Shambhala Page 17

  I didn’t know if Ian had noticed anything. Thinking about it calmly, I didn’t think it was possible but, then, why was he being so distant? It seemed like something was tormenting him. As much as I thought about it, I couldn’t imagine what it could be.

  On the other hand, they kept leaving out what could have happened to them after they got Eset’s messages. My father ignored my direct question a couple of times and Ian...well, I practically didn’t exchange any more words with him.

  I started to think it would be best if we talked, go out for lunch or dinner together, or go see him at his house. After all, he was used to coming to my place, it would be okay if I went to his apartment this time.

  I picked up the phone to call him, not before checking to see if I had any texts. No, there was nothing. No sign. Confusion gripped me.

  “Disappeared completely for three days? Something’s going on here,” I reflected.

  But instead of calling him, I decided to text my father:

  “Hi, what are you up to?”

  I patiently waited for him to answer.

  “Hello, I was researching on the internet.”

  That was funny. Later I’d call so he could tell me what he was ‘investigating’ and what he’d found.

  “Have you heard from Ian? I’m a little worried about him.”

  The phone rang. It was my father.

  “Hi. No, I don’t know anything,” he said as soon as I picked up.

  “That’s strange.”

  “Yes, it is.”

  “Maybe something happened to him?”

  “I only knew I noticed he was acting strangely before we left to go to your house.” I was quiet. “Maybe he’s worried about you,” he speculated. “Since they said your name...”

  “My alleged cosmic name,” I interrupted him, carefully emphasizing every word that passed my lips. “We don’t know for sure it’s mine or what it means, and besides, what could be bad about that?”

  “I don’t know, daughter. Maybe now that it seemed you two were getting closer, he’s afraid to lose you.”

  “I don’t know why he would lose me, it isn’t like I was going to go with them to their planet,” I replied with irony.

  “I hope not, but if that’s the case, take us with you!” he joked. That made me laugh.

  “I don’t know what to do,” I said, “whether I should call, or just show up at his house...”

  “Well, I don’t know what to tell you. I never had those problems with your mother. I suppose because we talked about everything.”

  “Good advice.”

  “But I haven’t said anything.”

  “Yeah, but you’ve said enough. I’ll call to talk to him for a few minutes. Maybe he’ll feel like me going to see him...”

  “In that case, let me know. I hope everything is okay.”

  “Me, too,” I paused. “I’ll let you go.”

  “Okay, good luck.”

  “Kisses.”

  Next act: I hung up. I sat there with my cell phone in my hand, trying to decide whether to call him or just show up at his apartment. Which would be more appropriate? Maybe if I went in person, I was tempting fate, but I didn’t like the idea of talking to him without being able to see his face. While I thought about it, I decided to brush my teeth and take a shower, giving myself some time in case I decided in the end to visit him. In full mouth-rinsing, the phone rang again. An unknown number was illuminated on the screen, but it seemed familiar. I wiped my face with the back of my hand, and picked up.

  “Hello?”

  “Aurora?” A masculine and serious voice was on the other end of the line.

  “Yes, this is Aurora,” I answered, trying to recognize the speaker.

  “I have to talk to you. Something very....strange has happened.” I finally recognized the voice. It was Victor, my old boss. But that, far from reassuring me, puzzled me even more.

  “Victor?” I asked, confused.

  “Yes, Aurora, I need to see you. It’s urgent.” His tone sounded urgent.

  “Okay,” I agreed. “When?”

  “Can we meet in the next half hour?”

  “Shit! In half an hour? Can’t it be later?” I thought, as a sigh escaped me.

  “Well, if it’s urgent...”

  “I appreciate it very much. I’ll come by to get you.”

  “To my house?” I inquired, surprised.

  “If that’s okay with you, of course.”

  “Okay, sure. You know where I live?”

  “Of course I do,” he answered effusively.

  “Okay, sure.”

  “I’ll wait for you downstairs in the lobby.”

  “Fine.” I don’t know why, but those last words left me calmer.

  Without saying more, he hung up.

  Why was it that nothing but strange things happened?

  To tell the truth, I doubt that whatever he wanted to tell me was that urgent. And Ian! Now I was forced to postpone visiting or calling him...I didn’t have time to do everything in such a short amount of time. I tried not to get angry.

  Before going to the wardrobe to pick out something to wear, I looked out the window to see what the weather looked like. I soon noticed the convulsive puffs of cold air that violently blew the tops of the nearby trees. I decided on jeans, a long-sleeved shirt, and a knitted sweater over it. If it warmed up, I could take off the outer layer and be fine.

  I got ready and had some breakfast as fast as possible, hoping to have a few minutes before Victor arrived to call, or at least text, Ian.

  *･｡.·.｡･*

  “Hello,” I said as soon as he picked up the phone. In the end, I decided to talk for a few minutes, it was warmer than a text message, and I wouldn’t have to wait for an answer, not knowing when it would come. I needed to know how he was doing before I left with my ex-boss.

  “Hi, Smurfette,” he answered tenderly. I couldn’t help but smile.

  “Hey, big guy, what are you up to?”

  “I was looking for information on the internet.”

  “You, too!” I exclaimed, surprised.

  “What? What do you mean?”

  “My father said the same thing a little while ago. Have you two made some kind of agreement or what?” I asked, amused. He laughed.

  “I suppose that, after everything that happened this weekend, the least we can do is look for information, and try to figure out who these beings are and what they want from us.” Those words had a connotation of distrust.

  “You don’t trust them?”

  “It isn’t that I don’t trust them, it’s that we know nothing about them,” emphasizing the word ‘nothing.’ “It could be that they have good intentions but, what are they? Where do they come from? Why are they so interested in helping us? They shouldn’t care one way or the other if things go well for us or not. Right?” he said, sounding irritated.

  “I don’t know. I suppose when you see someone who’s not doing well or is suffering somehow, you try to help them however you can...”

  “That’s possible,” he said, a little more calmly. “Maybe their wishes for us are good but, even so, I’d like to have more information.”

  “And have you found anything?”

  “I’ve only been able to verify that, in effect, the phenomenon of UFO sightings has been around a long time. The men who Enrique Paz cited dedicated a large part of their lives to studying and doing activities, but, apparently, some people ended up creating sects around these events. At least that’s how it looks on Wikipedia.”

  “Yeah. I suppose that’s why Enrique emphasized, several times, that one of their wishes is for us to be free, without blindly following figures or characters, or even any kind of dogma, no matter how spiritual it may seem.”

  “I read something like that in an article of his. I don’t know if you know this, but it seems that years ago, when he first started researching, he joined a group of contactees trying to find out who they were and what they wanted. Well—the
same things we want to know. The thing is that after some time in the ‘community,’ he saw that the philosophy on which they were based consisted of closed, very concrete ideas. Anyone who made a move to get out of that doctrine was accused of instigating controversy and separatism. Those who were ‘problematic’ for thinking differently, like him, were blamed for introducing ideas to the group that fostered free thinking. That could endanger the organization. The ‘inciters’ were expelled or they ended up leaving.”

  “Funny, what you’re telling me reminds me of religion, political parties, and other groups, of whatever kind, even sports...they promote strict dogma, without allowing flexibility or any ideas different from theirs. Debate or doubting any of their principles is not seen as okay...anyone who questions them makes the other members rise up against the ‘dissident,’ look at him badly and practically call him a heretic. They take for granted that this is so, that what they believe or defend is the best, is worth the most and everything else is wrong and worth nothing.”

  “Yes, something like that, only those groups aren’t considered sects.” He gave an ironic snort.

  “Maybe because it’s all so established, we all know they have a lot of followers, but above all, they’re so open about it, they don’t hide it,” I replied, laughing.

  I was happy to talk with Ian, to see that everything was good between us. He was close and affectionate and his voice, calm and serene, showed that he was well.

  I looked at my watch. It was time to leave.

  “I have to let you go,” I interrupted the conversation.

  “Okay.” He sounded sad.

  “It’s that I have to leave. I’ve arranged to meet Victor because he wants to tell me something about that’s happened to him.”

  “Victor, your old boss?”

  “Yes. He called me a few minutes ago. He seemed a little nervous. I don’t know what’s happened.”

  “I hope it isn’t anything serious.”

  “Me, too. Anyway...he’s probably waiting for me already.”

  “Okay. Let’s talk later?”

  “Sure,” I answered, smiling as if he could see me.

  “I’ll be at home all day.” That sounded to me like an invitation.

  “Perfect, I’ll call you later.”

  “Okay. Kisses!”

  “Kisses back.” I hung up.

  I put my shoes on, picked up my bag and ran down the stairs. Victor was sitting in his car waiting for me. He was facing forward, preoccupied. I doubt he was looking at anything in particular. He didn’t even notice when I got to the car and opened the passenger door.

  I got in the car and waited beside him, silent. He turned his face slowly and looked at me without saying anything. That was uncomfortable. It reminded me of a horror movie.

  “What’s going on with you?” I asked. He raised his eyebrows and gesticulated with an expression of bewilderment.

  “Well, I don’t know if you’ll believe me.”

  “Don’t worry, I’m very open-minded.” I said to reassure him.

  “Really, something has happened to me that..it would be hard for me to believe if someone told me the story.”

  “Try me,” I urged.

  “Remember I told you that I’d been trying for awhile to find a deeper meaning for my life, to develop the spiritual side that I know we all have?”

  “Yes, I remember.”

  “Okay, then. The other day a friend took me to Madrid, to a talk that a lama was giving.”

  “A lama...” I repeated, amazed.

  “Yes. Every year, the lama Gangchen Rimpoche comes to Madrid to an International Congress to talk about Traditional Tibetan Medicine. It’s a weekend where lectures are given, mainly about the inner and outer peace of the individual, the benefits of meditation are discussed, exercises and practices are done, mantras are sung accompanied by Tibetan story music, and so on.”

  “But that’s good, right?”

  “Yes. I liked it a lot. But wait...” He stopped for a few seconds. “On Sunday there was, what was for me an harmonization and subsequent initiation ceremony to find our inner peace and the true meaning of our lives...right then, I felt something strange.” This time I stayed quiet, waiting for him to continue. “I saw myself dressed as a monk,” he said with some amazement. “It was like I was one of them. But not now, during these times, but in a previous life. A group of young men and I entered into a Buddhist order, they prepared us physically and mentally to control our energy and our emotions and in that way, keep our inner peace.”

  “You had a regression!”

  “It was pretty intense.” He paused a moment before continuing. “The ‘training’ was very hard. They practiced an extreme discipline,” he reflected, as if it were something in the present.

  “Did anything else happen?”

  “Yes. I saw myself dying frozen in the middle of the snow, on a high altitude mountain. I think I was in Tibet.”

  “What were you doing there?”

  “It seemed like we were protecting something.”

  “Were you alone?”

  “No, there was a group. We were carrying something—extremely important and secret. We were guarding it and moving it to a safer place.”

  My eyebrows shot up as I felt some disbelief at his story; luckily, he was not looking at me.

  “What could have been so important that you would risk your life?” I finally asked.

  “Something that you’re not going to believe,” he said mysteriously. “It was a fragment of stone that came from the stars.”

  “A rock that came from the stars?” I repeated, raising my voice without noticing I had.

  “Yes. One of three fragments.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Apparently, a few centuries ago, a transcendental gem arrived on our planet. It was a kind of emerald-colored crystal rock that housed high-value information. That mineral seemed to possess an intelligence of its own and memories of the whole process of creation, not only of our planet, but also of all the galaxies and the Universe. The monks were sure that this was a kind of library where one could consult any event that had already occurred and also what was to come. A sort of oracle. With the passage of time, three fragments emerged from the nucleus that would be distributed throughout the length and breadth of our planet, with the main objective of transmitting information to those people whose vibration was raised and consciences were elevated, and at the same time, to compile data about our evolution, and above all, historical events that have been or are of maximum relevance in the history of our humanity.

  “As you can imagine, those fragments couldn’t fall into just anyone’s hands, such that at least one of them was entrusted to the lamas of the Himalaya mountains. I don’t know the whereabouts of the other two.

  “For centuries, the mission of the monks was to guard and secure the fragment, away from the intentions of some evil people who only crave to take its power in order to subdue others...”

  I looked at him, perplexed, not only because it seemed like he was telling me a child’s bedtime story, but because of his recent awakening. Someone who had been a long-time skeptic had converted, almost overnight, into a highly spiritual and conscious being.

  “I know you don’t believe me but, after the initiation was over, an impulse led me to approach Lama Gangchen. To my surprise, it seemed like he was waiting for me.” I noted how he seemed surprised himself. “I asked if he could give me a few minutes to tell him about the experience I’d had during the course of the exercise and his answer completely puzzled me. “He said: Of course, Estir, I’ve been waiting for you.”

  “Estir?”

  “Yes, I think that apparently that was my name in my other life...it wasn’t very clear, honestly,” and he made a gesture of evident embarrassment.

  “Are you telling me that the Lama recognized you from your previous life?”

  “Yes, something like that.”

  “Incredible!” I exclai
med, raising my eyebrows.

  “I know! Like I said, I don’t think I’d believe it if someone told me this story.”

  “Well, what happened?”

  “He told me I had to return to the Himalayas and Mongolia. That I was expected to resume the path I’d left before.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t know how to say this without it sounding egocentric, but apparently, when I died I’d carried out some kind of ‘work for humanity.’ Somehow, apart from being an initiation process, I was already part of a group of devotees that guarded one of the fragments of magic stone that I just told you about.

  “During the few minutes I could talk with the Lama, he put me on notice about the delicate times in which we live. That startled me. He affirmed that we’re in a very important moment in our evolutionary process as a species, and they we must pay special attention to everything: what we are, what surrounds us, what we think and do...and at the same time, develop our consciousness to be able to overcome this crucial stage.” He went silent, seemingly remembering something. “That weekend, the Lama showed us that, from our inner peace, we could achieve the ability for physical healing and outer peace, in the environment, on the planet...that being what we should aspire to. It is what we must maximize. He insisted on making us understand the scope of our personal work, since we are going through difficult moments. He said, and I’m quoting directly: ‘The future of this world depends on us waking up and learning to live and coexist in peace. The technological capabilities that we’ve reached and which are about to be revealed, are going to jeopardize the planet.’