The Hidden City

by Adrian Tanase

  “I've never … thought I could feel in such a way, Prival,” she said, with tears of happiness in her eyes. She turned to Philip and jumped in his arms, hugging him. They stayed like that for maybe 30 seconds, maybe a minute. They were starting to feel the intense love pouring into their hearts, flowing gently, as if from an inexhaustible source. They were now out of the real world, out of the eyes of the people, somewhere far away, suspended in time, and they felt that love was flowing through every part of their being. They were feeling the present moment with utter intensity, and everything that they knew has changed for both of them, in a matter of seconds.

  Everyone else around them was talking, some were eating, and Prival had gone to talk to a few other members of the Council, leaving the two alone.

  “Philip!” Margaret whispered in his right ear. "I cannot believe this can be true! Do you feel ... the same?” Margaret asked breathlessly.

  Philip was hugging her. He whispered in her ear.

  “Somehow, I don't know if you believe me, but I feel I knew every word that you’re going to say … ”

  The two looked at each other as if they had met for the first time and destiny had put them together, in the arms of each other. Prival gently approached them again.

  “It is a little bit overwhelming at first, isn’t it?” he said benevolently. “But it is really beautiful, at the same time. Your hearts and minds are now being cleansed by those emerald stones that you wear, and the stones are getting connected to your hearts, opening them so you can feel what we feel here in the City. All the gifts that you possess are starting to shine now: intuition, unconditional love, strengthening the connection to the Divine, and all the other spiritual gifts that each and every one of us has and that are usually dormant, begin to manifest themselves into reality, and now, all the questions that you might have will reveal themselves, in proper time, with ease, as simple answers, all this, thanks to the amulets.” Prival stood aside and looked at both of them with an understanding look.

  “Tomorrow, I am sure you will want to walk around the city. Come by and I'll accompany you myself, I don't have much to do. But in the meanwhile, I think,” and then he looked at Margaret smiling, “I'm sure, in fact, that you would like to try some of our delicious cakes, that we’ve made, ordered especially for you, at one of our local bakeries. You cannot miss this opportunity,” said Prival, holding Margaret’s hand. On a round table, near the cabinet with the glass doors, there were a few rather large transparent yellow plates full of cakes, set on a small table, as the Elders made sure that the Rite of Initiation had to be as welcoming as possible.

  The three went towards the area where food was served, and Margaret tried one.

  “These are as delicious as I thought!” Margaret said with awe. “Everything I feel now is much more intense, and my taste is completely delighted by these cakes”, she exclaimed.

  “You can eat them all if you wish. I'll give you some for later too, we may have some more in the other smaller reception room. The food replicator doesn't really do a great job when it comes to dispensing delicious cakes like our fresh baked cakes are,” Prival said smiling, and then he added, with a soft voice.

  “Whenever you will want to return to your holiday home, you are welcome to do so. ‘The Rite of Initiation’ is over, and the members of the Council are probably already tired, as today was quite a full day for us. Three new houses are being built in the City and we’re also planning a new vegetable market, so we had to work all day on the plans. We'll be here for half an hour more, but I'm sure you two want to be alone for a while.“

  Margaret nodded with a smile all around her face.

  “We really want to wander around the City, but we promise we won't get lost,“ she said, with a soft voice.

  Prival looked at them and blessed them with his long cane, which had a large emerald on top.

  “Good! Then go! You are part of the City now, and you can't get lost even if you want to. And here, take these two blue robes. You will need them if you are going to stick around in our city, as here everybody wears one outside,” he added with the kindness of a grandparent in his look.

  Philip nodded and thanked him, and took the two blue robes, that were packed in a roll, bound with a shining silver thread. Margaret took Philip by the hand and pulled him out of the Council’s Reception chamber. Arriving in the dimly lit hallway, they both sat for a few moments, with their backs to the cold wall.

  “Maggie! I still can't believe it," said Philip, overwhelmed by the emotion he was feeling.

  Margaret was holding his hand, and her body was slightly shaking. After a few moments, she turned her head towards him and said with the most utter sincerity.

  “I love you too, Philp. I've always loved you, only that … I never knew how to tell you this.”

  Philip turned to her, surprised that she read his mind. Margaret kissed him, a kiss that lasted as long as they both wanted to. They only knew that they were somewhere in a blue corridor, lit by low ambient orange lights, suspended in time, somewhere far, far away, in a remote corner of the Galaxy, where their hearts were radiating the purest emotions that one person could possibly feel.

  “Let's go! Let's take a long walk around the city. I really want to see the City, tonight!” Margaret said with so much passion as if she waited this moment for her whole life.

  They quickly crossed the cold hallways of the Council building, which were lit with the usual blue and orange lights. The feeling of walking on the transparent rubbery carpets decorated with intricate motifs was out of this world now, as their sensory perceptions were heightened tenfold. They had enough energy to walk for miles tonight, and they were in love. The lights on the corridors had now little auras, and the symbols on the walls were almost talking to them, seeming to blend and move one into each other. They reached the massive wooden door at the entrance, and pulled it slowly, inwards.

  Outside, they woke up to a beautiful and almost surreal stone city, whose buildings now seemed much taller from their perspective, and colored in so many nuances of gray, green, and blue that they have not seen before. The night breeze was beginning to be felt, and it felt awesome. The heat of the day that had already passed had largely dissipated, and the sun had sunk on the other side of the planet. The myriad little orange lights of the city had begun to light up, on their thin and tall metal poles, and the starry sky was beginning to be seen. Margaret was frantically pulling Philip by the hand, walking along the shiny stone pavement, as if she was going to take him somewhere where only she knew.

  “What's the hurry, Maggie?" Philip asked. "Where do you want to take me?”

  “I want to see the City, Phil. I want to show you the City!” she said as if she wasn't even listening to him. The two were feeling a wild euphoric state of mind, something that they had never experienced before. Philip shook her hand gently.

  “Margaret, wait. I just wanted to tell you … that I've never felt this way about you, before, even if I secretly cared a lot about you,” he said to her, suddenly, in a simple and sincere way, as if he was telling her how beautiful the spring wind smelled, full of all the pollen and the scent of flowers.

  She stopped, turned, and looked into his dark black eyes.

  “I will let you know that neither did I, Ryland Philip. But know that I've always deeply felt something for you. Only now ... now everything is much brighter, much closer to me. You are much closer to me. The trees, the flowers, even the stone buildings, everything is closer than before. I feel everything around me as if … as if it’s living, somehow. It is undefinable by words, and I bet you feel it too. I can now understand how much I ignored all the little things around me, just to find out that they actually are the source of my happiness,” she said, elated, and trying to find her words. She looked around and pointed towards the buildings.

  “The buildings are now of rare beauty, and the huge emerald inserts into the buildings ... do I only have the impression, or do they have a glow now?” Margaret
said, looking at them in astonishment.

  Philip looked up and noticed the same thing.

  “I think ... I think so, Maggie! And I also seem to feel some sort of attraction when I look at them!” he said, deeply impressed by their vivid and massive presence.

  “Indeed, Phil, that's how I feel too! And I don't even seem to need to think about anything now. I just feel the need to experience, to live, to walk, to exist, to see. Life is so precious now, Phil,” Margaret said with enchantment. “I am so glad that we came tonight for the Initiation. If I’d knew before what it really is about, I wouldn’t miss it for anything in the world.”

  Philip slowly took her by the hand and hugged her. It was for the first time that they both really felt true love. They were realizing how their conditioning that came from the so many generations and from all the aspects of their busy lives kept them from experiencing the real life, the life where you see everything for what it is. They stood like that in the middle of the main square for almost half a minute. All the mobile shops that were usually there, during the day, were now gone, as the night was setting in. At one point, Philip whispered in her ear.

  “Is it true what Prival said, that now we are all connected by these emerald necklaces, to each other, and also to all the people in the City? Is it possible to feel now not what I feel, but part of the love of all the people in the City?”

  Margaret broke softly away from the embrace and looked at him with twinkling eyes.

  “It is possible, Phil, I don’t deny that. But what we feel for each other is definitely true, and you know that ... there’s no trace of lie in my heart, and I am sharing this truth with you,” she said, softly kissing him on his lips.

  She held his hand in a tight embrace and they started walking slowly on the winding streets of the city, lit by thousands of little orange lights, that were bordering the streets, inserted in the pavement or suspended on the thin metal poles. The night was young and they felt the slight coldness of the air all over their skin, especially when the occasional wind blew. They were walking like two youngsters and they stopped from time to time to admire some of the taller buildings for a while and then continued to walk further and further away to the heart of the Emerald City, touching the thick trees that grew sometimes right in the middle of the street. No matter how much they walked, they didn't let go of holding their hands, as if they felt so close to each other and were never tired of this feeling, of the City, of the summer scent, and of everything. At some point Margaret stopped in the middle of the street and turned her head towards Philip.

  “Phil? Can I ask you a question?”

  Philip stopped and looked at her.

  “Sure. You can ask me anything now, Maggie.”

  “What if we stay here and get married?”

  Philip looked at her surprised. He was quite sure that she felt the same thing that she did when she asked him. In a few moments, Margaret realized what she just asked him and blushed.

  “Please excuse me, Phil. My heart is overwhelmed with so much joy and love that I think I just … I just didn’t quite … think when I asked that,” she said, and put the most beautiful childish smile that he ever saw.

  Philip was looking at her, smiling

  “But … do you picture us married, Maggie?”

  Margaret looked down for a while, and then looked into his eyes.

  “Well, to be honest, I don’t think we can do that right now, but no one knows where life will take us. I think I’m in love with the idea.”

  “Maggie...”

  She was just teasing him now, but the actual question came out of the purity of her heart, that was not being obstructed by her usual thorough mind, as she was now feeling a joy that could not be expressed by words. They continued to walk, side by side, on the small cobbled streets of the City, looking in awe at the houses that the Elders and the inhabitants managed to build in this wondrous city. After half an hour of walking through the winding streets, Margaret decided it was time to return. It was getting quite cold, and she was dressed rather briefly, as for a hot summer day. It seemed that in the City, at night, the temperature was falling a lot, creating a cool ambiance, because they were actually in a mountainous area, surrounded by a great forest. They slowly turned back, seeing the same buildings that they passed by with different eyes, marveling at all the stone patterns of the houses, recognizing the trees that they saw and touching them again, playing on the streets like two innocent kids, dressed in blue robes over their clothes, and feeling so close together because of their wonderful emerald amulets.

  At some point, they finally reached again the imposing Council building. At this hour, there were now just a few people passing on the streets, as the night had settled in. They looked around for a few minutes and they turned right onto one of the winding streets that led them in the direction of their vacation home. All the gardens of their neighbors, all staying in their temporary guesthouses, had come alive, being lit with thousands of small orange lights.

  When they reached the front of their garden, Margaret stopped and whispered in Philip's ear.

  “Let's stay some more outside tonight, Phil. It is so beautiful and I’m not that cold anymore. I can take some warm blankets from the couch, and we can sit quietly, under the starry sky.”

  Philip agreed. They entered the garden’s gate and the narrow winding road paved to the entrance of the house seemed to look now like a long dark purple snake, where the stones were almost glowing with a dark violet hue. Most of the flowers had suddenly come to life, spreading their delicate, discreet, and nocturnal scent, that seemed to come from a distant world, where things were not usual, where everything was new and interesting, in each and every moment that passed. They still didn't know how far this world was from their last location, but none of them cared much about that. Everything was truly magical, and they were enjoying every moment of it.

  “I will go put these blue robes in the other room, and will be back in a few minutes.”

  Margaret waited outside, in front of the wooden yellow-painted door of the house. She looked around her and couldn't believe how beautiful the garden was tonight. She felt so alive and the whole world was hers.

  “The night of my Initiation,” she thought, and a sweet warmth in her heart went right through her. “Somewhere far, far away, on a planet that doesn't even appear on any of the galactic maps that people know of: how lucky am I,” she said. Soon, another sweet warmth went through her heart, again. Margaret’s mind was undisturbed and calm, and whenever she had a thought, it flowed like a quiet impression through her mind, with no need to assert the slightest mental effort.

  “And this garden is so ... lovely!” Having found the right word for it, made her so happy all of a sudden as if she was enjoying everything like a child enjoys a new game she found. “Maybe everything comes from within, maybe it comes from the burning desire that exists in my heart. Maybe my mind has just stopped and I now just feel everything with my heart. And maybe, just maybe, the flowers and everything that I enjoy around me answer back because they feel exactly the way I feel,” she thought. “Would it be true if I think that in this City, any living being feels how I am feeling now?”

  Philip appeared in the door and tried to pull awkwardly two long chairs with a detachable backrest.

  “Can you help me out with these, Maggie?”

  “Sure, Phil.” She reached for one of the chairs and began to pull it, with ease. After they found a place for them, they laid down on the chairs, breathed a sigh of relief, and start laughing for no apparent reason. They were happy. And after all that long walk in the city, they definitely needed a well-deserved rest. They did not know what to expect when they have heard about the Initiation, but all their expectations were definitely exceeded. The darkness of the night and the chilled breeze of the summer wind that spread around all the mystical scents of the gardens around their house, were like a gift from above as if they were sent from an unknown benefactor.

  Marg
aret turned her head towards Philip.

  “And what if we stay, Philip!”

  Philip did not answer. He didn't need to think right now. It was enough for him just to feel.

  “Philip? Are you still with me?” asked Margaret with a funny tone.

  Philip turned his head and looked at her, with a simple, glowing face.

  “To be honest, Maggie, the future seems now a really far-fetched thing to me, but somehow, in a strange way, the future you are referring to has become part of everything that exists at this moment. I really don’t know how to explain myself better.”

  Philip looked for a few seconds straight into her eyes and then he turned his look away.

  “The future that you are talking about,” he continued, “may even be the very next moment. My emotions are so strong now, that the next moment is always different than what I thought it would be; thus, there is no particular need for me to think right now. It is the first time in my life when I don't want to know what ‘tomorrow’ will bring," he said and smiled as if he were a high school student who had fallen in love with his new girlfriend, not needing anything else, anymore, to fulfill him, to make him complete.

  Margaret nodded and smiled. She completely understood. Philip reached out his hand until he found Margaret's. They remained like that and stared at the starry sky, which looked like a deep black velvet tapestry on which the stars were sawn like small, glittering silver pins, being very much in love with each other, and just feeling the tranquility that this night had to offer. They fell asleep, and they both dreamed that they were in a big castle, somewhere far, far away, in a land where they were the king and the queen of a wonderful and powerful kingdom, and their kingdom was so vast, that no matter how far you went, you couldn’t see the end of it.

  Chapter 7 – A stroll through the city

  The next day, they woke up at about 10 o’clock in the morning. The warmness of the bed was inviting to cuddle in the white and warm sheets. She reached her hand gently and felt around her neck a necklace with a solid and rather cold stone at the end. She instantly remembered about last night, and she got up her pillow. She looked on one side smiling at Phil, who had just woken up, looking a bit confused.