Something Special

Fear is sister to Awakening.
There is a moment of terror before you throw open the forbidden door, a moment in which the part of you that sleeps will urge you to retreat in order to preserve the safety of slumber.
If you are indeed a mad dog fear will become an old friend.
Receive her with grace, stay the course and her sister will visit in turn.

From the time he was a small boy the traveler had dreamed of sleeping in the Great Pyramid. When at last his journeying led him into Egypt he seized the opportunity. During a guided tour he observed a large crack and hid himself in it until the Pyramid was closed up for the night. Alone he stole away to the Kings chamber and lie down upon the sarcophagus. In the darkness he became aware of strange noises, poundings that grew in volume. He was seized by terror, but remained in place within the chamber. Suddenly a wave of ecstatic energy, a burst of light and sound carried him into an altered state.

Many years later a woman reads a book that contains a single mentioning of an obscure Egyptian teaching. She is very troubled. Something about it compels her and at the same time she senses that it is alien, something that could be dangerous. For weeks she considers it, re-reads the same short passage again and again. At last she contacts the author and arranges to meet with her. The result is unmentionable.

Sometime later in a whole other world, she sits in a room of flickering candle light with a creature of unspeakable beauty. It’s skin, brilliantly colored and patterned, shifts and moves, thrills her and fills her with adoration. It’s visage changes. Suddenly she sits face to face with someone she distrusts: a human she once knew.

Now she can accept or reject the presence of something unavoidable. She can flee or remain. Reinforce the barrier or let it crack open and see what remains.

After all, what is there to protect? What will you protect it from? How long will you be able to keep the Other out? For Eternity?