Like an intermediate and temporary light in all-encompassing darkness, like a stream of cold-winter wind in the scorching summer heat. That's what I thought when I first encountered the light.
-----------
**(51 years later | Hell)
'Haaw! I feel so sleepy right now.'
'Let's first finish writing the diary.'
++++++
Howdy friend,
I am finally free of the pain. Even the aftermath of the pain has seemed to become completely extinct and the body is completely back to health.
Although I'm still not close to my destination, it is still...
...
...
I hope I can get out of here soon. I miss my parents and teachers.
Bye!
+++++
[*lets go of the HP*]
[*HP floats in the air*]
With a long and deep breath, I finished my meditation session and got up.
I opened my eyes expecting to see the familiar darkness which had accompanied me for more than five decades.
(*gasp*)
I couldn't control the reaction.
[*rubs eyes vigorously*]
The darkness that had become my friend in hell was no more.
'Just like that?'
I wondered whether this was another episode of schizophrenia-like I had a year before while my third eye was close to awakening. I'm sure I imagined someone coming near me and picking me up just before I was about to die with all the pain and the white bright light inside my head had shown and created a barrier that safeguarded me from the mental attacks of whatever force was trying to break me down.
However, with what was in front of me now, it would be wrong to say the darkness had disappeared. How does something disappear when it didn't exist in the first place?
In front of my eyes was a view that couldn't be described in words, but if I were to put it in one, it would be "Impossible".
A large statue, or was it a living being? As tall as 10 mount Everest was standing on the horizon.
I immediately realized the image it represented.
'Natraja!!?'
Whirling hairs at the back and four hands each holding different things, Natraja was a God whose existence met both birth and demise. Every part of Natraja was symbolic. In the ancient legends, he was known as 'The king of dance' and 'The Lord of the act'.
Natraja was a divine form of one of the major gods in the now extinct Hindu Religion.
The divine instrument 'Damru' in its hand represented time and harmony, while the fire in other was the force of creation and destruction.
The dwarf demon on which Natraja was standing represented the spiritual ignorance of humans.
In many ways, Natraja was a God that created the act and the actors. The play that was this world was all his doings.
"Am I hallucinating?"
The sky was still void of the stars, my feet still felt like they weren't standing on matter. However, the horizon had changed.
"Hahahaha! I thought those shadows were trees."
I facepalm at the snake-shaped hair at the back of Natraja's head. They twirled, extended, and combined like snakes stuck together unable to unknot themselves from the clutches of creation.
He was still far away, but at least I knew where I was going. It wasn't a pointless journey anymore.
I decided to continue to journey. There wasn't anything else I could do after all.
My clothes hadn't changed since the day I arrived, there wasn't even a single tear in them after fifty years.
I was happy to find myself not naked at least.
HP still showed enough battery to last five more decades.
------------
The fog of the unknown that had surrounded me for most of my time in hell was no more, with replenished vigour I start walking towards the horizon.
The shock wasn't yet over though, as the real surprise came after I started practising the [way] again.
'Why does it feel so easy?'
The pain of practising the [way] was gone. However, I felt more scared than relieved.
My body felt lighter than ever, and the amount of Prana in my body had more than just doubled.
'Let's try again.'
I sit in a cross-legged position and continue to meditate.
It was easy.
I didn't even have to put in the effort to get in the state of trance.
My concentration was clearer than ever.
'I think I can meditate even while walking now.'
It was a dangerous thought, but also a practical choice.
'Is it because of Natraja? or the third eye?'
A year ago I was paralyzed to even move a finger, and now I felt like my body and mind were one. No apparent and obvious changes had happened to my physical body, there were no magical lights and glow or a halo over my head, but I felt like I had touched upon something which was grander than the lofty and empty visuals of comics when a Hero would be enlightened.
--------
The uncomfortable sensation of having a foreign entity in my head was no more. I couldn't sense what I thought of as third-eye anywhere in my body.
It was as if whatever it was that gave me so much pain had completely assimilated into my body.
The environment was still the same, my circumstances hadn't changed either.
I open the HP and look at the wallpaper of the Maiyatt team.
'It's time to train harder.'
I thought I was close to getting out of here.
Everything was falling into place and it gave me an unfounded optimism about Hell.
I developed a Stockholm Syndrome towards the dimension, I thought Hell was helping me to get stronger rather than trap me there.
I started physical training like always.
My routine hadn't changed much since there was equipment to train harder, all I could do was just increase the time of my training every time I hit a bottleneck.
**(a day later)
'Earlier I couldn't practise even for a few hours, and now I'm not getting tired at all.'
My stamina and endurance seemed to have reached an unrecognizable height.
'How do I train now?'. I was in turmoil. I couldn't just increase my training time till the moment of exhaustion anymore.
In Hell, the human limit was the only thing of help to me other than HP.
'If only I had a sword, I could practise how Mark taught me.', I thought.
Mark was not only good at automatic firearms, but he was also an expert at swordsmanship. He had mastered every weapon on Earth.
(*zing*)
A monotone frequency hit my earlobe.
I jumped back in response while blocking my ears. The sudden dizziness made me feel like I was falling continuously through the air.
"What was that?"
I asked the emptiness around me.
(*zoom*)
[*hovers*]
"Where did you come from?"
I said, not even realizing I was talking to an inanimate object.
A sword had just materialized out of nowhere.
(*zoom*)
"What are you?"
(*zoom*)
It just simply hovered in front of me like it was asking me to take hold of it.
I gather my courage and move towards the sword. It still made the same buzzing sound, but for some reason, it wasn't as piercing as before.
I held the handle with utmost care.
'Nothing?...'
The sound was gone.
"Did it appear because of my desire to train?"