Routes in Soil

I stand in a place of absence. A black void stretching out beyond the length of my sight. In the dark, I see all, for it remains the same here, as it does there, beyond the rim of perception. As I look down, I notice my clothes all perfectly visible, as if the light of day bounces color into my eyes. Yet there is no sun. There is no light. There is no sound.

Inside...I feel a click. A hanging lightbulb in a window is revealed. Within it, a shadow stands, staring. I slowly lift a heavy hand, and gently wave a greeting. The shadow doesn't move. It glares with invisible eyes, remaining still. I feel them invade my deeper senses...

It looks on me still...

Left of the window, I feel another click, and another window appears, another shadow inside. It slowly lifts its heavy hand, and gently waves a greeting. I don't move. Instead, I glare. It seems to shuffle in discomfort.

My sharpening sight breaches under the skin.

A low, discordant ascension of harp strings, ring into light. The two windows, like eyes, slowly fade into the rest of the house, now revealing its face of brick. The mouth of a white door yawns open. A straight path slowly creeps over the ground to meet with my feet. I walk over, drawn with magnetic force toward the entrance...

Inside, is a long hall. There are no doors or stairways, but walls of white, radiating a coolness, almost mint-like. Taking a few steps along, I reach the wall at the dead end, and turn, expecting the entrance to be the only exit. Down there...where once I was...is a man...

To count the creases of aged skin, is to count the thoughts of an entire mind, as numerous as stars in a universe. His long, dark beard flows from cheeks like grey waterfalls, and wrap around his shoulders, fully enveloping the body in robes of hair. He raises perfectly feminine hands toward me. Clean, varnished nails, soft skin, and small in size. The eyes are merely balls of gleaming silver, resting in their sockets. Pink lips open, and breath is released. It shapes itself in the air, forming words without the help of any tongue.

"You've arrived" Said the breath of a man. "You're here...And we've been there, all along."

I listen, allowing the words to sink into the waters of my mind. From it, a question surfaces.

"What's there...?"

A smile instantly forms on the bearded face, like a flicker. It remains for...

Some seconds...

And reverts in a snap to his previous expression. He doesn't answer. He asks;

"Or who?"

I nod in agreement. This is a better question that overlaps my own. "Yeah, who is there...?" I inquire, with raised brow and wide eyes. He looks around the space, grinning slightly.

"They're here...and there..." whispers he. "But neither, either."

"I've a...An idea." I reply, feeling my thread of thought weave with his. "They're here and there, like the wind?"

"Like the air," he nods, gliding closer toward me. His hair drags silently behind, brushing the floor. When he draws near, he halts and presses a finger to his lips. Words leave them upon releasing it, yet they don't move at all. The narrow gap simply breathes them into a voice.

"Let me explain..." He offers, with a slow wave of a hand, gesturing to listen out. I do so, but hear nothing. The moment lingers, and I shake my head to end it, empty handed and sighing. "I don't understand..."

"Yet, you stand under it," the man insists. "I'll repeat again."

He repeats the gesture, and I listen once more. All I seem to hear is the ringing of silence in my ears. I focus on that tone, and it seems to grow. And as it grows, the ring of silence, is that of a billion bells. It vibrates with increasing frequency, and I suddenly feel it.

"It's time!" I gasp in amazement. "The bell tolls for a time!"

"Indeed it does. And a place." He adds, smiling warmly. His hands reach up to part the long locks encasing his chest. They draw hair open like curtains, and beyond, I see leaves of green, hanging from a network of twigs. A bush. Opening more and more...A tree in the distance...Soily ground, and the occasional tuft of grass. He slowly levitates higher into the air, and opens up wider, creating a doorway into the woods. I willingly step through, feeling the rush of earthy air suck into my nostrils, before releasing a long breath into the ether. In the woods, I turn to him, noting he is the same outside, as he'd been inside. It seems a beautiful thing to me...

His female hands release the long drapes of hair, closing the other place off. The wavy fibers hang straight, and slowly, begin to form into thick wood...The strong trunk of a tree. His arms stretch high above his head, as fingers stem and split into branches. Green buds blossom, and unfurl into healthy leaves, and the face melts away into wood. By the end of the transformation, I see only the tree before me. I feel the strength, the immense weight of the planet below, holding me aloft.

Like a flower, I push through the dark of the soil, until I break into the day...