That Which Is Bitter
Entry posted by IronGhost
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The return from my stint in the underground moon colony as Ken 3.0, and going back to where Ken 2.0 had been scorching with the Love Beings, was like awakening from sleep.
There was a moment of confusion, and I “came awake” (a dream awakening within a dream) – and there was a moment of confusion.
I was lying flat on my back. At first, I thought I had awoken as Ken 1.0 in my bed. But as soon as my thoughts coalesced, I knew I was still “out there.”
Upon opening my eyes, I understood that I was not awake in my “normal world” -- that’s because I saw snuggled up against me were two of my dogs, both of which are dead.
But they were very much alive here at The RET.
When they noticed that I had some awake. They stirred, looked at me. The got up and nuzzled and licked my face. I wanted to reach over and pet them, but I found that I could not move my arms – because they were pinned down by something.
This is not the first time that my deceased dogs (or cats) have come to me in my dreams. It seemed clear to me that, on this occasion, they had come to lie next to me and protect me from the bizarre energy surge of the Polyhedron of Love.
I tear leaked out of my eye and rolled down my face. I knew my time with my beloved friends would be brief – and yes, in just a minute or two -- my two Beautiful Companions, slipped away, moving out of my view.
Seeing them go made me weep, as always – even so, I know I would be seeing them again in future dream scenarios. Still, I never want them to leave.
I have this uncanny feeling that my dead pets know something that I do not know. It’s in the way they limit their contact me in the dream/astral world.
They make it known they are “there for me” – but there seems to be some kind of limit on our interaction -- that’s a whole other issue, I guess.
But, there on the floor of The RET, I could barely move my head. Something was holding me down.
Then I realized that a there was a person lying on top of me!
Her full body was spread out over mine!
Someone -- some person -- had her head pressing down on the side of my face – we were cheek to cheek on the floor. She smelled like Kiwi fruit.
She also had her arms extended up and around my head, as if she was trying to cover my head. Her forearms pressed against the sides of my head and her hands were making a protective cap on the top of my cranium. We were torso to torso, legs to legs, ankles to ankles.
I could discern that whoever this person might be, she was dressed in a snowy-white outfit – a kind of tight-fitting body suit.
I struggled to get up, and when I stirred, she also stirred and began to remove herself from me. I was stunned to see a tall, tall woman of remarkable, even extreme beauty standing up.
Mind you, there was no feeling or feeling of sexuality in the situation at all. I got the definite vibe her purpose for positioning herself on top of me was for protection, as had my dogs laid by my side.
I sat up perplexed, looking up at a tall – very tall – slender, athletic woman in a form-fitting, one-piece body suit of dazzling white fabric that was or embossed across the surface with a raised frosty-leafy pattern. The effect of the fabric was like that of heavy frost on a windowpane on a frigid winter’s day.
I stood up, still feeling very perplexed. I am just over six feet tall, but this woman stood clearly perhaps three or four inches taller than I – yet, she evinced an aura of being lithe, feather light, airy -- all but floating rather than standing.
Her skin was a remarkable copper-olive, and she had lustrous auburn hair pulled back in a long pony tail that extended to her lower back. Her eyes were golden-brown and almond-shaped – perhaps elfin would be a better way to describe them. Her lips were like that if a Mayan, and colored ochre. The edges of her mouth were just slightly turned upward in prankish grin.
Looking into her eyes, her charming face, a lyrical phrase – from somewhere --flashed through my mind:
The fawn-eyed girl with sun-browned legs
Dances on the edge of his dream
And her voice rings in his ears
Like the music of the spheres
(Note: These lines sounded hauntingly familiar to me, but I couldn’t place them. I later Googled the lyrics and it turns out it is from a song called “The Analog Kid” by the Canadian rock band, “Rush”).
Anyway, I gathered my senses. At this point, I was still not entirely attuned to the fact that I was back in The RET, and that the brilliant energy of the Polyhedron of Love was no longer radiating through the interior environment of place.
I asked the woman:
“Who are you?”
She looked at me in a matter-of-fact way that was bland, yet intriguing. She said:
“Sister sent me to you.”
“Who is Sister?”
The woman seemed perplexed, although amused by my question. She appeared ever to be just on the verge of laughing, but was determined to keep such an outburst in check.
“Sister,” she repeated cryptically.
“Well who are you, then?” I asked. “What is your name?”
“Sister sent me.”
Hmmm. As I looked at the tall woman, I suddenly noticed what should have been obvious – a family resemblance! I said:
“You’re the sister of the Goddess Waitress!”
The charming siren nodded her head, a wry smile threatening to turn the side of her mouth.
“Yes,” she said. “Sister.”
I had this sort of “OH WOW” feeling – not sure why – I guess it seemed so odd, after all this time, I have never considered that the Goddess Waitress might have a sister. (Why would I? I’m not even sure if she is human!)
“Why were you lying on top of me just now,” I asked.
Again she said only: “Sister sent me.”
“Were you helping me? Why didn’t your sister help me herself – if that’s what you were doing? This all seems rather odd to me.”
She only shrugged.
“Your sister is much more talkative than you,” I said.
She closed her eye and tilted her chin down. I could tell she was stifling a laugh.
“Well, anyway, thank you for your help,” I said. “Where is your sister now? And where do you live? Do you work her at The RET, too?”
Sister (which I will now call this creature for lack of a name) put one hand up to her mouth and another on my shoulder. She almost laughed, but stopped herself.
“What is so funny?” I asked.
She shook her head vigorously, sending her pony tail swishing back and forth like a horse’s tail swatting at flies.
She put her hands on my shoulder and turned me toward the Solarium area of The RET. She pointed to a something I had never seen here before – it was a small kiosk, or booth -- something like you might see in a mall for selling sunglasses or cell phones. Inside the kiosk was a middle-aged woman with dark hair.
Sister pointed to the kiosk and said only: “There.”
Before I could ask another question, Sister placed both her hands on either side of my face. Her eyes, filled with sunny laughter, looked directly into mine. She spoke to me as if she thought I was deaf, or possibly a half-wit:
“I … will …go … now.”
At this point, I started to feel the beginnings of the end of this lucid dream scenario – I knew that I would be waking up for real, in my real bed in Minnesota, and fairly soon. But I still had thing to do – I knew I had to hurry – therefore, I had no more times to give Sister the third degree, although I wanted to. I was eager to know more about her, and how she interacted with the Goddess Waitress – just everything, all the information, you know.
“Good-bye,’ I said. “Thank you again for helping me, if that’s what you did. Feel free to use me as a cot anytime!”
Her face scrunched up in a heroic effort not to laugh. She whirled and walked away, light as pixie dust on bare feet – as if she were an object made of helium. She crossed directly over into the Weird Area, where her shape or form did not alter one iota. It seems she was completely immune to the dimensional pressures that had ripped apart that idiot member of The Triad.
After Sister had moved a few meters into the Weird Area, she graced me one last time by shooting a fast glance over her shoulder at me, her ponytail whipping around … and then she was gone.
I looked around The RET. I half expected it to be in shambles after the energies of the Love Being and the Polyhedron had blasted through the environment – chairs and tables scattered and piled up, burn marks on the walls, cracks in the solarium window – but no -- everything looked even better than before – neat as a pin.
In fact, there was a pleasant feeling of slightly raised vibration, as if an antiseptic-psychic scrubbing crew had moved through and “shimmered” through every atom of The RET environment. It was fresh, like after the passing of a spring thunderstorm. A pleasant hint of ozone tinged the air.
The 3-D Ouija board was gone. The ordinary Ouija board was gone, too. Obviously, The Love Beings had withdrawn to whatever strange Universe they dwell within.
The three gigantic Nephilim were no longer languishing outside in the ancient landscape. They were gone.
There were no other “guests’ around, no one sitting at any of the tables, no one milling around (or floating, or creeping, or flying around). It was the feeling of being in a restaurant closed for Sunday.
Over by the Solarium window, I was surprised to see that the vintage telescope – a rich mahogany tube with gleaming brass fixtures – which had been set up by the great Joseph von Fraunhofer. It was still there. It appeared to be a six-inch refractor of short focal length, which would give it a marvelously wide field of view. Excellent for comet hunting!
Why had Herr Fraunhofer come to set it up? What was the meaning? Was it symbolic of something?
I looked around some more – and wait! – there was “someone” here!
I was more than pleased to see the Cosmic Brain Vine!
It was back!
I noticed a narrow tendril extending into the central walkway that skirted the Solarium. It appeared that the primary trunk of the Brain Vine was again positioned in the Left Hall.
This brought me back to the central purpose that I came to The RET for in the first place – (such is the story of my life – in the dream world or outside of it! Distracted, distracted, distracted!)
(Note: Everybody thinks that my 30 years of Zen meditation should give me some kind of sharp, laser like focus on things – ha, ha! – that’s a laugh. Zen won’t do that for you. But I won’t go into that now).
My immediate problem: I had long since displaced the symbol of iron. Last I remember, I had set it on the table as I dined with Pandit Magnneson. As you remember, the Goddess Waitress had delivered the symbol of iron to me in a crafty little box. But where was it now?
I turned my attention to the kiosk. I felt a sudden wavering in my presence. My physical body back at home had stirred in bed. I was moving toward wakefulness.
Must hurry – but keep cool. Stay in control …
I approached the kiosk. The woman attending to the affairs of the kiosk looked slightly sad and perhaps bored, but there was also a subtle intensity just behind her eyes, or perhaps a certain bewildered desperation.
She was of middle age. Her face was neither comely nor attractive. Her hair was mousy black of medium length. She wore a simple frock of dull lavender. I would place her age in the early 50s.
But I recognized her. For here sat False Bliss Chablis.
She looked 25 years younger from the hag I had always known her as – although she evinced the sense of a woman much older, psychologically fatigued by the years. The frigid stone pillar she had been ensconced within for the past 20 years had now been transformed into a kiosk, a kind of sales booth. Her seat was no longer a block of snowy ice, but an ordinary swivel-stool.
Was this progress? This was the result of being irradiated in the brilliant, jazzing energy of the Polyhedron of Love? I couldn’t help but think as I looked at what looked like any sad American wage-slave earning minimum wage hawking cheap jewelry on the floor of some bland American shopping mall: “For this the Love Beings Came Forth?”
I glanced around the interior of the kiosk. What she appeared to be “selling” was a line of trinkets, baubles, pins, bracelets and amulets. I won’t describe the nature of some of the creations – some of which were actually quite exotic and interesting in design -- if not seemingly of dime-store cheap caliber –
Needing to hurry as The RET environment blurred once or twice, I refocused my effort and spoke to the woman. At first, I was going to address her as “False Bliss” – but then decided to ask her what her name was. I said:
“I’m sure I know who you are, but will you tell me your name?”
The woman looked at me with a kind of resigned sadness. She said:
“Call me Mara.”
I took a step back. I paused. I have to admit, this comment carried a certain emotional sting. I said:
“Mara – that which is bitter?”
The woman only held my gaze. I said:
“Do you wish, then, to return to False Bliss?”
I saw moisture began to well in the woman’s eyes. She said nothing, but turned away from me. She reached behind her, grabbed something, turned back around and pushed a small ivory box over the counter.
“Here,” she said. “This belongs to you.”
I accepted the box without fear of obligation or the creation of an imbalance because I recognized it as the box containing the symbol of iron which I had worked so hard to materialize here.
(Note: There was so many things that I wanted to discuss with False Bliss, or that who now asked to be called Mara. Strange, even writing “Mara” right now makes me feel bad – perhaps I shouldn’t have meddled!!
Maybe I shouldn’t have!
But … but ... the crone had been following me around for 20 years! I had been trying to help her for 20 years! Maybe it had been a mistake to put my faith in the Love Beings – those insolent nit-wits!
On the other hand, maybe Mara’s new state of “bitterness” is for the best. AHHHH!!! Only the Universe knows what foolish imbalance I may have created – or not – I just don’t know!
The trouble was, I had no time to hash it out with Mara. My awakening was imminent! I had to proceed!)
I turned away from Mara in her booth -- (the Booth of Boredome? Exchanged for False Bliss, but ‘bliss’ nevertheless??) – but almost on a whim or as an afterthought, I decided to do one more thing.
I held out my hand palm upward and materialized a tiny orb of molten gold – a C-Chit – and I proffered I handed it to Mara.
“Here, Mara. You said the item belonged to me, but to ensure there is no imbalance, I offer you this C-Chit. Whether I owe it to you or not, please accept it. I offer it free and clear of any further obligation, and consider our transaction to be in balance.”
Mara regarded the shimmering C-Chit with all the interest of legless man being offered a bicycle. But she accepted the glowing orb anyway. Again, I turned to go, but Mara called me back:
“Wait!” she said. “Your change.”
With that, she handed me a gold coin – the Philip of Macedon coin that had triggered the entire episode with the Love Being and the Polyhedron, which had transformed False Bliss Chablis into Mara The Bitter.
I accepted the coin, nodded, and hurried over to the Left Hall.
Once in the Left Hall, there, as I expected, the primary trunk of the Cosmic Brain Vine was again emerging out of the chimney of the huge stone fireplace. As I had seen the Goddess Waitress do, I walked up to a large fissure in the trunk of the Brain Vine. I removed the symbol of iron from the carved box, held it up, and shouted:
FATHER RESTON VROMIN!
The fissure in the Cosmic Brain Vine stirred and opened thick gnarly lips into a gaping maw, a yard wide. I tossed the symbol of iron into the gaping mouth. The lips snapped shut like a gigantic Venus flytrap.
I had done it.
My plan was finally in motion. But would it work? Was the gaping mouth of the Cosmic Brain Vine truly a doorway into the actual Universe of Dr. 58? If it was, I would be able to kill the Man Thing Entity, free Gefraim … and then … ?
EPILOGUE
Upon tossing the symbol of iron into the Brain Vine, I prepared myself to finally awaken. As I began to sense my body stirring in my bed back in that "universe" that seemed so far off now -- my home in Minnesota -- I wondered back into the Solarium area of The RET.
I felt exhausted from the many and unexpected adventures which had resulted from this journey.
As my dream/astral body began to shimmer and waver and grow less consistent, I floated up to the telescope set up at the Solarium window by Joseph von Fraunhofer. I put my eye to the ocular of the scope – but I didn’t point it toward the sky and the stars (it was nighttime now at The RET and the sky was paved with glittering stars) –-
-- because I saw a strange light out there on the ground, on the vast expanse of the ancient landscape. The light was moving slowly from left to right, far off in the distance.
With a bit of luck, I was able to train the powerful optical system on the strange light – and again, it was time for tears to well up in my eyes – tears of joy, tears of a terrible sadness – because out there on the ancient landscape, I spotted my friend – oh, my dear, drear friend, among my most beloved – for there on the plains – oh wow! -- strange beyond belief! – traveled THE KILLING MACHINE!
PLEASE VISIT: MINNESOTA PARANORMALA
I REVIEW PARANORMAL AND SCIENCE FICTION BOOKS HERE: EBOOK REVIEWS
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