"Wake up!" Jasmine’s ghostly form hovered over Ed’s sleeping body as she tried desparately to wake her teacher up. His visage remain composed in a deathly slumber. Reaching down into his body, Jasmine’s astral hands reached through the cocoon of Ed’s body and tugged at both his astral hands, pulling him straight out of his body.

"What?!" Ed’s energy coalesced as he realized Jasmine’s actions. "I said wake me up -- not peel me like a banana!"

"I tried!" Jasmine’s energy swirled into a hectic funnel.

"Calm down," Ed directed her. "I assume Manu’s arrived."

"He had Cynthia, Cameron and Yassov!"

Ed’s astral body dimmed with the news. "How?" he asked and then shook the lightbulb that was his head to clear his thoughts.

"I don’t know. He’s powerful -- very powerful," Jasmine admitted. "He scares me. He came on me suddenly, but I managed to run. I’m hiding now -- split my essence to send you this message."

"Where is he now?" Ed asked.

Jasmine knew it wasn’t the answer he wanted to hear: "He’s making his way through the tower. Come quickly -- we’re all in danger."

Ed felt the vibrations of her prescence diminish as the force with which she split her essence ceased. Ed talked over his strategy with Ara and Mishra.

"You know it really would be helpful if I could cast the futures on the sixth level," Ed commented to Mishra. "Are you sure we can’t get in?"

"He’s not only locked us out, but he’s placed many deadly thoughtforms guarding it as well. You would be wasting your strength -- and valuable time."

"The third eye is very, very powerful," Ara chimed in apologetically.

Ed didn’t like it. It wasn’t bad enough that Manu had remembered enough to go to the sixth level and cast the probable futures, but he had also managed to keep the information to himself. He could only hope that he didn't have the maturity to read the time streams well.

"Well, if he makes it - I suppose we can all just assume we have some very bad karma to repay," Ed tried to be philosophical.

"Really?" Mishra questioned him. "Why don’t you just give up right now then?"

"Why don’t you two help me instead of just making snide comments every now and then?"

"You have all the help you need at your disposal," Ara informed him. "Everything you need to know is within yourself."

"And what about Cynthia?" Ed asked angered at the way things had out during this session. "You said she would be my mate. You said she would be my match. Instead, she will be trapped with Manu. "

"We said she had the potential," Ara and Mishra were quick to correct him.

"She was almost possessed, you know." Ed thought back to Cynthia’s attack on him. "Manu almost had her AND me."

"Maybe you both owe him."

"I owed Cynthia and she took her payment," Ed winced at the memory. "Why would I owe Manu?"

"That’s a very good question." Ara admitted not willing to give her charge any more clues.

And that’s when comprehension dawned in Ed’s mind. Everything he needed to know was within himself, Ara had said. She had been dropping clues all along and he hadn’t noticed. He didn’t need the sixth level to cast the future, the past was enough for that. For now he had a duty -- his dharma. And as everyone knew, dharma transcended karma.

"Looks like I had a hot one in the oven," Ed joked.

Cynthia hadn’t remembered her dreams from Saturday night and Ed hadn’t pressed her. It bothered her that he had taken such a laissez-faire attitude again with her. The fact that she was nowhere near the seventh level that she could remember didn’t seem to faze him at all.

"Don’t worry, you’ll get it right next time around. Keep practicing," he had offhandedly told her.

"Keep practicing, keep practicing," Cynthia scoffed. "Practice is one thing but to practice for centuries is really too much!"

"Would you rather take the test now?" Ed laughed. "Maybe you’re not ready and you’d fail."

"What are you talking about?" Cynthia asked, her left eyebrow shooting up in suspicion.

Ed had remained silent.

She didn’t know if that was what had irritated her or just all of a sudden she noticed how ugly he really looked. It was a constant reminder of how mean she had been. She dismissed the thought recognizing that at the present point in time she could think he deserved it. Somehow the last night’s dreamless sleep had left her oddly resentful of him. Especially when it became rather obvious he was not going to rescue her.

"What am I suppose to do?" Cynthia asked in despair. "Should I call my parents and tell them good-bye?"

"They won’t believe you," Ed reasoned with her. "And besides, it’s not over yet."

"You’re not going to let me die for real are you?" She had anguished over the question finally letting it out in a rush of emotion.

"What is death anyway?" Ed had turned philosophical on her. "It’s just a doorway to a different life."

She had been angry and depressed but resigned. After all, he was right. She had seen it herself in the Verve. There was no death as most people understood it. There was only life. She was convinced of that ever since she had set foot outside her body. It was the quality of life she was now worried about.

"Well, will you make sure I end up in a nice part of the Tower?" Cynthia asked.

"I’ll pay you a conjugal visit every now and then," Ed had laughed.

He could be cruel, she realized. Either that, or it was all a put-on anyway. What was reality, she wondered. Was it here were she lived her daily life or was it in her dreams which were now filled with death? She remembered her time in the Verve. Reality was what you make of it, she decided.

"You cleared me when Manu inhabited me," she had reminded Ed stubbornly.

"That was different," Ed’s tone lowered. "Manu would have eventually imposed his will on you, denying you your own free will. Both you and he would have not been able to work out your karma. He would have defied the law of God. Even God allows us our free will."

"I would have been damned?" Cynthia asked horrified.

"Uh-hmm. You and many others possibly." Ed nodded.

"Sr. Mary was right -- he’s a demon!"

"Maybe, but it’s not our concern right now."

"So, you will help me if I get in trouble then?"

"I will uphold righteousness and the laws of God -- if that includes you then all the better." Ed had winked slyly at her.

It had made her feel good but she realized Ed always managed to make her feel good. She still doubted she could convince herself tonight’s dream would not be real. If she was lucky, she decided, she wouldn’t even remember she was dreaming. Then she could have a good laugh at herself the following morning when she woke up. But somehow she doubted that would happen. Ed had already told her about the bells. Even if she didn’t remember she was dreaming, the bells would make her aware of the fact.

The first bell rang sounding its deep chime throughout the realities of the Tower of Dreams. A chorus of echoes came back in reply. They were anxious, fearful cries for help.

"Take me with you!" One voice pleaded in the ethers.

"NO! NO! Not again..."
"Stop! I’m not ready. Wait, I’m not ready."

"Don’t leave me alone again!"

To Cynthia they all sounded like her sister calling from a distant unknown place, but she found it hard to place a face or name to that sister. Yassov and Cameron paid no attention to the voices as they walked towards the sound of the calling bell. Prof. Taslim lead the group his pretense at being Hitler dropped completely as he had managed to convince them all that he was their guide through the Tower of Dreams.

"Won’t they ever shut up?" Manu’s voice grumbled through Prof. Taslim’s mouth. "I didn’t grovel like they do when I was stuck here."

No one made any comment. It wasn’t for them to comment it was for them to obey.

"I’ll find you wherever you go, Jasmine," Manu taunted as he climbed the curving stone stairway on the first level."I’ve come for what’s mine."

The first level wound upon itself like a Colis shell, it’s entrance wider at the front and narrowing to the top in a series of curving stairs. They climbed the stairs one by one waiting for the end of the spiral puzzle. It always seemed that just around the bend they would find the doorway towards the second level and the next archway, but it never came. Cynthia stumbled in fatigue trying to keep up with the rest of the group. Then the second bell chimed an octave higher than the last bell, ringing twice and evoking a small earthquake as the voices clamored in again. The vibrations seeped through the base of the building spreading up in veins of light marbling the stone stairwell. The flashes of sound energy threading their way from the bells startled Cynthia. The building shook as it struggled to awaken and Prof. Taslim lost his footing only to be stayed by Cameron’s steady arm. He looked down at the plunging steps behind them. Despite the fact he knew he was dreaming, Prof. Taslim swallowed back the fear. It could have been very painful and extremely time consuming.

"There’s twelve bells in all," Manu muttered remembering the years he had spent listening to them from his cell in Agra Fort. "Each bell rings one more than the last until the final bell rings twelve times. Let’s hurry."

The team followed their leader as he took the lead. The veins lighting their way throbbed as the echoes of the bells persisted through the structure until eventually they were dimmed to down to a phosphorescent glow which outline their way. Each new step became heavier than the last as if the Tower was exerting a gravity all its own on the invaders. Sweat trickled down their necks and blisters formed on their feet. The more they hurried the harder the trek became as they panted noisily in the gloomy staircase.

"Manu! Manu!" Ed’s shouts resounded off the stone walls. "You’ll never make it out of this Tower alive!"

"Promises, promises!" Manu stopped climbing, startled, and shouted back: "Cynthia has already told me about how good you are at keeping your word!"

Ed’s heavy foot falls pounded the stairs as he ran to confront his enemy.

Ed yelled back: "Just wait, I’m coming after you!"

"I’ll get to seventh level this time! Even you can’t stop me!" Manu rounded up his hostages placing Yassov behind him and Cameron in front. He twisted his grip stronger around Cynthia’s wrist as he kept her tightly by his side.

"I’m sleepy," Cynthia whined barely able to drag her body up the next step.

Manu had noticed Prof. Taslim’s body aching in fatigue but he pushed it on further, summoning magical strength from within. He pushed the rest of his entourage with mental whippings, forcing them to climb the endless stairs.

In their haste, they stumbled on a crumpled heap of clothing. The assembly halted as Manu reached down to examine the articles that were lying prostrate as if a sleeping person had once owned them.

"What the?" A storm of bats descended upon them, their cries echoing and feasting off the new energy sources within their reach. It was a piercing, soundless ping that hit them all at the same time as they stumbled confused waving their arms to defend themselves against the onslaught.

"Energy vampires!" Manu cursed at them as he realized the significance of the clothes strewn about. They were the unfortunate dreamers that had not even made it through the first level. Manu made the mad dash through the bats and over Cameron who had falled asleep, only to be jolted awake as they stampeded over him.

"I’m so tired," Cameron moaned.

"Get up or you’ll lie here until they suck you dry!" Manu shouted unwilling to loose such a valuable playing piece.

"I can’t make it!" Yassov screamed in horror.

"Get me out of here!" Cynthia pushed him out of the way.

"There’s a light up ahead," Prof. Taslim sighted the exit, "Keep running!"

Yassov legs jelled under him as he wobbled behind them trying to obey his master’s voice. Cameron had lept up struck by another whip of Manu’s mind as he tried to flog his horse into action while it was still awake. He howled in agony as he also tried to obey the sound of his master’s voice. The emanation of such a plump feeding source turned the bats attentions towards Prof. Taslim as he hustled his way ahead of the rest. They swooped in thick clouds blocking out the exit ahead trying to wall him in on all sides. He fell to his knees as he lost his balance. Cynthia stepped back to help him.

"There’s too many," she yelled through the fracas. She felt her mind fogging as the bats drank thirstily from their prey. "I’m sorry..."

The third bell just outside the exit rang, clanging three times. As the tower vibrated and shook, the walls of the stairwell surged brightly as the building breathed anew causing a panic of delighted frenzy among the bats as they deserted their catch for tastier fair. Cynthia, Cameron and Prof. Taslim hobbled out of the first level shaken by the ordeal.

"They must live near these bells for substinance." Prof. Taslim reasoned rubbing the soreness from his limbs.

"They just clung to the walls nursing from it like a calf at her mother’s teat," Cameron marveled at the diversity of nature.

"They were horrible!" Cynthia spoke the sentiment that hid itself behind their cold observations.

"Look!" Cynthia pointed out the inscription around the duplicate of the first archway they had gone through. It read: ‘The Second Level - Desire For Others.’"Is that a clue on how to make it through you suppose?"

"If it is, I’m sure you’ll do great on this level," Manu sniped at Cynthia’s sexual expertise. Cynthia glowered at him realizing he had made a joke at her expense but then she realized she belonged to him so he could say whatever he wanted about her. And besides, it probably was true.

Prof. Taslim straightened out his vest, pulling it smartly to his pants: "As long as the bells are still chiming, the passageway is safe -- even for Ed. Let’s go!"

The group walked unquestioningly through the second arch. They entered an airy artist’s studio where the sirens of desire sat around perfecting their art and chatting the eternity away. Upon seeing the battered souls entering their level they stopped their frivolities to focus on them. Psyche was the first to spy Cameron in the group.

"Cameron!" Psyche hopped up from the Victorian embroidered couch she had been sitting on. "I knew you would make it."

"The sirens of desire," Cameron introduced them to Prof. Taslim. "We met earlier in the week."

"And you’ve brought others!" Parthenope sidled up to Yassov familiarly winding her arms around his shoulders. Yassov looked at the beautiful maiden accosting him and smiled. She smelled of home baked bread. And he bet she would taste as good as she smelt.

Prof. Taslim looked around suspiciously. "That’s it? A bunch of women?"

"No," Cynthia pointed to Vibella. "Don’t you see him? He’s here."

"Who’s here?" Prof. Taslim demanded grabbing Cynthia and envisioning a knife again.

"Ed," Cynthia replied a smile curving her features absentmindedly. "You know he’s really quite handsome."

Prof. Taslim looked warily in Vibella’s direction but instead he saw Jasmine. "I’ve got you at last!" He chuckled releasing Cynthia. He walked over to Vibella and yanked her forcefully to the couch a black vapor emanating from Prof. Taslim’s third eye as it sought to invade her mind.

"Do you want me?" Vibella toyed with her new victim aware he was envisioning another. "You can have me, you know. All of me."

She gulped down his blackness in sheer ecstasy as she let him drift into her control. "You have such exquisite power for such a little boy. My sisters will just adore you." Vibella’s Negress hand stroked Prof. Taslim’s head like a newfound puppy.

Manu struggled from within the recesses of Prof. Taslim’s brain as he realized his mistake. She had addicted him and he was hers now if he didn’t get out fast.

"Oh!" Vibella exclaimed as she sensed the double occupancy."I get two for the price of one! Aren’t you charming? Tell me how much you love me."

"I love you with all my heart and soul," Manu’s mind entwined with Prof. Taslim felt repulsed as he heard himself beckon to this creatures whims. He felt his power seeping into her as his third eye closed in a narcotic haze. As his control slipped Cynthia, Cameron and Yassov began to exert their own individualities released from his constraints.

"Cynthia! Yassov! Cameron!" Jasmine shouted softly from behind the winding stairs at the end of the room. "This is your chance. Let’s get out of here."

She did not wait to explain further she took the steps as quickly as she could disappearing around the top bend. The fourth bell rang, shaking the building again with each sounding chime. The severity of the tremors were increasing but it didn't seem to bother the inhabitants of the Tower who continued concentrating on the newcomers.

Yassov ignored Jasmine's warning and the bells. He was too busy having a savory feast of bread spread with honey.

Cynthia looked at Jasmine’s vanishing figure and then at Vibella who still appeared as Ed to her. "No! That’s disgusting!" Cynthia pushed herself between Prof. Taslim and Vibella. "He’s mine. He’s not interested in you."

Vibella reached to pull Prof. Taslim back.

"Ed!" Cynthia shouted dismayed.

Vibella turned to focus on Cynthia and felt the bond of eons between them as Cynthia's desire for Ed overwhelmed her. Vibella thought for an instant she was Cynthia’s soul mate. The distraction was enough to let Manu strengthen and exert control on Cameron, the only one of them who seemed unaffected by any of the women. Hearing his master’s voice in his head he strode over to forcefully pry Prof. Taslim from Vibella’s arms.

Seeing her toy snatched from her hands, Vibella unleashed the blackness she had soaked up from Manu. Her skin popped out in reptilian relief as she grew until her fanged head reached the ceiling.

"Give me back what’s mine," Vibella snarled at Cameron who saw his mother’s gentle features dissolve into a nightmare.

Cynthia screamed petrified that she could have thought this creature was ever her soul mate.

"Cynthia!" Ed yelled as he rushed into the room at just that moment. "Run!"

"The bearded one -- he’s ours," Psyche, Parthenope, Leukosia and Ligeia chimed in. "He gave himself freely. By the rules of the Tower of Dreams, he's ours."

The seekers darted in between the monster's leg as they dashed towards the back towards the stairs where they had seen Jasmine lead the way. The large claws swished the air around them as it tried to snatch them up as they ran. The monster was too big and awkward and it began to shrink down to a more reasonable size, its anger burning not as brashly as before. The other sirens were sending up a cacophony of sensory lures as they tried to reel them back in. They were catching up to them.

"Yassov you stay," Prof. Taslim said at the bottom of the stairs as he played an expendable piece. "Give them anything they want."

Yassov did as he was told and Ligeia soon caught up with him. "Sisters, I have one!"

A crescendo of pleased fawnings filtered back to Prof. Taslim and Cynthia as they ran to the top of the stairs and out of the second level. They noticed Ed approaching them. Hissing, they pushed Yassov behind them, shielding him from Ed’s view. They closed their eyes in terror at his advance.

"Sisters," Ed extended his arms in openess, "I’m not here to harm you."

"You can’t have him -- he’s ours. Don’t look at us!" They shuffled nervously, a snake’s slitted tongue flickering from their mouths as they tasted the air for his location. "Go away!"

"I need help," Ed lamented. "I need to even out the odds."

"We won’t help you. Just go away."

"Vibella," Ed approached the beautiful ebony woman who shrank from him. "Let me look at you."

"No!" Psyche tried to protect her sister but it was too late.

Ed’s green eyes had landed on his quarry and pulled out of her image the thing he desired most: to perfect God’s love within himself.

The flush of his love lit up Vibella’s dark skin in platinum shades as it lightened further and sparkled through the other sirens. They shrank at the truth that inevitably was revealed from Ed’s love. The bodily desires paled against the light of love until all the sirens forms dissolved in the ether. Only Yassov stood in front of Ed.

The fifth bell in front of Prof. Taslim and his company shook the platform they were standing on, causing them to fall to their knees their hands covering their ears as the deafening tones threatened to shatter their very bodies. Once the noise had ended, Prof. Taslim stood up and looked behind him.

"Let's go. That little diversion won't last long." Manu's ruthless summation of Yassov's fate didn't fail to impress his followers.

"Look!" Cynthia pointed to the third archway's inscription. "It has to be a clue on how to pass safely." It read: "The Third Level - Look Back Without Fear."

"No," Prof. Taslim pulled at the hairs in his beard in nervous anticipation."I think they are traps to fall in. Remember 'Desire For Others?'"

"It could have meant desire not for yourself but for others," Cameron interrupted.

"Mr. Goody-goody," Prof. Taslim snorted. "It's obvious. Don't look back, either of you." The command was issued telepathically as well as verbally and Cynthia and Cameron had no choice but to obey. "Let's get the hell out of here before the sirens catch up with us."

They passed through the archway and stood astounded at the indoor stadium of grassy knolls in front of them. The dimension of the inner chamber of the third level defied the outer dimensions of the building. It was as if the third level had found the secret to the curvature of space and physicality, allowing the third level more square footage inside than it had a right to expect from the view outside. Squinting, Prof. Taslim could make out the fresco of a golden sun at the far end of the building. Outlined in the middle of the golden corona was a carved archway of stone.

"Up there," Prof. Taslim pointed. "There's the next exit. Remember what I said, don't turn around for anything."

They started the long trek, Cameron the experienced hiker in the lead as he scouted the territory ahead.

"There seems to be some bad weather up ahead," Cameron pointed to a milky cloud next to a rocky ledge that churned with activity. "It's right in our path. Should we go around it?"

"Keep going," Prof. Taslim hurried him along wondering if the sirens or Ed were behind him but unwilling to look back to confirm his suspicions. "Take the shortest path to the painted sun."

As they rounded the ledge, the cloud came into full view and Prof. Taslim looked up to see the jellyfish floating in a pack in midair ten feet above them. The sight of their translucent bodies aglow with bioluminescent strips caused Cameron to stop and take in his breath in amazement.

"They're beautiful," Cameron commented. "I wonder if they're as poisonous as they are beautiful?"

"What?" Prof. Taslim and Cynthia had been admiring the laser show next to Cameron.

"You know," Cameron insisted. "The tentacles might sting. But there's no need to worry we're at a safe distance."

The words tempted fate mightily as the jellyfish began to descend upon them slowly.

"Run!" Prof. Taslim ordered his subjects, "and don't look back."

They ran underneath the cloud weaving their way through the rocks, avoiding the jellyfish that had settled closer to the ground. Cameron picked his way expertly ahead of them never looking back to see if they needed help. The sun loomed larger on the horizon blazing heat in their direction. Each step brought them comfortingly closer to its warm embrace. But the jellyfish, the memory sweepers as they were truly called, would have none of that. They had spotted the dreamers and would not let them go until they had swept them into their clutches. Their wound up tentacles unfolded like fiddlehead ferns protruding into spring. Their pointed tendrils reached out as the memory sweeper floated closer to the grassy surface trying to barb its way into a dreamer's reality.

"Ouch," Cynthia slapped at her forearm and then her leg."I've been stung!"

"If you can still talk, you can still walk," Prof. Taslim dragged her behind him unwilling to let go of his most valuable playing piece. In that instant he felt the cold sliver of a ghostly vapor pierce his hand. He had been stung as well. He dropped Cynthia's hand as he nursed his hand under his armpit.

"Damn!" Prof. Taslim didn't know what else to say. He was back in India in the palace prisons awaiting Jasmine to save him from his torturers. The memory had been swept up neatly and pushed to the forefront of Manu's mind as an intense delusion.

Cynthia looked at him and realized where she was and who she was. She was the sage of Sheba and she was free to do what she pleased. She looked at Prof. Taslim agonizing and cringing at his upcoming death. He had caused her sister's death and enslaved her. He deserved his fate, she decided. If not for an eternity, than at least for the moment. She abandoned him as he wailed for Jasmine to come to his aide and slipped through the archway of the fourth level as the sixth bell began to reverberate along the marbled walls.

Jasmine had been lost in her own memories, trying to sort the present from the past but becoming hopelessly entangled when she heard Manu's pitiful cries for help. Then she remembered she was Lokmi and Manu was her most promising student and protege. She struggled to go to his aide against the Tower's rumblings as the sixth bell bonged again.

"I'm here," Jasmine's flowing blue Sari cut a crisp figure in Prof. Taslim's vision. "You're free Manu. I never meant to hurt you."

The final chime of the bell announced Lokmi's arrival and restored Manu's memory to the present. The guilt was all he needed to pull her into a conversation in which he could control her mind. "But you did!" Manu recovered himself, "I suffered so much because of you. But I know you'll make it up to me, won't you?"

Jasmine forgot the lesson she had learnt and stepped into the pit he had dug for her. "Of course, Manu. I'll help you in whatever way I can."

Manu grasped her around the waist and pulled her closer to him. "I wanted you more than Cynthia," he remarked knowing that her powers would benefit him greatly. "But now I want you both. After Cynthia!" Prof. Taslim pointed to the archway where Cameron stood awaiting his orders having escaped the memory sweepers. They ran through the archway and onto another floor of the building where the fourth archway awaited. It's inscription, if they had taken time to read it like Cynthia had, read "The Fourth Level - Let The Heart Reign."

Cynthia ran in desperation of the nightmare. It was a nightmare. She was certain of that just as she was sure she was dreaming. However, she had no control over the dream. This in itself scared her but it was the bells that frightened her most. Ed had told her about them and the significance of their chimes. Manu had told them how they kept time. Twelve bells in all and they rang in succession each one chiming once more than the last. But she had been in too much of a hurry to count them. She didn't know how many times the last bell had rung and the thought settled in her stomach like a stale doughnut. She might be dead already. The thought flitted through her mind to be pushed away stubbornly. It was a defeatist attitude and worth little, she decided. She really had no choice but to run. If Manu had gotten through the third level he would be chasing her this very moment. If he didn't make it, the sirens no doubt were still after them. Somehow she doubted they would have trouble with the third level. They were creatures of the Towers and it seemed they all had one thing in common, they were there to stop those who dared to enter its walls.

Cynthia stopped abruptly on the shore of the obsidian lake in front of her. She took her shoes and socks off and tested it with her foot and felt the oily warmth of it lick her toe. Cynthia cringed at the Sea of Shadows. It had lied to her before and she wasn't going to be fooled by it again. She searched from wall to wall and found no other way to the island in the center of the room. It wasn't that far away, she rationalized, but hesitated due to the deceptive quality of the waves. She tried to fly and realized even that power was denied her here. She turned around to leave and saw Prof. Taslim rushing in behind her with Jasmine and Cameron besides him. Flinging herself into the blackness of the waters, Cynthia swam for all she was worth towards the island.

Prof. Taslim, Jasmine and Cameron reached the shore as she was halfway towards the island her arms thrashing the waves aside as she began to be crushed by the weight of hate she had inside of her.

"Oh!" Manu's voice drifted over the ocean, "don't fight it Cynthia! Let me show you how to live in the Sea of Shadows."

Prof. Taslim's hands came up on either side of his third eye guiding the evil power within towards the outside, broadening and flattening until the professor's body lay floating on the shore transformed into a gigantic, dark manta ray with a red glowing eye at the top.

"Get on top!" Prof. Taslim ordered Jasmine and Cameron. "Get Cynthia!"

Cynthia saw the transformation take place and her muscles weakened from swimming gave way as she saw her fate surfing towards. It was better to drown, Cynthia decided, than to be Prof. Taslim's devoted slave. If death meant years of impersonal oblivion, it was still a choice she had made for herself. Jasmine began to weave a net of smoke that curled towards her ready to net her from the waves. She dove deep into the waves as far down as she could hoping to run out of air before she could save herself.

Ed ran in and saw Cameron and Jasmine, aiming the bearded manta ray towards Cynthia as she dove into the depths of the tar ocean.

"Manu." He pointed the manta ray out to Yassov. "Stay here, I’ll be back."

Saying that his form arched and transformed, plunging itself in a filament of a knife fish straight into the waves.

The farther down Cynthia went the more the blackness crept into her, crushing the breath from her lungs as she tried to release herself to it. The manta ray closed in even in the darkness as she felt its slippery body sliding past her legs swiftly. It whirled at the contact and came back for her, Jasmine and Cameron netting the water with the sorceress' magic.

Cynthia heard the seventh bell sound as she opened her mouth to swallow the death she had chosen. The putrid taste of the Sea of Shadows did not deter her as she gulped down the poison readily. "One, two, three.. " she counted futilely "It would have been nice if Ed and me could have worked out, " Cynthia thought as she regretted the one love that had come into her life. She began to feel the euphoria of drowning as she downed the water. "At least after the struggle is over, it's not so bad, four, five,six" she smiled contentedly at cheating Prof. Taslim of his prize. She felt her body sinking, deeper and deeper as she held onto Ed's memory. "Seven. Love was wonderful," she decided realizing she had opted out with five bells to go. "Even if I wasn't very good at it." Ed's charred image floated in her mind as she felt the light of his love flicker in her heart. "There's a man who really knows how to love," she admired him. He had been her teacher, another pang of regret hit her. She had failed him. She could not love her enemies, they were not like he was. She couldn't accept her fate if it meant loss of personal control.

"Ego, that's all it is Cynthia," the sage floated in front of her. "You cling to your hate because he hurt your sense of self."

Cynthia whirled within the darkness wondering where the sage had come from.

"That's not it!" She defended herself. "He's evil!"

"We were once evil too," the sage lamented. "You know that in your heart. The past catches up with everyone. It's karma."

"So I get mine but he goes free? Is that justice?"

"God alone deals justice, Cynthia. Unless you think you're up to the task?"

Cynthia looked at herself in the sage and realized the truth. It was ego all along, the sage was right. "It's too late now," Cynthia sighed.

A school of neon blue fish swam past her visage, one stopping to peer at her unexpectedly nipping her cheek with soft fish kisses."It's never too late to love and forgive," the teacher's voice echoed in her head as the tetra fish blew lighthearted, glowing bubbles through the blackness of the Sea of Shadows. They burst upon her and ignited the flame of forgiveness in her soul.

"I knew you wouldn't leave me," Cynthia said.

She nursed the flame and let it burn releasing the hate that had consumed her. The forgiveness seeped through her essence purifying the poisonous Sea of Shadows from her intestines and lightening her body until it floated to the top of the ocean. Along with forgiveness came understanding.

"There she is!" Jasmine pointed towards her as the glinting eyes of the manta ray turned to hold her captive. They surfed towards her the net dangling menacingly in the air. "Watch out, Manu! There!"

Jasmine had pointed out the massive white fin that was even now making its way towards them. "Shark!" Jasmine screamed.

It rammed itself into the side of the manta ray, just as Cynthia was scooped from the sea. Cameron toppled over the side, sinking quickly to the bottom as the manta ray detoured towards the other side of the black waters. The assembly landed on the shore, as Prof. Taslim re-formed into his usual figure. Cynthia oozed tar as she stared unhappily at her captors.

"Clutz!" Prof. Taslim echoed delightedly as he stared out into the ocean where the shark was plunging after Cameron. "It had to be the healer. Bet you’re glad he didn’t catch up with you, huh Cynthia?"

The perfectly aligned teeth gleamed wickedly at his retrieved trophy as Cynthia’s mind and will fogged.

"Yeah, I guess so," Cynthia wanted to ask what was going on, but instead she felt Manu’s mind whipping her and her Jasmine back into action.

The eighth bell sounded as they all dashed towards the open archway on the next floor of the Tower. Above the doorway the inscription read: "The Fifth Level - Communicate, Don't Dominate."

Phones lined the walls of the maze ringing incessantly. Some were old time hand cranked phones others resemble portable phones. They were in every shape and color.

"Don't answer it," Prof. Taslim instructed his group as they tried to find their way through the maze of tunnels. They turned the corner and for the fourth time dashed into another dead end. Above the din of the phones, Manu heard the deep chimes of the ninth bell. There were only three more bells to go, he fretted at his situation. He needed directions. He couldn't even find the entrance they had walked in from. "Once we're out of this level, the rest is a breeze." He tried to console himself. "I know what I'm doing on the sixth level."

Aggravated, Prof. Taslim picked up a phone and answered it.

"Hello? I'm lost. Can you tell me the way out?"

Hanging up the phone in disgust, he told Jasmine and Cynthia to try the others.

"Hello? Hello?" Cynthia's voice came over Jasmine's line. "You're lost too? Hey you sound like Jasmine!"

Jasmine turned and laughed at the coincidental joke. "Hang up you idiot, it was me."

Chuckling, Cynthia hung up and dialed 9-1-1. A recording came on. It explained: "I'm sorry but due to lack of funds and the overwhelming need of the community we have discontinued this service."

"Uh-oh," Cynthia put the receiver back down. "I think we're not the only ones lost in here."

Jasmine signaled both of them to her call.

"Yes, yes we're lost in the tunnels. You say you're a retrieval service? What do you charge?"

"Nothing?" Jasmine smiled at her luck. "Come and get us."

"Wait!" Manu stepped in. "How do we know they're really going to help us?"

"Why would they bother coming to get us if not to get us out?"

"To eat us, maybe?" Cynthia joked but the joke fell flat as they each looked at each other.

"Hang up the phone."

"Wait," Jasmine's hand came up,"they say they can prove they're a non-profit organization that helps people. Call anyone else and they'll tell us about the 'Special People.'"

Prof. Taslim picked up the nearest ringing phone.

"Yeah, I know you're lost." He grumbled. "Have you ever heard of the 'Special People?'"

"Do I have their number? Why?"

"They help out people who are lost, you say? Forget it, I thought you might know." Prof. Taslim hung up. "Tell them to come and get us."

The phone was left off the hook as the 'Special People' traced their location and came in a vehicle resembling a moon buggy to pick them up. They're hooded robes covered their faces as they silently helped them into the car. The tenth bell rang, as Prof. Taslim and Cynthia counted the chimes to verify there were only two bells left. "I got to get out of here fast," they both thought but niether had a choice.

Ten minutes later Prof. Taslim, Jasmine and Cynthia were being escorted to the 'Special People's' compound. The monks, as Cynthia nicknamed them, scurried them into the tent of an old man wearing a white vestment with a flashy silver border. Around his neck was strung an aquamarine that choked its way around his Adam's apple.

"You are welcome," the priest's taut, thin lips seemed to contradict his statement. "We have but one rule here to maintain harmony. We worship Ka and I as well as the other co-regents represent Ka in this dimension. Our word is law and you must obey us. Do you wish to stay?"

Prof. Taslim new he was outnumbered but he needed to get to the seventh level before the last bell rang. "Can I leave at any time?"

"If you have kept our laws, you are free to come and go as you wish," the priest answered.

"OK," The professor agreed, "but I'm really on my way through. Do you know the way out of this level?"

The priest had gathered a monk's cassock for him and the women. As he handed the robes to them, he indicated they were to wear them.

"We are all 'passing through.' There are many ways to leave this existence but only the 'Special People' know them. Learn from us and we will glorify Ka together. We'll call you: "Ka-Ibid" while you are with us. We have been blessed today with four other new members. There will be a welcoming ceremony in the temple in an hour. Please get ready and put this robe on, Ka-Ibid. Leave your head uncovered as you are not a specialist yet. This specialist will take you to your tent and then lead you to the temple."

Cynthia, Prof. Taslim and Jasmine walked into the large hall scanning the crowd around her. The faces were empty and expressionless until the three co-regents appeared on the dais. Then a fury of enthusiasm swept roared through the crowd as the co-regents lifted their right arms together to pull the rope in the center of the dais, folding back the red velvet curtain behind them. A hush fell over the crowd as the archway glistened in the afternoon light streaming through the high temple windows.

"Bring the candidates forward," The co-regent with the biggest gem around his neck spoke first his voice projecting strongly over the crowd. "Today we, the co-regents, will walk through the Entrance to ferret out the truth behind these stranger’s appearance. The doorway to the final enlightenment will decide whether we, The Special People, shall accept them as part of our fold."

As the co-regent had talked, two groups of people were being led to the front. Having reached the front of the dais, Manu looked across and took in his breath sharply. There in front of him stood Yassov and Cameron. Their presence made it almost a certaintly that Ed was somewhere there as well. With that thought, the professor took action.

"Stop him!" Ed shouted as he saw Prof. Taslim lunge for the nearest co-regent snapping the gem off his throat. The Tower groaned under the shifting of the eleventh bell. It's first ring caused all the monks to throw themselves on the ground prostrate.

The head co-regent's aquamarine began to throb with light like a pool of water rippling sunshine through its surface.

"Infidels!" The head co-regent pointed at Prof. Taslim as his own gem began to glow. "He's stolen the voice of Ka!"

"No," Prof. Taslim remained calm as Manu's voice issued from the blue orb. "I am Ka."

The Tower shook uncontrollably as the fifth chime rung. Manu was in his element. It was mind control on a mass scale.

"No! Listen to me," Ed Bishop shouted as he reached the altar, his protective auric radiance surrounding him. "He lies. They all lie. This is no entrance. It is the exit. They've all played Ka with you. You've worked and slaved for them for the promise of an exit they so cleverly blocked."

The bell chimed again its seventh chime. A few hoods fell back to reveal the emaciated faces of the monks. They were starved for truth and had been feasting on lies. The mob rose up, unwilling to be dominated anymore but unable to concede to the truth. "Look how he glows!" A voice called out the mob which prompted a hysteria of shouts. "He’s a god!"

"We're all going to die anyway," a figure jumped up crazed by the years of faithful but futile devotion. "We’ve looked on the face of a god! Grab the infidels who have brought down this wrath on us. Let us cleanse the Entrance with our own lives!"

The seething tide of sewage spilled over the well-defined edges of the crowd as the monks began to flow onto the altar. Prof. Taslim, seeing his ruse at mass domination ruined by the uttering of a healer, lashed out at Ed with a black bolt of hatred before he turned to run through the exit.

The stream of blackness splashed onto Ed's auric bubble and meeting the invisible barrier splattered off of it onto the nearby crowd. The hate fell on open hearts bleeding with self-pity and anger and mushroomed into a murderous insanity as they descended on the priests, stripping them and beating them to death. Ed ran after Prof. Taslim, Jasmine, Yassov and Cameron aware that it would only be seconds before the crowd turned on him and then themselves. Only a few straggled through the exit bewildered at the sight in front of them. Another archway heralded their arrival to a higher level. It's inscription read: "The Sixth Level - Mind Your Eye." The professor could be heard laughing as he made his way effortlessly through the sixth level. He figured he would make it in plenty of time. The eleventh bell had just sounded and the twelfth was still far away and had to ring twelve time before it was all over. "I've won," Manu thought gleefully as his spindly legs traced the threads of the spider web of time. In order not to be caught or to take the wrong turn one had to avoid the sticky threads, the negative possibilities, and walk only on the part of the spider web that was free of solid conclusions. He had to traverse the possibilities without cornering himself into a different future other than the one he wanted. For that he had shaped himself as a huge brown recluse, usually a small hairy spider who's venom was intensely poisonous, and placed Cynthia, Yassov, Cameron and Jasmine on his back for bait. If he met anyone or anything trying to stop him on the way to the center of the web, he would unload them to divert his opponent or sting the offender if it came down to a fight.

Ed ran into the web without thinking. Before he could stop he was entwined in the sticky threads of probabilities.

The twelfth bell began to sound. It was deep haunting note that vibrated through the spider's web of time and floated in the rushing breezes. It shook the web but the web remained strong. Ed stopped moving scanning the web ahead of him to the source of the wind, finally seeing the center of the web and the large brown spider making it’s way towards the center.

"I’m stuck!" Ed yelled at the retreating figure. "God help me, I’m stuck!"

The spider stopped its relentless drive towards the middle of the pattern. Turning its eight eyes, it turned to the sound of Ed’s hapless shouts.

The bell struck once again, which swung the spider’s attention back to the center where the last archway hung suspended in the web.

"You cheater!" Ed shouted at Manu. "You can only make it to the seventh level through other people’s talents. You’re not a sorcerer -- you’re still a clumsy, stealer of secrets. Your talents aren’t yours, they’re stolen! You can con everyone else into thinking you have achieved great things, but I’ll know what a fake you really are!"

A bellow of rage welled up in the spider’s throat as it ignored the third ringing and went to kill the source of lies that had blighted his reputation. As he approached Ed struggled against his bonds while he taunted Manu further, laughing in the face of death. The bell sounded a fourth time.

"Kill me!" Ed continued to defy Manu. "It won’t help! You know it’s pointless! Your weak achievements will never grant you an immortal claim."

The bell rang a fifth time.

The spider sped craftily to the source of its derision and picked up its morsel of bound meat. It daggered its poison getting ready to shoot it into Ed’s throat as he continued to defy him with humiliations.

The bell chimed for the sixth time when Ed released the illusion of the web entanglement and jumped aside of the poisoned fangs. "Told you, you weren’t very good at anything!" Ed pointed out.

Realizing he had been tricked, the spider tried to retreat. He now faced the image of black widow raising its many arms above its shiny, ball head. The red mark across its back signaled it’s predatory nature.

"You’re a healer!" Manu exclaimed as a seventh bell toll took place, surprised that Ed would try to harm him.

"Release the hostages," Ed’s voice came from the spider’s mouth.

Reaching up for Jasmine and Cameron, Manu flicked them from his back and into the web. They landed far away with yelps of dismay as they hung onto the threads they had landed on afraid of the void beneath the web. Another bell rang.

"Burn the web!" Manu cursed the time streams. "Kill the pattern! We’re making new rules from now on!"

Manu spewed a burst of flame from his lighting bonfires across the web.

Ed’s balck spider form leapt backward from the destructiveness of Manu’s magic. Ed heard the screams of Yassov and Cameron as they too caught fire. He hurriedly picked his way through the burning filaments trying to reach the men and waft the wind high enough to end the fire. "I’ll be back for you," Ed warned Manu who smiled in victory as he picked his way back towards the center of the web with Cynthia and Jasmine still in tow.

Ed’s figure grew wider in size stamping the brush fire in several places with his massive eight feet. He spit a stream of spider webbing, catching Yassov and Cameron as they began to fall off the web. Ed puckered his spider lips and blew out the fire from Yassov’s and Cameron’s clothing like a child blowing out the candles at his second year birthday party. With this complete rather quickly, Ed’s spider form set about to re-weave the threads of time.

"We haven’t time!" Cameron fretted from on top Ed’s spider back, where Ed had placed him. "Leave it be!"

"Wait," Ed said, his four front legs bowing as if in prayer as he studied one of the loose threads intensely. "I see something, an old probability."

Yassov leaned down and looked at the thread Ed was studying and whistled: "That’s over thousands of years old! What can you do with such an ancient time fragment?"

Ed looked up at Yassov, his beady eyes puzzling the question. "Just let me do this one last thing," Ed said stubbornly. "Then we’ll go."

With that promise made, Ed took the thread in question and stretched it tight, elongating it as he scampered to the section he was more familiar. The thread threatened to snap at any moment. Ed wove the thread in place with his own spider spinnings.

He looked across the web and saw the incongruence of the line filing past it’s normal joints and through the web at a strange angle. Ed shrugged: "It won’t matter anyway if Manu gets his way."

Staring down into the center of the web, he realized that Manu had made it through the archway. Manu’s victory was heralded by the eighth chime of the last bell.

CHAPTER 17