The Monas Stone

My name is Gwen Chu. I must introduce myself for the following narrative to be intelligible. I was born totally blind, I have those cloudy white eyes that freak out sighted people. I am of Chinese ancestry on both my Mother and Father's side. I only speak a few words of Chinese. I have a PhD in philosophy, and am an associate Professor at a prestigious University in Los Angles California, but only teach two introductory classes. I am mostly ignored by my department, I fill a number of quotas being a disabled woman of Asian heritage. I am not part of the club as the politically active say. I am twenty two years old,and am told attractive; five feet six inches tall, black hair "Chinese looking" people tell me my legs are one of my best features. The rest should become clear in the course of the following narrative. It was a Wednesday afternoon, the end of my week, only have classes Monday and Wednesday. I was sitting in by office bored, when my ex-boyfriend came knocking on the door. My ex-boyfriend Bob Fletcher was currently in Law School at the same University where I work. I had finished my PhD in one year on British Idealism; not a popular field of study. Since I knew more than the examiners had no problem getting past the board. I also have an interest in occult philosophy, this is the interest that originally brought Bob and I together.It was also the occultism that had brought Bob to my door to see me. Yes, blind people say see! Any how Bob came in to tell me he had met an occultist who claimed, he could both boost intelligence, and access other dimensions or realms of reality. I was interested, Bob was a nice enough guy, but he was not the brightest or bravest guy. He was also weak willed, ruled by his Mother. That is the main reason we broke up, his Mother was not going to have her son married to a blind girl. Not that he was any great loss, but it always hurts to get dumped. Bob wanted me to go along with him to meet the occultist. I said: "Yes" So it was arranged that he would pick me up that evening, and we would go together to meet Ed Hartman the occultist and Bob's new "guru." We arrived around 7:30 in the evening Ed's apartment was on the third story in a rundown complex. Sad to say it was only two blocks from my apartment complex. The apartment smelled of books, and mess. Bob navigated me into a chair around a round table where we all sat. Ed Hartman insisted we call him "Ed.' Ed was in his mid-fifties, thirty years older than Bob and I. I immediately like him. I have heard a gay man say say: that there was a large black woman trapped inside of his white male body, and I have know several women who claim that they are gay men trapped in a woman's body. I feel like a old gray haired white man who is an expert on esoteric subjects trapped in the body of a blind Asian woman. My family has commented on how little i seem to connect with my Chinese heritage, but that is story for another day. I imagined Ed to be evil and self serving, but I was probably projecting myself on him. As it turned out I was not wrong. Bob brought me along, because of his caution or cowardice. Ed wanted us to try his machine, which he said would boost our intelligence, and give us access to other dimensions, or realms of reality. I will try to reproduce Ed's story in his own words, of course it is not exact. "As a young man I became obsessed with the occult, and the writings of H.P. Lovecraft. I fest instinctively they were connected, that Lovecraft's dreams were really visions of other dimensions or reality. I read everything I could get a hold of on the subject, and joined every occult society or cult; leaving after I learned all I could from them. My family was indulgent of me. My family always favored my older brother who was heir to the family business, thus letting me to much as I pleased. In my researches I discovered the there existed what is called the Monas stone, it was the key I had been looking for, it allowed one access to other realms of reality. Both of you are undoubtedly familiar with many occult and religious theories that teach there is a spiritual dimension that runs parallel with the material realm, but that is not the whole truth. There are several dimensions of reality, I have access to two besides our materiel realm. Reality is a giant oscillating wave; think of an F.M wave, our reality exists only on the top of the wave; like the music we hear from a radio is only the peaks of the wave. Of course, there is really no up and down, I am just using it as an analogy. Our dimension of reality phases in and out of existence as the wave oscillates, and other dimensions or realms phase into existence as we phase out. This is constantly going on, we do not realize it, because we literally do not exist when the other realms phase into existence. In the other realms the particles vibrate differently than i our realm, so the the laws of space-time, and physics are not the same as in our realm or dimension of reality. These other realms are home to entities totally alien to our dimension of reality. Lovecraft's gods, and Elder Race. It is the Monas stone that is the key, since it is able to vibrate at the same frequencies as these other dimensions of reality, it can also transport objects or living beings that have contact with the vibrations generated by it to these other realms. It was originally worn on a band that would hold it to the middle of the operators forehead, like a third eye. I knew I had to possess the the Monas stone, so when my Father died, my brother took over the family business, and I took my inheritance in cash to find the Monas stone. That was over thirty years ago." He paused. I asked: "So did you find it, and is so where?" He continued: "Yes to both. I spent decades, and my inheritance searching. The first recorded reference to the Monas stone was in Ptolemaic Egypt. Unlike most occult relics it did not go east or west, but instead went south into sub-Saharan Africa. Into the lands of the Zulus, the Monas stone became the property of the izinyanas, the witch doctors. It came to have two names. It was called the Esedown or the Inkosikaas. It was called the Esedown by those who did not know its secrets. The Esedown is a mythical beast that has a hole in its back, which it uses to carry off humans. The Monas stone may be the origin of this Zulu myth. The word "inkosikaas" means "chieftainess or queen" in Zulu. This is what the witch doctors called the Monas stone. The last owner of the Monas stone was a Zulu witch Doctor by the name of Zweete. It is said Zweete was one of the witch doctors that served Shaka the Zulu King." It seems typical that powerful men and powerful men always get associated with each other. whether is Napoleon, Hitler, or Shaka. Ed concluded: "I finally tracked down the grave of Zweete and there I found the Monas stone. I had done it! It had cost me my youth and fortune, that is why I am living in this shitty apartment, but I have it!" Since I was expected to be the brave one, I asked" "So can we see it?" I heard Ed get up and shuffle around; then said: "Yes, of course" I could hear some type of container being opened, at least is sounded like hinges. I was later to learn it was a box which had wires running in and out of it; sort of like a lie detector. It was also clear Ed was not used to being around blind people, he handed the stone to Bob. Bob described it as a milky white crystal with a greenish tinge, then handed it to me. It was a cabochon about the size of a lady's thumb, shaped like an eye. Ed then continued in an excited tone of voice: "Instead of having to wear the stone around the forehead and chant or do breathing exercises to activate the stone, I have invented a machine that by running an electrical current through the stone activates its powers. And as a bonus more than one person at a time can use the stone, through the use of head bands I have hooked up to the stone." Then in an anxious voice he asked: "Want to try?" Bob replied: "I will if you will" nudging me, and I said: "Sure bring it on." Ed explained in a very happy voice: "We shall most likely encounter some of the inhabitants of the realm or dark dimension as I like to call the realm of the Lovecraft gods, but do not be afraid they shall be watcher entities Lovecraft's Hounds of Tindalos so we shall disengage before any of the more powerful entities arrive. As you shall see we will be in telepathic communication, so just follow my lead and instructions" All of us put on the headbands, and Ed checked each one of us to make sure they fitted right. Then he sat down and asked: "Are you ready?" I nodded my head; habit from being around sighted people. Ed continued: "Let us begin!" It started out with a tingling in the forehead that expanded to the rest of the body, suddenly it was like a long drop on a roller coaster, except without the G-forces. I could say everything went black, Bob told me that was his experience, but for me it was a feeling of floating in a vacuum. Then I heard Ed's telepathic voice: "Keep concentrating on holding your consciousness together do not day dream get scattered thoughts, if you lose concentration you shall go back to our realm." This was comparatively easy for me; when you are blind you must always concentrate when you are walking around or travelling as they say in blind jargon. Again Ed spoke: "We are in the realm of the Lovecraft gods or the dark dimension." It was an odd feeling, no markers just floating in empty space, no walls, no landmarks. Then there appeared several dog faced bats, is the only way I can describe them. I say appeared because there was no up and down or right and left in the dark dimension. Ed spoke in a calm voice: "Ok Let go." He was in our minds, so showed us how to disconnect; basically it was just relaxing and loosing concentration. Then came another experience of a massive drop, and we were back sitting in Ed's nasty smelling apartment. there was less disorientation than one would think. I felt energized and physically and mentally. Ed spoke first: "That was a good first experience. It is not good to spend a lot of time there till you are used to it. Bob chimed in: "It was both terrifying and exhilarating" Bob asked : "If there had been a camera on us in the room what would it have recorded?" Ed answered in a professorial tone: "We were there such a short time, that the camera would have just recorded us sitting in the room. As I said before our dimension of reality ceases to exist as the dark dimension phases in to existence. Our realm of existence phases out of existence there is a continual oscillation. If we had stayed longer in the dark dimension it would have recorded us disappearing, and then reappearing, it would have looked like a very bad edit. As you found out there is a jolt?" Ed then advised us: "It is best you guys go home unwind and get some rest. Even though you probably feel exhilarated" I turned my face towards his voice, when you are blind, you have to train yourself to face people when talking to them. I only do it when I want to made a point. I grues I have some unresolved issues with sighted people. I asked: "I would like to talk with you in greater depth. I am a Professor of philosophy, so have many questions; are you free anytime tomorrow? I am free all day; only have classes Monday and Wednesday." Ed told me he would be free all afternoon, he liked to sleep late. So we traded phone numbers. Bob navigated me back to his car. We did not speak till we were inside the car. Then Bob asked: "What did you think? I replied: "Interesting, want to know more." Bob then asked the big question: "Do you think we actually visited another dimension of reality?" "Not sure need more information, that is why I want to see him tomorrow." At that he drove me home. I guess it is female psychology that whenever a man gives us a new, exciting experience we want to have sex. I was in no mood to fight psychology, so I invited him in. He declined giving me some feeble excuse that he was seeing someone, and did not want to screw it up. I felt disappointed, and slightly humiliated. I consoled myself by thinking the other woman was probably his mother. I slept well that night, and had strange dreams that I was in contact with a entity of the dark dimension. I woke up late, mid-mourning, I am not one of those people that eats when they get up. I have to be up awhile before I can eat. After the mourning shower and grooming, I put on tank top, jeans, and flip flops. I also wear dark glasses to hide my cloudy white eyes, even though I am not fond of them; they do nothing for me, but you have to make it a habit or you forget them. One of the prices you have to pay for living in the sighted world. Obviously, I can not make eye contact and most sighted people are freaked out by my eyes. I grabbed my straight cane, and went down to the coffee place on the corner of my block. The staff knows me, so I got my usual spot by the window, of course it is not the window I care about, but the wall. When you are blind walls are important to orient oneself. I made a call to my neighbor that I sometimes babysit for; she has an eleven year old daughter by the name of Meagan. I don't have much of a social life. I wanted to know if Meagan would be free to in the afternoon to walk me over to Ed's apartment: she was. Then I called Ed to see when I could come by the: time was set up. After the calls I felt free to sit back and enjoy my coffee. No one talked to me as usual, sometimes my on of my students comes in, but not that day. I went home, and changed into short shorts and flip-flops with an elevated heel to show off my legs. Meagan came by right on time. Having kids lead you around is another one of those micro-humiliations of being blind. Meagan mentioned I was showing a lot so skin. I told her when you go fishing, you need the right bait; she seemed to enjoy innuendo. As we walked over I asked Meagan the color of my tank top.. She told me it was black. She likes telling me the color of things. She does not understand that being born blind color has no meaning for me, I figured it was not worth the trouble to explain it to her, since even a lot of adults have trouble with this concept. A lot of sighted people ask me if I see black, white, or gray. I have to explain I see nothing like what your foot sees in a shoe. The visual bias is so strong even in philosophy class I once took the Professor asked the class if they could imagine a colorless dot? Everyone said "no", they did not realize the trick is to imagine the dot using the sense of touch instead of sight; like a Braille dot. It is a good thing I am a philosophy Professor to answer sighted peoples questions. Any how we got to the building, Meagan told me it was an old red brick building.She walked me up to the third floor apartment. I told her I would call if needed her to walk me back; she seems to enjoy leading me around. I knocked and Ed answered the door. Ed helped me in, it was clear he was not used to being around blind people. After the formalities, I asked how the Monas stone was hooked up to the machine. He gingerly took my hand to show me, I leaned in, so he would relax and I wanted to loosen his tongue: it worked. I asked: "Why do you have the cover over the stone?" He was gaining confidence and replied in a professorial tone: "The reason the stone must be covered is while it is activated, and up to a half hour afterward to look upon it causes madness, and death. Some of the Zulu witch doctors who possessed the stone actually blinded themselves to avoid that fate" I convinced him to let us use the stone again, I was interested in visiting the realm of the Elder race which seemed to occupy a place between our realm and the realm of the Lovecraft gods. The jolt was not as bad as the first time, maybe because I knew what to expect. I found it easy to stay in the other dimensions. The Elder race was like Lovecraft described them in "The Shadow out of Time" the sense of sight was not needed to explore the of the Elder race it too could be perceived by mind. The interesting thing about the realm of the Elder race is that there was no up or down. Instead, their cities were built along the sides of large caverns where they resided. To give an example of what I mean the bridges were rod shaped they could move on any side of the surface, there was no topside or underneath. It is no wonder Lovecraft found their geometry as being wrong. We spent some time in the realm of the Elder race it not being as dangerous as the dark dimension, we also briefly visited the dark dimension, it was long enough to confirm what I wanted to know. After we got back I suggested we have sex; a suggestion that was quickly accepted. Like I said I was in no mood to fight feminine psychology. Afterwards he walked me home. I played it as helpless as I could. i did not want him to consider me a threat. I also wanted to make him careless. I knew now not to trust him. When I got home I felt like rewarding myself, so I drew a bath and lit a scented candle. Yes, I do the girl thing of taking multiple baths a day. I sat luxuriating in my bubble bath, I could not help wondering how adorable I must look. I could not spend too much time feeling adorable, had important matters to think about. I realized that the three different realms or dimensions of reality were related, or connected in strange way. Our realm has the least solid matter, the most empty space. The realm of the Elder race seemed half solid matter, and half empty space. That is why it seemed to be a cosmos of caves and caverns. While the dark dimension was all solid matter, with no empty space. The gods and other inhabitants of the dark dimension were thought entities. An analogy would be like the figures that move across a television screen, or a better analogy would be the inhabitants of the dark dimension were like thoughts in a brain. That is why my blindness was no trouble in the dark dimension, because the realm was perceived by thought, and not physical senses. The gods exist, yet they have no physical body, instead the whole cosmos is the body of the gods. They inhabit at as thoughts inhabit a brain. Since there is no physical change, the only way time can be measured is by content. The oldest entities have to most content, sort of like a concept being worked out or rich in content. Thus like concepts the richer in content the more powerful. It also seemed true that travel in these other realms did supercharge one's intellect. My training in philosophy helped as did making contact with one of the gods. After these deep and profound thought I turned to more shallow thoughts. The sex I had with Ed was great, maybe the best I ever had, but it was not him. It was me! True he did not have the three minute fuse like most young guys, but he was clumsy and lacked confidence. I came to the conclusion that power is the best pleasure enhancer. I slept deeply and contented that night, although I knew I was in great danger. The next day I called Bob, to tell him that he should not attempt accessing the other dimensions without me. He agreed, as I said hes weak willed, and used to women telling him what to do. Our next voyage into the dark dimension came that weekend. Bob came over Saturday evening to pick me up, he was early, because he wanted to talk. So I of course invited him in. He told me: "That one voyage into other dimensions has made me smarter; I am doing better in Law School, even Amy has noticed it." A wave of burning hatred washed over me, so the other woman was not his mother. I tried to hide my fury, fortunately, most men are not good at picking up subtleties, like tone of voice. So as innocently as I could I asked: "Is that your new girlfriend?" He replied sensing none of my envy: "Yes, she is in Law School with me, her father, and mother are both attorneys. She is very smart, trying to keep up. This is why I want to try the voyage again even though it was terrifying." I smiled and lied. "Well I glad you found someone, I wish you two the best." Finding a place to park took longer that the drive to Ed's place. I has dressed causally: jeans, t-shirt, flip flops, and folding cane. Ed greeted us warmly. I knew that the night of decision. I was nervous yet confident, one always wonders how one shall act in a crisis, so far I felt a sense of clarity. It is as if the coming conflict had sharpened my mind. After the formalities, we all put on the head bands, aging Ed checked them over to make sure everything was alright. Ed started the machine,this time I heard a hum before the great plunge into the dark dimension. It was the machine Ed had increased the power. The plunge came quickly into the dark dimension, but this time was different, Ed had betrayed us. Instead of the floating sensation, it felt like we were stuck in jelly that was hardening, trying to move or struggling only made it worse. Of course this was just an analogy our minds used to interpret the experience, but that did not make it any less terrifying. Bob was furiously struggling and calling for help. Ed was laughing triumphantly, and I was trying to remain calm concentrating on what I had to do, I to had allies here. Life and death situations seem to increase my focus. I would either succeed or die. A giant cylindrical entity with tentacles at both ends appeared. The appearance again was a analogy of the thought entity. Bob was in full panic now: "Help, help for the love of God help." He cried, but there was no help coming. The entity reached out with its tentacles, one set reaching for Bob the other set reaching for Ed. Ed has arranged a body transference. The tentacled entity would digest The idea of Bob, and the body of Ed, Transferring the idea and content of Ed into Bob's body. After all what would a thought entity eat, except thoughts.It grabbed them both at the same time. This was my cue, Ed was not paying any attention to me. I relaxed and concentrated on my body back in Ed's apartment, and the plunge happened. I was back in Ed's foul smelling apartment; I had no margin for error. I did what i had to do quickly yet carefully, I could not afford any errors. Ed was back in Bob's body. Ed threw off the head band, and said in a triumphant voice: "So you suspected me, pity I have to kill a helpless blind girl, but I have no choice." I asked in frightened voice: "Why do I have to die I can help you?" He continued in an arrogant tone, his hubris was overwhelming: "Because you know too much. I never wanted to share my discovery. The only reason I did was to recover my youth and future. It is owed to me after all I have given up, you would not believe the things I had to give up to possess the stone! So killing a blind girl is not going to give me any pangs of conscience. My pride and conscience are long gone." The telepaty must still have been working, since I knew his anal virginity was one of those things he had given up. He paused and said in a cold voice: " Prepare to die." As I raised my clenched fist I replied in an equally cold voice: " You forgot something." and I opened my fist in front of his face. I had the Monas stone! He screamed: "You biiiiiiii" and I heard the crash of the third floor window break and he hurled himself out of it. I finished his last word for him: "itch." I was right power is the best pleasure enhancer. End