Convinced the chamber was lighter than he remembered, dusty grey compared to the blackness of before, Hanor sat up, not sure how long he had been asleep. Opposite him, a white mist started forming, the air transforming of its own accord. Small at first, growing steadily in size, it started expanding to a more prominent glow.
Revealing the chamber’s size, the round domed shape with a high ceiling was simplistic and unadorned. Creamy brown walls with cracks of time were etched into the rock face. Far from elaborate, nothing obvious lay around him, no stone boxes or ornaments to say anyone had ever been here. As the light increased, faint markings of his footprints on the dusty ground crisscrossed in every direction.
Larger and brighter, the light grew in height and started solidifying, changing to an actual object. Surprised, Hanor felt unthreatened by its arrival. Shifting into the shape of a person, the absorbing light continued transforming, gaining in strength. Undecided about the spectacle, pacifying qualities were radiating from its location, soothing his anxieties. Sitting straight, he did not care if he had fallen back into his illness.
Solidifying into a human form, wearing an overcoat and trousers with fine boots, features on its face were the last to develop. Hair, nose and a mouth, at last, two eyes opened on completion. Startling Hanor, those eyes he somehow recognised but could not place them. The newcomer knew him. Young features waited for him to realise who he was. Patient and kind, shimmering in a white hue, who was he? Stepping towards Hanor, the youthful figure seemed sympathetic to his confusion.
Memories of Hanor sitting in a large room eating a meal at a bulky wooden table crossed before his eyes. A bucket of water was poured over his head from behind, leaping up to chase the culprit. The escapee was laughing, realising this person before him was the one fleeing. Watching the scene unfold, he caught him before soaking him in return, both enjoying the fun. The scene changed. Now, they were by a large expanse of water, and Hanor knew it to be Freemans Lake. They were swinging from a tree and this person fell and hurt his head. Concerned, the next scene was of this person in bed because of the fall. Nearly dying, Hanor’s emotions started flowing, connecting with each rising thought.
Another scene was of two people whom he sensed to be his parents. They were chasing them and play fighting. Pouring their love upon the two boys, as the images continued to flow, so too did the feelings. Tears cascaded down Hanor’s cheeks, knowing now who this individual was. Full of love and understanding, Nole smiled, sharing the images of their past with him.
From as far back as Hanor could remember, events played out to the finest detail. Observing himself grow into a young man, living a life of ease, he had enjoyed the freedoms without ever appreciating it. Wanting so much to remember this, unfolding here now brought a powerful relief. Intense, the remembrance was exhausting, but he did not want to look away.
Recollections of Brandor entered, both by the lake and when in their Leisure Room. Rainer’s severe training preceded the leaving of Manson with Kifter. Rolling like a giant play, images flowed unabated. Moving at lightening speed, every aspect was revealed. From Kifter’s kind efforts at making him a bed in the woods, to the dramatic arrival of Bane and Nole hotly pursued by the Freeloaver, nothing was missed. Moving from his own strange confrontation with it and the subsequent energies flowing from his heart, the setting was as intense as it was real. Roaming forward to their terrifying encounter at Ags Ole with the Nyshifter, the illuminated Nole watched it too. With all of the passion, laughter and pain, they were two minds as one. Now conscious of a hurt in his brother, the next scene unfolded. They were approaching a bridge, Kifter, Hallen, Bane, Nole and himself. Sadness was behind Nole’s smile, deep dark eyes hiding something. Sensitive to a coming pain, Hanor returned his attention to the inner images.
They were crossing the bridge with Nole walking nearby humming. Shocked, Hanor froze as the horrendous scenario played out before him of Nole’s dreadful departure from The Freelands. Hanor had ducked the Bovern, so it had snatched Nole instead. Wrenching sensations staggered him, destroying this reunion. Appalled and aggrieved, Hanor’s heart nearly burst from the up surging grief. This long-awaited time of remembrance was annihilated by the potency of what happened. Even the sounds of its jaws crunching was discernible, such was the reality of it.
Consumed by sorrow and disbelief, Hanor slumped to the floor. Heart spewing out all of its hidden hurt, he shook at some points, wailing uncontrollably at others. How was this possible? Where were the Sacred when this atrocity had happened? That cruel sound, he convulsed, feeling sick.
Long periods passed, the pain unquenchable. Prayers for help had been answered, but that was forgotten when a biting anger hijacked every thought. Not daring to look at his brother in case this was just an illusion, doubts seized him. Braving further truths, he looked up. Sadness was there in Nole, but so too love. Compassionate, a wave of affection swept across from him, a reassuring appeal to dissipate the grievance. Resisting, Hanor wanted to stay angry and blame the Sacred for what had happened. Powerless though against such an all-embracing peace, dispelling the harshness of condemnation and guilt, his resistance melted, more tears streaming.
“Hanor!” Nole’s sensitive voice chimed through the darkness. “Hanor!”
Glowing like something holy, Hanor found it difficult to talk to his brother. “I wanted this I know but... I did not believe it would be this bad.”
“Your pain I feel as you do, and as much as it touches me, there is so much more to this than you realise, Hanor. You have to be strong, for so many are depending on you.”
“Why did you have to be taken? Could it not have been done another way? It just seems so… pointless.” Back to his former self, Hanor’s memories now belonged to him, the veil of his illness finally disintegrating.
“There are reasons within reasons and plans within plans, but all work towards a final purpose. As hard as it appears, if you stand firm and succeed, the glory at the end will mean so much to so many.”
“What purpose? There is nothing that can justify what happened to you.”
“Because you see it from a restricted perspective, and not from a higher point of view. If I were to show you the Higher Plan, it might distract you from actually achieving it. You would probably deem it beyond your capabilities, but we know it is in you to achieve this. Therefore, you must learn to trust that which is within you.”
“I… do not know what you mean,” he said, unable to think straight.
“The fact my life was taken has enabled you to achieve the impossible. The fact you are here is miraculous. But if I had not, how would you have got down here?”
“You make it sound as though it was pre-planned?.”
“There are many plans but not all come to fruition. Take our situation here, you can choose to turn away from your purpose and go home, to see Mother and Father again. It has not been planned for you to do so, but you have that choice.”
“What you are talking about is... fate or destiny, I am not sure I believe in that.”
“It is similar to that, but nothing is fixed. There are many pathways we may take, but it is up to us.”
“You ask a great deal if you expect me to accept that after what I have just been through.” Hanor’s resistance was determined to fight back.
“My dear brother, you will not go any further than you desire. And with what you have just undergone, you are right, nobody can expect you to carry on as if nothing has happened. But that is not what is being asked of you. I am saying you must be strong if you are to succeed, nothing else. How you deal with it is up to you, but a choice has to be made. In seeing me, your eyes have been opened to the reality of the hereafter. All of our youth was spent ignorant of this possibility. We did not even care about it, did we? If we are to help save The Freelands, we must decide whether to see it through. You feel the love radiating from me to you, the harmony of it, if we want The Freelands to come to know such love, we have to help bring it about. Those who oversee our world will not just hand it to us, it is in our journey that so much is learnt and experienced. Pain, laughter, hate and love, but we must choose how we want it to end.”
“This does not make sense,” Hanor groaned, shell-shocked. The fullness of Nole’s love he could feel, but he could not get his mind around what was happening here.
“I would not encourage you in a direction you should not go. I would not condemn you either if you chose not to follow through with this. I love you no matter what…, but I can only help if you are willing.”
“I have questions but do not have the strength to ask. You are well, and I should be leaping with joy, but I feel dead inside as if something precious has been taken from me.”
“I have not been taken anywhere. I am part of you like you are part of me, and in that, we shall be together always. This is what it is like on this side, where pain and separation are seen for what they are. As you see me now, you will see me again when it is your time, but until then, you have to make the most of your life and do what you think is best. Not just for yourself, but for those around you. You have to search within and try to connect to the larger Life that surrounds you. In this you will never feel lonely or without purpose and meaning.”
“Are you talking about the Sacred?”
“It would not mean much to you if I simply said yes. You have to seek for yourself and then you will know. But you will not find it by living as we both once did.”
“I am so angry at them for this.”
“I know, but... do you want to stay angry or put it to one side and move forward?”
“How are you so calm about this? You lost your life here, does it not bother you?”
Nole smiled. “You seem to think that reality is more real than this one. The truth is both realities are interconnected, even closer than our relationship was as brothers. There are also other areas, of darkness and light, but it is all part of the wonderful Life we live in.”
“You are getting beyond me,” Hanor said, his mind a muddle. Possessing all of his memories, he needed time for this to sink in, but time was not on his side. Thoughts about his objective here turned towards the Stone and its importance. Leaving the present jumbled topic, emotions settled enough to press forward. “What is so important about this Stone I have to find anyway?” Peering round, “And where is it?”
Pleased to see his brother move on, hard as it was, Nole answered. “There is little I can say about it, for its purpose remains a mystery known only to those who are higher. But what I will say is... it is still here!”
From the glow of Nole’s presence, the chamber was bathed only in twilight. “Where?” Searching the ground and then the wall, Hanor could see no evidence to where it was. Looking back at his brother, when Nole took a few steps forward, Hanor stopped. “You really are… dead from this world,” he said. “But you seem... so alive!”
“I have never felt so alive,” Nole beamed. “So be glad that you have seen me. Countless people suffer the loss of loved ones, and know not that they still live.”
Hanor sighed. “I am… kind of getting used to this…, even if only in a small way.”
“That is a good sign,” Nole said, encouraged. “By the way, you are looking in the wrong direction.”
“I would love to give you a hug,” Hanor said, his brother sounding like his old self. Calming down, anger subsiding, somehow he felt connected to Nole like never before.
“If you tried, it would probably cause you further discomfort,” he joked. “Now…, why can you not see the Stone?”
“I do not know.”
“If you cannot see something…, does that mean it is not there?”
Considering this, he smirked. “You cannot see a smell.”
“Good Hanor, I did not think you would understand straight away.”
“You mean the Stone is a smell?”
“No…,” Nole laughed. “But the fact you can register something other than what you see is a great hint to where it is.”
“You mean I can smell my way to it?”
Nole did not respond.
Even though tired, the thought of actually obtaining the Stone lifted Hanor. Mulling the problem from various angles, he paced back and forth. “To register something invisible to the eye,” he kept repeating, searching every bump on the wall and ground. “Would it not be easier to just tell me?”
“Would it not be easier for the Sacred to just hand life to us without any toil?”
Hanor went back to his contemplating. “To register something,” he mused again. Some of the other senses he supposed fell into the same category, but tasting or hearing seemed wrong too.
“I will give you another clue,” Nole said, his brother coming to a standstill. “The outer Stone is… a reflection of the inner Stone.”
After some deliberation, “I do not get it,” Hanor said, looking back at the radiant Nole for help. Receiving no response, frustrated, he tried again. Brandor’s tale about Tarkon and his true love Shoona then sprung to mind. The Stone had represented his love for her. Love, he figured, you could not see. “Is it… love?”
“Can you see love?” Nole asked, straight-faced.
“No.”
“Show me love.”
“Show you… love? How can I show you love, it is not a physical thing? I can… share my love or express it. I do not see where this is going.”
“I know, it is a good thing one of us does. I said to you earlier that where I am is related to where you are, did I not?” Hanor nodded. “And if I was to add, over here, as we may call it, is much nearer to the Sacred than over there, is that reasonable?”
Experiencing the waves of love pulsing from Nole earlier, he would have to say yes. “I suppose.”
“So, something like the Stone, which is so highly regarded, would perhaps be more suited over here than over there, would you agree?” Hanor nodded again, befuddled. “Well, show me your love, and I will show you the Stone.”
Dissecting all that Nole said, what he was asking could not be understood by ordinary means. The Stone was probably hidden to protect it from being stolen or lost. Trusting his brother, his glowing countenance comforting, Hanor tried conjuring strong feelings of love towards him. Warm memories of the many things they had done together sprung to mind. No longer separated by the illness, his memories were his again, and he was now able to bask in their reruns. Reminiscing about different occasions, the one that worked was recalling the moment prior to his loss on that fatal bridge. Humming without a care in the world, Nole’s commitment to him showed what a loyal and loving brother he was. Dismissing his own turbulent reactions concerning the chimes and the horrors that followed, he felt harmonised, the love for Nole swelling. Reacting to the tender moment, joy soared above the sadness, the special moment belonging to both of them. Hot radiant feelings rose up in Hanor’s heart as a result, burning away all darkness and forms of separation. Intense, the heat felt like white fire blazing from the core of his being.
Lifting his hand, Nole pointed at the wall behind Hanor. Following the line indicated, Hanor caught his breath, marvelling at the spectacle. A crystal stone embedded in the wall shone brilliantly, its purifying rays lighting up the whole chamber. Signalling to a darkened world that it had returned, only now could Hanor see its potential, explaining why Brandor had sent them to retrieve it.
“Reach for it Hanor…, for it is yours to behold.”
“I... cannot take... that!” he stuttered, overawed.
“Take it whilst the love flows Hanor…, or its time will be missed.”
Edging forward, Hanor reached up. The light was dazzling. As his fingers broke its rays, his hand glowed red, each ray penetrating. It did not burn but stirred in his heart something even more wonderful. Hot like the sizzling sun, his whole chest was aflame, mirroring the power now emanating from the Stone. A timely reminder of when by the lake with Brandor, somehow igniting that inner light, he supposed the Dai-laman had planted it for this reason.
Leaving the questions for now, concentrating on the Stone instead, its smoothness and warmth was surprising. Feeling its shape, probing its edges, he gripped with his fingertips before pulling it from the socket in the wall.
Gazing down, Nole stood beside him in quiet awe. “It has waited this long…, hidden from the eyes of the people of The Freelands, until one would come and shine forth what it knows to be like Itself. And that is love Hanor, nothing more simpler than that. But love can only come from a pure heart with a pure intention.”
Savouring the experience for barely a moment, the light, like the blaze in Hanor’s chest, went out as if his hand had corrupted its splendour. With the fading of its rays, the chamber turned dark, disappointed by the change. Rotating it in his hand, feeling its size and weight, the flat rounded oval shape nestled in the palm of Hanor’s hand. Without the light, the Stone now looked black as night, and shinier than a polished floor. Mesmerised, his brother had said something. “What did you say, Nole?”
“It knows itself only as love,” Nole repeated, patient. “And in you, it saw itself. It will always remind you of the joy of love, for the Powers flowing through it is the essence of the Sacred. But to those who know not love…, I do not know how they will see it.”
“I am hardly worthy to hold this.”
“It is what is in you that it knows. It sees not the outer form but… the inner man.”
“I do not understand,” Hanor said, half-listening whilst turning it over.
“A time will come when you will.”
Lost to wonderment, the Stone now seemed no different from those found by Freemans Lake. To be so vibrant a short while before was astonishing. Holding it up between himself and his illuminated brother, not a trace of light penetrated it. How odd. Thoughts turned towards its use.
“So…, what am I to do with it?”
“You are certain yo