began to say.
“Who do you think have brought all three Enlightened Seekers together to embark on a journey throughout AohhoA?” asked the Guru through the Interpreter.
Everyone’s gaze fell on me. “It was me,” I finally replied.
“You are destined to be the last Enlightened Seeker,” said the Interpreter. “According to the legend, the last Enlightened Seekers is considered a ‘Vital’, who is the most dormant in terms of abilities but is also the most powerful once awake. You are the Vital. You are privileged to explore your potentials and advance in your Imajigo Trades.”
Sye placed a firm grip on my arm. “The possibility is limited for me and Bulkee. As AohhoA residents, we can only perfect the Trade that we each possess without a chance to acquire more,” he said with a stab of excitement in his voice. “But you are different, Sasha. From what you’ve described, I know that you were able to draw upon techniques from both Syroncept and Cebenic.”
I gave his hand a squeeze. I recalled creating the Syoncept portal and the CebenicShape of a baton in my head. “I did feel a stream of heat going through my body before the mirror shattered,” I said.
“The thermal energy that you’ve experience is the vibration released from your inner core. It’s called ‘Vibe,’” Sye went on. “By channeling your Vibe, you’ve added your own element to our Imajigo Trades and build one that is new to all of us.”
Another waft of smoke reached me and whirled around my face. “Your Imajigo Trade seems to be channeling your Vibe to strike something without physically touching it. Honor your ability with a proper name,” said the Interpreter.
I inhaled a lungful of air. The prospect of naming my very own Imajigo Trade somehow seemed to legitimize my role as the Vital, the last Enlightened Seeker. My fear wilted like a dying fire and was replaced by a new sense of mission. I must now seek my connection to AohhoA and understand all the mysteries— my abduction, my identity as an Enlightened Seeker, and my eventual arrival at the Floating Palace.
“I will call it ‘Virtastrike,’” I told them.
“Sasha. Wake up, Sasha,” Bulkee’s voice shot to my ears. There was a squeeze to my shoulder and then one more, till it turned into series of urgent shakes.
What’s going on? I scanned around and was unable to focus.
“She’s back.” I heard Sye speak and became aware that I was lying on the ground.
I blinked at the silhouette discs over me and finally came around to recognize the faces. “Bulkee. Sye. Doe,” I called their names, as I propped myself up. “What are you doing here?”
“Ears. The question is –,” asked Bulkee. “What are you doing here?”
“What do you mean?” I became aware that we were all inside the lair.
“You were gone when we got up. We looked for you all over the Pocket. It was Sye who led us here,” Doe said to me softly.
“Sasha. I used Syoncept to see the path that you took and traced you to the cave,” Sye cradled my head in his arms, his hand gentle.
“We’ve been trying to wake you but you were unresponsive. What were you doing here?” Bulkee asked again, fire in his eyes.
“The Warden,” I murmured, glancing around the cave and finding no sign of the Timekeeper.
“Warden Gerkolli took you here?” Bulkee chewed over my reply, “Why did he take you here?”
My cheeks turned hot immediately, like thousands of blazing needles jabbing them all at once. There was no denial that the Warden had tricked me into believing that I was actually going home, when instead he had left me cold in the wild. But I was too embarrassed to admit to my friends that I was prepared to leave without telling them.
“It’s okay,” comforted Sye. “You must be confused. Whatever he’s done, Gerkolli’s up for no good.” He began helping me get up from the ground. “Good thing that we’ve found you before the sun makes to the Grits. Let’s get you back to the village first,” he said.
I felt weak and drained, despite Sye’s support. A dull pain in my head had sneaked up on me. My legs dragged like two rows of layered stones, heavy but floppy, as I managed to slowly walk out of the lair.
The sky was still dark and the crack of dawn was yet to come. But I had an uncanny feeling that I was being watched, as if the Warden was scowling at me somewhere through the trees high above the ground. I shivered, as I wondered how angry he must be, after his ploy failed to have me anchored in the cave.
We headed straight to Guru Gumii’s tree hut. While Doe decided to wait for us at the bottom, we climbed up the bark. The oracle, draped in white smoke, did not seem surprised to see us again. She waved for me to step closer and before I even spoke, she had me enveloped in a white globe of smog.
“You’ve figured out the riddle,” said the Interpreter. “He who seeks to seize time is seized by the lacking of it.”
“It’s Warden Gerkoli,” I said, cutting to the chase. I went on to recount how he had taken me to the cave. “What has he done? Is he a shapeshifter?”
“Not exactly shapeshifting,” said the Interpreter. “It appears that Warden Gerkoli has subjected you to his Image Extrication. It’s his ability to wheedle from you information that he used to mimic a world familiar to you.”
“He took my memories and manipulated it. Is that what it was? Warden Gerkoli had faked the whole thing so I’d believe that I made it back home?” A throb of anger ricocheted through me, as I recalled the way he glowed over his clever shortcut to send me home.
“Yes. He made everything up all based on your memories and fantasies,” replied the Interpreter.
I was trembling with anger and mortified beyond expression learning that my development with Lectyn was no more real than my own fantasies. A realization struck me that when Lectyn had asked me whether I was willing to stay “forever”, it was part of the Warden’s scheme to seal me into a world of repetitiveness. I clinched my fists at the awful possibility if I had agreed to the trap.
“But what he forged was unvarying in nature. He was restricted by what could happen and his fabrication resulted in reoccurrence of events,” the Interpreter said, snapping me out of my internal turmoil.
He explained that Guru Gumii was glad that I had been able to recognize the repetitiveness and come back to reality. But she was intrigued by how I had managed to flee from Image Extrication, because it was a powerful tool used by Warden Gerkolli, evidently a very formidable figure in AohhoA.
“Describe how you had escaped,” Guru Gumii asked through the Interpreter.
I detailed my experience stepping into the elaborate trap that the Warden had designed for me. I certainly skipped the part about Lectyn but I stayed true to everything else, including the strange moment of miraculously shattering the mirror without touching it.
“You’ve reached it, at last,” said the Interpreter. “The first stage of Enlightenment.”
I felt a lump form in my throat, when Bulkee jabbed a finger at the back of my bare neck. “Written backwards, A.S.E. You are one of us, one of the Enlightened Seekers.”
I reached behind my neck where I felt the sting. It wasn’t just the ink of my initials stamped onto my skin, when my friends shook my shoulders in an attempt to wake me. The rough ridges of the indentures were coarse to my touch like a band of scar tissues. The evidence was real.
A part of me was excited. But another part of me was terrified. I was afraid of how much worse things could spiral down, if I simply accepted this new role. I caught an urge to resort to denial. “How could I be an Enlightened Seeker? I began to say.
“Who do you think have brought all three Enlightened Seekers together to embark on a journey throughout AohhoA?” asked the Guru through the Interpreter.
Everyone’s gaze fell on me. “It was me,” I finally replied.
“You are destined to be the last Enlightened Seeker,” said the Interpreter. “According to the legend, the last Enlightened Seekers is considered a ‘Vital’, who is the most dormant in terms of abilities but is also the most powerful once awake. You are the Vital. You are privileged to explore your potentials and advance in your Imajigo Trades.”
Sye placed a firm grip on my arm. “The possibility is limited for me and Bulkee. As AohhoA residents, we can only perfect the Trade that we each possess without a chance to acquire more,” he said with a stab of excitement in his voice. “But you are different, Sasha. From what you’ve described, I know that you were able to draw upon techniques from both Syroncept and Cebenic.”
I gave his hand a squeeze. I recalled creating the Syoncept portal and the CebenicShape of a baton in my head. “I did feel a stream of heat going through my body before the mirror shattered,” I said.
“The thermal energy that you’ve experience is the vibration released from your inner core. It’s called ‘Vibe,’” Sye went on. “By channeling your Vibe, you’ve added your own element to our Imajigo Trades and build one that is new to all of us.”
Another waft of smoke reached me and whirled around my face. “Your Imajigo Trade seems to be channeling your Vibe to strike something without physically touching it. Honor your ability with a proper name,” said the Interpreter.
I inhaled a lungful of air. The prospect of naming my very own Imajigo Trade somehow seemed to legitimize my role as the Vital, the last Enlightened Seeker. My fear wilted like a dying fire and was replaced by a new sense of mission. I must now seek my connection to AohhoA and understand all the mysteries— my abduction, my identity as an Enlightened Seeker, and my eventual arrival at the Floating Palace.
“I will call it ‘Virtastrike,’” I told them.
