The Tunnel - Part 4

The next morning, Atesta woke up and looked around the well lit chamber that she discovered the night before.  The ceiling was very high, with intricate carvings, and in the shape of a dome.  The chamber was round and the walls also had intricate drawings, including doors and windows with incredibly realistic nature scenes, but they were all just paintings.

She grabbed some of the sand from the floor and opened her hand to take a closer look and something very strange happened.  The sand started to float up, grain by grain, from her hand towards the top of the dome.  

She stood up and noticed that more sand would now float up.  She also noticed that she felt lighter when standing up than when sitting.  It was like there was a gravitational pull from above that was not strong enough to pull her up but enough to make her feel lighter.

As she collected her things, she started to wonder where the sand that went up was going.  So, she grabbed more sand and threw it up in the air.  All of it would go up and converge in the zenith of the dome.  But there was no accumulation as far as she could tell.  It did not matter how much sand she would send upwards.  

She could not tell what was at the zenith but she began to wonder whether she would be able to break through the force that kept her down by jumping high enough.  She wanted to see the zenith and the carvings around it. 

After a few attempts, and after taking her shoes off and emptying her sack of everything but the cube, she finally succeeded.  At first it was like floating in mid-air but then she began to feel the acceleration upwards.  When she floated to the top, she had to put her hands up to avoid hitting the ceiling with her head.  

Once there, she turned around and sat down on the ceiling.  She was upside down but it did not feel like it.  If she looked up she could now see the sand floor and her things way below.  

She began studying the carvings in the dome when she noticed that at the very zenith, a familiar inlaid carving lay there, just like the one by the waterfall and in the amulet around her neck.  

She tried to touch the carving but, again, her hand just went through it.  It was there but it wasn't.

She pulled herself closer and forced her whole body though it without hesitation.  She knew this was the way.  She also knew that most likely she would not be able to come back.  But she did not mind, she felt she was getting closer to her father.  She also knew somehow that she needed to hurry.

As she went through the zenith, she found herself submerged in water not being able to breath.  She saw light above and swam straight up until she emerged over the surface of the water gasping for air.  

She looked around and realized she was floating in a sort of large water hole in what looked like an oasis in the middle of the desert, sand dunes and palm trees all around it.  She noticed a person, a fisherman, on the shore staring at her in awe.

She swam towards him.  Once at the shore, Atesta noticed the fisherman had a long beard and was unusually tall and skinny.  She could not tell how old he was but he had a calm demeanor that inspired trust. Atesta said hello and told him her name and that she was looking for her father.  The fisherman, still in awe and carefully observing her, replied in a language that Atesta did not understand.

The fisherman had trunk next to him with supplies and other things.  He dug out a blanket for Atesta to warm up, and some fish and rice for her to eat.  Sitting around a small fire they looked at each other in silence for a while.  Atesta knew this was somebody special but could not explain how she knew.

After she ate, the man went back to his trunk and pulled out a package from his bag and gave it to her.  It was a book with a hard cover made out of glass.  As soon as she touch it, the book started glowing and pulsating like a heart.

TO BE CONTINUED ...

The Tunnel - Part 3

Atesta was sitting at the edge of the pond that formed at the bottom of the big waterfall. The whole setting was very special.  A lava stream many years ago solidified at the top of the waterfall creating a suspended ledge. The waterfall seemed to jut into mid air and drop right in the center of the pond, covering a big short cave behind it like a crystal curtain. 

Atesta was sitting there trying to understand all of the coincidences that brought her to this point. A cube with lines and patterns that when applied to the map converged here. A ball inside the cube that only in this place shined the brightest and changed colors. An old entry from the map journal that she kept with her father that said that this is "where the water, the light, the sound, and the colors can form a mirror to the universe where you can see what you desire most.”

Atesta thought about it.  What does she desire most? That was easy, to get her father back. But, what is she supposed to do now that she is here. She stared at the waterfall as the sun set.  It was a beautiful setting that reminded her of the many times she and her father sat at this very spot to talk about things.

All of a sudden, as she watched the sun setting reflected in the waterfall, she was able to see a tunnel behind the water.  But she knew there was nothing behind the water that looked like that.  She got up and walked around the pond until she was behind the waterfall where the tunnel was supposed to be.  All she could see was a wall of rocks at the back of the cave.  But wait.  There was a carving inlaid in the stone. No bigger than the size of her hand.  It was the same carving in the amulet Atesta carried around her neck and the one inside the ball in the cube.

As she tried to touch it her hand went through the rocks as if there was nothing there.  She got closer and the wall was definitely there, but it wasn't there.  She tried it again and saw her entire hand and arm disappear.  She knew this a sign.  She knew this was the way.

She turned around and she saw the last glimpse of the sun as it fell below the horizon shinning through the waterfall, she could hear the birds.  She missed her mother. She tuned around and walked through the rock.

On the other side, she found herself in the tunnel that she had seen through the waterfall.  Behind her, a wall, a real, impenetrable wall, right where she just came through.  She knew there was no way back now. 

The tunnel had a natural glow to it.  A kind of blue like a full moon.  She walked for a few hours until she arrived at a chamber, deep in the mountain, with a tall cathedral vault and a floor made of sand.  She was tired. She stopped to eat something and fell asleep. 

TO BE CONTINUED ...

The Tunnel - Part 2

So, this is how the mysterious journey began.

After saying goodbye to Atesta, Atesta's father left the village that same day carrying only a small sack with some food and some water. He promised Atesta's mother that he would be back one way or another with the cure.

All that people remember now is that a few days after his departure, a small wooden cube with intricate carvings all around had shown up at the doorstep of Atesta's home. Inside there was a round ball that seemed to glow from within. Inside the ball, a small amulet could be seen. The amulet was in the shape of a bone carving that Atesta's father had made for her when she was 6 and that she still carried on a leather string around her neck.

They say that as soon as Atesta's mother brought the box into her room, she opened her eyes and reached out for the cube. She hugged the cube tightly for 2 days without waking up. And on the second day, she woke up, walked to her mother, hugged her, and told her she was better now.

Atesta has told people in the village that at the moment she felt the cube in the room, she felt her father's presence and also that she knew that he was alive somewhere.

Nobody really knew what had happened to Atesta's father or if he was still alive. It had been almost a year since he was seen leaving the village. Atesta knew he was still alive somehow but, recently, she also began feeling a worsening sensation that he was in trouble. She could not explain how she knew. All she knew is that she had to go help him.

For months, Atesta stared at the cube and whispered things into it as she ran her fingers through the intricate carvings on the outside. People thought that was strange but they wondered if the old bond somehow was transcending time and space.

The lines and patterns on the cube were becoming more and more familiar but Atesta did not know why. For months, she took long walks to all the special places she would visit with her father. The caves, the ponds, the creeks, the meadows. She would carry the cube everywhere she went.

Early on she noticed that the round ball inside the cube changed colors and intensity as she walked. It was brighter at the entrance of the caves, bluer when she was close to water, and redder when closer to the meadows. She started tracking and documenting the intensity and color on an old map that her father and her used to record the amazing things that they would see everyday in their walks.

This map was very special to her, and old. When Atesta was 4, her father gave her the map and told her that from this point forward they would record the most beautiful, meaningful, and special things they would see everyday day. But only one thing everyday. He had said that this was a way to better understand the one thing's magic and connection to the universe.

And this is how their bedtime ritual had started. Every night, at bedtime, Atesta and her father would review their day and select the one thing that deserved to be recorded in their map. It was like a diary of a journey of discoveries of the miracles of the world. As a result, they also learned a great deal about each other.

Today, as she looked at the map and some of the old entries, she realized that the lines documenting the ball's color and intensity began to resemble the patterns on the cube and, for the first time, she realized that many of the lines seemed to converge into one distinct area.

Immediately, she knew what that meant. She ran back to the village to collect a few things. She was going to find her father.

She was 14 now and felt confident enough and old enough to do anything humanly possible to find her father and bring him back. She knew people in the village would not agree with what she was about to do so she decided to not tell anybody. She did write a note for her mother explaining that she had to do this. That she could not live a life knowing her father needed her.

And, as her father before her, she left the village with a small sack with some food, some water, her maps, and the cube. And she set out towards the big cave. The one behind the big waterfall. The one where they had written on the map many years ago that this is“where the water, the light, the sound, and the colors can form a mirror to the universe where you can see what you desire most.”

She knew this is where she had to go. She knew this is where her father went.

To be continued ...