Deep within!

Scrunch! Scrunch! Scrunch!

He could hear his own feet scrunching along the stony trail as he progressed, slowly but surely deeper and deeper into the labyrinth. He was not sure now how long he had been trudging, or how far. But he had to go far still, to reach his goal. Wiping the sweat trickling down the sides of his face, plunging from his forehead straight into the eyes, burning them in the bargain, he cursed under his breath.

His feet were a colony of blisters, his mouth dry and parched, the muscles in his back were screaming, his legs had been protesting since long. Yet he couldn’t stop. He had to move on till he reached his destination.

“How will I know when I reach my destination? Please tell me something Gurudev!” he had beseeched.

“You will know, my son! Trust me! Just go on!”

Never to debate with one’s Guru, he had learned the difficult way. It was such a torture. If the physical journey was painful, the mental one was sheer torture. His mind was a field of questions, doubts, and fear. What if he achieved nothing? What if he had gone astray? What if…. Aaah! Aaaaahhh!

Spinning through space, tumbling head over heels through some gravel, scree and dust that filled his eyes, mouth, lungs, he landed in ice-cold water. His senses were shaken, stirred, and squeezed. What happened? Was he alive? Or had he reached Hell? It couldn’t be Heaven… he knew better.

He found his body sink deeper as he struggled to come to the surface. He could not hold his breath anymore… his legs kicked harder, his arms flailed with all his might, the biting cold of the dark cold water, in the dark night blanketed everything as he felt himself give up. A calmness enveloped him, as he accepted his fate, no more struggle, no more torture. Accepting whatever Fate had ordained, whatever his Guru had planned for him, whatever was the Divine gift, he bowed his head and, in his heart, surrendered.

Two strong arms reached under him, hoisting him out of the cold water, and placed him gently on the shore. He could see himself lying there, his body soaking wet, pale face, hair plastered to his scalp, one shoe missing, that foot was pale too… What was going on?

He didn’t feel wet or cold any longer. He was not feeling any fear or panic either. He tried to get closer, to have a better look. What a strange place, dark, yet he could see, the crystal-clear water in the vast lake. Then he noticed the flickering lights, the fluorescent glow, the unearthly feeling. He seemed to have found it, the mysterious Lake of Eternity, deep within the mountain, that the folk lore mentioned. Only heard when a few of the locals in the valley  had emptied a few bottles of the local brew, rolled a few joints and those who hadn’t, just tut- tutted over them.

Realization made his eyes pop, his heartbeat fast and he went to open his eyes quickly, gasping for fresh air, trying to breathe. There sat a few scores of men, with heads bowed in silence. The sun was rising in the east, as the sky turned pink blushing at the arrival of its Love. The golden rays reached forward to bless all on top of the mountain.

He had been here for hundreds of years, immortalized. It was the year 3021.