En Passant...Part 1

The journey back to my body went by a different route. After disengaging from Kenny I found an openning down into the Spirit World and followed the path down to my usual entrance point. I quickly found myself on that now familiar path to the clearing where the Tree waited for me.

It was with more than a little smugness that I stepped into the clearing to face my....my what? Could I really call a tree a mentor?

In any event, I was a little cocky when I stepped into that clearing, intent on proving the Tree that it had been all wrong about me and what I could do.

“Hey Tree, I did it, I saved my son from that bastard Drake!”

Silence.

“What, you can’t handle it when you are wrong? Cat got your tongue Tree?”

More silence.

“You know, you could be more helpful here. I was hoping to get an idea of what to do next, now that Kenny is safe.”

This was getting to be silly.

I walked up to the trunk of the Tree and touched it with my now fleshy fingertips. Nothing seemed any different than before. Still cool and metallic to the touch. The branches were shifting in the breeze as they had in the past, but there was no sense to the sounds. The damn thing was ignoring me.

I walked around the trunk towards the back, where the cave openning was. I was feeling drawn to the pool again.

Uh oh.

I entered the cave, bending down to fit inside it, following the stairwell down into the lightly illuminated chamber. The only sounds around me were the gentle breathing of the Tree and the drip drop of the water into the pool that filled the back half of the small chamber.

A cold pit formed in my stomach as I approached the pool and bent down to look into the water.

The ripples from the last drop were just fading away when the image of a large building surrounded by a lot of palm trees and an expanse of swampy marches. There was no visible road leading up to the building, but a couple of odd looking, flat bottomed boats were pulled up to a dock that stuck out into the water. Another such boat was pulling up, propelled by a huge fan on the back. Several people were in this rather large air boat, as I believe they are called.

I could make out the image of Drake’s smallish figure, as well as Papa Locks and the monster that he had made out of Greg. A few other men in suits were with them, as well as the ‘driver’ of the boat, a raffish looking man dressed more like Crocodile Dundee than anything else. Two other figures caught my attention though, my daughter Jasmine and my ex-wife.

Jasmine was looking scared and wide-eyed, especially as the Greg-monster got close to her, but Papa Locks seemed to be keeping a tight leash on the monster. It seemed to lick its lips in anticipation.

I sat there stunned as I saw this, knowing somehow that this was the end of the vision that I had interrupted in my haste to save Kenny. This time, I was unable to move as the vision played out.

The men in suits escorted my daughter and ex towards a set of double doors into the building. Someone openned the doors from the inside, I could see additional figures inside the well lit interior. The place was a veritable fortress.

I desperately wanted the vision to take me inside the building, but the image seemed to be withdrawing slightly, and falling closer to the level of the water, just as the water of the vision began to obscure the building itself, a fresh set of ripples caused by new drops from ceiling broke the vision up.

I sat there for a moment, determined not to interrupt any new images it wanted to show me, but nothing new materialized.

“Damn you Tree! How did this happen?!?”

The gentle breathing stopped, the familiar whispery voice of the Tree became audible again. “You are not the only resourceful, determined person. Just as you make plans and exert your Will, others of strength exert theirs as well.”

“Why didn’t you show me this before?”

“Had you but exercised patience, you would have seen these images.”

I knew in my heart that the Tree was telling the truth. I had been so determined to save Kenny from Drake that I didn’t stop to think what else might happen. “Can I possibly stop this from happening?”

“These events have already been set in motion, just as they were with your son.”

“But I saved him! Maybe I can save Jasmine and Katherine too?”

“Did you change what happened with your son? Did not the images happen as you saw them take place?”

“Yeah, but the result was different! I convinced him not to go!”

“Did the images show your son actually go anywhere?”

“No, but...”

“The images shown to you by the pool will occur as you have seen them. These events are already in motion. These images are previews of what you will experience at some point in the near future. With that foresight, you can more wisely plan for these events.”

“You mean what I have seen will happen no matter what, but that I can affect how prepared I am for that event?”

“Impressive, a first lesson learned. There are intersections in time. Places where multiple strands of possible futures intersect. If you know where the intersection-or Convergence- occurs, you may choose the path that is most advantageous to your cause, whatever that cause may be.”

“How do I know when this will take place though?”

“The ‘when’ of this event is dictated in part by the path that you and others who may know of the event choose.”

“Does Drake have access to this kind of knowledge?”

“I am your Yggsdrasil, not his. It is quite possible though that he may have access to such knowledge and use it accordingly.”

“Damn. Then how do I know which path to take, or even what paths there are to take?”

“The paths to a Convergence are numerous, both for you and for any others involved in the event.”

“Can you give me anything less cryptic to work with here? This is my family again!”

“Wisdom is earned, not given.” With that the damn Tree resumed it’s breathing, the branches sighing in the winds of the Spirit World.

I went up the stairs, stooping low to exit the cave through the bunch of roots that framed the entrance. As I stood up and stretched, I noticed a leaf that was falling.

I reached up and caught the leaf before it hit the ground. I turned it over and saw the image it revealed. I looked up at the Tree and cried out. “NOOO!!!”