Christopher Golde
Date: 7th February 2000
Location: Tibet
Jason sat down on the edge of the bottom step of the ancient stairs and looked out over the mist-shrouded and windswept snowscape of mountain peaks. It was more than breathtaking, he thought, it was as if he had left the realms of man and entered a world where only Gods could exist.
He thought back on his strange journey to this mystical place on top of the world. How he had been greeted and cared for, and how Sheng had come to bring him to this place as part of fulfilling his own destiny. He couldn’t help but think of his childhood and his mystical mentor, the thing he had called ‘the darkness’. Sometimes, he thought he must be just plain crazy, but then there were the times when he knew mysterious forces watched over him.
He had always had a sense of knowing the future and in many ways, he wasn’t really surprised that he had been delivered to this mountain. He almost felt as if he belonged. He remembered times during his childhood when he had these exact same feelings and even though he had somewhat of a difficult life, he had also led a charmed one as well.
Somewhere deep inside, he even felt as if previously, even perhaps in a dream, he had been to this exact spot. All through his life, he had experienced the most fantastic dreams that had taken him to places like this, in what could only be explained as different lives and times. In one dream, like a Roman Emperor, he had remembered standing atop a mountain just like this one, looking out over a valley with thousands of men behind him in a human chain down a similar mountain track to the one that had brought him to here.
The dreams had always been so real that they had teased him over the years. He often yearned to return to them, yet, he could never remember having the same dream twice and unlike other people, he never forgot any of the detail. Sometimes, it was like he had actually been the person he was dreaming he was. In almost every dream was the haunting presence of the giant black figure he accepted as an alter-ego.
The wind began to blow and clouds crossed the sun in a sudden moment of weather deterioration. He pulled the Yak coat Sheng’s friends had given him, about his body and took one more look out into the frozen void, before closing his eyes for a quick rest.
A light mist smothered the hallowed ground of the cemetery. It twisted and curled around lifeless headstones, transforming them into grotesque shapes that seemed to dance in the pale light offered by the full moon above. Ghostly images were created and just as suddenly extinguished as small clouds shifted aimlessly across the southern night sky.
A dark figure slinked catlike across a cobblestone path and then threaded its way between several rows of graves, before stopping momentarily to take bearings. It then continued at a brisk pace, until finally stopping again at a huge stone wall that bordered the nocturnal sanctuary.
Dropping to a crouch, the figure was consumed by the mist and vanished from sight. Once on the ground, a gloved hand pulled back a peaked hood, revealing long locks of golden hair which surrounded a youthful face and bright green eyes that seemed to glow in the sparse light. The boy then removed one glove and reached out to ply the soft dirt with his fingers, eventually locating a large stone just beneath the surface. Scraping away a light cover of soil from its edges, he was able to remove the stone revealing a large metal lid that lay beneath. Without wasting any time, he took a key from his pocket and quietly dispensed with a padlock. When he opened the box his eyes widened at the sight of his hidden stash, all of which had been thieved from businesses of the local wealthy.
The young man's long hair fell around his face as he removed more jewels, gold chains and watches from his bag and placed them gently into the box. For a moment he contemplated his accumulated wealth with pleasure, then closed the lid and replaced the lock. After returning the box to the ground, he covered it with the rock and then a layer of dirt, before placing leaves and sticks over the top as camouflage.
Before making his way home, he decided to rest for a minute and catch his breath. He sat on the cold earth gazing into the night sky and marvelled at its beauty, as stars appeared, then disappeared behind small clouds. The full moon glowed brightly in a halo of mist and he could even make out the craters on its surface.
It would be a couple of hours before the sun’s rays would breach the horizon. By then he would need to be back in his bed, so as not to be noticed missing by his parents. For a moment, there was almost absolute darkness as a cloud completely covered the moon. When suddenly the cloud shifted, moonlight streamed through the night sky creating rays in the mist that caressed and enshrined an angel atop of one of the tallest of the headstones.
‘It was so grotesquely beautiful out here,’ he thought, ‘how alive I feel.’
He loved the exhilaration of the nighttime escapades, it made him feel invincible and as he looked about the cemetery, he appreciated just how good it was a hiding place.
Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by what he believed was a movement at the edge of his peripheral vision. He remained motionless and listened intently but heard no sound. Turning his head slowly, he stared into the darkness but could see nothing out of place. His senses told him something was there and instinctively he slowed his breathing and heart rate. His mind automatically entered a mode rarely ever used by modern humans, only animals.
During these moments he became more animal than human, using instincts that were once used by prehistoric men for hunting. These abilities had been refined over many, many nights of work. His ears scanned for the slightest sound, his body tensed ready to react.
As if from the fabric of the mist, it slowly took shape, absorbing all shades of light and darkness until a looming black figure stood before him. The boy relaxed.
‘It's you,’ he thought, somewhat relieved.
‘Yes, it’s me,’ the voice in his mind assured him.
‘You’ve been watching I assume,’ the boy thought.
‘Of course, I am always watching.’
The answers from the dark entity and the ensuing conversation seemed already in his head and he wondered why he even bothered to ask anything. He still had trouble defining the difference between prepared thought communication and just normal thinking.
‘What brings you out tonight,’ the boy thought to ask?
‘Tomorrow is your fifteenth birthday. You have learned much about your animal instincts and the control of your mind to survive as both prey and predator over the last five years and it is time to move to the next level.’
‘The next level, what is that then?’
‘You will see. It will be much different from your recent exercises.’
‘Okay, so what are you here for?’
‘These nighttime activities will cease as of now, it is time to move on. These escapades have been necessary, even if not socially acceptable, but now they must finish.’
‘But what about…?’
‘Leave it and do not return, it is no longer of importance to you,’ the voice interjected. ‘You know I cannot make you, but it would be a heavy price to pay for not following my instructions.’
‘Okay, okay, I know, it’s over.’
At that, the shadow dissipated and once again, the moonlight crept across the ground casting fleeting pale images amongst the headstones. The boy stood, looking down at the ground where his treasure was buried, shook his head and walked to a large tree fifty paces away, climbed it and jumped over the large stone wall.
As he walked back towards his home along the roadway, he thought about the sudden change in his life and his lost treasures. Jason knew better than not to follow his instructions, he would steal no more, his nighttime adventures were temporarily behind him.
He had learned to be as stealthy as a cat, as cunning as a wolf, as deadly as a snake and as swift as a deer, but why? The beast in him was alive and would no doubt be restless, but he would wait.
Jason opened his eyes slowly, noticing that the wind had dropped away and the sun, though weak, was out again. It was beginning to be desperately close to the jagged horizon, so he thought he better make a start on the weathered stairs. Standing, his legs felt numb and wondered just how long he had been sitting there. He remembered the dream of his boyhood and shook his head smiling slightly with amusement.
‘How long ago it seems now,’ he mused, thinking about the dream, ‘now where are you, my mystical friend? I could do with the company.’
He laughed out loud to give himself some cheer and began to climb the stairs. For the most, they were not too difficult, but occasionally he would have to step over a completely disintegrated step, and sometimes, while steadying himself, would look down and the sight of a sheer drop which in some cases was thousands of feet, would take his breath away.
After climbing for about an hour, the light began to diminish quickly and it was becoming dangerous. Once he stumbled and was sure that if he could actually see what was below him, he would have completely lost his balance and fell.
To make matters worse, he had now entered some of the lower clouds and he could only see two to three steps in front of him. At last, when he nearly slipped for the third time, he decided to stop somewhere and sleep.
“No good having a prophecy if you’re not alive to live it eh,” he quipped, as he was accustomed to, whenever he needed to summon some mental strength.
Just as his luck would have it, the next step had a small cutting into the cliff face that he found he could wedge his body into. After pushing as far as he could into it and he was satisfied that the likelihood of rolling off the cliff in his sleep had been minimized, he once again pulled the thick hairy coat over him and closed his eyes.
“I never thought sleeping could be this dangerous,” he said, softly under his breath.
Night descended quickly and blackness engulfed him completely.
Chapter forty three
The Reflection 4
Jason King
‘The Teenager’
“Behold I am coming a thief.
Blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments,
lest he walk naked and they see his shame.”
John: Revelation 16.15