Anikelam, or a Visit to the Junk Dealer's shop

Holding his breath, Grakhash listened to the astrologer’s wondrous tale, while the old man kept speaking and speaking:

“We all depend on the Moon—our mother, Grakhash. In each of us there is a particle of the Moon, and this particle gives birth to our desires. On this day, our desires are reflected like in a mirror from the surface of the Moon. Returning to Earth, desires turn into reality. And depending on whether our desires are good or bad, whether we desire good or evil, in reality we see the beautiful or ugly consequences of our desires. Long ago, in ancient manuscripts, I read words spoken by God Himself: ‘Fear desires, for they are always fulfilled.’ Merrog did not choose this day for the curse by chance. The words he spoke over the waters of the Sacred Lake turned into reality the dark desires of the inhabitants of Dantaya, accumulated by them over long centuries.”

“But did the inhabitants of Dantaya really have dark desires? Since childhood, I have heard about Dantaya, and I know that there are no kinder people on all the earth,” exclaimed Grakhash.

“All people living on earth have a dark side to their soul. In some, it is developed more; in others, less. Very long ago, when humanity did not yet exist, the Supreme God loved Hecate—the dark half of the Moon—and from their union the first man was born. Since then, all people living on earth have carried within themselves a seed of evil. This seed often manifests itself as jealousy, envy, hatred. Even if a person is very good, he cannot live his life without at least once envying, becoming jealous, taking offense, or growing angry… Over the millennia of humanity’s existence, people have accumulated enough negative desires. Merrog used them to place his curse. If people were completely pure and immaculate, Merrog’s magical formulas would never have taken effect, remaining only empty words.”

“But how can I break these spells?” Grakhash asked again. “I think it must be very difficult!”

“Ancient texts say that one pure thought can destroy the strongest magic. I will tell you how to do it,” said the astrologer, and brought his lips very close to Grakhash’s ear. “Listen then, warrior…”

Then he whispered something into Grakhash’s ear. The old astrologer spoke for a long time, and no one in the entire universe heard what he told Grakhash.

When he had finished speaking, the old man said:

“And now go, and do everything I have told you. Your goal is the salvation of people, and this is another step on the path toward it.”

The old man quickly walked back along the Milky Way, in the direction from which he had come. Soon he dissolved completely against the background of the starry sky.

Grakhash opened his eyes. Not a trace of the heavy sleep remained. His soul felt bright and light.

Grakhash began shaking Efaksh:

“Get up, I know what to do now!”

“Oh, why? I was sleeping so well,” Efaksh grumbled sleepily in displeasure.

“Are you coming with me to save humanity or not?” Grakhash asked mockingly. “If you are, then hurry—I’m already leaving!”

“All right, all right,” Efaksh hastened. “I’m coming,” and rose to his feet.

The friends looked at the sky. It was blue-blue, almost black, and stars were scattered across it. Judging by everything, they had slept for a very long time, since day had already given way to evening, and night was about to fall.

“Now is the right time for the ritual,” Grakhash said.

The young friends once again walked along the path toward the Sacred Lake. They stopped silently at the very edge of the water.

“Remember, friend, you must concentrate on your strongest desire,” Grakhash began instructing Efaksh. “But do not forget that it must be the purest and most selfless desire you have ever experienced!”

“Yes, I understand, I understand!” Efaksh interrupted his teachings impatiently.

Grakhash looked upward again. The full Moon was shining in the sky. It seemed that a soft and gentle light flowed from it.

How deceptive you are, Grakhash thought to himself.

In his right hand, Grakhash held a small pocket mirror he had taken from Efaksh. Boys never part with such things. In this, the old astrologer had not been mistaken.

Efaksh stood silently, his head thrown back, looking at the Moon.

Grakhash also stood for some time, concentrating. Then he slowly turned his back to the Moon. Raising the mirror, he began staring intently into it so that the Moon too was reflected on its surface. In his left hand, Grakhash held the Amulet of the Moon, received from the old astrologer.

“O Isis! Remove the veil from my eyes; allow me to see the light of Anima Mundi…”

“VII, VI, V, IX, III…” the numbers on the sacred amulet lit up with golden fire.

Then Grakhash began to think. With all his strength, he tried to think of something bright, of the good of all people on earth. But those thoughts barely came into his head. Only one thought pulsed ceaselessly in his mind, coming so easily as though a door had been opened for it.

Freya, Freya, I love you, Grakhash thought at that important moment, and he could do nothing about it.

At last, something happened. Grakhash did not even understand at first what it was. In the mirror he held in his hands, the reflection of the Moon suddenly flared up, illuminated by an inner light, and quickly went out.

Grakhash understood that the ritual was over. He turned and looked at Efaksh. Efaksh stood looking at the Moon, absorbed in thoughts of his own.

“Friend, didn’t you realize that everything is already over?” Grakhash patted Efaksh on the shoulder in a friendly way.

“No, I thought it would go on for a long time,” Efaksh said thoughtfully.

“Didn’t you see something bright flash on the Moon?” Grakhash asked in surprise.

“No. Was there something?” Efaksh asked again.

Grakhash smiled inwardly. At that moment he understood: what one person sees is far from always just as obvious to another.

“All right, we will wait until morning comes,” Grakhash smiled. “Then we will find out what our magical manipulations have led to.”

Grakhash looked at the sky again. The constellation Aquarius shone there. From two vessels, Aquarius poured living and dead water down upon the Earth.

The young friends returned once more beneath the branches of the ancient oak and fell soundly asleep.

When they woke in the morning, the first thing they heard was the cheerful laughter of peasants walking past the young friends toward the village. Judging by everything, they were returning from the lake.

Grakhash and Efaksh exchanged meaningful glances and ran as fast as they could to the Sacred Lake. Reaching the water, the young friends stopped. Before their eyes, a peasant woman led to the lake the possessed young peasant with whom Grakhash and Efaksh had spoken the day before. The peasant woman was pushing him into the water with all her strength. As he entered the water, the peasant resisted desperately. He growled, howled, and hurled curses.

But as soon as he plunged into the lake water once, his eyes cleared again, the convulsions disappeared, and his arms and legs took on their usual appearance.

“Now the Sacred Lake has truly become Sacred,” Grakhash pronounced solemnly. “For now there is living water in it.”

“A miracle, a miracle!” the young friends heard behind them.

Turning around, they saw the elderly peasant woman walking surrounded by her relatives. She was completely healthy.

“A miracle, a miracle!” her relatives continued shouting. “This morning she got up as she used to be! The delusion has passed!”

When the crowd came closer, Grakhash asked:

“You must have given her water from the lake to drink?”

“No, we did not,” one of the relatives answered.

“Did she bathe in the lake?” asked Efaksh.

“No, we told you: she woke up healthy today,” someone in the crowd insisted.

“But that is astonishing!” exclaimed Efaksh. “Why is that?” he asked Grakhash.

“My friend,” Grakhash began, “yesterday I understood the following from the astrologer’s words. There is no such thing as living or dead water. Water is one, like any matter. It only changes its energy to positive or negative, depending on what kind of thought is applied to it: good or evil. Yesterday, with our pure thoughts, we changed the matter of the water that had been spoiled by Merrog’s curse. Any matter initially contains both a seed of good and a seed of evil. What matters is only to make those seeds sprout. The drops of water that entered people from the lake are particles of the original water in the lake. They are particles that will never forget their homeland—the lake. They will always remember it and preserve their connection with it. Energy is transmitted from one particle to another through space and time. That is why the energy of the Sacred Lake entered people even at a distance.”

Stunned, Efaksh listened to his friend’s words. In his heart, he felt that today one of the most secret truths of the Universe had been revealed to him.

But suddenly, a strange noise sounded behind them. Grakhash and Efaksh turned around and saw that someone was hiding behind the bushes. Judging by the sounds coming from there, it was an animal. It rustled around a little longer and ran out into the clearing. Before the eyes of the young friends appeared a young, strong donkey. It shook its tail comically and ran briskly up to Efaksh.

“My God, it’s a donkey!” Efaksh shouted in delight. “My dream has come true!”

“What dream is that?” Grakhash asked suspiciously. A vague guess flashed through his head.

“Yesterday you told me to think about my most sincere and pure desire,” Efaksh began telling him breathlessly. “And I thought about how much I wanted to have my own donkey. It has been my dream since childhood. You can ride a donkey, carry things, and transport other people for pay. Thank God! Now I will never go hungry!” Efaksh raised his hands to the sky.

“You are an idiot, Efaksh!” Grakhash exclaimed indignantly. “I told you to think about the good of all humanity, and instead you thought about your own skin!”

“But… if I don’t go hungry, that will benefit all humanity too,” Efaksh remarked modestly, lowering his eyes.

“What an idiot you are, Efaksh,” Grakhash repeated. “You should be grateful that all the inhabitants of Dantaya did not turn into donkeys!”

“I won’t do it again, Grakhash,” Efaksh blushed deeply. “I promise you.”

“I no longer believe you,” Grakhash continued indignantly. “In the temple of Hecate, you also got into trouble because you thought only about your own skin. I refuse to continue my journey with you. I cannot rely on you in fulfilling my high mission,” Grakhash said, proudly raising his head.

“Please, friend!” Efaksh pleaded. “Forgive me, I won’t do it again!”

“All right, this time I forgive you,” Grakhash softened. “For the last time.”

“Thank you, my friend,” Efaksh rejoiced. “For the sake of our friendship, I will even give up this wonderful donkey.”

“You? Give it up?” Grakhash burst out laughing. “You will never get rid of it now! It is the realization of your desire!”

And indeed, all the while the young friends were speaking, the donkey stubbornly followed them.

“God said: fear desires, for they always come true,” Grakhash recalled the astrologer’s words. “But that means… that soon I will meet… Freya! I was thinking of her!”

…And all matter, not only on earth but in the entire universe, was nothing other than water—fluid, receptive, and changeable moisture, passing from one state into another… And the Tree called the World Tree was not only earthly, but universal. And this Tree had forty-nine branches, and each of them was higher than the one before it. And near each branch, hidden in the clouds, there was a Kingdom. And the total number of these Kingdoms was forty-nine.

Those especially far-sighted might have seen the battlements on the fortress walls of these Kingdoms, and pointed towers with banners raised above them… At the very top of the World Tree, in the forty-ninth Kingdom, a mighty river had its source, carrying its waters downward, flowing through all forty-nine Kingdoms… And the water thickened into matter…

And the matter woven in the Kingdoms close to the top of the World Tree was so subtle that a human being could never have seen it; it was weightless dew… But the matter woven in the Kingdoms that lay far below the middle of the World Tree was a veil that people could have seen, though not all of them, and it flowed as a pure river…

The fabrics created in the Kingdoms located at the foot of the World Tree were denser, and the river’s flow slowed within them… In the first three Kingdoms, matter was especially heavy; it was a coarse covering, dark and viscous waters brought to a halt…

And only sparks of flame can, here in the lower Kingdoms, stir up the water frozen in the swamp, so that mighty waves may roll through matter… But just one black drop can extinguish the rising wave, stopping the river again and turning it into a rotten well…

Chapter 9

The Heavenly Ladder

The young friends settled on the shore of the Sacred Lake.

“We need to ask the book of Ankelam what we should do next,” said Grakhash, and thought of it.

And once again he heard the approaching ringing of a little bell; the raven flapped its wings, and the book opened.

“Where should I look for Shakhgarg?” Grakhash asked. Throughout all his adventures, he had not forgotten for a single minute that he had to catch his mother’s murderer. This was Grakhash’s most cherished dream. Every night he had terrible dreams in which he again and again saw the scene of the murder, but, to his great sorrow, could do nothing to help Aya. And now, after Merrog’s spells had been destroyed, Grakhash thought that he could finally think of blood vengeance.

The pages of the Sacred Book kept turning, but Grakhash could not read the answer to his question.

“Go to the Higher World,” the raven croaked into his ear after several minutes.

“The Higher World? Where is that?” Grakhash asked the book, and immediately read the answer:

“There are three main worlds: the Middle, the Lower, and the Higher… People live in the Middle…”

“And how do they differ from one another?” asked Grakhash.

“Warrior! Hear the Truth…” the book answered. “Sooner or later every person dies. But his thoughts, desires, and feelings are eternal. They never die, but continue to live in other worlds, different from the physical world. Low, evil thoughts and desires live in the Lower World, while high, bright, good ones live in the Higher World. Shakhgarg is a being from the Lower World, but he is so powerful that he can rise even into the Higher World.”

“But I don’t understand,” Grakhash exclaimed in surprise. “What do these thoughts and desires look like?” The warrior was extremely intrigued.

The answer did not appear for a long time. It seemed as though the book were thinking. At last, several pages turned, and Grakhash read:

“They resemble themselves. Although… quite often they look like the people who gave birth to them.”

“But how can I rise into the Higher World?” asked Grakhash.

“You will climb there by the Heavenly Ladder,” fiery letters lit up in the book.

“And what is the Heavenly Ladder?” Grakhash asked again.

“It is the Ladder that connects all worlds. With the help of the Sacred Amulet of the Moon, you will open the door leading to it.”

“But how?” asked Grakhash.

“To do this, you must imagine a tall ladder, with one end resting upon the earth and the other vanishing into the clouds, and then pronounce the word of entry into the dimension you wish to enter,” the letters flared up in the Sacred Book, and then it closed.

When Grakhash came to himself, Efaksh whistled.

“Well, now! All this time you were sitting with your eyes open and moving them from side to side as though you were reading something in the air! Did you learn something new?”

Grakhash told Efaksh what he had learned from the Sacred Book.

“And will you take me with you to the Heavenly Ladder?” Efaksh asked slyly.

Grakhash glanced at him suspiciously.

“And you won’t let me down?”

“No, I promise,” Efaksh pleaded.

“Then all right. Let’s go,” said Grakhash, and took the Sacred Amulet from his pocket.

“O Isis! Remove the veil from my eyes; allow me to see the light of Anima Mundi…” the warrior quickly pronounced.

“…IX, VI, III, V, VII…” the numbers on the amulet lit up one after another.

And suddenly, before the eyes of the young friends, a wooden door appeared. It was small, but massive. Mysterious writings were carved upon it. Above the door, a plaque had been nailed, and on it, in golden letters, was inscribed: “Remember yourself.”

“An interesting motto!” Efaksh remarked.

“I think it means something,” said Grakhash.

A golden ring protruded from the door. Grakhash pulled it, and the door opened.

The sight that appeared before the young friends shook them to the depths of their souls. Directly before them, a wide stone staircase stretched both upward and downward. It had a countless number of steps. Neither the beginning nor the end of the staircase could be seen.

Various entities hurried back and forth along the stairs. Judging by everything, there were representatives here of both the Higher and Lower Worlds.

Paying no attention to the young friends, a tall, slender woman was ascending upward. She was beautiful. Her dress was woven from the finest fabric in wondrous shades. A bouquet of roses crowned her head. Her beautiful blue eyes shone with an inner light.

“That is love!” exclaimed Grakhash. “Someone was thinking about love!”

Efaksh nodded as though enchanted.

Somewhere to the side, a door opened, and some woman, bent over, began descending downward. She was very ugly. She wore a dirty dress made of black and green fabric. The woman’s face was wrinkled, her eyelids slightly lowered, and crooked teeth protruded forward. Her eyes were full of malice.

“Look! That is envy!” said Efaksh.

The young friends heard some commotion behind them. Turning around, they saw a man and a woman on one of the lower steps. Judging by their clothes, they were city dwellers. Apparently, they were inhabitants of one of the lower worlds, since one of the side doors was open. They stood on the step and were talking about something. Grakhash and Efaksh listened.

“Oh, how I hate you!” the woman’s words reached them. “Admit that you were with her! Say that you spent last evening with that slovenly girl!”

The warrior and the boy exchanged glances.

“Clearly. That is jealousy,” Efaksh stated.

“Yes, apparently someone was very jealous and thought about it all the time,” Grakhash agreed.

A rumble sounded. A man appeared on one of the lower steps. He was leading a horse harnessed to a large, solidly built cart. The man descended several steps and disappeared through one of the side doors.

“Why, we know him!” exclaimed Efaksh. “That is the young peasant from Dantaya who was enchanted! But why is he here?”

“That is not him,” said Grakhash. “Those are his thoughts. Apparently, he dreamed very much of having a cart. And now he lives here with it.”

“Well, well…” Efaksh said in delight.

“By the way, now I know the place where your donkey used to live before it materialized in our world,” Grakhash remarked ironically.