The Guardian of Threshold (18 page)

If death was anything like this, then death was more real than being alive. I could smell, feel, sense, and do all those things much better than in the physical realm.

I wasn’t sure if what was happening to us was real, but something inside me told me it was. It was as though my physical body was nothing but a piece of used clothing that I needed to move around the physical world; my true self was unrestrained.

In this fluid form, I felt truly free, truly alive. There were no meaningless limitations to hold me back. I could go anywhere and everywhere I wanted to. I could do anything I wanted. Everything felt more vivid, more real than waking life.

Outside, the weather still raged as blobs of snow and ice passed through me, sending shockwaves of energy through my being. Each snowflake glowed with unknown energy, healing and reinvigorating our planet as the ground absorbed its energy.

At that moment, I realized how much I didn’t know about how things worked. Before, I had felt as though there was nothing new left to be discovered about my world. I thought I knew it all, when in fact I didn’t know anything. The world was still full of wonderment and mysteries yet to be discovered. Behind seemly insignificant and small things, there was a complex and often hidden greater purpose. I always liked to watch the snow falling—when I was a small child, I used to think snowflakes were magical. Little did I know then that I was right. They were a gift from the Creator himself.

“I can get used to this,” said Carla, laughing. I looked around and found Carla flying up and down, making loops around my house.

“The snow feels weird,” complained Jonas. I think he was still trying to get used to the height because he hovered just inches from the ground.

“Ah, stop complaining, you’ll get used to it,” I said.

***

“I have an idea… we should go somewhere really fun,” suggested Carla.

“Yes, but where?” I asked. It was amazing how hard it was to decide where to go when the whole world was at your disposal.

“I know! Let’s go to the moon,” offered Jonas, excited and catching us by surprise.

“What? You’re afraid of being fifteen feet in the air and you want to fly to the moon?”

“Fly? Who said anything about flying? I wouldn’t mind teleporting there, though. Besides, I’m already getting used to this height thing,” replied Jonas.

“I’m not sure…” replied Carla, pausing slightly. “I guess it would be fun to try and see what happens.”

“That’s just insane,” I said.

“How is that any different than what we’re doing right now?” said Carla.

“Point taken. But how are we going to get there?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” said Carla. “Probably the same away we got outside.”

“I think it may be best to stick together, that way we can’t get lost, or in Jonas’s case, stuck,” replied Carla, looking as beautiful as ever.

I offered my hand to Carla, and we held each other tightly.

I concentrated as hard as I could on the moon. Jonas appeared to be doing the same, although he was trembling slightly. Carla had her eyes closed.

We waited a few seconds, but nothing happened.

“It’s not working,” said Jonas.

“You don’t say, Einstein,” replied Carla.

“Are you guys concentrating on the moon?” I asked.

“Maybe we should picture ourselves already on the moon,” I suggested.

“Sure, let’s try that,” Carla agreed, smiling at me.

We held hands again, but this time instead of picturing the moon, I pictured my friends and I standing on the lunar soil. I concentrated so hard I could feel the dry lunar dust under my feet.

After a few seconds, I started to feel even lighter than I already felt. My body started to lift much higher than before. At first, we moved upward slowly, like a hot air balloon. Just when I was getting used to the renewed feeling of weightlessness, our speed increased tenfold. After a few more seconds, our speed increased yet again. Every time I thought we were going as fast as we possibly could, there was another sudden burst of speed.

Jonas screamed the whole way, especially when our speed increased. Carla, on the other hand, just squeezed my hand really tight, radiating a warming feeling from within. She was apparently enjoying the wild ride.

“I don’t think this was a good idea,” Jonas complained.

“Stop being a baby, we’re almost there, see?” said Carla.

The moon was getting bigger—much bigger than I was used to seeing it—doubling in size every few seconds. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t have guessed how fast we were traveling.

At some point, I closed my eyes because of the increasing speed, and the abnormal size of the moon was making me sick to my stomach.

When I opened my eyes, I saw what had to be the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen. Just below my feet, floating peacefully and surrounded by darkness, was our marvelous and beloved blue planet. Upon the realization that I was floating way above Earth’s atmosphere, I felt cold but my hands were still warm. I suspected that was because I was still holding Carla’s hand.

There was something completely different between knowing the Earth was round and actually seeing its roundness with your own eyes.

As soon as we stopped moving, Jonas stopped screaming.

“Wow, this is beautiful,” said Carla, pulling me a bit closer to her.

“What? Are we on the moon?” asked Jonas, still shaking.

“Open your eyes, or you’ll regret it the rest of your life,” replied Carla.

“Oh my God, this is really high,” complained Jonas as he opened a single eye in order to peek.

“Only a privileged few have seen this in person. This is definitely the best night of my life,” said Carla.

The view was so gorgeous that even Jonas got over his fear and opened both eyes to take in the sight.

“Where is the moon?” Jonas asked, perplexed.

“Look behind you,” replied Carla.

“Wow, that is huge,” said Jonas as he turned to see the immense, dark mass behind him.

“Can we land on it?” asked Carla.

“I suppose so,” I replied.

As soon as I said that, I felt myself being pulled onto the moon. After a few seconds, my feet touched the cold, dry, and densely packed soil.

For the next minute or so, we just looked around in utter silence.

“Where is the sun?” I asked in awe.

“Wow! It’s beautiful, I’d never imagined it to be this amazing,” Carla said.

“Holy cow!” was all Jonas managed to say.

“I guess we must have arrived on the dark side of the moon,” I said as I took my first barefoot steps on the moon, a feat that not even astronauts could dream of accomplishing. And there I was, walking barefoot on the moon, feeling its frigid dust between my toes. If I were to die at that very moment, I would die a very happy man.

I remembered a story my mother used to tell me about the moon. She used to say that when the moon was full and the sky was clear, she could see the shape of a dragon slayer on top of his white horse, killing his prey with a spear. She used to say that’s where Raphael got the idea for his famous painting, “Saint George and the Dragon.” I never forgot that old story. Since then, every time I looked into the moon I saw that image.

Memories in the Astral weren’t like normal memories. I didn’t just remember things. I actually relived the moment, as if I was there in person. I could smell the smells and feel the wind and the coldness of that particular night. I could smell my mother’s favorite perfume as I watched her carefully hold five-year-old me on her lap and point to the moon. She then proceeded to tell me that story as a bright and lively smile decorated her face, a smile that showed without words how much she loved me and how much she enjoyed that moment.

“Are you okay?” asked Carla.

“Hum?” was all I could manage to say.

“Are you crying?” said Jonas.

“I was just thinking of my mother… actually, I was reliving a memory of her. It was as if she was there. I saw her, holding me…”

“Seems like there are a lot of new things about this realm we have yet to discover,” said Carla with a tender smile.

“I just hope they’re all good things,” added Jonas.

“What’s that?” I asked, pointing toward the horizon.

In the distant horizon, a long sliver of golden light started to grow larger and larger. I took me a few seconds to realize it was the sun peering over the lunar horizon. It was a view none of us could have even dreamed about witnessing.

If someone told me I was going to stand on the moon and watch a lunar sunrise, I would have called them insane. But there we were, standing side-by-side on the moon watching the most amazing sunrise. Several minutes passed, and none of us dared to say a word, probably afraid that we would wake up.

“It seems alive, doesn’t it?” said Carla, finally breaking our awestruck silence.

“I think that it may be. There’s so much raw energy in our solar system. What a beautiful thing, so dependable and necessary,” I said.

For the first time I could look straight into the sun without having to squint or shield my eyes. I could see the sun in all of its glorious beauty without pain, and it looked even more marvelous than it did from Earth. Its corona spewed life-giving radiation that traveled billions of light years throughout space into eternity.

“We should go back soon,” I said, worried that Phasma would find us.

“I’m ready to teleport out of here anytime,” said Jonas as he jumped in and out of a small lunar crater.

“Teleport? I don’t think it’s that simple,” said Carla.

“What you mean?” asked Jonas.

“In case you forgot, we didn’t exactly teleport up here. Besides, even if we could teleport back, I wouldn’t. There is no way I’m missing the experience of flying back to Earth,” replied Carla.

“Hello! I’m afraid of heights, or did you forget?” Jonas said, already looking pale. “I think the lack of oxygen is starting to get to you. And if I remember correctly, objects are supposed to burn up upon re-entering Earth’s atmosphere.”

“Only if you have a physical body or a space shuttle, and we don’t have either,” I said, laughing.

“This was your idea. If you don’t like it, feel free to stay here,” added Carla.

She didn’t wait for a response and started to float away.

I waited until Jonas was following her, then I propelled myself off the lunar surface.

Carla and Jonas were far ahead of me, so I sped up a bit. It wasn’t long before I was following them closely.

As soon as we began to reenter Earth’s atmosphere, all hell broke loose. A wave of dense air hit us, and I immediately felt like hundreds of pounds were added to my body.

We lost control and tumbled toward the ground. Jonas screamed at the top of his lungs. Even Carla let out a couple screams of desperation.

As the ground fast approached, I desperately thought about floating up, going to the moon, and even going to the sun… but nothing worked. I was still falling fast. We all were, some of us with more class and control than others.

“Oh God, this is the end!” screamed Jonas louder than ever before.

I couldn’t see anything except a green haze that grew larger and more defined with each passing second. Out of nowhere came a thundering noise. It was the sound of Carla’s body hitting the ground. My heart literally stopped beating. My life no longer mattered. A world without Carla didn’t make any sense at all. To think everything had been my fault was simply too much to bear.

A couple of seconds later, I heard another thud, followed by complete silence. Even Jonas’s screams stopped. The only noise I heard after that was a half-thud. That was the sound my body made as it crashed into bushes and trees and then… nothing… only blackness and utter silence…

I don’t know how much time passed before I could open my eyes. I felt my back and legs sear with pain.

Immobilized by the pain, all I could do was move my eyes, and even that was painful. Thankfully, the pain slowly faded. After a few minutes, I could move again. I looked all around, but didn’t see anyone.

“Where are you guys at? Are you all right?” I asked.

“Ouch! That hurts like a freaking train just ran me over,” said Jonas from under a heavy bush, much to my relief.

“I suppose we should be glad that we’re still able to talk about this,” I said as I let out a painful chuckle.

“It hurts a lot. I don’t think I’ve ever hurt myself this bad before,” said Jonas, groaning.

“Stop being such a baby,” said Carla, walking toward us dripping wet.

“Easy for you to say, you probably landed in a lake. Wait a minute. Where did the snow go?” Jonas said.

“Actually, it was a river, and I don’t think we’re anywhere near Boston or North America for that matter,” replied Carla. “So what the heck happened?”

“I don’t know. We must have lost concentration or something when we entered Earth’s atmosphere, but the important thing is that we’re all alive and well,” I said.

“Alive and well?” asked Jonas indignantly.

“I know that it was painful, but in retrospect, it wasn’t as painful as it should have been if we had a physical body,” I said to calm him down.

“It wasn’t that bad. After all, we are in unknown territory so there’s bound to be a few surprises here and there,” said Carla as she helped Jonas up.

“Where are we?” I asked when was I finally able to stand up and stretch my arms and legs.

“I don’t have a clue,” replied Jonas. “One thing is for sure, I have never seen trees this tall before.”

Jonas wasn’t exaggerating like he normally did. These were in fact the tallest trees I had ever seen. Although it was still night-time, we could see them clearly, including the lush green grass and colorful flora surrounding them.

Out of nowhere came a group of about eight to ten indigenous tribesman. They were looking for something nearby.

“Do you think they can see us?” asked Jonas.

“I’m not sure, but it looks like they’re looking for something,” replied Carla.

“Yes, I think they can. Let’s get out of here while we still can,” said Jonas, worried.

“What’s this place?” I wondered out loud.

“I think we may be somewhere in the Amazon rainforest,” said Carla.