“I'm sorry, Ikeda. Visiting people at night, opening their chakras? What do you mean by that?” Evelyn asked.
Ikeda waved his finger subtly. “You see, as you become spiritually advanced, your chakras, or energy centers throughout your body, are naturally awakened through meditation and spiritual techniques.”
Ikeda continued, “Slowly, gradually, this is the best way. In desperation, operatives from my planet have been abducting people and forcibly opening these energy centers in a last ditch effort to speed up your evolution before the wicked among you destroy your civilization.”
There are risks to these methods. If the chakras are opened too quickly, the nervous system can become overwhelmed, or it can cause terrible anxiety, even mental illness.”
“Is this what happened to me the other night?” Adam asked.
“Yes, son, but luckily, through years of meditation, you had already begun this process on your own. I can assure you this didn't cause any permanent damage in your case. For your people I’m afraid it's too little, too late. At this point it cannot change the course of your people's destiny. As I said, I have come to believe that many of these laws my people uphold have merely become something for us to hide behind. To always follow them to the letter only means we can keep a safe distance and we don't have to get too emotionally involved.” Ikeda pounded his small fist into the craft's console with such strength that it pressed a dent in the metal. To Adam’s amazement, the dent slowly repaired itself before their eyes as Ikeda clutched his heaving chest.
“Are you okay?” Evelyn asked as she put her hand on top of Ikeda’s as he gasped for air.
“I’m fine. I just need to re-energize this body.” His appearance told a different story. Ikeda did not look well, in the light his face was an ashen gray.
Bear, Evelyn, and Adam moved closer to Ikeda, encircling him. A single tear streamed down Bear’s bearded cheek as he gently put his arm around Ikeda, and Evelyn began quietly sobbing. Adam couldn’t move, he was completely overcome by emotion. First there was fear and then a great feeling of empathy as he began to realize how alone Ikeda must have felt having been away from his people for all those years. There was also a feeling of great reverence toward him because despite how primitive and uncivilized their society must have seemed to him, he cared enough about them to not only feed and clothe the orphans but also train his small group to become better people.
“I feel so honored to have met you, Ikeda,” Evelyn said as she leaned down to hug him.
Ikeda closed his eyes and gently bowed forward, squeezing her hand, and then he leaned back to look at her.
“Remember,” he told her, “you must have peace within yourself before it can ever be achieved in the outer world. I have a plan, but it will not be easy to accomplish. This quiet time you’ve seen me teaching the children is the key to the next stage in the evolution of your people but is also preparing them for what they must do to save themselves. By practicing this daily it allows the two hemispheres of the brain to efficiently work together as one. Even greater than this, it allows you to very quickly develop your intuition and other hidden powers that have been long-forgotten by your people. If you could only know your true potential, you would be astounded. We must be careful because the wicked want these gifted children just as much as the righteous and if they succeed we will be finished. Let me share something with you. This is a poem that my very own father taught me when I was a child in a time and place so far away it already seems like lifetimes ago. The poem is very ancient and was meant to help connect to the source.”
Ikeda sat down on the floor of the craft, crossing his legs and closing his eyes and began to recite,
Adam had already slipped into a deep meditative bliss just two lines into the first stanza. He felt as though he was weightless and floating through the very fabric of time and space.
His soul was touched by a wisdom that seemed strangely familiar to him, and he never again wanted to be separated from it. He began to groggily open his eyes, and noticed that many hours had passed during his state of altered consciousness, as was evident by the rising sun that was beginning to filter in through the craft’s open hatch.
As Adam gradually became more alert, he noticed that Bear and Evelyn were beginning to stir. He then saw Ikeda standing in the cabin, controlling his breath in time with slow, orchestrated movements of his arms and legs.
Bear got up to his feet, yawned, and stretched his arms straight up, touching the ceiling of the craft. “Ikeda, what’s that you’re doing?”
“This is a very ancient exercise, my son,” Ikeda explained as he forcefully exhaled. “It gives the body great strength and vitality. Come over here and I’ll show you.”
Bear walked over and stood beside Ikeda, towering over him by four feet.
“This doesn’t seem strenuous at all. How can this make you stronger?” Bear asked, chuckling as he clumsily mimicked what Ikeda was doing. Adam and Evelyn curiously joined in.
Ikeda made wide sweeping circles with his arms as he said, “You must focus your attention at the point between your eyebrows. There’s a great but subtle energy that exists all around us just waiting to be tapped into, this energy is many times stronger than your muscles could ever hope to be. Just because our eyes don’t see it doesn’t mean it is not there.”
He walked behind each of them, making sure their form was correct. He grabbed Adam’s arms and guided him through a few of the movements that he himself had just been doing.
“Now, close your eyes and concentrate. Breathe in while tensing your arm and feel the energy gather in your muscles. Breathe out and envision the energy flowing out from your body. Are you sure you’ve never done this before?” Ikeda asked, pointing out the goosebumps rising on Adam’s arms. “You see, this is a sign that you’re doing it correctly. This is the physical manifestation of the energy I speak of.”
After about ten minutes, Adam began to feel a vitality he had never known before. Whether it was the peculiar exercises or just the fact that finally there was someone in this world who believed in him, Adam was beginning to taste the potent elixir of confidence for the first time in his life. It made him feel invincible.
Ikeda walked over to Adam with hands locked behind his back and stared deeply into his soul.
“Son, your people need your help desperately but if you wish to help you must be prepared to take a great personal risk."
Tune in every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for new episodes of Alarm Clock Dawn! The final episode including a ENORMOUS plot twist will be read by yours truly live at the first annual SteemFest in Amsterdam on Saturday, November 12th.
Alarm Clock Dawn is the first novel of a trilogy. The sequel entitled, Truth Is Stranger, will be published in the Spring of 2017.
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