The Geode King

by H A Tisdale

  It was strange to think of myself as lovingly created by the Alchemist, though something about it seemed irresistible. Usually, one creates with a purpose, and just thinking about this functional formation made me feel like I mattered, like my life had meaning. So I wondered what it would be like to behold the one who stitched me together, what it would be like to speak with the being who knew me better than I knew myself. I sat there in awe, unable to imagine a greater intimacy.

  But then my eyes noticed the image of the ancestors falling into the Pit where they lost the happiness and security of the Haven, when their infinite access to their loving creator had been cut off. I then looked over to another image of them crawling out of Lake Shale, somehow alive after perishing in the liquid muck. And Reina’s words rang through my mind: They felt that the elixir coursing through their inner birthstone had been sullied by the muddy waters of Lake Shale. In time, this inner change proved fatal as they eventually died once more, not living forever as the Alchemist had intended for them.

  My heart lamented as her voice played through my head. I too felt like my heart had been dirtied in the Pit. I slept with another man’s wife for Pit’s sake. Then I cowered away from protecting her and the baby birthstone within her. So logically, I deserved a fatal consequence for my destructive deeds, not the chance to reconnect with the Alchemist. It just didn’t seem fair that I escaped the fate that Jedd’s only son had faced. This unswerving guilt bore heavy upon me as I stared at the image of the wind followers running around the nasty lake whose muddy waters had corrupted their birthstones.

  There seemed to be no hope for the people as they lived and died, forever trapped in the Pit.

  No image gave me comfort as I faced my ruined reality, not even the image of Father Edd and his dream: He saw hundreds and thousands of people escaping the Pit, forever living in the Haven with the Alchemist. Indeed, Father Edd’s dream did not assuage my current misery. So many years had passed since his revelation. So many generations had come and gone without finding the Glorious King, and I too felt like I had reached a dead end with Jedd’s fierce resistance. I began to speculate whether I had merely imagined the appearance of the star-children and the star-boy’s instructions for me to find the Glorious King, but worse of all, I could barely remember what the sun even looked like at this point, much less my former life spent under it.

  These feelings of futility concretely convinced me I would never escape this endless nightmare. Accordingly, I could not see the value in reconnecting with the Alchemist if I would simply come to a bitter end in the Pit. All I could see ahead of me was a lonely journey to a meaningless death, and nothing gave me hope to the contrary.

  “Ar! Ar! Arrr!” Kairou barked, suddenly awakening from her slumber, jumping up as if she had heard some dreadful disturbance. She possessed a wild look in her galaxy eyes and scratched at my feet incessantly, insisting I succumb to her unspoken demands.

  “What do you want, dog?” I snapped, trying to resist her unknowable will. Between her ear-splitting barks and her feet-cutting scratches, Kairou did not relent from her efforts until I finally surrendered. “Alright, alright, where do you want to go?”

  Sensing my compliance, Kairou abated her use of force and scampered out of the room. I reluctantly followed after her, annoyed that my despondent, deep thinking had been infuriatingly interrupted. Not even stopping to allow someone to pet her, Kairou pranced ahead with relentless determination, and when we reached the door to the courtyard, I opened it for the frustrated pooch, who believed scratching at the door was an effective method for getting past it.

  Having conquered the bothersome impediment, Kairou darted forward as if on a punctual mission. Past the vast vegetation, the spinning sculptures, and the many herds of animals, she led me back to the stream I had considered crossing earlier, and there staring at the quiet waters with his staff gripped in both hands, Jedd sat under a willow tree where an old windcycle had been tied up.

  Hesitant to approach, I looked down at Kairou beseechingly. She glared up at me with her galaxy eyes as if to say, “Don’t make me bark at you again.”

  “Okay, okay, you crazy animal,” I yielded preemptively, not desiring another round of Kairou Kung Fu.

  So I approached the bank of the river and slowly seated myself in the grass a few feet to the right of Jedd. With my knees to my chest, I sat gazing at the tranquil water. Neither of us said a word, and the silence lingered as we watched the serene stream go by. The trickle of the gentle current soothed my sore ears from Kairou’s lethal barks, and the grass felt soft on my feet. Then a light breeze blew to perfect the peaceful atmosphere, creating a simplistic and pure setting to ease my burdened mind.

  Kairou approached almost unnoticed as she took her place between us; she performed a combination of an upward and downward dog stretch before she plopped down on the ground, joining the audience of the quiet stream. I looked over at the cuddly canine, who was staring at the water alongside Jedd, and thought back to the fuzzy memory of them standing in front of me by the light of the torch.

  I ended the long silence. “I didn’t get a chance to say it in the rush of everything before, but thank you for saving me in the desert.”

  Jedd finally broke his concentration and turned his moonstone eyes in my direction. The weary man looked at me with a profound softness. “It was nothing, Benjamin. Kairou and I just happen to be in the right place at the right time. I’m sure you would have done the same for me.”

  In that moment, I really wondered if I would have done the same for him. I had saved Reina from the sword of Tragedy of course, but I had also abandoned Kecelia and our unborn baby to the wrath of Hive. Feeling troubled by the unsteadiness of my character, I tried to push the hypothetical scenario out of my mind by carrying on the conversation in whatever way I could. “Truth be told, I don’t really remember much from our first encounter,” I blabbed.

  Jedd chuckled. “I figured that might be the case.”

  “I hope I didn’t say or do anything to insult you,” I added a little concerned by his response.

  “Oh no,” Jedd assured me with a smile, “you did nothing of the sort. You were just saying some strange things.”

  “Oh yeah?” I inquired, rubbing the back of my neck.

  “Yeah, you said something about not deserving to be helped and how you were having a bad dream.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m still not sure,” I confessed as I looked back at the stream.

  “Hmm,” Jedd mused with a curious look, “so you think this life is just a dream?”

  “I certainly did when I woke up in Come Play City and saw the cavernous ceiling for the first time,” I elaborated, looking up at the colorful canopy above us.

  “What do you mean ‘woke up' in Come Play City?” Jedd questioned for clarification.

  I took a deep breath. “Well, it’s hard to explain, but I just woke up inside of the Ancient Boulder one day, where I felt the most amazing peace actually, until it thrust me out on the slopes of Victory Hill. I flowed all the way down through the town to the beach by the sea. There, I opened my eyes to this ruby-eyed woman named Reina who was hovering right over me, and she me explained to me that I was in this crazy, underground world called the Pit.” I looked down at the grass and picked up a rough-looking stone. “I thought for sure I was dreaming on that day, but now…well I don’t know anymore,” I concluded, tossing the stone in the stream.

  At the sound of the stone splashing into the water, Kairou’s head perked up from the grass. She gazed at the stream intensely to ensure some sinister danger would not follow before lying her head back down at ease. My eyes kept their focus on the flowing current but peripherally sensed that Jedd was looking at me. So I assumed Jedd thought I was crazy, and the thought of that judgment greatly bothered me, deepening my sense of loneliness.

  “Though I don’t quite understand how you came out of the Ancient Boulder, I’ve definitely had similar thoughts about this life being a dream,” Jedd confess
ed solemnly.

  Very much surprised, I turned in his direction to confirm the genuineness in his tone. “Really?” I asked with kindred eyes.

  “Oh yes,” Jedd assented with a somber nod. “For a long time, I’ve wondered about my life in the Pit. I’ve wondered about all of our lives in the Pit, and I think it’s an accurate description to say we are all dreaming.”

  “What do you mean?” I pressed him.

  Jedd looked to the river. “Take the stone you just threw in the water for instance,” he instructed, signaling towards the quiet stream. “That stone will slowly and surely make its way down to Lake Shale where that stream eventually leads. And the way I see it, we are all just like that stone because we too are headed in the direction of death. As our ancestors died when they fell into Lake Shale, we also will surely die just by living in the Pit. The very moment we emerge from our birthstones, we are destined to end up in our own murky grave.

  “But until then, we all float around, busying ourselves with many concerns. We toil endlessly, worrying about this and that. We desire infinitely, striving to see and do a great many things. We meet new people. We say goodbye to old friends,” Jedd said as he looked down with a countenance of grief. “So much happens under the cavernous ceiling of this maddening Pit, and we foolishly hope for more and more things to come, never lacking in our abundance of dreams. But that is all life seems to be for someone, a meaningless dream. For as we all live in our many dreams, we are asleep to the fact that we will ultimately perish one day, cut off from the current reality we’ve come to know as life. Inevitably, we will all end up in a place like Lake Shale,” Jedd uttered with a heavy sigh, looking back out at the stream.

  “Jiminy Willers, that’s depressing,” I remarked.

  Jedd turned to me with half a grin. “It is, isn’t?”

  “Without a doubt, yes,” I affirmed.

  “I suppose at first glance it’s not the most cheerful outlook, but I think it can be rather liberating.”

  “In what way?” I baulked at his seemingly untenable claim.

  “Well, it helps me cherish each moment and appreciate the people around me, loving them with the knowledge that all of our days are numbered. I also find that reflecting on the grim truth of my mortality allows me to let go of my own dreams. It enables me to enjoy what’s right in front of me instead of pining after the things I don’t have. Essentially, every moment looks more like a gift when you know the clock is ticking.”

  Jedd’s response resonated with me deeply, though I wrestled to understand the extent of this perplexing perspective. I did not see how one could really enjoy life if it were just a meaningless dream that would one day end.

  “So you don’t think there’s any way to escape the Pit without facing death?” I asked tentatively.

  Jedd exhaled bitterly. “I don’t know anymore, Benjamin. I grew up in my father’s kingdom where everyone had high hopes for that, but after a long life of disappointments and failures, I just don’t think I can hold onto that dream anymore.”

  I looked back at the stream, now feeling the metaphorical force of its pull on my life. Almost inexplicably, I heard the faint call of Lake Shale as it beckoned me to fully face my inevitable fate. As in the desert, I confronted death’s darkness in this moment yet felt even more desperate to overcome its suffocating grip.

  “So what can we hold onto in this world?” I asked at my wit’s end. “What can we do to overcome death?”

  “Only one thing is stronger than death,” Jedd replied. “The Domikos.”

  My eyebrows scrunched. “How will reconnecting ourselves to the Alchemist’s inner wind make a difference in the end?”

  “I can’t say for sure, Benjamin, but this my birthstone knows. At the close of this dark dream, I will awaken, and my eyes will look upon the one who created me. How this will happen, I have no idea, but his inner wind has brought my birthstone an invisible assurance that I will one day gaze upon his beauty. Though I will have died, somehow, I will still dwell alive with the Alchemist.”

  Jedd’s words rocked me, and I thirsted to uncover them. I contemplated my confrontation with death in the desert, and a thought occurred to me by the stream. To overcome an invisible monster, I would need an invisible power with greater strength, so I absolutely required this comforting connection Jedd possessed with the Alchemist. But then with great bitterness, I worried the Domikos would reject my dirty heart. I imagined my destructive deeds had forever cut me off from the Alchemist’s love.

  “Jedd, what if the Domikos rejects my birthstone?” I asked sheepishly. “What if my birthstone’s been too corrupted by what I’ve done?”

  Without hesitation, Jedd answered, “If there is true remorse in your birthstone, then the Domikos will never reject it, no matter how broken it is.”

  Then and there, my mind knew without a doubt that Jedd was leading me in the right direction, but my stubborn heart still wanted to resist. “How do I catch this inner wind?” I entreated the aged sage.

  Jedd’s moonstone eyes looked at me deeply before he stood up and walked to the stream, and after entering the slow-moving current, he turned and beckoned me, “Come to the water, Benjamin. Enter the Dream Stream that leads to Lake Shale. Let the force of its current flow through your mind as you accept your mortal fate. And as you wait for the inner wind to arrive, seek him with all of your birthstone, and a new life will appear to overcome what you face.”

  As much as my heart obstinately objected, I obeyed Jedd’s command and joined the man in the river, the same man who had rescued me from the desert. The water felt cold when I first stepped in, almost too cold, and my body greatly opposed the idea of fully submerging.

  But I had to go all the way in. Instead of just dipping my feet, I wanted to feel the full force of the stream. As I walked past Jedd to the depths, the water rose above my waist, and my shoulders and arms clenched upward as a great shiver increased the rate of my breath. My eyes closed, my body trying to talk me out of this frigid endeavor. But I knew if I did not go under then, my heart would never find rest.

  In order to rip off the band-aid, I took a deep breath and jumped off the bottom. Gravity pulled me back down as I sunk under the surface where I immediately curled up in a ball. The icy water had chilled me to the bone, and an instinctual panic was flooding my mind as I floated.

  But then, slowly but surely, a quiet peace overcame me as the gentle current massaged my frail head, so I gradually exhaled and unraveled my weak body, letting the river pull me gently in one resolute direction. And bit by bit, my mind felt cleansed as I listened to the steady susurrus of the stream, a subtle but ongoing whisper in my ear.

  Like a willow in the wind, my limbs swayed freely in the river, and this weightlessness relieved my encumbered heart. Death was my fate, Lake Shale my end, but somehow in this moment, this bleak knowledge brought me peace. So I surrendered my heart in search of the Domikos, and as the wind returned to the windless valley, a rushing gale soared into the dale of my heart where I experienced the mighty magnitude of the Domikos taking up his residence.

  And a soft, majestic voice spoke within the sacred tent of my heart: Hey, Benjamin.

  The Domikos had arrived to connect me to the Alchemist, lighting up my heart more brightly than the cavernous ceiling. As this glowing sensation emanated from the depths my inmost being, I sensed the feeling of forever that cast out all my fears and worries for the future. Indeed, a river of peace flowed within me that surpassed all understanding, a mystical concoction flowing abundantly from my heart, curing all of my longings for a love everlasting.

  When I could no longer hold my breath, I reemerged to inhale the purest of breaths.

  “How do you feel?” Jedd checked calmly.

  Usually a simple question to answer, I did not quite know how to put it into words. “I feel good,” I professed, unable to completely express my revival in the stream. I felt as if I were experiencing everything anew and deeply desired to explore this new life.
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  I ran my hands through my hair: Hair? What a strange thing to be on the head! Little patches of grass, tiny bundles of carpet, and silky blankets rest on people’s bodies, accessible to touch at all times of the day, and this portable stress reliever grows from my skin! What a wonderful sensation! How have I neglected such a present? How have I ignored such a gift?

  As I played with my hair, I continued breathing in the freshest of air: Oxygen? What a delightful commodity that exists in abundance for those still alive! How could such a wonderful pleasure be totally free? How could such an intoxicating drug be absolutely legal? A simple breath makes me happy. A simple breath gives me glee. I never want to forget this truth and lose the satisfaction of what I always possess. Could other things be enjoyed so much as hair and air? Is there even more happiness that awaits?

  “I feel alive,” I added, affirmatively amazed at the life-giving power of the Domikos.

  Jedd’s moonstone eyes lit up as he observed my newfound freedom and joy. “That’s wonderful, Benjamin! And as his inner wind continues to erode your birthstone, many new treasures will be unlocked and discovered.”

  Delighted by his rich assurance, I put my hand to my chest where a steady beat rocked faithfully with the ticks of time. My illuminated birthstone was shining forth like the sun as my vitalixir delivered its refined radiance to the rest of my vessel. I looked down at my reflection in the water and saw my brown eyes glowing with brilliance. In my mind, I could hear Reina and Jedd recounting the story of the ancestors brought to life by the Alchemist, and here in the water, I felt a deep connection to their story.

  The Alchemist decided to use that elixir to make life out of his two most precious gems. So one day when the sun was shining fiercely, he placed his two gems in a pool of water and mixed in the elixir…and when the wind blew, our ancestors were born out of the stones.