Dante & The Dark Seed

by C. J. Pizzurro

  Nodding in gratitude, they took their cups and sipped. The tea wasn’t too hot nor was it too cold, it was just right. While Dante enjoyed his tea, he kept looking around the kitchen, hoping he’d see more odds and ends that caught his eye. Soon enough, he saw a circular wooden cutting board that had the ying-yang symbol burned into it.

  “I love your cutting board. How long did it take you to make it?”

  Basir took a sip of tea. “You know, I didn’t keep track of the time. I just did it….” He walked over to the cutting board, placing his hands on it. “I made it to remind me that there is a constant state of duality in the world, and the duality is also expressed in us. Spirits with bodies, or bodies with spirits, it does not matter. The black symbolizes the animal and baser aspects of our nature, while the white symbolizes the spirit. Our bodies think they need food, but our spirit never wants for anything. It is this that I think about while I cut up food for sustenance.”

  Dante nodded his head in complete agreeance, holding on to his every word, like a sponge to water.

  “I’ve just gotta say, Guru…hope that it’s okay that I call you that?”

  Basir nodded his head.

  “I’ve been looking forward to meeting you ever since Anora had told me about you and your sister's journey to the States. So it really is an honor to learn from you, sir,” Dante said bowing his head.

  “It is I who is honored, and truly you must know, all of what you may learn from me is borrowed. It doesn’t belong to me. So anything you learn, I hope you share it just as I will, freely.”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “Drink…drink your tea and we will begin.” Both Anora and Dante did as they were told, then Basir ushered them into the living room, and out to the back where there was a screened-in porch. The roof itself had massive tilted windows, which let in a copious amount of natural light into the space.

  You can’t even tell we’re out in Siler City, this place is awesome, Dante thought as he found a seat on one of the many cushions, next to his Beloved.

  To keep in some of the heat during the cold months, Basir had hung an excess of tapestries over the screens and placed portable heaters around the edges of the room. While Basir readied things, Dante’s eyes gravitated toward a particular tapestry with a floral mandala in the center.

  That looks so familiar, Dante pondered and, for the first time today, he began feeling the familiar pressure in his forehead. Doing all he could to soothe it, he rubbed it, doing his best not to wince from the nagging sensation.

  “What seems to be the matter, Dante?” Basir asked as Anora reached for Dante’s hand.

  “I feel like there’s something I’m meant to remember but I can’t yet. There is just something about that mandala…I’ve seen it before. I think it was in a dream, but that was long ago,” Dante said, pointing at the tapestry in the center of the room.

  Basir came and sat in front of them. “Have you thought that you aren’t meant to remember yet?”

  “The thought may have crossed my mind.”

  “And…I may have said something similar to you,” Anora added with a grin.

  “Relax, Dante, let it go. You must free your mind from any desire to remember it, and when the time is right, it will flow into your mind like a stream.”

  Dante leaned back, relaxed his shoulders, and took a few deep breaths in through his nose. Dante imagined that his breath held his desire to remember. Exhaling, he envisioned it leaving his body.

  “I sense you let that go with ease, my young pupil.”

  Basir smiled, looking at his two pupils as they looked on with eager faces. “Shall we begin?”

  Both Anora and Dante nodded. Basir put out his left leg, stretching out his back, and with ease was able to touch his toes. He did the same for the other leg, while Anora and Dante mimicked his every move. Guru Basir led them through a few more stretches, then stood and widened his stance, looking to Dante.

  “My niece tells me you haven’t practiced much tai chi.”

  Dante twisted his core, stretching a little more. “No, not much. I’ve only seen what your niece used against me during our sparring matches.”

  “Uncle, what he means to say is I whooped his butt with what you taught me.”

  Dante chuckled. “Yeah, almost.”

  Basir smiled. “There won’t be any of that, you two; you are here to rid yourselves of yourself….”

  The smiles left their faces, and they straightened their backs. “Very well, you two, let’s do some tai chi movements, then we can get into why you are here today.” Basir was struck with inspiration as another smile grew on his face. “Actually, Anora, switch places with me and you will lead us today.”

  Anora got up and into position.

  Dante widened his stance, mirroring her dipping his hips with his hands at his side.

  She cleared her throat and straightened her back. “Pupil Dante, this movement is called Parting the Horses Mane.” Anora shifted her weight to her right leg and dropped her left hand below her waist, bringing her right hand toward her face. With each movement, Dante thought she looked more and more beautiful, flowing like water. Anora took a step back with her left foot, bringing her left hand up as she dropped her right.

  She shifted her weight, working through the movement. Lifting her left hand toward her throat, she pushed her right hand below her waist. “Pupil Dante, keep more distance between your hands.”

  Surprised his Beloved was so authoritative, he as did as he was told.

  “Okay, Anora, that will be all for now. Do you recognize that move, Dante?”

  “I’ve seen it once or twice on the internet.”

  Basir looked to Anora. “Do the same movement just as you would do in a fight.”

  Anora widened her stance further than she had with the meditative form and began doing the move once more, but this time with animus. Her movements were swift, and it was all coming back to Dante. They had just practiced the move that she used against him the last time they sparred.

  “You really shouldn’t have taught me that,” Dante said.

  Anora had a brief look of disappointment upon her face, imagining him using that to his advantage next time. Making it obvious to Dante that she wasn’t going to let it faze her, she smiled.

  “Very good, Anora, very good….” Basir looked to Dante. “Do you have any questions?”

  “No, Guru.”

  “I don’t eat meat, but shall we get to the meat and potatoes of what brings you two here today? I sense something else has been weighing on your heart, especially you, Dante.”

  Dante swallowed hard, not even thinking before the words left his lips. “For years, I’ve felt this tingling sensation and pressure in my forehead. It happens when I tried to recall my lost memories or sometimes it just happens preemptively like a warning. Or it’s my intuition. Anora told me that it’s most likely my pineal activating, so we were hoping you could elaborate further.”

  “Gladly! I’ll tell you everything I’ve shared with her, but first,” Basir leaned forward, looking into Dante’s eyes, “your eyes tell me you have a story I’ve yet to hear.”

  Although Anora had spilled most of the beans about Dante well before their visit, she hadn’t told him everything. He looked to Anora. “Did you tell him about the—”

  Anora shook her head.

  “Okay, so we’re telling this story again…. Years ago, when I was ten, I was drugged and held against my will. I have no memory of what happened while I was in their home, but by some miracle, I woke up in my bed covered in blood.” Dante began feeling a pressure build in his forehead. “I just have felt for so long that the memory is just within my grasp, but I understand where you were coming from earlier. I just have no idea what they were planning to do to me. So when you and Anora tell me to let go, I just…can’t.”

  “Wow, that’s a lot to deal with. Now, if I were you, I’d want to remember too.” Basir smiled, putting Dante at ease. “But you must remember always
that all of this is a temporary illusion, a storm that you have coaxed into existence. Imagine that you are the eye of the storm. Observe the gales and the currents ripping around you. But you are the creator of that storm, so you alone can calm it. In the center, you will gain perspective. So you must ask yourself if these things bother you when you are sitting next to Anora reading a book on a beautiful day, with a glass of lemonade.”

  Dante shook his head.

  “What about the first day you met her at the museum, did it bother you then?”

  “Uh, yeah, I passed out on the floor of the museum….”

  Basir nodded. “Anora told me of this nightmare. You’ve been having.”

  Dante went on to tell him of the intricate nature of the dream that turned nightmare. He left no detail uncovered, regaling Basir of the Giza Plateau and of the pit that opened, thrusting him into the darkness.

  Dante had always brushed it off as a simple recurrent dream but there was more to this. As the words flowed so, too, did his memory of the last dream’s conclusion. “But the last time a luminous being came crashing through the walls, freeing me from the stone sarcophagus. Whatever it was, it pressed my forehead with his finger and in a rush, I was back in my body.”

  Guru Basir cleared his throat. Ever intrigued, he pondered for a moment. His face had lost its softness, and the kindness that once filled his eyes had faded. Still, Anora and Dante sat there wide-eyed, looking forward to hearing what he’d recommend.

  “Well, for once, I am….” Basir rubbed his beard looking up.

  Both Anora and Dante leaned forward.

  “At a loss….”

  They were shocked.

  “I’m not certain what that being was. But I do know one thing. Whatever that it was, my niece is right. It did access your pineal gland. Furthermore, it may not have even been a dream. It could have been another realm you visited—”

  Basir waved his hands.

  “Now, this is only a theory. I’m not for certain. But it is said that other realms can be accessed when we access different levels of our consciousness. All because of this little gland…”

  Basir leaned forward, touching Dante’s forehead. “…that humanity has all but forgotten.

  “So, what do I do?” Dante asked.

  “You must come to the truth in your own time just as I have, but I have but one other lesson that will aid you in reconnecting with your pure cosmic essence….”

  Basir scooted a little closer, ready to continue helping Dante shoulder the burdens of his past.

  “To connect to the infinite light of the cosmos and be in tune with humanity, you must envision every blade of grass bursting from its earthy tomb, every tree falling, rotting, and becoming one with the Earth once more. You must envision newborns of every species coaxed gently by its mother and every death of every living thing sent to slaughter or war. You must see in your mind’s eye the sun and moon. Envision water in its many forms rising and receding. Like our lungs, the universe is expanding and contracting. All things are part of the cyclical flow of life. It was this that Gautama Buddha thought about, tapping into the vein of his own suffering.”

  Dante never as much as twitched, ever focused.

  “So, remember what I told you today, about quieting the storm and staying centered throughout your days. Soon your memories will return, meditating on that imagery.”

  Basir smirked. “Is there anything else that is on your mind?”

  “Umm, no, Uncle, I think that’s all for today,” Anora said, seeing Dante’s mind was hard at work.

  “Does she speak for you, Dante?”

  Dante nodded, remaining quiet.

  “Can I get you some tea for the road?”

  “No, Uncle, we don’t want to keep you.”

  Anora made her way to the front door, with Dante close behind. Dante was thinking about was the imagery that Basir spoke of. All of them were cyclical representations of life and death, creation and destruction just as he said they were, but it was quite a different task altogether to envision them happening as though he were outside of time itself. He attempted it all the same.

  “It was quite the pleasure to finally meet you, Guru. I will continue to meditate on what you told me.”

  Dante reached his hand out for a handshake.

  “And it seems as though you have already begun my pupil.” Basir declined the handshake and opened his arms.

  Dante smiled, hugging Basir, and then waited for Anora to bid adieu to her uncle. Dante then rubbed his fingers over Basir’s living wall once more before following Anora out the door.

  “I love you, Anora. Drive safely.”

  “Always, uncle.”

  They waved goodbye and made their way back to their car.

  “Can you drive?” Dante asked. Until now, he’d never asked her to drive his car.

  Surprised, Anora answered, “Sure, honey, I can do that. You want to meditate, don’t you?”

  “Yeah.” Dante tossed the keys to Anora, and they were off. He emptied his mind of everything he could until even the sound of the wind outside the car faded away into nothingness and all he could envision was what Basir had told him.

  Dante envisioned millions of blades of grass and the many assortments of plant life flourishing before it withered and died. Dante could see the many rivers coursing through the lands that spanned the globe, eating into the rock over the millennia. He could see animals, humans, and all forms of life, giving birth and then dying. He had remembered reading about the big crunch and the big bang numerous times, so it wasn’t too far of a stretch for him to envision the universe collapsing in on itself due to the immensity.

  With each inhale, he envisioned the big bang and expansion of the universe and, with each exhale, he envisioned the universe collapsing, becoming once more a ball of infinite mass and density.

  Then in a rush, he could see all of these things happening concurrently and a pressure built in his forehead. A spark of light came into his mind’s eye, and he could see a realm of light where he floated above all with the light beings he met half a lifetime ago. A smile grew on his face as he remembered feeling a love beyond love in their presence, and the words they spoke to him conveyed just that.

  “Your carbon vessel isn’t safe now, so we must aid you in your journey back. A Protector of the Light will accompany you in the coming years…. Goodbye, Dante, we love you.” They let go, then one of them raised their finger to his brow just as the mighty being did in his last dream.

  I was saved for something.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chrome

  It was one day until Amy’s birthday party and Brianna Saleh, out of the grace of her heart, prepared a few dishes to bring over, while Adel and Adel Jr. enjoyed their morning coffee at the kitchen table. Earlier she baked Amy’s favorite cake, lemon with lemon frosting. She knew there would be another cake at the party, but she did not care. She wanted Amy to have a cake she could call her very own.

  Amy also asked her for green bean casserole, and even though it was more of a Thanksgiving delight, why not? Brianna thought. Adel Jr. had a textbook in front of him and was considering changing his major to journalism with a minor in psychology to give him a better chance of getting into law school.

  Adel looked at his wife, and the only thing he could be was grateful for the both of them. But things were too quiet. It had been almost two weeks since he had heard from Tim after they lined the pages of the black notebook with the goings-on of his family. It wasn’t if, but when they would win. With his son mulling over the idea of going to law school in a few years, they had more hope than ever.

  But after driving to the gatehouse where Tim was once stationed, Adel did not see him. And he hadn’t heard a word from Bonner after he was asked to keep an eye on Rob’s house. So, until he received some news, Adel just enjoyed these tender and quiet moments with his family.

  Brianna poured the green beans and soup mixture into the baking dish and had begun topping i
t with what made the dish so popular around the states, the fried onion rings. The smell they radiated was divine, pulling her son's attention from his studies. The aroma filled the room, and while his mother's back was turned, Adel Jr. ripped two from the tray, tossing one to his father.

  Hearing the sounds of blowing and crunching, she turned around.

  “Those are for the casserole!”

  Adel raised his hands. “Ya got a whole tray, and you always have leftovers.”

  Adel Jr. chewed and swallowed his bite. “But why are you cooking it the day before, Mom? The onions are so good now.”

  Adel’s eyes widened, nodding.

  Brianna stared daggers at the both of them. “I’ll just reheat it tomorrow. It gives the flavors more time to marry.”

  “But the onions, mom. The onions! They’re so good now.” Both Adel Jr. and his father licked their lips, eying the tray of piping hot onion rings.

  “And they’ll be good tomorrow…ON THE CASSEROLE!”

  As Adel Jr. dragged his feet walking back to the kitchen table, his eyes were again drawn to the notebook on the bookshelf. His dad had already told him a lot but he wanted to know more. He needed more perspective as to what they were up against. All he knew was that these people nabbed kids, but he had not yet been told for what purpose.

  Adel wasn’t certain that what Tim told him about the kids was true, so he couldn’t tell his son yet without validating the claims. But all signs pointed to it being factual. All he could do was sit and enjoy the time he had with his family.

  He was set to start his new job as a security contractor next week so Brianna could go part-time as she wanted.

  The phone rang. It was still early so Adel got up, readying himself to go tell whoever it was to shove off so he could be with his family and enjoy the rest of his coffee.

  “Saleh residence, Adel speaking.”

  “Heya, Chief.” It was the voice of a familiar friend with a southern drawl, Officer Bonner.