As I sit in my bed in next to a guy about 3 years younger than myself named Tai, I think. I think about how this whole day has been pretty odd, or week, or month. I guess the whole experience has been pretty weird and I don’t know how long I’ve been away from home. I start to backwards through my memory and I notice that I no longer just remember things. That is, in the past I often simply thought of blurry and fragmented memories, but at this moment, I am physically moving from my place alone in my bed at the monastery to an office building in Dubai hugging my mom.
I look down and see the tear drops escaping her eyes,
“By, Ton! I’ll see you in about a month or so.”
“Mom. Please. It won’t be forever. I’ll be back as soon as I get a few vacation days.”
I finished school about 4 months ago, and almost right away I found an interning position in the IT branch of company that mom owns. The position was one of a few openings, and I didn’t want to do the other jobs. One was a custodian, which wouldn’t be terrible, but I don’t like puke after getting a stomach bug near the end of my school days and passing the bug on to my roommates in my apartment. There wasn’t a single part of the apartment that was safe from puke. I remember finding some bits as well as some slimy stuff behind the refrigerator about a month later.
Anyway, I picked this job because a lot of my experiences have been in line with an IT position. In college, I worked at the helpdesk, and in high school I was interested in computers so much that I was offered a volunteer position along with the other Networking Specialists. That position was mainly getting them coffees and filing paperwork, but there were times where the head would be given a fried PC, and he would be tasked with fixing it. He had me come in to check it out, and he had me check certain issues that may have been related. Then he did more technical work and we would go our separate ways.
In middle school, I also was simply intrigued by electrical stuff. My parents, especially my dad would get so irritated when his calculators or alarm clocks would be taken apart. He wouldn’t get so terribly mad though, but I would replace all the parts and return the devices to their working order though.
Now, I still love that type of work but I will repair any of the charger-related parts. I simply don’t feel that I understand electricity enough. I love my job though because I am able to answer phones, take important details, along with a device if that’s the case, enter the information into the Helpdesk system, but sometimes also participate in the repairs, if they are not too technical. For instance, if they require software support, such as reinstalling a program or running a virus scan and making sure their product is running smoothly, I can help.
Anyway, I was visiting my mom in Dubai since she has been in the corporate headquarters there overseeing a transfer of power from the ex-president to a board of trustees. The ex-president is actually loved by many and became one of the board-members. She was to stay there for about another month and then to return Stateside to the main branch in Boston.
There are many main braches, like one in New York and one in Los Angeles that are meant to actually oversee all work is done correctly in the area, but my mom grew up 10 minutes from Boston and that’s the city that she, my brother, and myself call home. Though first I am going to Los Angeles to enjoy the sun, the surf, and some good old eye-candy.
In about an instant, I visualize myself standing in line at the Dubai airport. I am standing with a few of my mother’s business associate’s that only standing with me. The associates won’t be travelling with me, nor leaving the country for a while. These men and women have been accompanying me during my entire visit to Dubai, mainly to ensure I don’t get myself into any trouble, but also to make sure I don’t go to a club, get completely plastered and do something to tarnish the company image.
About twenty or thirty feet away, I notice a man than stands out as being out of place. He isn’t the regular business man or woman bearing some sort of suit carrying a briefcase. Instead, he is wearing a darker trenchcoat that is covering…something, and he is carrying-
Before I have a chance to figure out what he is carrying, I flash into the plane. I am told to make myself comfortable and enjoy the flight. I can call for snacks or something to drink. Everything is complimentary with the flight. That’s something I knew already. This isn’t a plane that my family owns, but in-fact the plane is simply rented by multiple families one at a time. I have flown on semi-private jets before, so I imagine that I have heard all of this before.
I am asked to take my seat for take-off, and I walk down the one aisle to one of 5 seats on the plane, and I notice the same shadowy figure seated in front of me. I don’t know how he got on the plane, and I want to call to see if somebody else can assist this man off of the plane, but I look around and everyone is gone.
I hear familiar laughing, and I hear,
“Well, well, well. You escaped me last time, but this time you won’t be so lucky.”
I want to back away, but I can’t control my limbs at all. I simply tremble while I stand in place. A green light starts to glow in the palm of his hand. That light starts to focus into a sharp object that looks a bit like a blade, which then starts to rotate. Eventually the rotating blade moves so fast that it looks like a solid sphere with sharp edges.
“Do you know why I’m here, what did you mom call you, Ton?”
A deep rage starts to boil in my stomach,
“First of all, don’t call me that, and no. I don’t even know who you are.”
“I used to be one of Om’s apprentices. I was raised as Sanji’s rival, and I even surpassed him. I mastered all of the main elements, the first 4 dimensions, and I was going to start on the 5th, but Om stopped me.”
“…But he uses the 5th dimension. Why would he stop you.”
“Do you know what the 5th dimension is? It is time. He didn’t want me manipulating time and far surpassing him.”
“That doesn’t sound like a reason he would stop you for.”
“Well he did, but I knew more about the 5th dimension that he could ever. One night, I was visited by a man about my height, and he looked just like me. He was me, but from the future. He taught me of ways to practice 5th-dimensional things without anyone knowing. He also told me that if I could find the eye of sakala-lokadhatu, I could instantly master time.”
“That’s the stone I had.”
“Yes, but before you found it, I uncovered its location. It was in some basement, and it was buried under a few inches of cement. A place called Dimasserati Industries in Dubai.”
“That’s the place my mom owns.”
“Very good. I easily uncovered the stone since cement is, at its core, just earth and water, so I was able to find the stone. I held the stone, and meditated allowing my body to enter a special dimension that I could alter, but then return to a present where nothing would have occurred. The issue was that I could no longer harness 5th-dimensional essence. I wondered why, and of course, knew of my intentions and told me of the problem. The eye was locked and would only unlock when it was brought back to the monastery.”
“Why did Om show up?”
“That’s simple. He looked into the future, saw that I would find the stone, and continue to try to use essence from the 5th dimension, which he expressly forbade, and he came to stop me.”
“Even if it’s a little hypocritical for him to not want you to practice manipulating time while he does it himself, there must be a reason for it.”
“Yes, he doesn’t want anyone that can challenge him, but the stone responded to you, and along with my power, we can stop him.”
“Why should I even trust you?”
“That’s the thing. You don’t have to right away. I will lend you some of my power so you can skip the elemental training and move straight to harnessing 3rd and some 4th dimensional essence.”
“That is enticing, but is there something you stand to gain from this?”
“At first, there is not. I intend to kill Om, and take over his body so that I can become master of the monastery and teach the new recruits that there is nothing off-limits if you set your mind to it.”
“That sounds a little cliché.”
“If you’re going to critique my every move, then I can just kill you, take your body and use it to kill the master, take over his body and leave yours to rot on the mountainside below the monastery.”
“Fine, it’s a great plan. What do I have to do?”
“If you look on your stomach, there are the markings revolving your belly button. If you simply touch them with one hand, they seem to rotate. Now make both hands into circles with the thumb touching the index finger and then touch both hands together at the knuckles. Now bring your hands to that rotating circle on your stomach-“
As I get close, a bright light flashes making it impossible for me to keep my eyes open. When the light subsides, I open my eyes and notice that the man I was talking to has disappeared and Om is now standing in front of me.
“Master, what are you doing here?”
“I placed those markings around your belly button to seal Demmi, the man you were just talking to inside of you.”
“Why?”
“I can’t kill him, and I know that he wants to kill you, take over your body and kill me.”
“But he won’t kill me. He told me. He will just lend me his power.”
“Did you feel a little too trusting of him?”
“I guess so. I didn’t really notice. Why do you ask?”
“One of the powers that he has learned is the ability to read and control your emotions. I think that is the reason that I loved having him as a student so much, or at least I thought so. Turned out that he changed my feelings towards him. That is until I started learning to detect the manipulation.”
“So it was a lie?”
“Yes. The thing suggesting that he would be a Master that taught positive things to the students was also a lie.”
“Was it also a lie that he could use 5th dimensional essence.”
“That was not a lie. He and I can both.”
“So why do you teach students that they can’t use the 5th dimension if you use essence from it?”
“I actually don’t, the problem with Demmi is that he wanted to change past events, but changing the past can cause the fabric of reality to unwind and the laws of the universe to topple.”
“So if I move far enough into my training?”
“Yes, I will allow you to try your hand at manipulating the present or slowing time. I don’t exactly understand that, so I often bring people to another dimension called the Representative where they can’t destroy reality or harm people around them.”
“So, why did I see Demmi in my memories?”
“After trying to alter the past, I banished him to the Representative. He knew that he would need to come back to the monastery to become whole again, so he placed his spirit inside your body, I am assuming when you were sleeping in Dubai since he was already there., and sabotaged your place, found the stone and tried to return with you.”
“So that’s why I’m here.”
“Yes, and now I will teach you to harness his energy without releasing the seal until you can subdue him on your own.”
Wondrous 