My Dreamstate: Tashī's Passed-On Soul-Screen (Master’s Level-1 Instructions) – Pt. 2 Ch.1.6

A BANNER FLASHED ACROSS THE SCREEN, SWEEPING FROM RIGHT TO LEFT, A STARK CONTRAST TO THE SCENE BEFORE ME. THE WORDS APPEARED IN BOLD, VIVID LETTERS:

TASHĪ DALAI, YOU MUST LISTEN WITH YOUR WHOLE BEING. TASHĪ DALAI, YOU MUST LISTEN WITH YOUR WHOLE BEING. TASHĪ DALAI, YOU MUST LISTEN WITH YOUR WHOLE BEING.

WITHOUT FEAR.

THE VOICE, DEEP AND RESONANT, FILLED THE SPACE AROUND ME, PRESSING AGAINST THE WALLS, SEEPING INTO MY VERY BONES. IT WAS NOT A COMMAND BUT AN INVOCATION, A SACRED DIRECTIVE THAT CARRIED WITH IT THE WEIGHT OF AGES, OF WISDOM PASSED DOWN THROUGH THE EONS. IT WAS A VOICE THAT TRANSCENDED TIME, A VOICE THAT SPOKE TO THE VERY ESSENCE OF WHO I WAS, WHO I HAD ALWAYS BEEN.

THE SCREEN FLICKERED ONCE AGAIN, AND THE BATTLEFIELD TRANSFORMED. IT WAS NO LONGER A MERE IMAGE, BUT SOMETHING MORE PROFOUND. SOMETHING BEYOND THE MORTAL LENS, BEYOND THE CONFINES OF TIME AND SPACE. I COULD FEEL THE SHIFT WITHIN ME, A STIRRING DEEP WITHIN MY SOUL. THE WALLS OF MY PERCEPTION BEGAN TO CRUMBLE, AND FOR A BRIEF MOMENT, I COULD SENSE SOMETHING FAR GREATER THAN MYSELF—AN OVERWHELMING PRESENCE THAT WASHED OVER ME LIKE A TIDAL WAVE. IT WAS THE FORCE OF THE UNIVERSE ITSELF, GUIDING ME TOWARD SOMETHING MORE.

NOW, YOU WILL SLOWLY LOSE CONSCIOUSNESS.

THE WORDS ECHOED IN MY MIND, GROWING FAINTER, AS THOUGH THE VOICE WAS RETREATING INTO THE DISTANCE. MY BREATH QUICKENED, MY BODY TREMBLING AS IF IT WERE BEING PULLED APART, DISSOLVED INTO THE VERY ELEMENTS THAT MADE UP THE UNIVERSE. I COULD FEEL THE WEIGHT OF IT, THE CRUSHING PRESSURE THAT THREATENED TO OBLITERATE EVERYTHING I HAD EVER KNOWN.

MY BREATH CAME SHALLOW, RAGGED. THE SCREEN BEFORE ME BLURRED, OR PERHAPS IT WAS MY VISION THAT FALTERED. THE WORLD SEEMED TO TILT, AS IF REALITY ITSELF WERE SHIFTING BENEATH MY FEET. SOMETHING INSIDE ME BEGAN TO UNRAVEL, TO PEEL AWAY LIKE THE SKIN OF A FRUIT, EXPOSING THE CORE OF MY BEING. IT WAS AS IF I WERE BEING UNDONE, MY VERY ESSENCE UNRAVELING, DISSOLVING INTO THE ETHER.

🐉 INSTRUCTIONS LEVEL-1 #(2) 🐉

THE MOMENT IS COMING. THE TIME HAS ARRIVED. IT IS TIME TO RECOGNIZE YOURSELF.

I REMEMBERED THAT LINE WELL. IT HAD STRUCK ME, ESPECIALLY NOW, WITH SUCH FORCE THAT IT FELT LIKE A BLOW TO THE CHEST. THE WORDS WERE SIMPLE, BUT THEY CARRIED WITH THEM A DEPTH OF MEANING THAT I HAD NOT FULLY UNDERSTOOD UNTIL THIS VERY MOMENT. THE TIME HAD COME TO RECOGNIZE MYSELF—TO UNDERSTAND WHO I TRULY WAS, BEYOND THE VEIL OF ILLUSION, BEYOND THE CONFINES OF THE BODY AND THE MIND.

I COULD HEAR DRAKOS EXHALE SHARPLY, HIS BREATH ALMOST INAUDIBLE AS HE WATCHED THE SCREEN WITH RAPT ATTENTION. ANOTHER GOLDEN THREAD CURLED UPWARD FROM THE BODY OF A FALLEN SOLDIER, TREMBLING IN THE AIR AS IF CAUGHT BETWEEN TWO WORLDS. THE BATTLEFIELD REMAINED FROZEN, ITS SUFFERING ETERNAL, YET IT WHISPERED TO THE SOULS OF THE FALLEN, URGING THEM TO RECOGNIZE THEIR TRUE NATURE, TO TRANSCEND THE PAIN AND THE SORROW.

"THE SCRIPTURE OF THE ARTS OF ESCAPING REAL DYING AND LIVING SAYS," I MURMURED, MY VOICE BARELY ABOVE A BREATH.

"TTHAT DEATH IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MOMENT OF OUR LIFE."

DRAKOS NODDED SOLEMNLY, HIS EYES DARK WITH MEANING. "YES, INDEED, ŚRI. PRETTY GOOD."

I DID NOT SMILE. THE WORDS FELT FRAGILE, INCONSEQUENTIAL IN THE FACE OF WHAT I WAS WITNESSING. THE GOLDEN THREAD HOVERED IN THE AIR, SWAYING GENTLY, AS IF DECIDING WHETHER TO RISE OR FALL. THE PIT BELOW IT CONSUMED THE BODIES, DRAGGING THEM INTO THE ABYSS, YET SOME SHIMMERED BEFORE THEY WERE TAKEN. WAS THIS A CHOICE? A FATE? THE BATTLEFIELD, FROZEN IN ITS ENDLESS SUFFERING, HELD ITS SECRETS CLOSE.

DRAKOS’S GAZE FLICKED TO ME, HIS EYES HEAVY WITH UNSPOKEN WISDOM.

“THAT’S 🐉 INSTRUCTIONS LEVEL-1 #(3) 🐉 FOR NOW. AND DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHY?”

I SHOOK MY HEAD SLIGHTLY, MY THOUGHTS A TANGLED WEB. WORDS SEEMED TOO FRAGILE IN THE FACE OF THE ENORMITY OF WHAT I WAS WITNESSING. I HAD COME TO UNDERSTAND SOMETHING, YET IT WAS STILL BEYOND MY GRASP. THE PIT CONTINUED TO CONSUME THE FALLEN, THE BATTLEFIELD REMAINED FROZEN IN ITS ETERNAL TORMENT, AND THE GOLDEN ESSENCE—THE SOUL—DRIFTED UPWARD, CAUGHT BETWEEN TWO WORLDS, CAUGHT BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH.

THE CHOICE, I REALIZED, WAS NEVER MINE TO MAKE. THE SOUL WOULD RISE OR FALL ACCORDING TO THE DICTATES OF THE UNIVERSE, AND IN THAT MOMENT, I UNDERSTOOD THAT ALL THINGS—LIFE, DEATH, AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN—WERE PART OF A GREATER WHOLE. THE SOUL, LIKE THE BATTLEFIELD, WAS IMPERMANENT, FLEETING, AND YET, IN ITS FLEETINGNESS, IT HELD THE KEY TO TRANSCENDENCE.

AND SO, I STOOD THERE, SUSPENDED IN TIME, CAUGHT BETWEEN THE REALMS OF LIFE AND DEATH, WAITING FOR THE NEXT INSTRUCTION, WAITING FOR THE NEXT REVELATION THAT WOULD GUIDE ME TOWARD MY TRUE SELF.