WiseMen

The terror of the dream had awakened him.  Engaged in a ferocious battle with a Samurai warrior, a battle that seemed to go on for hours, Carl had floundered in absolute horror when the sword cut him deeply, initiating the sensation of falling.  Knowing he was suddenly a victim of an indulgence, the living act of metempsychosis practiced by the Sapientis, he struggled to escape the darkness, to awaken before his life was stolen away, all while the eerie toll of a gong resounded somewhere in the distance. 

Breaking free of the dream, Carl struggled to awaken fully, and was startled to realize a gong tolled somewhere outside his bedroom at the front of the house.

Carl’s bedroom was located in the front corner of the large, rambling stone house that was Strode Manor.  The house had been built on the east bank of the Merrimack River upon the open meadows of an ancient river bottom.  The three-story house, with full dormers jutting from a mansard roof, remained much as it had been for over two hundred years. 

Shaking off the dream, the residue of sleep, Carl wrestled with the reality of a gong tolling loudly, leaving him confused and bewildered as he rose from his bed.  His naked muscular body shivered slightly in the cold room.  He looked to the fireplace to see only smoldering embers in the fieldstone hearth as he stumbled to the window, careful to stay to one side, and peered out through the lace curtain. 

There, amidst a gale of heavily falling snow, Carl was startled to see a large Japanese man, dressed in a heavy kimono and kamishimo, with a straw Ronin gasa upon his head, kneeling some twenty feet from the front gate to the house. 

Before the samurai was a katanakake where two swords, a katana and a wakizashi, rested in wooden sheaths.  Just beyond him was a boy who appeared to be in his early teens, dressed similar to the warrior.  He wore a straw Sando gasa to protect his head and shoulders from the falling show.  A round, twelve-inch gong hung between two trees by cords of rope and the boy beat rhythmically upon it with a gong mallet, causing the incessant vibrations echoing in Carl’s head.

Carl stood transfixed, benumbed by the scene outside his window and it’s uncanny resemblance to his dream.

What the hell is going on now? 

giant orb in the ceiling, which immediately illuminated the room.  The bolt shot into the orbiting crystals and then into the two crowns upon the heads of Carl and Thaddeus.  Suddenly, a single stream of blue/white light connected the two crowns. 

Carl felt as though the top of his head had been lifted off and white light poured into it.  A tingling, pleasurable sensation seemed to flood his brain.  His eyes rolled back, his being was swept up in the sensation.  Suddenly he felt as though he had opened his eyes, immediately he recoiled in shock of what he saw.  Only the astral field of the universe floated around him.  Billions of stars filled the dark field of the universe, and then he seemed to streak along at incredible speed, passing whole galaxies, black holes and numerous gaseous fields of star birthing wombs.  Then, just as suddenly, white light filled his mind and his eyes truly fluttered open, only to see the telepathist pulling the coronet from his own head and stepping away.  The beam of electricity had ceased to strike the orb.

Carl looked around, bewildered, overcome by the event that had begun and ended so quickly.  He lowered his face, closing his eyes, trying to absorb the surreal and wondrous moment he had just experienced.  Then, sensing the activity of the mechanism on the wall, Carl raised his head and watched as the electrical device disappeared behind the crest and the small crystal orb slid back into place.  The bailiffs approached Carl, removed the coronet, and returned to their posts.

Thaddeus stared at Carl for several minutes.  Carl was surprised to see the little man’s lip quivering and a fearful look emanating from his eyes.  

“I’m sorry,” he said to Carl. 

Carl felt bewildered by the man’s apology.  Slowly, Thaddeus turned and faced the tribunal.

“Mr. Winnamaker, your impressions and deductions?”

“I,” Thaddeus hesitated.  “I am hesitant to proceed as I am hard-pressed to believe what I have discovered.”

“You will proceed Mr. Winnamaker and allow the tribunal to decide upon what you have discovered and its relevance in this matter.  I demand an immediate summation of your analysis, sir.