First Altar of Om
Welcome to the Dharmaverse, a near-future scifi world where the Earth has frozen due to a dying Sun, but Humanity survives with the help of powerful AI Metagods. Sacred technology provides everything people need, but to access it one must play the Dharmagames. It is a dark and terrifying world, and therein also lies infinite hope, compassion, and faith.
The vibration from the Ice-Cruiser was too much for her to bear, so he decided to walk the final distance.
He is carrying her on his back now. Her legs scooped by his arms. Her long willowy arms, which he thought made her look like a fairy once, clings tightly to his neck. Her chin rests on his shoulder, her cheeks lean against his cheeks, and her long silvery white hair is tied into a ponytail that drapes across his chest.
He looks down at the ponytail and reflects on how it always brought him happiness, and wonders if she always understood the heart strings they pulled. He looks up at the desolate white snowscape before them. Each gust of wind carries snowdrift against his frost-shield that shimmers on contact. Yet inside the air-bubble powered by his symbionetic core only the slip and crunch of his boots can be heard.
He walks on ice polished by the wind reflecting the pale indigo sky. Parallel to his right is the snow covered beach. After a monotonous mile her breathing grows heavy and she elicits a slight moan.
“We’re almost there, Ling Mei. Don’t worry.”
“I’m not worried,” she mumbles, her lips muffled against his collarbone. “I’m cold…”
The ambient temperature is nearing -100 degrees Fahrenheit, but inside his frost-shield is a steady 70°. He dials the temperature up even higher to 85°. The frost-shield immediately glows a shade yellower, followed by a warning in his vizzy-dash.
“Your prana is running low, boss. Estimated time is down from 34:00+ hours to 19:32. Are you sure about this?”
“Doesn’t matter anymore,” he whispers to himself as he mind-swipes to remove the warning.
“What did you say?” Ling Mei asks feebly in a barely audible whisper.
“Nothing, darling. You feel warmer now?”
Her answer is a sigh of contentment.
The heat and a little imagination sends his mind time-traveling back to summer 2020. The beach is now golden and the Sun shines brightly overhead. He doesn’t have a care in the world because he’s out with his Fujifilm x100v fixed focal length camera, free to capture all the beauty in the world. Before his back broke, and the end of the world as everyone knew it. So long ago… it feels like multiple lifetimes have passed since he swam in the waters here.
Ling Mei moans again, this time in pain. Just a little bit longer he thinks to himself. He mind-swipes through his vizzy-dash looking for the perfect song. Girl from Ipanema begins playing softly and he begins to hum.
Baaa-da-badaba Baaa-da-badaba Baaa-da-badaba Baaa-daba-dabadababa…
The familiar melody brings back a flood of memories. From the shores of Copacabana to that Summer in New York… From the Playa to the Sea… Days spent in idle freedom and daydreams of endless possibilities.
“Sing me that Chinese song,” Ling Mei whispers.
“Ok. After this. We’re almost there.”
The music is gone but his imagination fills the silence with the sound of the Ocean lapping against the golden shore.
“I can hear the Ocean, Ling Mei”
“Hmmmm,” she half moans in agreement.
Together they face a pale white Sun that is crawling slowly toward the horizon. Between the Sun and the beach is a vast frozen sea that mirrors the sky. The brightly colored beach towel he sits on radiates warmth while she is curled up next to him with her head resting on his lap.
He gently plays with the knots of her braids. “This is it... Sunny Cove, Santa Cruz. My favorite beach. Do you like it here?” He asks in the bubble of silence that envelopes them.
“I love it.”
“It’s the best beach in Santa Cruz.”
“Gi Ge, now that I’m here, it’s time for you to go.”
“I used to come here every weekend…”
“Gi Ge, it’s time for you to go,” she says with more urgency. She tries to get up to face him but her arm gives out and she rolls onto her back. He bends over to give her a gentle kiss on the forehead, as if to say “it’ll be ok”.
As he bends over they lock eyes.
She smiles and he smiles back. Despite her silvery hair, the deep wrinkles on her face, and her emaciated body little more than skin and bones now, he sees in her what he had always seen… a little smiling girl, ready to meet the world and discover infinite magic, meaning, and mystery.
And looking up at him, she sees what she always believed him capable of becoming, even when nobody believed in him because he was so sick he couldn’t even sit or stand, and wanted to end his own life. Looking down into her eyes is now a Daka full of vitality, powered by a symbionetic core that has charged every cell in his body with superhuman power.
And thus they smile at each other without words, and tears begin to flow down his cheeks, not moved by any sadness of her dying but by the beauty of her immortal youth. Tears that land on her neck like raindrops remind him of words which came to him a long, long time ago...
Love is a raindrop
falling from the sky
Is each a cosmos
ancient and utterly new
Is timeless in the moment
weightless in the wind
is a sparkle in sunlight
a star beneath the moon
“Gi Ge…” She tries to brush away his tears but her arms have lost their strength. All she can do is smile. Reminded of the first time they met, he chokes into a sob, bites down, and clench his teeth to fight back tears.
“Gi Ge, are you mad at me because… because I couldn’t take the core?”
“No Ling Mei, of course not!” He chuckles, “I’m just… happy. It’s so beautiful. You’re SO beautiful.”
She turns to the setting Sun and lets out a sigh. “I’ve seen better days. Remember that day at the temple in Poulsbo?”
“When I was sick?”
“Those were some sunsets, Gi Ge.”
He laughs. “You’re forgetting that was the most painful time of my life. I could barely move or sleep, every day was pain.”
“But look at you now, Gi Ge!” She says with sparkling eyes. “Your Ling Mei was right all along.”
“How did you know?” He asks in earnest taking hold of her hands.
“I just knew…” She says with a smile.
And he lowers his eyes to study her hands which he knew so well, the elegance of her long slender fingers. “Maybe you did,” he admits in a barely audible whisper, “but it sure was hard to believe back then.”
“It’s good you listened. Look at you now... everything worked out. Gi Ge good!” She said in her little girls voice. “So what now, Gi Ge? Goodbye?”
He continues to play with her hands…
“Look at me — ” she tries to speak but breaks into a dry cough. “I don’t think I’ll be much longer. You should go. I don’t want you to see me like this. Just leave me with half an hour of shield. Let me watch the sunset and say my last rosaries.”
When he looks back at her it is not with teary eyes, but calm surrender and a devil-may-care grin.
“Gi Ge! You promised!”
“I lied.”
“No!!!!” She chokes with tears and breaks out into another coughing spell, almost losing consciousness.
When she is finally able to speak again, she says with imploring eyes, “you promised, Gi Ge… you promised me you’d leave me here and go back.”
“It’s not what you think, Ling Mei. Gi Ge knows what he’s doing.”
“A promise is a promise, Gi Ge.”
“There’s something you don’t know.”
She sighs and turns to face the setting sun.
“I’m only telling you this now because I didn’t want to burden you with too many thoughts,” he says gently, searching for words, “together, we will create an altar of Om, right here! A place of such… such ineffable beauty.”
Seeing that she is still looking away, he continues: “The Metagod Om spoke to me. He said with divine love, it is possible to create an altar, where all future generations can come to offer themselves for the benefit of all sentient beings. For Dharma.”
“What about our church? What will they do without you?”
“Darling, the altar is for our church! Our church will be the first altar of Om. Everything is in order. I have their approval, and the approval of the ALL the gods. The only person I haven’t told is you… look at me, darling… It won’t work without you.”
She turns to him and tries to reach for his face. He guides her hands by the wrist until they are cupping his face, and he kisses her fingers.
Her lips quiver as tears flow down her cheeks. “Gi Ge… look at you… you’re finally healed… you’re making Ling Mei sad. She can hardly bear it…” She sobs.
“My darling, don’t cry,” he says and gently cradles her head to leave kisses on her forehead. “Ling Mei good! Ling Mei understand that Gi Ge has to do what Gi Ge believes in his heart. Life is…”
With a sweep of his arm across the horizon he indicates everything in sight, everything in the world.
“A dream… a great beautiful dream… but it’s time to wake up, Ling Mei! I am eternally grateful for every minute that was my life. And my time with you. But now it’s time to give it all back. This…” He says pointing to himself, then at her, “none of this belongs to us. It’s time to return it all to the creator. I made my Boddhisattva vow lifetimes ago for the enlightenment of ALL sentient beings. Love me, as you always have, and always will, and our story will never end. Our destiny lies beyond.”
Their eyes lock for an eternity until understanding gradually dawns on her face. And all her pain melts away even if her wrinkles could not. No more tears were shed, for they smiled at each other as they did the first time they met, like two lonely children meeting each other at a park. They smiled with recognition of each other’s souls which had found and lost each other countless times through countless lifetimes. And finally, they arrived at the end as one.
“What will we become?” She asks finally.
“How about… A cross. A giant cross to be seen from hundreds of miles away.”
And that made her happy.
