Chapter thirty-two

Zeke woke up to a sudden, loud ruckus outside his room. Before doing anything else, he frantically looked around, searching for the archangels who had been around him, but he was alone. He scratched his head, wondering what the saints had meant by “your trial has begun.” That morning Maya fought with Leia, ignoring her sister’s advice about her immature and impractical attitude. Instead of listening to reason, Maya ran out of the house in a fit, leaving her already sick mother heartbroken. She was still a teenager, and nobody thought she would become as headstrong as she did. She didn’t want to accept life as it was, so she acted out. She began cutting herself with razor blades. Sometimes Leia would walk into the bedroom or the bathroom they shared to find Maya cutting her wrist, her forearm, or the topside of her hand. One day it was just too much for her to take and she exploded.

“What the hell are you doing??? Are you crazy or something?”

“I just like the sight of my own blood,” Maya countered. “I like the color and I like to watch it flow down my arm.”

“This is just sick. You really hate yourself, don’t you?”

“I haven’t decided yet.”

“One of these days I’m going to walk in and find you dead on the floor.”

“I guess time will tell.”

“This family is nuts.”

“Ya think???”

Leia let out a sigh of disgust and stormed out of the room shaking her head. Then she went down to the basement and cried her eyes out. She knew her family was falling apart, and she was just too young to know how to deal with it. It would eventually fall to Zeke. He would have to guide his sisters and make them understand how life worked. Once again, it was Zeke who had to be the guide. He loved his sisters dearly, and he did his best to help heal their wounds, especially Maya’s.

Zeke continued on his spiritual path. He decided to hold on to his light and keep it shining against all odds. He carried on with all his spiritual practices, from Ho’oponopono to having crystal-charged water now and again and chanting seed mantras he learned from the Hindu sage. He also invoked the archangels during his chakra-clearing practice and whenever he needed help in general. Of them, Michael always answered his call, for by staying true to himself and his knowledge, Zeke had proved his faith. He didn’t know where his life was heading, but he had faith in his divine light and the universe, and he knew the secret of non-duality, so he continued helping others around him and waited patiently for his next trials.

He honored his friendships, too. He religiously visited Noah and continued to learn from him. He learned every chakra had a corresponding crystal, and keeping the crystal around that chakra center after charging it would increase the power of that chakra, thus clearing his blocks faster. Through these constant practices, he felt extremely healthy in mind, body, and spirit. Every night he called upon Archangel Michael to shield and protect him and his family. The blue shield of protection was always around him, making him fearless and empowering him.

• • •

As it always does, time continued to fly by, and eventually a whole year had passed. Zeke was almost eighteen now, an adult ready to take on the world, but he started to have his doubts. The trials he waited for never came. He was still busy with high school and had read the book of Egyptian myths many times over. It was a very detailed book, and he had to keep at it, learning something new every time he read it. He also read other books on chakras, karma, and crystals and even managed to find some information on the Akashic Records. What interested him most among the Egyptian myths was the story of Imhotep – a vizier, a sage, an astrologer, an architect, and a medicine man all rolled into one. He is thought to be the son of the creator god, Ptah. Zeke was fascinated by what he read about this man. After reading thoroughly about Imhotep, Zeke met Noah as usual.

“What have you been reading all this while, kid?” Noah was always interested in helping him make sense of all he had learned. This was a regular routine they followed. Every evening Zeke would share with him the details of what he had read.

“The story of the Egyptian architect Imhotep,” he excitedly told him.

“Oh…” Noah had a curious look on his face. “Zeke, would you like to join me for dinner tonight?” Noah gave no reaction whatsoever to the story, but his eyes twinkled mischievously, and a smile played on his lips.

Zeke thought of the old man as family and had always been there for him, so he happily obliged. Noah lovingly made dinner that evening, which consisted of leek soup, pasties, and fresh fruit for dessert. Then he made another gentle request, inviting Zeke to stay over for a movie. Zeke wanted to go back home to check on his mother, but he trusted Leia at this point, so he decided to stay back with Noah instead. He called Leia and asked her to keep an eye on his mother and she agreed.

Noah guided Zeke to a small movie room he had in his house. It was a dark room with an old projector, a screen, and a couple of easy chairs, making it look like a mini movie theater. He had a collection of old classic movies that he was quite proud of. He and Zeke sat together in this dimly lit room, ate buttered popcorn, and watched an old 1932 American horror movie – The Mummy. A little into the film, Zeke realized he was watching the story of none other than the man he was reading about! It was only then that he understood the real reason behind Noah’s weird silence after hearing the story of Imhotep. It was all for this little surprise.

A centuries-old myth had given rise to the idea that opening a mummy’s tomb would unleash a terrible curse. The movie’s script was based on a similar concept woven around the resurrection of the cursed mummy of Imhotep. In the movie, an archaeologist and his team discover and resurrect the body of the ancient Egyptian high priest Imhotep by mistake. As a result of a curse, Imhotep comes back to life and brings destruction to the modern world in place of the ten plagues he brought to Egypt in the original myth. Noah had a lot of fun scaring Zeke that night, like a little child successfully pulling a prank on a friend. Zeke had been extra sensitive to energies since childhood, and the one thing that could scare him to pieces was the perpetuation of darkness around something, and there was no dearth of it in this frightening movie.

That night, Zeke had a very peculiar dream. In his dream, he found himself in a small Victorian-style dressing room. He was looking into a large, standing mirror in the corner when he suddenly saw the figure of a man standing right behind him. He turned around immediately, feeling threatened by the menacing presence of this figure. But there was nothing there, so he turned back to the mirror, only to find that the creature was still behind him. Zeke looked behind himself many times, but the figure only existed in the reflection.

“Oh God, this is just like Phantom of the Opera,” he said out loud.

The figure was around the same height as him, with a strange cloth wrapped all around it. Through the cloth, he could only see its menacingly calm eyes. It wasn’t a welcoming presence by any means. Zeke was petrified at the sight, as he had never experienced anything like this before. He was so scared of the presence of this creature that he thought he must have resurrected some ancient mummy by mistake. It had a bone-chilling dark aura around it, and it made him fear for his life.

“Who are you, and what do you want from me?” he managed to say, with immense fear and anxiety in his voice. He received no answer. The figure didn’t move or say anything. It simply continued to stare at him, so Zeke repeated it again, only this time louder, clearer, and bolder.

“WHO ARE YOU?”

Yet again, there was no response from the other end. He was quite anxious due to its daunting and silent presence and hence started to get angry. Just as he felt a tinge of anger, the atmosphere of the room changed. He could feel the creature standing behind him now. He immediately turned around. His reflexes had become extremely sharp over the years, and feeling a surge of aggression and hostility, he went in for the kill. As he did, he realized for the first time how strong he had physically become. He sprung off the floor like a boxer and took a swing at the creature, only for his fist to pass right through it like a ghost. The creature was an apparition, untouchable.

“It can’t be a mummy, then,” he thought.

Zeke took another swing at it, and again, he hit nothing. One would think the figure would have laughed at this comical dance, but it remained unfazed by the whole scene. He could see he was getting nowhere with it and thus contemplated his next move. He was growing impatient now.

“Who or what in the devil’s name are you?” he asked one last time.

This time he finally got a reaction out of it. The creature lifted its arms and removed the bandages covering its face. Underneath, it revealed a terrifying sight. It was a man with the same curly brown hair and the same green eyes as Zeke, and there was a curious smirk on his face. It looked into his eyes and spoke in a very familiar voice.

“I see you.”

Hearing his own voice and seeing his own face sent chills down his spine as he tried to understand what this apparition meant. In the center of the room was a plush armchair with a tall back. The figure immediately went over, sat in the armchair, and crossed its right leg over its left thigh. It clearly gave the indication that it wasn’t going anywhere for a while.

“Oh great,” Zeke said to himself. “Now what am I supposed to do?”

He desperately wished for some cosmic support to come and save him from whatever this thing was. He called for help from Zig, Zag, and Zoom and desperately called for help from his angels, too. Yet no divine aid came. He was left to fend for himself. Since the figure didn’t respond in any way, he started to feel that its aura wasn’t as ominous as he had originally thought. He understood it didn’t necessarily intend to do him any harm. If it felt more like a reflection — or a shadow. He simply couldn’t wrap his head around why this copy of him was there. So, he chose to circle the figure again, only this time he had no intention to attack, but rather tried to assess who he was and what he was doing in his life, let alone his room.

“What does this guy possibly want from me?”

He circled it a few more times, trying to look hard at it before finally stopping. Now it was the transparent, shadowy figure’s turn to make a move. Oddly enough, Zeke didn’t retreat in fear this time but decided to face it head-on. The shadow came closer to him and stood directly in front of him.

“Who am I? Who are YOU?” the shadow asked him.

His eyes shifted back and forth. “I… I am Zeke Tartal.” That was the only answer he could think of.

The shadow repeated his question. “Who are you?” Only this time, there was a strength behind his words that carried much more power — an energy that made Zeke instantly feel something.

Zeke had no answer, but that was when he realized what this apparition was. This was no ordinary shadow. This was his shadow, a reflection of himself, of his being, of everything he was, wanted to be, and didn’t want to be. That was when he said, “I am… YOU!”

The shadow heard Zeke’s words and smiled. “… and I am you,” he said as well. “We are one. We are the light. We are Ezekiel.”

Then, the shadow embraced him, and it was the most benevolent feeling Zeke had ever experienced. For the first time in his life, he felt complete. He felt whole. He had never felt such love before.His eyes were filled with tears of pure joy. He hugged the shadow figure and cried to his heart’s content.

• • •

The next morning, he rushed to Noah and told him the story. “I still don’t understand what that dream was about. Do you have any idea, Mr. Leitner?” he innocently asked him.

Noah was left speechless for a while. Then he said in a deep and profound voice that Zeke had never heard before, as if he were channeling information from a higher source, “What you went through was a spiritual experience, my son. It’s quite possible that this was some kind of test.” Zeke already knew he was awakening, and this was nothing new to him, but then Noah whispered, “You are gearing for a much deeper and more intense awakening than you could have ever imagined.”

Zeke felt a bit nervous and uncomfortable hearing this. Was he about to hear something he wouldn’t like or be fully prepared for? He was reminded of what the barn owl had said to him one night. It said he was awakening from thousands of years of slumber. It was sure to be a slower process than he had originally thought. He was also reminded of the black cat that still loitered around his house, indicating there was something more to come. He knew there was no escaping the spiritual awakening process once it began.

Instead of trying to run from the instant discomfort he felt, he thus chose to delve deeper. “What was I being shown through this dream? Nobody came for my help when I called them,” he declared.

“You met your own shadow, son. The process probably began with you choosing to read the story of Imhotep. Your true self was guiding you. I unconsciously became a catalyst, too, as I made you watch the movie. Spiritual experiences aren’t always about rainbows, roses, or unicorns; they aren’t always about love and light. There are challenges you need to face and transcend — all parts of the darkness that need to come to light.”

Zeke nodded as he followed.

“There are fears you need to let go of. We’re often so scared to face our own shadows that we keep running from them. Once the spiritual experience begins, we become connected to our light and the universe. The light shines upon the darkness and brings the shadows in us up to the surface. We can’t hide from them. We can’t escape the light, and we can’t escape the darkness within us, either. The more we awaken, the more we’re forced to look deeper into those hidden areas within ourselves.”

“You know, I was more aggressive towards my shadow than it was towards me! I was thinking of it as a monster. I even thought it had risen to destroy me. So, as an ‘offense is the best defense’ policy, I attacked it instead. I have never been that aggressive in my life! Why did I do that?”

“You were aggressive because you were triggered by it. You were seeing your true self for the first time — the other half of the whole. Your own being made you furious because you were unwilling to accept yourself, but by embracing it, you came to terms with your own truth. You accepted your light and your shadow.” Right then, Noah remembered something. “Zeke! Do you remember one of your trials was to prove your connection to the universe? I think this was it. You passed, my boy. You accepted it all!”