Volume 6, Issue 7

Part 78 of the ongoing saga of The Great Being, the One Self that manifests as each of us.
Previous episodes.

It was a short walk from the tavern to the seaside. Athenius and Sniike walked astride a few paces behind Melchizedek and Layla, who had kicked off their shoes and were reveling in digging their bare feet in the sand, holding hands and singing something the Greek and the Parsan could not make out.

They walked past some crude rowboats with cruder sail-rigs and stopped at a strange and unimpressive little vessel, smaller than anything else they had seen. Looking down into it, it looked as if there was something dark to sit on, but there were no oars or places to affix them, and certainly no sail.

“This is your boat?” Sniike remarked, now suspecting that the whole setup was a fraud.

“Yes, isn’t she a beauty?” Melchizedek asked proudly. “Layla picked the carpeting.” Layla looked humbly gratified. “It’s Parsan carpeting,” she said to Sniike, hoping he would take it is a compliment to his people. Sniike did a double-take as his eyes adjusted and he was able to make out the complex scrollwork. “I’ve never seen a Parsan carpet in a boat before,” Sniike confessed, “nor any other kind of carpet.”

“That’s the deep blue your carpetmakers call Perse,” Athenius, the man of the world, informed Sniike. Named in honor of Perse, Maitreya pathed into the minds of Melchizedek and Layla.

The ovoid boat with a deep blue scrollwork carpet and ringed with gold.

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Volume 6, Issue 6

Part 77 of the ongoing saga of The Great Being, the One Self that manifests as each of us.
Previous episodes.

Athenius scooped up the cosmic smartphone and tapped on it as he’d seen Melchizedek do. Cosmic smartphones had been around forever and once they assumed their present size and shape they had stopped changing appearance over time. Easy to use with one hand and almost weightless, able to call anyone in the Multiverse, they were almost as good as telepathy.

Sniike was still drawn back in ill-concealed terror, which he was gradually mastering. Melchizedek couldn’t see the screen with his eyes but through Athenius’s eyes he saw that the screen now showed the many text messages recently received. Now Athenius seemed shocked. “What is that?” he asked in a strong voice. He sensed something very important just out of reach of his mind.

“That’s called writing,” Melchizedek said gently. “You folks haven’t invented it yet.”

“Of course we’ve invented it,” Athenius retorted, insulted. “We use it to keep track of who owes what to whom.”

“Yes, we know,” Layla said and laid a friendly hand on his arm. “Writing has a great many other uses besides counting that you will appreciate.”

Athenius and Sniike were now very attentive. Layla had just made it clear they were being offered a Faustian bargain that they would be crazy to turn away. They were going to be taught and possibly equipped with powerful new weapons of dominance.

“Selling those trinkets are you?” Sniike asked, sidling up beside Layla.

“Not right now,” Layla said with a smile, “but we will send you home with a present.”

“Are you inviting us to your land?” Athenius asked, with his dignity returned. This seemed to confuse Sniike, who had not seen it coming. Layla simply nodded.

“We’d like a few days of your time to change your life and blow your mind,” Melchizedek said with a smile.

“What do you get out of it?” Sniike asked quickly.

“We want to help the best people lead the others,” Melchizedek said. Sniike seemed very flattered by this, not realizing that the Agents had selected Athenius and would just as soon be rid of Sniike if they could be.

Sniike was unsatisfied, suspicious, saying, “Yes, but you must want to get something for your selves…”

Athenius cut across him, “Sometimes a person does the right thing just because it is the right thing.” This embarrassed Sniike, who mumbled “Of course” unconvincingly. Continue reading →