The Immortal - Book 1
-- by Joseph John (JJ) Dewey
The Attack Of Darkness - Chapter 17
I had a feeling I should not leave Elizabeth alone for long
and I should return as soon as possible. I found that my hunch
was right when I returned home and found her wheelchair was empty.
"Elizabeth!" I shouted
There was no answer.
I started searching all the rooms in the house. Finally I heard
a whimpering coming from the bathroom. I ran inside and found
Elizabeth in a corner with a look of terror on her face with tears
drying on her cheeks.
"Sweetheart, what happened? How did you even get in here
with no wheelchair."
"I needed you and you were gone. I told you that I didn't
want you to go."
"Here, let me help you back into your wheelchair and we'll
talk." I lifted her up and carried her back to her chair.
She was clinging to me very tightly, softly crying. "There.
Now I'll make you a cup of tea and we'll talk."
I made us both some herb tea and sat down facing her across
the table. "OK. Now tell me what happened."
She looked at me and suddenly a look of terror took over her
face like I had never seen before. She screamed "It's him!"
and started wheeling away from me as fast as she could.
I ran after her and caught her and forced her to look at me
again. "Look at me! It's me. No one else."
"I saw his face. Your face became his face!"
"Whose face?" I asked with no small amount of frustration.
"When you left I felt tired and fell asleep in my chair.
I dreamed I was at this flea market where there were all kinds
of people hacking their wares. I was in my wheelchair, but managed
to wheel my way around from booth to booth until I came to one
that seemed to me manned by John. I thought it odd that he was
wearing dark sunglasses and I wheeled my way closer and saw that
he was selling all kinds of scarves and fine handkerchiefs. As
soon as he noticed me he said: I know what you want. He
picked up an old wooden box and opened it up and pulled out the
old red handkerchief.
"Can I have it?' I pleaded.
"Of course you can have it my dear. Here, grab hold.'
"He dangled the handkerchief in front of me and I grabbed
an end and immediately I felt my strength returning, but was puzzled
by the fact that John held on to the other end. Are you going
to let me have it?" I asked?
"On just one condition', John said.
"And that would be?'
"Look into my eyes for six seconds.
"It seemed like an odd request to me and something about
him seemed unlike John. His voice, the sunglasses, the request
- it seemed really strange. Nevertheless, I wanted the handkerchief
and his request seemed harmless so I agreed.
"Then he said, After you have looked into my eyes for
six seconds you can have the handkerchief. He took off his
sunglasses and to my horror I saw that his eyes had no pupils
or iris. They were entirely white. I was surprised, but I really
wanted the handkerchief so I looked back at him. Suddenly, I felt
the most evil feeling anyone can imagine. Then I felt myself paralyzed
as I felt my very life force being sucked from my body. I wanted
to turn away, but couldn't. I somehow sensed when the six seconds
were up, I would be doomed to death, extinction, Hell...who knows
what."
"So, did you look at him for the six seconds?" I
asked, anxious to hear her answer.
"In a way the few seconds I did look seemed like an eternity,
but somehow internally I seemed to sense the true passing of seconds.
During the first three seconds the man's face changed and I saw
that this person was not John. He was an older effeminate-looking
man with white hair. Right around the fifth second he smiled.
It was a smile I never want to see again. It made an evil shiver
go all the way through me. The smile seemed as if it belonged
to serial killer who is watching his victim die and enjoying the
moment of death. At that instant I cried out to God in my heart
to give me strength, and just before the sixth second I received
power to turn away and instantly woke up."
I gave her a hug and said, "My poor sweetheart. What a
terrible experience."
"That's not all," Elizabeth continued. "After
I woke up I realized it seemed real but consoled myself in the
fact that it was just a dream. But then to my side I sensed that
same awful presence, similar to what happened to you. I tried
to wheel myself away from it but it felt like the brake was on.
Somehow I fell out of my chair and found myself crawling away.
I turned and looked toward the presence again and saw a faint
outline of the white-haired man and heard his words in a whisper.
You are dead anyway, why not give your life to me."
"I shouted, NO!"
"Then he said something very strange. Tell your husband
I know who I AM. I AM THAT I AM. I AM SELF. I, the self, is all
that matters. Then he disappeared, but I still felt his presence
and crawled into the bathroom where you found me."
"Is his presence still here?" I asked.
"I felt it again when I saw his face instead of yours,
but it seems to be gone now."
"It's funny that I felt his presence before, but not now,"
I said. "Maybe evil must be revealed as well as good."
"I'm just glad you're here," Elizabeth said with
a weak smile. "I never want you to leave me again."
I hugged her again. "You would think going through this
disease would be plenty for your share of pain in life without
having to go through something like this."
"I'll tell you this." she said with a deep sigh.
"I thought I knew what fear was when I found out that I had
an incurable disease, but that was nothing compared to the shear
terror I felt today. It was as if my soul was at stake, in addition
to my life." Elizabeth was still shaking, and I continued
to hold her close.
"I know," I nodded. "I felt that presence. You
really do have to experience it to understand the feelings it
can generate." I took a deep breath and let Elizabeth go.
"I think it's time we finished that cup of tea."
We seated ourselves around the table again after micro waving
the tea so it was hot again and resumed our conversation. I asked,
"This entity made an interesting statement about who he thinks
we are. Now how did he word that?"
"He said to tell you I AM. I AM THAT I AM. I AM SELF.
I, the self, is all that matters."
I replied, "What I find interesting here is that John
said that I AM THAT I AM is a mistranslation. It's interesting
to compare the two translations. I am implies a static
condition and is another way of saying self. I AM BECOMING
implies an evolving condition that involves looking outside of
self. In a weird way this makes a lot of sense to me. To the good
guys out there, self is not the ultimate, but what the self evolves
into in connection with all other selves is the thing. But to
the bad guys all there is self, so every goal they have is to
only benefit the self as they see it."
"Why do you suppose his eyes had only whites?" Elizabeth
asked, calmer now, but I could tell the memory of the event was
still horrifying to her.
"I'm not sure. Maybe it's a symbol of their blindness."
"So do you think the New Agers are wrong when they tell
us to look to the self for everything?"
"Maybe they just don't have the whole truth. On the other
hand, the Christians could be equally as wrong for stressing the
translation I AM instead of I AM BECOMING. It seems that both
the New Agers and the Christians may have inadvertently put undue
attention on the self."
"The funny thing is that this evil entity may have helped
us rather than hindered," said Elizabeth, stirring her tea.
"Is it possible that when all is said and done we are just
individual selves?"
"In some way we are individual selves and for the Dark
Brothers that's where it ends. Thus, all they do is for selfish
ends. But the keynote of the Brothers of Light is unselfishness.
Therefore, they see something beyond self or greater than self.
Somehow, I feel that the word BECOMING is a key one here.
Perhaps self is meaningless to those in the light because they
are in a state of evolution. Therefore the self tomorrow would
be a different self than the self today."
"And, by contrast, the unevolving self would be the same
tomorrow as it is today," Elizabeth added.
"And the fascinating thing to me is that this is one of
the main perceptions that people have of God - that He is the
same yesterday, today and forever. When you think of it, this
concept would make for a very boring God, wouldn't it?" I
mused.
"Maybe that's one of the reasons I turned off religion
so much. I always relished new experiences and everything about
religion seems to be centered around keeping things the way they
are now and not rocking the boat with any changes." She paused
and finished her tea, then asked, "So what did you and Wayne
come up with about the first key?"
"It seems that everything we've come up with that we could
possibly be so far is a vehicle of some kind. Even consciousness
itself is like a camera our real self uses. So we finally came
up with something that John can't say is a vehicle."
"And what would that be?"
"Everything is created by vibration, action or motion,
so that has to be what we are."
"Sounds like a strange answer to me."
"But think about it. If everything was still, there would
be no interplay; and if even the vibrations that make the atom
were stilled, there would be nothing to exist. We must be composed
of some type of vibration in motion; and if it ceased to exist,
then we would cease to exist. Therefore, we must be composed of
movement itself. That would explain why we are becoming."
"Maybe, and it is a good thought, but it doesn't feel
right to me," Elizabeth said frowning.
"It may not be right, but it's the best I can come up
with at the moment. I have a feeling that we're getting close.
I think the next hint will tell the tale."
"I hope so," Elizabeth sighed. "I don't know
how much longer my strength can hold out."
I took Elizabeth's hand. "You'll make it, Sweetie. When
we solve the third key John is committed to healing you."
"If you could solve even the first one I would be encouraged,"
she said. "It appears that you're trying to find an answer
that has eluded the best philosophers in history. What makes you
think that you can go beyond anything that has ever been done?"
"No one else had the apostle John to help them, "
I said softly.
"But John's been wandering the earth for two thousand
years. Maybe they have had his help. Maybe this will be harder
than you think."
Good point I thought to myself as I tried to assure her that
we will solve the keys.