The inner realms

In the grip of a horrifying and suffocating sleep paralysis episode, Ben visualized that his arm was swinging back and forth before him, in spite of his panic he continued his visualization and persisted, and then something wonderful finally happened. Another arm which was not his physical arm suddenly materialized and waved after the pattern that he was visualizing. With the materialization of this arm came the materialization of an entire etheric body which he was now instinctively able to use. He got up intending to sit on the bed but he felt himself pulling away from inside another body the way a ghost would pull away from a dying body.

It required a bit of effort to fight off a pulling force that would deny him separation. Ben thought he was leaving his physical body and entering another realm but he had already deduced that he was no longer in the physical realm the moment he felt sleep paralysis. So which body was this that he was separating from? Ben overcame the pulling force and fell off the bed.

He stood up in a completely different realm with full consciousness. He rushed in excitement and came to his window to look outside. It was daytime yet it was nighttime back on the physical realm. As he pushed against the windowpane he felt himself go through the walls just like a ghost then he found himself outside his house.

What had just happened? Was he a ghost? Whose ghost was he?

There was indeed someone sleeping in his etheric house from whom he had emerged. That was not his physical body because right now he was far from the physical, dimension far. He had to know.

Ben went back inside the house pushing through the walls as he had done earlier and he came to stand before his bed. The person lying on his bed had his form so he bent closer to examine the person's face since the person was sleeping.

It was Ben's face. Then Ben was thinking, "How could there be two of us in the same realm?"

The person lying on the bed was not dead but alive, just asleep. Was it the nature of this realm to have as many doubles as possible? Could another Ben who was also a ghost project out of this person anytime too and make two of them? Why was the person asleep? Could Ben actually be existing in this person's dream?

It felt like looking in a mirror.

There was another Ben who always existed here for as long as Ben was alive. Ben was closer to this person more than he was closer to anyone else. He would know because he was in love.

As Ben kept looking at his etheric self, one who slept peacefully on his bed, a perfect replica of his form, changes began to appear. The one who slept began to change form as if reverting to an original form. Ben looked on in awe and wonder as he discovered that this person sleeping here was actually a girl.

Her hair was silver here and gold there. Her skin was white like ivory and her cheeks were full of blood as she was blushing and smiling in her sleep almost as if sensing that someone was staring at her. Her features softened, her lips blossomed like the petals of a rose, and the resemblance to Ben dissolved away.

Something had already begun to stir inside Ben. This was almost unreal yet he was surely standing before the person he had longed so much to meet face to face.

Had he actually done it? Had he broken through to a realm where he could stand face to face with Nancy?

His love for this person could not be put into words. She opened her eyes and looked at the person standing above her whose face was so close to her that he could almost reach out and kiss her. Upon realizing it was Ben, the person who appeared most in her dreams, she just smiled softly.

"Hi, Ben."

Her voice was as melodious as he had imagined that it would be and it seeped right into the core of his soul. He found himself trembling.

Had she been expecting him?

She got up to sit then she opened up her arms offering to hug him for she knew exactly the shock of this moment to him. He fell into her embrace and only then did he begin to calm his nerves as the fabric of her cotton dress rubbed against his cheek and as the fragrance of her sweet perfume enveloped him. His joy welled up inside him to the surface and flowed over as tears. He was so happy that he was weeping. What a strange thing that was yet only tears could express how he truly felt about meeting Nancy.

So, Nancy was here all along? So very much close to him.

"I have been looking for you all this time yet you were here, inside me all along," Ben said.

She pulled back a little so she could look at his face and look him in the eyes.

"Where else could I be?"

She got up to stand before him then the room they stood in began to whirl and then to dissolve and a moment later they stood on a lake with their feet on top of water yet they did not sink. He had not caused this change of scenery as was his habit in his imaginary worlds. Here, in the etheric realm, he did not possess such power. He had just learned how to walk so he was not different from a baby.

Standing on top of water did not frighten him for he felt as light as a feather in this etheric body that he wore. But it appeared that Nancy wanted to go into the water so she grabbed both his hands and pulled Ben along to submerge with her. Ben felt afraid of the depth of the water but for only a moment. He trusted Nancy completely so he let her lead him on as she seemed to know what she was doing.

As she submerged into the water with him close before her, the water suddenly disappeared as they were now in a location like deep space. They were surrounded by tiny galaxies that moved like plankton floating in an ocean. From the galaxies, Ben could hear voices and sounds of cars and buses moving, and he could hear the sounds of cities that bustled with life. Ben was straining his neck just to look to as many of the tiny galaxies as he could but she touched his face so he could only focus on her.

"Don't look at them directly," she said.

"What are these?"

"These are the inner realms and the invisible worlds all mixed up together. You can visit any that you choose given that you meet the conditions."

"Conditions?"

"For example, you are here right now, in my realm, because I invited you by many requests and prayers."

"Prayers?"

"Who do you think created the realms?"