by Rai Aren
Rick shook his head, tears welling up in his eyes. “But I can’t let you go. What if I never see you again?”
“Of course you will see me again, son,” he said. “This time together is always going to be within you.” He gently touched Rick’s chest and then his temple. “In your heart and in your mind.”
“But what if it fades, what if I lose it forever?” Rick was bargaining as though his life depended on it.
“You won’t lose it, because it lives within you now. I live within you. We are all an inextricable part of one another. We never really leave, we never really die, we simply change form, from one form of existence to another. But they are all the same. They are one.”
Rick’s heart was still breaking. He wanted to believe, but he was too afraid to let go. “But I want to stay. I am happy here.”
“You can take it with you. That power is always yours. You only have to choose to do so.”
Rick thought about what a comforting notion that was.
His father opened his arms, marveling at the endless shelves and tomes. “This place is a library of us. A repository not only of stories and of information, but of our experiences and perceptions, our souls. Like any library,” he continued, his eyes sparkling with knowledge and wisdom, “you come and read the books. But the books don’t disappear once you stop reading them and put them back on the shelf. They remain. Until the day when someone... when you come to read them again.”
Rick went to embrace his father, but as he did, he felt his father’s form fading to his touch. He heard his dad’s words in his ear, now only a faint whisper, “Live. Love life. I will see you again, my son. Have faith.”
Then the pull got stronger, the voices louder, his vision dimmed, and all faded to white...
CHAPTER 19
Rick awoke with a start. He gasped. His chest burned from an intense pressure. He felt like he had a massive weight on him. He touched his chest, but there was no wound there.
Sofia and Luis, who’d been leaning over him, jumped, startled at his sudden movement.
“What the hell?” Oz shouted.
Alpha-3 and Alpha-4 kept their guns trained on the group. They waited for orders as the situation rapidly unfolded before them.
“Dios mío!” Diego exclaimed, kneeling down next to Rick. “You are alive!”
The others watched in total shock that he was still breathing.
Javier kept his cool. He knew they needed to act fast and be smart about it. He bent down to whisper in Rick’s ear as he pretended to tend to him. “You won’t be for long, if you don’t follow my lead.”
Rick was groggy and confused. He heard the words, but he had no idea what had just happened. He looked at Javier. His vision was hazy. He couldn’t make out his features right away. He was trying to understand what he was telling him.
“Do you know who I am?” Javier asked.
He managed a nod. Then, his eyes started to close again.
“Good. Stay awake!” Javier whispered; his tone urgent.
Rick felt him touch his shoulder and try to gently shake him, but it seemed like everything was moving in slow motion.
“What happened just now?” Javier asked. “You must tell me.”
Rick frowned. He swallowed hard. His voice was hoarse, “I think... I mean... I saw my father. He was somehow... alive and I-I was with him... but, it was all... different somehow...” His voice trailed off. Words were not coming easy to him; his mind was fuzzy.
Javier understood. “Get up,” he said. “Now.”
Oz was watching this unfold in sheer disbelief, his gun still drawn. “He’s still alive?” He’d been so sure Rick had taken a fatal shot to the chest. His mind raced with possibilities. Incredible possibilities.
Sofia was concerned. “Are you sure we should be doing this? I think he should rest.”
Javier ignored the question.
She didn’t press the matter. Javier seemed oddly unfazed. He also seemed like he had a plan, which was more than she had at the moment. Her heart pounded in her chest. She had no idea why Rick wasn’t dead. She glanced over at Oz. She watched him step closer to his fallen operative. She wondered, too, if the other man would suddenly spring back to life.
To Rick it felt like he was slowly syncing up to a different state of being. He was in a fog. He tried again to speak, but all the words would not yet come. “Where...”
“Back where you started,” Javier answered in a low voice. “In the cavern, with us. Now get your head clear. Follow my lead or we’re all dead.”
Luis and Diego were too stunned to question Javier.
“Whaa...” Rick answered.
“Help me get him up,” Javier said to Luis.
Rick felt strong hands lift him up to a sitting position, but he could not yet hold himself up. He was getting reacquainted with his own limbs and the tricky physics of moving them accurately through the surrounding space.
Lights started to dim again; he felt his eyes closing. He was tired. He wanted to sleep.
“Hey, no, no, no...” he heard Javier say. “Rick, wake up! Stay with us!”
He felt them shaking his body. They did not want him to sleep. Could they not see how tired he felt?
Javier spoke. “I know the draw you are feeling, but you cannot give in. We need you.”
Mari, Carlos and Juan watched and listened. They knew what their friend was trying to do.
“What’s going on?” Oz asked, inching towards them to get a better look at what was happening.
Memories came flooding back to Rick. This cave. These people. But he hadn’t seen them in a very long time. Or had he? It seemed like decades ago. Then, he saw Oz. It was like a cold splash of water to the face. His mind cleared and he was regaining his bearings. He now understood exactly the position they were in and it wasn’t good.
“Help me up,” Rick asked, as the fog lifted.
Javier nodded.
Javier and Luis each took one arm and gave him a boost up.
As they did, Javier whispered to him. “We need to get him to experience what you just did with the tablet. Do you understand?”
Rick looked at him. “I do.”
Rick, now standing, took a deep breath. He still felt a little woozy, but it was passing. He stood for a moment, feet shoulder width apart, feeling more in control of his body and his mind. “That’s better.” He gave a worn half-smile. “Back in the land of the living.”
Luis gave him some water.
Rick drank it down thirstily. He’d been parched.
Sofia was relieved to see him seeming like his old self. She didn’t know how it was possible, but she was grateful. She took her father’s hand and squeezed it.
Diego whispered silent prayers about the miracle that had unfolded before his eyes.
Oz was shocked. “How is he standing up?” He stepped a bit closer. He looked Rick over. There was no wound on him anywhere. No blood. Nothing. “I shot him. In the chest!”
Javier looked over at Oz, assessing him. He could tell that his shock and curiosity were starting to overwhelm his defenses. This could be exactly what he needed.
“Maybe you missed,” Luis said.
Oz didn’t even bother looking at him or answering. He couldn’t take his eyes off of Rick. He knew he had shot him. He’d seen Rick clearly react to being shot.
Alpha-3 and Alpha-4 were getting nervous. They had also been certain Rick had been fatally shot.
Oz looked from Rick to the wall of tablets, replaying events in his mind. He arrived at only one conclusion. It was a thrilling discovery. And he wanted to find a way to take all the credit for it. “It was the metal tablets, wasn’t it?” he asked. In spite of what happened to two of his men, he recognized the potency of such a discovery. He gazed at the wall before him, shining and golden, feeling the palpable energy emanating from it. It offered him power beyond his wildest dreams.
No answer.
“These tablets, this cavern,” Oz said, marveling at the
sight, “Did they somehow heal him? They brought him back to life?”
“No,” Javier said. “Nothing here has that power. This place only offers possibilities. Not absolutes.”
Javier was testing Oz’s reactions. He saw how hungry Oz was for this knowledge. That could mean an opportunity for them to gain the upper hand. It was a massive risk, he knew, since this was all happening at gunpoint, but it was a risk he felt they had to take. Otherwise, they were certain to lose everything, including their lives.
Desire was overwhelming Oz’s senses now. He was fixating on the metallic tablets. Everything he had ever hoped for in his life was now at his fingertips. And he could see that Javier wasn’t about to give it up easily. Oz just had to unlock the mystery, then take it, either by blunt force or finesse. Either option suited him fine. Whichever way was faster was infinitely preferable.
“You’re lying,” Oz said, pushing back. “You’re hiding the truth. We all saw him get shot and miraculously survive. You just want to keep this power for yourself.”
Oz was imagining the myriad of ways such a phenomenon could be used to Ares’ advantage, and more importantly to his own advantage. His power could grow exponentially by exploiting this. His mind raced. He then began to strategize over how he could take permanent control over this. Personally. He wanted it for himself. More than anything. This is what he was meant to do, he knew it. But he’d have to play his cards very carefully.
CHAPTER 20
“Not all truth can be perceived by our eyes,” Javier replied.
Oz frowned. “Tell me what happened to you,” he ordered Rick.
Rick looked to Javier for guidance.
Javier nodded for him to comply; his expression serious. “Tell him everything.”
He let out a long breath, trying to figure out where to start. “I, well... this will sound crazy, but it felt like I experienced another... life.”
“What?” Oz asked incredulously. “What does that even mean? And how are you not even injured?”
Rick started to get an inclination of where Javier was going with this. He figured he was laying some kind of a trap for Oz. Hoping he would become so enamored with the phenomenon that maybe he’d let his guard down.
Clever idea, Javier, Rick thought. And maybe their only option.
Rick shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know what to tell you, man, I don’t have those answers,” he said. “All I know is that I saw my own life, or rather it was more like I lived it, but it turned out a whole lot differently than this one. Better in a lot of ways. It was incredible.”
Diego’s mouth dropped open, listening to his story. He made the sign of the cross.
“You were only unconscious for a few moments,” Oz said, narrowing his eyes.
Rick looked to Javier, who again nodded for him to continue.
“It seemed like a lifetime,” Rick replied, shrugging his shoulders.
Oz frowned. He shook his head. “I still don’t understand. Tell me the truth.”
“I am,” Rick insisted. “I know it sounds crazy.”
Sofia watched Rick as he gave his explanation. He seemed completely sincere. She couldn’t detect any deception in his voice or his facial expressions, as utterly bizarre as his explanation sounded. She didn’t know what to make of this.
“What do you think is going on?” Luis whispered to his sister. He was finding the situation frightening. Intriguing, but frightening.
She shook her head. “Let’s just listen.”
“Tell me how you survived a gunshot wound,” Oz asked forcefully, his eyes narrowing.
Rick looked down and touched his chest. “That’s right, you did try to kill me, didn’t you?” He was as shocked as anyone. But this wasn’t the time to deal with the existential questions this experience posed. He looked back at Oz.
“No. I tried to kill him,” Oz said, waving his gun in Luis’ direction. “You just got in the way, trying to play hero.”
Rick stared him down. “I’m still standing here, aren’t I?”
Oz was growing increasingly frustrated at the lack of answers and clarity. They were playing games with him and he’d had it.
He pointed his gun at Javier, his anger rising. “Tell me now how he survived or I will kill you. Or at least try to. I don’t know if these tablets will protect you, too, but something tells me you’re not going to want to try and prove me wrong on this.” He looked over at Mari, Carlos, and Juan. “Besides, I’ll just work my way through your friends until someone gives me an explanation for this.” He looked back to Javier. “I know you know, Shuar.”
Javier studied the man’s face. He made a choice. The one he knew he was going to have to make. He was going to tell him the truth.
“When Rick tried to save Luis,” Javier spoke, “his hand bumped the tablet. From what he says, on a specific symbol, just before you shot him. When he made contact with the symbol, he was temporarily protected by it in a way.”
“How?” Oz asked. “How exactly does that work?”
“In a sense,” he answered, “he was in two places at once.”
Oz listened, trying to make sense of what he was being told. “Go on.”
“If you had shot him before he touched that symbol,” Javier said, “he would surely be dead.”
Oz shook his head. “But how was he in two places at once? He didn’t leave this cavern. We all saw him. He was right there.”
Javier took a moment to frame his thoughts so that this man would understand. “There is much about life, our life force energy that is yet to be understood.”
Oz waited for him to continue.
“Our people, we believe how it works is that he left this plane of existence to travel to another, to experience another life. His physical body stayed here. We could see him. But Rick, his person, his soul, his life force, traveled elsewhere.”
Javier knew that his friends were not going to be happy he was sharing this sacred knowledge. He just hoped they knew him well enough to trust in his judgement.
“Then why didn’t he die just from that?” Oz asked, thinking the question was obvious.
“Because our lives, our existence,” Javier said, holding his arms out, “is more than the sum of the parts we can see with the physical eye. He did not die, because the experience does not require that. The mind is powerful. There are many things we are capable of, that we simply do not know.”
That last comment was like catnip to Oz. He was salivating over the mystery that was presenting itself to him. This could be the greatest discovery mankind had ever known. And it was going to be his, to do with as he pleased.
They all waited silently for Oz to make his next move.
Oz was trying to grasp the enormity of this revelation and all of its ramifications. He looked at his dead operative, lying on the cavern floor. He thought of the other one who’d run screaming, ablaze, from the cavern. Surely dead as well.
“Explain what happened to my men. Why were they killed? This metal library... what did it do to them?”
Good question, Rick thought, also wanting to know the answer.
Javier pressed his hands together. “I implore you, leave this place before it is too late. You can see how dangerous it is.”
Oz scoffed. “You think I’m scared? That just makes me desire it more.”
Javier was taken aback at his cavalier response after what had just happened.
“Explain this to me more,” Oz demanded. “What specifically went wrong? And if I’m not satisfied with your answers, I will kill one of your friends.”
Javier studied his face. He knew Oz was serious.
He complied. “This metal library must never be mishandled. The power running through it, within this cavern is something we do not yet have a full grasp of. After your first man collided with the wall of tablets, the other one was standing too close to it, and was holding a weapon. But it’s even more than that.”
“More?” Oz asked. “What do you mean?”
“What we do know is that ill-intent, what you bring to this library in this space, can be reflected back to you. But so can good intent.” He paused, gazing at the wall reverentially. “It reacts differently to different people. Whether only by their actions or their thoughts, or a combination, we don’t fully know.”
“Their thoughts?” Oz asked in a voice laced with skepticism, gazing along the wall of shining golden tablets.
“Si,” Javier answered. “Thoughts have energy. They can have an effect. However, most of the symbols on these tablets we do not yet understand. This is one of the many reasons why we restrict access to them. Why we are still studying them.”
“So, such things have happened before?” Oz asked.
“Bad things, yes. People have died. We don’t have all the answers. Sometimes, the symbols speak to people, in a way. They can respond to the energy that person is giving off.” Javier paused. His expression was solemn. “It is not to be trifled with.”
Oz nodded. As crazy as that all sounded, it matched up with what he’d seen Alpha-2 doing before he died. “He was acting like he was trying to hear what someone... or something was saying to him before he went... crazy.”
Oz looked over at Alpha-1 lying dead on the ground. “And him?”
Javier shrugged his shoulders. “When the other man collided with the wall, I believe it must have sent a bolt of energy coursing through the rest of the tablets. He was standing close enough that I think the energy leapt out and arced with his gun. If he had not had the gun, he may have lived.”
“Really?” Oz said, his voice laced with suspicion.
“We have not had people slam into the wall before,” Javier said defensively. He then made quick eye contact with Rick.
Rick gave a slight nod of his head, giving Javier a knowing glance. “Guess I was lucky I only bumped it.
“Mucho,” Javier answered.
In spite of the danger they were in, Sofia’s journalistic curiosity was firing away. However, she chose to remain silent, letting the situation unfold. It was too dangerous to otherwise at the moment.