Crystals I

The strange light-2

Still wondering about the whole thing, Adonis and Anna were admiring the crystal. Their friends, Kostas and Malama, one the other side of the small stony fall, still carefree on the grass, kept talking to each other in a low voice and seemed to have missed everything. They were separated by the wooden path under which there was a brook formed by the waters of the fall, but still they were quite near. Anna and Adonis thought that their friends might have seen something of all that strange happenings. They therefore decided to make their way towards the other couple to ask them if they had sensed any of that. They asked them whether they had seen any light, some strange flashes, possibly colorful, like in a rainbow, or anything that curious, anyhow. They did not dare tell them anything about their intuitive visual experience and the dancing immaterial forms, fearing their friends might think them crazy. Who would believe them anyway?

Their friends gave them a strange questioning look, truly surprised from all the questioning. They told them that they had seen nothing, except at the point when they lost Adonis from their sight when he stepped down into the fall. They wondered why he would do that, and they were just about to ask them what he was doing down there, when they decided not to. Seeing the white rod in Anna’s hands, they understood that that must have been the reason Adonis had stepped into the basin. To Adonis and Anna’s question as to whether Anna had appeared as she had always been or if some strange lights or anything strange was around her, they also responded negatively, except at a certain point when they said they saw a momentary flash, as if from a camera, that they paid no attention to, thinking that some people might be taking photos. Besides, a momentary flash could have come from anywhere. They saw Ana normally all the time, whenever they looked their direction and they saw no other strange thing.

So, what had happened? Had they imagined it all? Have they dreamt it? But how could they both experience the same thing? Could they possibly have isolated themselves from the time-place continuum for some split seconds that seemed to them earth minutes? Because they had the feeling that several minutes elapsed while in reality only some tenths of seconds had. Perhaps for as long as a flash lasts, what their friends saw, in other words. They returned wordless to their spot under the plane and thinking about the whole thing.

As Anna was examining the White Rod, she remembered some old lore told to her from her granny, that Anna considered beautiful old wives’ tales and nothing else. She recalled that in her granny’s tales, there was mention of a similar object in an old Byzantine church of St Barbara before it got submerged, and that this object used to emit strange faint and imprecise images of the past. Her granny had told her many such stories that she considered fairytales now. Could this be the rod of old, that lost crystal with the name White Rod with all the fantastic things it was associated with in older times? Could that crystal have created all that phantasmagoria? It might not have been phantasmagoria but a natural phenomenon that they did not understand. The young couple was pressed by many unanswered questions. They did not know where truth ended and where dream or fantasy started. If it had been just for Adonis, everyone would believe that it was simply another one of his dreamlike states, something that was not difficult to happen. But now Anna was involved in this, too. Everyone knew her assertive and down-to-earth character. It was she would kept Adonis on earth when he was about to fly away to utopia at every given moment.

This White Rod, which from now on we shall be referring to as the White Crystal, had, according to Anna’s granny in one her occasional stories, projected an image of Christ’s crucifixion during the feast night of the Resurrection liturgy. At another time, she said that just before the fall of the city to the Ottomans, the crystal had shown prophetic images regarding the siege and fall of the city as well as the submerging of the church for the reasons already mentioned. There were no more stories of the sort after the end of the 14th century. Most people had forgotten both the stories as well as the crystal itself.

In the meantime, Anna and Adonis had continued their walk through the trees. Finally, they found a quiet spot amongst a thicket of trees and low bushes where they sat and isolated themselves in the stillness of the surroundings. They remained speechless and ecstatic from all those that had taken place and had excited their psychoemotional world. They were sitting there silent to give a chance to themselves to come to completely. It was not easy to come to following such a majestic and extraordinary situation.

At as certain point, as they were both holding and mechanically caressing the White Crystal with love and admiration, the bluish-white light and the spherical rainbow that turned into milky light appeared again. They again felt they were being isolated from their physical environment while an initially obscure image that became clearer later showed up before their eyes that made them feel as if they themselves were becoming part of the image, as if they were already having the image in their mind. But at the same time they felt that gravity did not apply and that whatever was happening had no relationship with their earthly existence. Perhaps it was something like intuitive vision, perhaps a sort of accumulated energy that emanated from the Crystal, perhaps the two were being homogenized into a unified time-space continuum, perhaps the thought was being projected into their minds, or perhaps it was something else. Who knows? It was as if an image was being sent from some time travel into the past or the future. Anyway, it was clear that the image had not been from this world. And they were certain about it because they clearly felt they had not had any contact with their environment. While the experience lasted, they could not do anything else or maintain contact with anything in their environment except ‘live’ or ‘feel’ the images that they thought the crystal was responsible for. But the images could not have been projected by the crystal itself but rather, from another point in the time-space continuum, in which they could do nothing but simply observe what was happening, unable to intervene in any way. But most probably, they must have become part of the universe and were partaking in it through a magical empathetic experience.

They never understood what was happening. However, the alternating images were related to modern physics. They understood that much when they later described the event to one of their ‘Teachers’ at the secondary school, Mr Vasilis Messis, whom they trusted and whose knowledge they appreciated. They approached him because they were unable to reach any conclusion, or tell whether all that had been a figment of their imagination, or whether there was something wrong with their minds. Besides, apart from the many positive points associated with Dr Messis, they knew he loved his science, respected his students, loved his service and contribution to society and that he possessed multiple knowledge – beyond literature – that was his specialization. His love for children and the ideals of a teacher of secondary education were the main reasons that prompted him to accept the position of a literature teacher at a secondary school and not at a university. Furthermore, he had particularly studied various subjects and published papers on Muslim temples. He was trying to impart his love and knowledge that was enhanced by voluntary expeditions to all important spots of the city and its environs, to his colleagues as well as to his students. His contribution to the understanding and significance of Muslim temples in the area was great in the city. His presence and contribution to the city of Drama had been an enlightened one. Whoever had been able to be ‘lit’ by his ‘light’ considered him or herself lucky.

Besides, where else could they go? Whoever they might go to may have made fun of them, considered them dreamers or even crazy. They knew that this teacher of theirs would instead treat everything they told him, even the weirdest phenomenon, thoughtfully and seriously. That was a soothing thought. So, they immediately left the oasis of the waters of St Barbara and started for the central square of the city of Drama and to a phone booth. On their way, they came upon a friend and classmate of Adonis’, Kiki Iosifidou. Kiki was the daughter of a priest and one of the most mature children during their years at secondary school. With her permanent kind smile that took your soul away, she enchanted everyone around her with her slow, soft sweet talk. She possessed the instinct to perceive the genuine, no matter how strange or incredible this might seem. After greeting her, they told her about their recent experience which also astounded her and she asked to hold the crystal for a while. They also told her that they intended to phone their teacher by going to a phone booth. They all went to a phone booth and called Dr Vassilis Messis.

Their teacher’s mother answered the phone. She was aware of the good relationships her son had maintained with most of his older and new students and his love of them. He was a man who really loved his students, and it was this love that fueled most of his obligations regarding the sacred service of a ‘Teacher’. A lot of people could not understand where he was drawing all this strength or how it was possible to show his love to so many. The answer to that question was easy of course. The more love he offered, the same love was returned to him multifold by the others, but also by the universe. So, while he seemed to be ‘drained out’ of energy, at the same time he was filled with energy. He was constantly drawing energy from the infinite universe, acquiring new strength that he in turn distributed around him. This is the only way that one can surpass human capabilities, offering love to many people, animals, plants and to the whole nature in general. Their ‘Teacher’ was that kind of a man. For this reason, it was always a joy for his students to come across him in town. They could discuss everything with him, from the simplest to the strangest, except love and love making since he was against premarital s*x. A little later however, his convictions on this issue would be put to the test when he saw the reaction of the White Crystal to true love relations. Adonis also had another two teachers from primary school whom he loved and admired, Mr George Bluchos and Mr Omiros Sofianos. He thought that Mr Sofianos could also offer them some help on the specific issue, but he was away. From his time in secondary education, Adonis also thought of Mr Stelios Pilitsis and Mt George Papadopoulos, both of whom as teachers had left ‘positive’ impressions in his mind. They could also help, but they were also away. That left only Dr Vassilis Messis to seek advice from.

They told their teacher on the phone that something had scared them and they would really like to talk it over with him. He asked them if they were in any immediate danger or under threat for their lives, but they told him that nothing like that was the case. They told him that a simple extraordinary event had happened to them to which they could give no logical answer, and that scared them. Then their teacher asked them if they could wait till the following day or if that was an emergency. When he made sure that whatever it was could wait till the following day as there was no danger for his students, he suggested they should meet next morning at the municipal gardens of Drama, have a juice and talk this over. They agreed and hang up.

The next day was important and the teenagers hoped they would get some answers. In the meantime. Adonis, Anna and Kiki went to café Elysée to have some coffee and calm down. There, they told Kiki what had taken place at the park of the waters of St Barbara. It was Kiki’s turn to gape in awe and she asked a lot of questions. After that, they had some quiet time, until the time came for them to go home. Kiki told them that she would like to be present in next day’s meeting but that it was quite a personal issue so it would be better if she didn’t. She suggested that it would be nice if they set up another meeting. Perhaps she said it would be better to arrange a whole class reunion of the 1976 Lyceum class. However, this would have to wait for another eighteen years, in June 1997. It was then that the alumni of year 1976 of the six-grade High School of Nevrokopi, following the initiatives of Kiki Iosifidou and Alexandros Karypides, were able to meet again 21 years after their graduation, during an emotional two-day event. It was a two-day event full of affection, remembrance and beauty.