The Dream

The Exit

With each blink of an eye I have a clearer picture of where I am, the outline of the face that looked at me with piercing eyes seems to have stuck to my eyes, also what seemed to be at first distant noises begin to become clearer and clearer and I realize that they are two voices carrying on a dialogue.
- I think that after all this is over, I will leave for Baghdad, I would really like to spend my last days in that wonderful city and walk by the ruins of Babylon.
I recognize the voice of the old man who guided us last night through the darkness of the temple and I try to get up from the table, the body still seems trapped in that trance state, but I can move my head slightly and around me I can only see the rock walls of a cave, there is no trace of the old man of the temple. I manage to raise a hand to try to lean on the wooden board on which I am seated, then I hear the voice of the one who was talking to the old man:
- The third one woke up! he announces in an enthusiastic voice.
I hear his footsteps approaching me, but I cannot see him. After a few moments, the stone walls around me shook and rose, and what I thought was a cave was a very spacious rectangular stone helmet that was now erected by a temple man and placed down against the wall of the real room I was in.
In the place where my helmet was placed were two other similar helmets, I assume they were intended for Mina and Djibril who woke up before me. The temple man turns to me and helps me get up on my seat, this movement causes me some dizziness but now I have a complete view of what is in the room. The room we are in now was different from the one we stayed in last night and different from the one we waited for the sun to set.
Through the three elongated windows began to pass the first rays of the morning sun, this phenomenon was watched with immense pleasure by Mina who also sat at the edge of the table, palms in her lap and with a weary face but which seemed to have been freed from a very heavy burden. Near one of the windows was Djibril, hands behind his back and looking down, walking from the window to the corner of the room and back to the window, as if immersed in his thoughts about what had happened overnight.
 In the center of the room was my table, and the other two symmetrically joined in the two corners where the legs were placed. Connecting the 3 tables through the corners created an empty space between them in the shape of an equilateral triangle, this scared me a little because I did not feel last night when I was moved to another room nor when that helmet was placed over my head. The image of that room was completed by the old man of the temple waiting on a stone block sitting right next to the door, observing from a distance everything that was happening to us.
I was given a few moments to clear my thoughts and calm my dizziness, after which the old man stood up and motioned for us to approach him. As we descended from the strange table, Djibril had already arrived near the old man with his nimble steps, and the temple man began to place the tables with wheels against the wall where the helmets were also placed.
After the three tables were arranged side by side, the temple man left the room, and it was just the three of us left with the old man.
- This was the dream you have been waiting for so long, follow me!
Saying these words, the old man walked out of the room down the dimly lit aisle, where the chill of the night could still be felt. As I followed him through the maze of rooms and corridors, the old man continued:
 
- The temple gives every person the chance to experience the dream only once in their life if they make the necessary preparations. After this night, your access to the temple will be forbidden and I do not think you have anything to look for here. Since you three have experienced the dream on this special night, it means that the ancient writings are coming true, and your common mission will continue in another place where you will find the Expected One.
All three of us listened very carefully to the words of the old man who now reached the stairs, stopped talking to better control his breathing. The steps were lowered even harder than they were last night, the small steps and the heavy breathing of the old man forced us to stop behind him to wait for him to take the next step. Once we reached the lower level of the temple, we waited for the elder to resume describing our mission, but he spoke to us about something else as if he had forgotten what he was trying to convey to us on the upper level.
- Do not eat much today and drink some water, your stomach is still not ready for a normal meal after these days of fasting and preparations, these are the last instructions of the old man before we meet another temple guard waiting in the corridor leading to the exit.
This guard looked younger than the one he met last night, although he had a beard and shaved hair like the other temple men, he did not yet have the black marks around his eyes, a sign that he had not yet reached a certain hierarchy or had not wasted enough nights guarding the entrance to the temple.  The old man made a sign to the guard that seemed like an order, the young guard immediately understood what the old man wanted and went outside with keen steps.
The old man also came out on the threshold in front of the entrance to the temple, his steps becoming more cumbersome and tired of the task accomplished in so many years. After we left the temple, we felt that pure coolness of the morning, a fresh air that invigorates you entered my nostrils and my whole body felt refreshed. The solar disk had not yet appeared from behind the rocks surrounding the temple, and the sky still had a few shades of blue and azure.
The old man approached us, raised his arm, and pointed to a four-pointed star still flickering in one corner of the sky:
- This is the star you saw last night and to this star must be your direction during the night, during the day you will be guided by providence so that you reach the right place and time.
I looked up at the sky and indeed that star was there, as if greeting us and waiting for us to start the new journey. However, I do not remember that star being visible in the sky last night before entering the temple or on the other nights. I had many curiosities about this star that had just risen, but my attention was again captured by the elder of the temple:
- If you remember anything from your life before, you'd better forget everything, the old man tells us in a serious tone. When you arrived here you were Mina of Crete, Djibril of Cairo, and Theodorus of Rome, but from now on you can forget about these names because they will not help you with anything in your mission. Also, when you travel the world, things may not be the same as before. "I don't know exactly what you'll find there," the old man continued in a hushed voice. People may now live in trees, in the air, or in cities built underwater, but I assure you they are the same people, they have the same weaknesses and flaws that you already know.
The old man's instructions stopped abruptly at the appearance of the guard who was bringing with him a camel and an ass ready for the journey, Djibril walked towards the camel, and Mina towards the donkey.
 At that moment I also remembered Ibrahim, who was waiting for me next to the horses, at a respectable distance from the entrance to the temple. I approached him and his face now seemed very much changed. His sunburned complexion was now paler and indented by a few wrinkles, in his rich black beard there were now several white hairs, and in the corners of his eyes there were a few red hairs. But something remained unchanged about my friend, I found the same joviality and enthusiasm from the moment he started talking:
- How are you friends? Was it worth all the effort? I told you I would wait for you until you got out. How glad to see you again!
After these exalted words, there was a brief embrace from Ibrahim, then he held out the reins of my horse to me and he mounted his, gently following the path leading back to the city between the rocks.
- See what Uncle Marcos will enjoy when I tell him, he may have walked through China and Persia, but he certainly does not expect this. I am going to look for you friend, your mission should be something holy for every man! Ibrahim tells me, raising a hand in greeting as his horse moved farther and farther away from the temple. Good luck my friend!
The aging image of Ibrahim quickly disappeared into the clouds of dust raised by the horse's hooves, and after I mounted, I joined the other two who were waiting for me to start for a different path from the one leading to the city between the rocks.
After we had departed a little from the temple, we saw at the foot of the mountain, seated on a stone, an old beggar, covered in ragged clothes, who had neither a staff to support, nor a bag of apples, nor any container for water. Our attention was captured by this distressed old man, and otherwise we would have stopped to help him with something if he had not raised his head towards us at the very moment, we rode in front of him. His completely white eyes frightened me a little, for this beggar certainly did not see the world as we do, but I was even more frightened by his words:
- Now you know! Then on the time-worn face of the old blind man settled a harmonious and fatherly smile that emanated a strange energy around us.
All three of us continued to that trail, with the four-pointed star above us faded with the rising sun that warmed the desert again. I am not sure why, but before entering that trail, I turned my head to see the temple one last time, to make sure it really existed, and it was not just a dream.
Out of the temple came our old guide who walked towards the beggar, he stood up hearing the old man's footsteps, stretched out his right arm, and the old man in the temple caught the blind beggar by the arm, following step by step the direction in which the beggar was going, and which seemed to lead them along a path to the top of the mountain.
This strange scene was the last memory I have of the temple experience. We are on the seventh day of our journey, and on this manuscript, I left written everything I remember and everything I experienced during that time. I cannot say if Mina or Djibril relived the same moments because we do not talk to each other very much, but I feel like they are eager for us to follow that star that guides our journey. All three of us want to fulfill the mission related to the image of that man who looked at me in the last part of the shadow game, no matter what I do I cannot get out of my mind that face.