Spectral Lines

Hidden Recognition

I lie on the large rock we just climbed to catch my breath. Jade went forward without so much as a backward glance at how I was doing all the way, up here. Jade shifts his line of vision from his right to left like he is trying to locate something. His eyes are for the most part annoyingly hidden under his hair. He lets out a birdy whistle. "Hey, I know to do that!" I stand up. He gives me an odd look which I avoid. I let out the same birdy whistle. I don't know to whistle, but this short birdy whistle is something I ended up learning on my own.

He gives me a long look, "Who taught you that?" I lift my head high, "Self-taught." He looks at me for a while, "Weird. No one but me can whistle with the same rhythm as the-" before he could finish I hear the same whistle from a distance, but this one sounds like a bird, for real. I spot a large bird flying towards us. From where I stand, it looks almost like an eagle. As it comes closer, I can't contain my excitement, "Is that-?" "A Phoenix." he replies to my incomplete question, "Now tell me who taught you the Phoenix call?" He stretches his hand, and the black and red bird perches itself on his forearm, near the elbow after dropping a rolled paper on his open palm.

He gives it something to eat. Now both the bird and Jade are looking at me. "What? I learnt it on my own! That random whistle I can do is a phoenix call? How cool is that." I feel light-headed all of a sudden. I sit down, and so does Jade. He takes a piece of paper and a black pencil-like stick from his loose-fitting long-sleeved white T-shirt pocket and writes down something, giving me side glances. I lie back and admire the bird. It's not every day you get to see an actual live Phoenix. It looks like any other ordinary bird, but something about it is enticing.

"Nix, call him that. Stay away from him. He is a bit aggressive. Not very good with people other than me." Jade talks, not looking up from his paper. "Hey, Nix." I stretch out a hand to stroke his feathers, and Jade looks up coldly, "What part of 'stay away' didn't you understand?" I drop my hand and lie back again. I feel something smooth rub the back of my hand. I sit up to look at Nix rubbing his head on my hand and purring like a cat. I turn to Jade who is already witnessing this. He looks at me, and if I could see his eyes, I would say that they are narrowed at me. "Kid, you accidentally entered this realm through probably a breach in the force field, and that's just odd because humans can't survive a journey through the air walls. Just stay with me until we figure this out. And... there are no accidents in time." says the last line more to himself as he gives the letter he just wrote to Nix. Nix places his head against my forehead for a second before he takes off. "What was that about? And oh, Nix has your eyes. Not the same, but close enough." I smile, and Jade looks at me with a distant expression.

...

Now we are going underground. We climbed a high land rock to send a message about me through a bird, and now we are walking through an underground tunnel that starts at the mountain base to who knows where. I must be surprised and confused and unbelieving about everything that's happening, but I don't feel so. Because, all my life, some part of me knew that everything I see now is a part of reality. Everything does not need scientific explanations. Certain stuff must be accepted as it is.

Jade is walking in front of me in the dark tunnel with a bluish-green flame floating in his half-outstretched hand. I follow him. It's weird, I hardly know this guy, but trust comes naturally with him. It's almost like I know him.

Jade places the palm of his other hand on a wooden circular door without a handle, that's blocking our way. The same green light with a little blue, like what he sent into the trees, moves from the place his palm is placed to the edges of the circle, and the door opens. For a second, I'm blinded by the light inside, and as soon as my eyes adjust, I feel warmth at the sight in front of me. It's a large cylindrical room with its top out of sight, and hanging everywhere in the room are two or three-inch-sized translucent green cubes. The whole room is dark but lightened by these cubes.

"Wow! Jade, this place is Amazing! and I think that's an understatement." I look around with a smile. My eyes move to the center of the room where there is a small round depression on the floor filled with water that is tinted green. Jade sits down beside it on his left leg, with his right knee pulled to his chest. He rests his wrist on the knee and rests his chin over it. He appears to be in deep thought. He's concentrating. I can't say if his eyes are closed because I can't see them behind his hair. The water glows, and from the center, a cube comes out. His hand is extended, he's the one bringing it out of the water. It floats in mid-air, and then slowly rests on his palm. "What are those?" I finally ask. "Memories," he whispers.