INNEREAL ADVENTURES - ONE

THE WAY

THE WAY

   Byron and Ajobis were enjoying a beautiful day as they walked together down the path toward the sea.

   “I feel a little guilty about how excited I am right now,” confessed Ajobis, quietly, as they walked. “I know that I clearly do not deserve to be so happy… because of all of the pain and suffering that I thrust upon so many innocent victims… like you. But, the thought of seeing my father again keeps pushing all of that away and rising up in my mind… and… but then, I am not really sure how that meeting is going to go. I hurt him deeply, Byron… I… I do not know how he will react when he sees me. I am so ashamed… so ashamed, in fact, that part of me wants to just turn around right now and run the other way. But, I know that this feeling is coming from my old cowardly self, raising up its ugly head.”

   “And, I suppose that this is where the beauty of this entire experience becomes apparent. If I did not know my ugly hideous cowardly self, I do not think I could appreciate the small amount of real good that remains in me. I really do wish that all of this had never happened, but then, if it had not, I might not… well… I… well, I know one thing for sure – I have never ever felt such a strong and deep love for my father. I just want to see his face again. I want to fall at his feet and beg for his forgiveness and tell him how much I love him.”

   Byron didn’t say anything, of course. That is the kind of deep deep soul baring that requires a long period of silence to even begin to comprehend.

   As they walked along in silence, Byron did start to wonder again about the light of day without a sun. He saw light and he felt radiant warmth, but there was no sun in the sky.

   Ajobis then continued, “Although it was all extremely horrible and heinous and painful, I suppose that I would not be who I am without having gone through it all. I should be thankful that I did not perish in the process. I certainly should have. But, now I sense a more honorable purpose for my existence. I am determined to make good of everything that I ruined and to try to heal everyone that I damaged. I will now devote my life to serving others and building beauty and honoring my father and… and, just being a blessing instead of a curse.”

   After some more silent progress down the path, Ajobis asked, “How about you, Byron? What have you learned on your journey thus far?”

   “Well, that is part of what I have been thinking about as we have been walking,” answered Byron, and then he stopped and opened up his shirt to show Ajobis the orb tattoo that had formed on his chest.

   “My, my, my! That is extraordinary!” exclaimed Ajobis.

   “I know,” agreed Byron, heartily. “Every time that I went through a gate, one of the small colored orbs would embed itself into my chest,” explained Byron. “Starting with the red and going through the colors of the rainbow to indigo. And then, the one at the top center was last. It is the new color that I discovered, which surrounded all of the other smaller orbs in the original orb.”

   Ajobis also noticed the intricate tattoo that entwined in and around and between the eight small orbs embedded in Byron’s chest. It was a bliss colored vine that was dimensional and animated like Byron’s first tattoo. The vine seemed to be ever growing little leaves and curling vines, but it never increased in size. It would just produce this new growth and then the previous leaves and vines would fade away while the continuous new growth proceeded. The vine didn’t look solid, but rather, somewhat transparent and seemed to be made of a vapor-like mist.

   Ajobis was intrigued by the pattern that the orbs made as they laid down on Byron’s chest. There was a row of three at the top that were set apart the widest, then below them a row of two that were directly below the two spaces created by the row above it, then one below them directly below the space that the two above it created, then lastly, a row of two more below it that were directly below the other row of two.