I sat-- "seiza" style, of course-- and stared at the Go board silently. A medium of a thousand metaphors lay empty in front of me. My mind an entire plane of existence away. Certainly not in my darkened room of tatami mat floor, and bamboo and cherry blossom coals. Rice paper folding wall and sparse jasmine candles.
A shadow coalesces, just beyond my ability to discern clearly by sight. I raise my head, and tilt it in a mixture of confusion and concern. I know I needn't be afraid; this is my sacred place. Lucid dreaming, and lazy meditation.
The figure walks slowly toward me, with purposeful and elegant strides. Utter efficiency in it's movement. As it comes closer, it remains blurry. Indistinct. Squinting my eyes does not sharpen the image, even as it draws itself to directly in front of me. It lowers itself gracefully into a kneel, mirroring my own posture. The only thing I can make out is a stony mask covering the face. Stone and ivory and ebony. Grey and white and black. No expression; perfectly neutral.
I know who this is. Intuitively. I spend an infinite moment frozen in abject terror.
"Who... why are you here?" I somehow find the presence of mind to revise my question mid-utterance.
"I come for anyone, any time I am summoned", was the muted-but-clear reply. Genderless. Slightly breathy.
"But I...." my voice catches in my throat. I swallow hard against a dry mouth and trembling lips, and try again. "Is it... my time?"
The mask tilts a fraction of an inch to one side, almost giving the illusion of a chuckle. Or curiosity. "
I don't always come to collect."
I sit and process this for a long moment, paralyzing fear draining out of me slowly, like an inverse drip-feed. I open my mouth to speak again, and I am interrupted by an answer to the question I was about to ask.
"You people often seem to think of me as a singular entity. I am not. I am just a concept, like these words I speak to you. I am everywhere and nowhere. I don't mind leaving empty-handed; I have an infinity of time. I have endless patience"
Silence fills the room again.
My company looks down at the board, staring at the latticework lines in inhuman stillness.
I begin to understand. Just a tiny bit.
I make an effort to sit up straighter. And to focus on The Now.
10:19 p.m. - 2014-12-22
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