Cassiopia stood at the base of the inclined ramp, her reflection staring ominously back at her from the activated SCIP mirror. She did her best to hide her fear. Professor Cassell, looking even more worried than usual, swung his chair around to face his daughter.
“Are you sure, Cassiopia?”
“I’m sure, Father.”
“The last time someone went through alone, they were nearly lost forever.”
“Yes, but we’ve learned a great deal since you did that, Father.”
“Like father, like daughter?”
Cassiopia dismissed his concern and walked up the ramp checking her satchel. She turned Markman’s ring on her finger nervously and nodded to him. Without looking back, she stepped through the archway and into the unknown.
Immediately, she found herself standing in lush, green grass. In every direction, there were rolling hills and patches of dense green forest. A well-worn trail led down the hillside, to a forest entrance that was both beautiful and intimidating. In the distance a herd of wild horses grazed on a hilltop, backdropped by blue sky and thin strata clouds. The horses were wild mustangs, and the alpha stallion standing apart from them raised his head and stared back at her as if inviting a visit. A gentle breeze carried the smell of jasmine and lifted Cassiopia’s ivory blonde hair as she turned.
She hiked the strap of her satchel higher and followed the trail down. As she approached the entrance to the forest, the musical sounds of birds and insects began to fill the air. The passageway was shadowy and cool at first, but soon light within the forest made the way clear. The treetop canopy completely blocked the sky, but colored light from somewhere reflected off its surface. Towering tree trunks were heavily knotted and naturally engraved with shapes and faces. The ferns and plant life were vibrant with color, and the flowers luminescent. The air was strongly scented.
As she made her way along the path, she realized the ground was covered with sand that looked like crushed crystal. Ahead, brick-sized gemstones were partially submerged within it, and beams of colored light radiated upward from them to light up the canopy. Cassiopia stopped, dazed by the beauty of it. She turned in a slow circle finding new beauty with each step. The faint sounds of a thousand bells seemed to be coming from somewhere ahead. As she completed her turn, something glistened and caught her eye. Ahead on the trail’s edge, a transparent bird hovered above the pedals of an iridescent flower. It looked like a glass hummingbird. She stood mesmerized and watched it move, changing color with each new flower. When it advanced further along the trail, she took a few steps, hoping to keep it in sight. As the procession continued, the sounds of the musical bells grew more distinct. It began to sound like musical running water. The hummingbird continued to lead, and around a corner, Cassiopia found the source; a waterfall of tiny colored diamonds flowing like water, carving a path through the forest, disappearing into the woods.
The hummingbird crossed. It paused on the opposite shore as though urging her to continue. The brook was too big to jump. She would need to wade through it. She tested the flow with one foot and stepped in. The diamonds tickled at her legs as she chose her footing carefully. She stepped out on the opposite side in time to see the hummingbird farther ahead. But, the trail did not go on forever. Ahead a wet-black cliff face rose up overhead. Vines dangled from it, and tiny streams of diamonds trickled along its uneven surface. Where the trail ended, an ominous, dark opening in the cliff waited. It was only waist high and little more than shoulder-length wide. To Cassiopia’s dismay, the hummingbird disappeared inside.
She went to the entrance and tried to see within the blackness. She looked back in the direction she had come, and at the forest around her. There were only two choices; backtrack out of the forest, or enter the cave. The idea of returning to the door was unacceptable. There had been no other trails and no other leads to follow. She could not consider a subsequent trip through the door. It was now or never. Cassiopia took a breath and ducked into the darkness.
The shallow ceiling lasted only a short distance before opening up to a much larger chamber. As she straightened up, she realized there was a fluorescent type of blue light reflecting off the wet-black walls, though she could see no source for it. The passageway bore a very high ceiling, probably thirty feet or more in some places. The walls were jagged but beautiful, and wide enough for a car to pass through. As she scanned the cavern, she noticed something else. There were statues carved out of the rock at various points along the way. They were life-size and extremely detailed. The first one was on her right and seemed to be a scholar, a man in robes holding a large, fat book.
As she followed the diamond dust trail, the next figure appeared on her left, a Roman Centurion in full battle gear holding a long sword with the tip resting on the ground. Next, what appeared to be a Native American on the right, in modest Indian apparel, but clearly a chief. On the left, a very large carving of a man on a horse, a lieutenant from the civil war in the full uniform of the North. After that, a man in a trench coat with a brimmed hat pulled down over his eyes, holding a short machine gun with a large circular ammunition clip.
Cassiopia noticed sunlight ahead. She hurried along, and as she approached the exit, one last carving on the rock wall appeared to be unfinished. There were no details, just the formed shape of a man. With a brief glance at it, she bent over a low spot in the cave and stepped outside.
A mystical panorama lay beyond. It was a colorful ravine with mountain tops looking down on a slow-moving river. Though the river was wide, a decorative, covered bridge crossed it below. Along the way on the far shore was an L-shaped dock with a small wooden boat tied-off. Pine trees hung out over the river. Where the bridge ended, a well-worn path led up the mountainside to a quaint home surrounded by a garden and decorative stonework. On the river’s nearside, by the bridge, there was a small temple with Burmese-styled turrets and well-kept flower gardens. A trail led from them to a second home designed like a small temple, higher up the mountainside. Near it, an arch-shaped entrance seemed to lead into the mountain, its heavy wooden double doors deeply carved and locked by an oversized metal shield.
Three mountain tops were visible on the far side and a single large one on the left. The river snaked in front of Cassiopia and turned sharply to the right, disappearing around the green forest slope. A figure in a brown hooded cloak waited at the entrance to the bridge. Cassiopia chose her footing carefully and followed the trail down toward him.
As she approached, his face remained hidden within the shadowed hood. “What has brought you here, my seeker friend?”
“You asked me that the last time I was here, but that was in another Dreamland. I have come through a secret door my father invented.”
“Yes, but what brought you here?”
“I came because I’m searching for someone…someone special.”
“Are we not all?”
“Oh, yes. I meant special to me. I’m searching for a real person, rather than a Dreamland person. They’re not actually real.”
“Walk with me. I am going the same way. And tell me, what is real?”
“The people here in Dreamland are not real. They only exist as long as I’m here.”
“So where you come from, do people only exist as long as you are with them?”
“No, no, that’s different. I mean Dreamland people are created out of my mind.”
“And from whose mind were you created?”
Cassiopia laughed. “You ask questions in riddles. Some people say we are all a product of an automatic natural process called evolution. Others insist there is a great mind behind it all.”
“Ah, I would then ask, can a garden grow in a desert completely void of water?”
“No.”
“Can a universe with no mind, give birth to billions of intellects?”
Cassiopia stopped. “How can you be teaching me such things? I’ve never thought about it that way. You should not know any more than I do. One of my Father’s best sayings was
that no one could create an intelligence greater than their own in Dreamland. How are you doing this?”
“What brought you here?”
“A glass hummingbird. I followed it here.”
“What is the glass hummingbird?”
“I don’t understand. I don’t know what you want me to say.”
“What brought you here?”
“I told you.”
The old man smiled. “What is real then?”
Cassiopia stopped once more. “You’re talking in circles. Are you a real person?”
“What is real? Answer that correctly, and I’ll tell you.”
“Will you help me find the man I’m looking for?”
“Look upward, and you will see the way.”
“Look upward? You mean to God?”
The old man laughed. “Ah, there is wisdom in youth. No, up there,” and he pointed farther up the mountainside. “Do you see where the rainbow meets the falls? That is where he practices. Any higher and the ether is not dense enough. But fair warning. It is not far, but the climb is not easy.”
Cassiopia stared upward. “It’s okay. I know about climbing. I had to climb down a mountain after our plane crashed. Scott was badly hurt.”
The monk paused and clasped his hands together. “Tell me seeker, would you have anything from when he was injured.”
Cassiopia thought. “Yes, I do.” She dug in her pocket and pulled out her keys. She twisted them off and handed him the chrome ring. “It’s from the airplane we crashed in. I saved it for a souvenir.”
“May I keep it?”
“Yes, but why would you want it?”
“Physical objects are bookmarks in time. Be careful on your climb. Do not give up.”
“Thank-you. I won’t.” She turned and left him and followed the trail upward.
The climb was easy at first. Loose dirt made it slippery, but the incline was easy to manage. When the plateau above began to become visible, the path suddenly turned vertical so that she had to find her way using hand and foot holds. One sharp turn had been washed out by water, and the brush along side the trail offered little help. After slipping back down, she finally managed to round it and stabilize herself in front of a vertical wall that was the last of it. The footholds and handholds were well used. She scaled the short section of cliff and finally was able to look over the top. A large clearing, with a waterfall and basin-pond, waited. A man wearing loose-fitting silk pants and no shirt stood with his back to her. As she climbed up, he drew a small throwing star from a packet on his waist and threw it at a wooden target by the falls. It spun through the air and struck the target’s center with a deep thud.
Cassiopia stood and called to him. “Scott.”
He turned with one hand still reaching into his packet, but stopped when he recognized her. “Wow! I guess I’ll never stop dreaming about you. This is the fourth time you’ve appeared here.”
“It’s not what you think, Scott. I’m really here.”
“Gee, the imposters are getting better every time.”
“No. I came through the SCIP doorway to get here. I am the real Cassiopia.”
Markman shook his head and took a position to throw again. “This is a mean trick I’m playing on myself.”
Cassiopia persisted. “You were in a plane crash. You had two broken legs and a bad concussion. You have been comatose for several weeks. I’m here to take you back.”
Markman paused, wondering if she could be real. He stared apprehensively. “A plane crash?”
“In the mountains. We were barely able to get down alive. You gave me a hard time. You wanted to be left behind. You made fun of me and said I couldn’t wear high heels.”
Markman’s eyes opened wide. “I had forgotten those things, but I remember now. You made a stove.”
“Yes. We huddled together by the stove to keep warm.”
Markman came to Cassiopia. “My God! Is it possible? You have entered my mind and found me?” He clutched her in a tight hug and kissed her cheek. He released her and stared affectionately.
“I’ve brought you something,” she said, and she pulled his ring from her finger and held it up.
Markman turned away. “How did you get that?” he asked without looking back. “I threw it in a pile of Yak dung.”
“One of the Monks had it. He gave it to me and told me to keep it close. Don’t you want it back?”
“Those guys will never give up. No, I don’t.”
“Why not? Why did they give it to me?”
“They are my Masters, my teachers. They are displeased with me, or so they say.”
“Why?”
Markman laughed under his breath, He turned and faced her with a smirk. “To put it in their words; because I am not here, there, and everywhere. I am only here.”
“What does that mean?”
He waved to her. “Come and sit. We should talk.” He led her to a flat outcropping of rock near the pool. The waterfall was loud. Spray drifted by.
“Life is better here. Watch.” Markman found a small polished stone and held it in his open hand. He concentrated a moment, and the stone levitated over his palm. He looked back at Cassiopia, and it fell back into his grasp. “There is much more control here. The possibilities are endless. It’s not like the physical world where you can get whacked on the head from behind at any damn moment when you’re least expecting it. You don’t take a chance losing something you care about here like you do there. There’s a good balance here.”
“But you’re still a part of the physical world. You’re asleep in bed at my Father’s. I had to kidnap you to bring you there.”
“You mean my physical body is still there. I am not. This body is much more advanced.”
“What body are you talking about?”
“Oh yeah, that’s right, the backward people of Tibet know more than the modern world, but the modern world hides the truth or avoids it. You don’t know you have more than one body because that knowledge has been withheld from you. What if I could pretty much prove to you that you have more than just a physical body? Could you handle that?”
“It won’t change why I’m here, but I’ll listen.”
“Okay, you do believe that when we pass away, we go on living right?”
“Yes. I do not believe we cease to exist.”
“So, when you die, you leave your physical body on the bed and never return to it, right?”
“Yes. That must be true.”
“So if you go on living as you’ve said, what body are you using then?”
“I guess it would be some kind of heavenly body.”
“So then we’ve already proven that you have two bodies, a physical body, and at some point a heavenly body. Two bodies, right?”
“Okay. It’s sort of a Plato logic, but okay.”
“So, either your heavenly body forms instantly at death, and you instantly know how to use it, or you’ve had that heavenly body all along. Those are the only two choices, right?”
“I guess that must be true.”
“Have you heard about people who have been clinically deceased, and brought back, and they have stories of seeing their deceased physical bodies and they are not in them, and some even talk with relatives or move toward a bright light, stuff like that?”
“Yes, we’ve all heard that.”
“So if their physical bodies were pronounced clinically dead, what body were they using to visit past relatives, or travel to bright lights? Obviously, their consciousness did not evaporate, it remained in one place.”
“Maybe it was a dream.”
“Okay, but all brain activity had ceased in those cases. Could a brain that was not alive in any way, dream?”
“I admit, it is a mystery.”
“Isn’t it possible that the heavenly body you say we use after death, has been with us all along, and that is the body the great Tibetan masters use for astral travel, and to make themselves sometimes appear in places where they are not???
?
“I can’t say it’s not possible. I have no scientific data to dismiss the idea.”
“Cass, I am presently in my heavenly body. The Tibetans call it an astral body. I am not using my physical body at all.”
“We need you to come back.”
“That’s why those three down there are displeased with me. They agree with you.”
“One of them has been teaching me. It’s confusing.”
“Your meeting them was no accident. They were waiting for you. That’s Master Norya. He can bend your brain into a pretzel just with his words.”
“That’s another weird thing. Somehow, he had your ring, your real ring. He gave it to me on the last trip, and I brought it back from Dreamland. How could he have gotten it?”
“That ring was designed and created here in Dreamland by the Masters. I’m not a scientist so don’t ask me to explain everything. I know that all matter is made up of physical matter and astral matter. You call the astral, thought-matter. We don’t see the astral matter properties because in the physical world we are seeing with physical-world eyes. They don’t operate on a high enough level. That ring came with me into Dreamland. It coexists in both places, but its basic properties reside here, not in the physical world. Is that confusing enough for you?”
“He asked me for something from the crash where you got hurt, too.”
“Oh yeah, a bookmark. Those guys can go back through time and look at stuff. They can’t change anything, but they can visit the past like it’s a movie and see everything that happened. They probably want to go back and look at exactly what happened to us. Thanks for the warning. Who knows what tricks Norya will come up with from that.”
“Can you do such things?”
“I haven’t tried since I’ve been here, but I used to get strong images when I touched antiques and things like that.”
“The Masters want what is best for you, don’t they?”
“Any one of them could force me back to the physical world, but they won’t do it. They want it to be by choice. The physical world was designed to be a realm of free will. That’s why there’s so much pain and suffering there. They want me to face it on my own terms.”
“I’ll face it with you.”
“Tell me something. If I had two broken legs, how did I get down off the mountain?”
“It’s a long story. Come back with me, and I’ll tell you everything.”
Markman squirmed in his seat. “It’s the yin-yang, Cass. It’s screwed up, no matter what they say. I love the combat. I hate hurting others. There ought to be a life and a future on the other side of those. There isn’t that I can tell.”
“Everything you’ve ever done has been to protect the innocent.”
Markman stood and walked to the forest edge near the drop-off. He touched a leaf on an overhanging branch and looked back without speaking.
Cassiopia came up beside him. “Maybe your life is still unfolding.”
“It would take a leap of faith to believe that. I need more than hope. I need something to hold on to.” He turned and walked toward the falls.
“Then hold on to me,” called Cassiopia.
He stopped and looked back at her affectionately.
“I love you,” she said and was surprised to hear the words.
Markman seemed paralyzed. He looked at her for a moment and then turned his eyes away. There had been fear in them. It was the first time she had seen that. “Come here,” she said. He looked again.
Hesitantly he approached her, insecure for the first time in his adult life. She reached out one hand, took his, and slowly kissed the back of it. “You go around protecting everyone. I’ll protect you,” she said.
“We don’t have a plan.”
Cassiopia smiled. “That will be our plan; not to have a plan.”
Markman perked up. “I could do that. To be honest, I’ve felt like I’m kidding myself all along.”
Cassiopia held up his ring. She took his hand and gently slid it back on his finger, and they kissed in a long embrace.
“Come with me through the door.”
“Okay, but only if you promise to be waiting on the other side.”
“I’ll always be there on the other side. I won’t leave you,” she replied, and she kissed him once more and led him to the climb-down point.
At the base of the trail, the three monks were still sitting at their places around the shrine. As they neared, Master Norya rose up and came to Cassiopia. He motioned Markman toward the others and waved her to join him. Cassiopia looked at the beloved monk who had so unexpectedly become her teacher. “I know the answer,” she said.
“Brought something down from the mountain, have you? Oh please let me hear it?” he answered.
“The Hummingbird was my love for Scott. My love brought me here. Love is real.”
“As am I,” he replied. He smiled and clasped his hands within his long sleeves, and she smiled with him.
“Love may be the only thing that is real in my world,” she added.
“And what is the mountain,” asked the Monk.
Cassiopia stopped and looked back the way they had come. “The mountain is God.”
“Time for you to leave, my little bright light.”
“All along you weren’t really trying to help me, were you? You were trying to help him.”
“He had lost sight of the path. You are the light that showed the way.”
“And now we have both learned.”
“All is as it should be.”
Cassiopia led Markman to the cave entrance. She paused to look back at the teacher, standing on the bridge. She waved, and he waved back. They ducked into the cave and held hands to the other side. In the enchanted forest, they walked the diamond studded trail and out into the clearing. At the top of the hill, she called for the door. It appeared instantly. Without waiting, they stepped through together.
Chapter 32