Abed was empty. Part of his emptiness was intentional, an exercise in
internal clarity. But the other part was a sort of restless longing or
loneliness for something that he could not yet identify. He had done
all he could think to do in his small village to satisfy these
mysterious cravings, but he had long ago exhausted all the resources
and potential of his immediate surroundings.
Perhaps if there were a city he could emigrate to, there would be
opportunities. But all of the cities, if they ever existed in anything
but stories told to children, had long ago vanished along with the
people that built them. All there was now were small villages spread
out sparingly over the land. Maybe it was time to give up, accept his
feelings as unsolvable, and concentrate on his pragmatic life in the
village, perhaps pursue a small trade and find a wife. It was at the
moment that this notion crossed his mind that the letter arrived.
[spoiler]Abed opened his door to the gentle knocking he recognized well, and smiled, happy to have a distraction. “Hello, Gan, what have you got for me?”
Gan smiled back, and handed Abed a letter. “Just this one today, friend. Do you have anything for me?”
“Not today. How are your sons?” Abed examined the letter. It was a small piece of paper folded over, addressed to him, and closed with a small wax seal. He had trouble identifying the wax symbol. It was abstract, and reminded him of several things, most of all a vague semblance of an elephant’s head. Inside, all it said was “Seeker – seek Mulad.” No signature or return address.
“Prosperous, I am happy to say, friend. But I have many more deliveries. I hope you enjoy your letter. Goodbye, friend.” Gan turned to leave.
“Wait, please,” Abed pleaded, and Gan turned back towards him. “This letter is not signed. Do you remember who gave it to you?”
Gan shook his head and replied, “no, in fact, it is something of a mystery, I am afraid. It was in my sorting pile this morning, but I do not recall receiving it. I am sorry.”
“It says here to seek Mulad. Do you know Mulad?”
Gan turned his eyes up and to the side as if his memory were a painting he could scan for details. “The only Mulad I can recall is a street performer in the east market. I believe he performs under the banana tree. “
“Thank you! I will try there. Please have this small token.”
Gan accepted the small coin with thanks and left. Abed packed a small bag and set out for the market on his donkey cart. It was afternoon when they arrived, and Abed felt bathed by a kiss of warmth as the sun reached its apex, alone in the sky but for one solitary cloud. Under the banana tree hung a small sign “next show at dusk.”
When the moon appeared, a man came out of a nearby house. Naked except for a small red cloth, his body and face were covered in dried mud with spiral patterns. He lit torches, then placed a blanket on the ground and there placed a large boxy woven basket, also red, and hinged at the top. Abed tried to get his attention but the man waved him off.
Abed waited patiently along with the slowly gathering crowd. There was a small boy trying to get a better view next to him. Abed introduced himself and offered him a lift on his shoulders. He asked the boy, who was called Hrit, if he had seen the show before.
“No! I have wanted to for a long time but I live far away. I had heard that Mulad was leaving, so I begged my mother to let me come here with my uncle to see the show before he was gone.”
Abed was happy to have confirmation of the performer’s name, although he could not yet be sure the letter from the same Mulad. At last, the performer sat down and began to play a flute. The mesmerizing melody seemed to ebb and flow with the flickering of the torches. Soon the basket began to sway back and forth, and the lid started to bounce.
The lid open fully and two dancing snakes emerged, bobbing and spiraling around each other. Mulad put down his flute and the snakes froze. He asked for a volunteer and Hrit jumped down, pushing his way through the crowd. Mulad gestured to a rope with a small loop at the end hanging from the tree above. Hrit scrambled up the tree, climbed down the rope, and put his feet through the loop. He let go with his hands and hung upside down from the tree.
Mulad played again, the snakes grew longer and higher, and Abed began to worry. They danced closer and closer to the hanging boy. Finally Abed could stand it no longer. He rushed forward and put his two arms up to the boy to take him away. At that moment, the two snakes struck. Each bit one of his wrists. He began to feel faint, and fell
backwards. The last thing he saw as he lost consciousness was the full moon growing in his sight to encompass the entire sky and envelop him in bright white liquid light.
His body felt on fire, no doubt the poison from the snakes. He wasn’t sure if he was dying or entering a fever dream. The moon seemed to shrink again and become the face of a woman. She was kneeling over him. More beautiful than any woman he had encountered, with kind eyes, berry lips, and draped in a fine, gauzy orange fabric that hid the details of her skin but accentuated the curves of her form.
She kissed him on the forehead and whispered in his ear her name, Swa. The fire seemed to gather and concentrate in his loins, but the feeling of a dream prevented the growing there from causing him embarrassment.
Swa caressed his body and seemed to be whispering offers of endless carnal pleasures. Abed leaned forward, tempted to taste her lips, but he paused, part of him sensing that this would just be a distraction from what he was truly seeking on this journey. He leaned back and closed his eyes.
The darkness beyond his eyelids became bright and he opened them. A middle aged woman in a more modest orange robe was lovingly sponging his skin. In the corner of the house he saw Mulad and it suddenly dawned on him that the fever dream had incorporated elements of his surroundings.
H was glad he had not given into the temptations of his dreams, as it might have been misinterpreted as him making a pass at this woman who was clearly Mulad’s wife. The inadvertent impropriety, even excused as part of his sickness, might have made Mulad less than willing to help him.
He sat up, thanked them for nursing him back to health, and asked about the letter. Mulad confirmed that he had slipped it in Gan’s delivery pouch last time he was visiting, but said that it was not from him. He had been asked to take it this far by his friend Mani. Mani was also a performer, a fire dancer and juggler who lived in a community of performers.
Mulad and his wife Swa were due to return there, but were in need of transportation. Abed offered to take them there in return for introducing him to Mani. They all boarded his cart, Mulad with his red basket and its pair of snakes, and Swa with her orange basket of sponge water and healing herbs. They set off, and when they arrived, the couple pointed him in the direction of Mani, and offered him their baskets as gifts.
Mani was not to be the end of the journey, though, Abed was led through a series of encounters with different people, each of whom had passed on the letter, each of whom seemed to present some sort of challenge, and each of whom left him with another colored basket and directions to the next person.
Mani led him to Ana, she to Vishu, him to Ajna, and her finally to the couple Saha and Kether. They told him to sit and meditate, and his next step would become clear, then left him alone. He did as told and eventually remembered that he had left his donkey alone for too long.
Abed made his way back to the cart and placed the purple basket with the six others. It had not seemed that heavy, but as he put it down, the cart was overwhelmed. It began to tip backwards slowly, and the front rose up, lifting with it his donkey straight into the air!
Abed sensed that this was a sign that his journey was close to an end. He removed the purple basket from the cart and his donkey returned to the ground. He gathered the baskets one by one, and set them on the ground. He decided to stack them in color order, starting with the red basket. His little rainbow tower of baskets stood before him, but nothing happened.
Then it occurred to him that he had never opened the final basket. Inside he found a small crown, clear as though made of glass. It seemed to pick up the light of the sun and begin to glow. He placed it on his head and imagined that the warmth of the sun had entered through the top of his head and started to spread throughout his body. The world began to sparkle and shimmer with patterns and vibrating fractals. The basket tower pulsed and glowed and changed shaped, becoming taller and flatter and full of holes.
It grew and transformed into a ladder that rose up into the sky and towards the solitary cloud he had seen in the sky on the first day of his journey. He began to climb. The earth shrank below as he made his way up, rung by rung. A small part of him worried about his donkey, but another part of him whispered that the problem would take care of
itself and his animal friend would be fine.
It started to become breezy and the air was sharp, but he still felt warm and comfortable on the inside and was not bothered by the sensation. It began to haze and he realized he had reached the cloud. He climbed up through it, and emerged on the other side on a dense white stretch of solid dream stuff, at the top of the ladder, standing before a modest mansion. The front door opened and he was approached by a familiar face.
“Gan!” exclaimed Abed. “It was you all along!”
Gan smiled and gave him a hug. “Indeed my friend. You see, I come from the old world. We long ago discovered that the universe is at its most basic level made of the same substance that forms the cradle of human imagination. We learned to harness this power, and grew beyond the mundane world. Not all were able to make the transition to this new world, and many were left behind. But from time to time, we sense that someone is ready to join us.”
“Why did you not simply bring me here?” Asked Abed.
“You were not completely ready yet, we sensed only the potential. The journey I helped guide you through was both a test of your readiness, and also a series of exercises or challenges that would prepare you for the reality of existing in our world.”
Abed finally understood and nodded. He searched his feelings and confirmed that the sense of longing was finally extinguished and he had arrived at his true home. He took Gan’s hand and was led into the mansion.[/spoiler]