Eyes of the Oracle (part four)

Kin and Ike stood facing each other, like two tigers circling around a lone prey. But unlike the tigers, one wanted to kill the prey, the other wanted to protect it.

"You've improved quite a bit," said Kin. "You managed to find my illusive hideout, counter the blinding light and killed Mu. Looks like you really have become a big obstacle in the purification of the world."

"Obstacle?" sneered Ike. "By getting rid of you, I'll be the one doing the purifying. Don't you see it's that missing integer that's messing up your head?!"

Kin was furious.

"I am perfect! I am the only one fit to act in God's stead! You, Ike, are nothing but a hindrance!"

Ike realised there was really no point in trying to talk to Kin. He grabbed Lisa and ran. But he didn't run straight, no! Lisa was taken through a multitude of irregular walls and sudden appearance of objects. Tree, mountain, house, sky...all these things appeared one after another, and all Ike was doing was running!

"Ike! What are you doing!?" Lisa asked frantically.

"I'm running through several dimensions not seeable with your eyes," replied Ike. "It's the only way to escape Kin."

Lisa felt very sick, the changing scenery was too much for her. To add to her fears, Kin was hot on their heels, shifting through the same dimensions as them!

"Why can't we just run in the usual 3 dimensions?" she asked, ready to throw up at any instant.

"Are you crazy?! That just makes it easier for him to ambush us! Have you ever seen ambushers lying straight in the path of their target? They'll hide in trees or bushes then jump out unsuspectingly. Kin will no doubt adopt the same strategy."

Finally, Ike stopped running. Lisa looked around, Kin was nowhere to be seen. They were now in a desolate landscape, with craters and mountains all around. Lisa looked up to see to her horror, the Earth! They were on the moon!

"I can't breathe!" she gasped.

"Ooops, sorry."

The pair then moved to an underwater cave. There was a large air pocket with rock formations where they could rest. Ike looked around, then sat down on a flat slab of rock.

"Kin may be laying a trap for us," he said. "Or we could have lost him, either way. We must be on our guard."

Lisa too took a seat on the rock formation. For a while, no one spoke, and Lisa eventually got uncomfortable. She had to say something, anything...

"Say Ike, you and Kin always say what you see cannot be described in words, I don't quite get what you mean..."

Ike, while maintaining his guard, saw no harm in starting a philosophical discussion.

"You heard of relativity right? How space and time are really connected and that time is a dimension and all? And that there's no such thing as absolute space or time? Yeah we can say all that, but do we really know what it means?"

Lisa thought for a while, then she realised she didn't.

"Even great physicists have no clue of what they're talking about either. No ordinary human being can see more than 3 dimensions, so there's no way they can picture it in their head. For saying you understand something, it means you can see it in your head. What they understand is only an abstract reality, like the whole world we live in. Remember that the people who came up with language are ordinary people, so the words they invented are only meant to describe the things ordinary people can see. Everything else can only be described abstractly. Think of Zen masters, they often say that true reality can never be described in words. As such, they invented koans, paradoxical riddles which they tell others. At first, these riddles make no sense, like 'we've known each other for so long, yet we've never met'. But to the true Zen master, they understand it fully, in true reality. Koans contain messages of true reality, and another purpose they serve is to make the student confounded and lost, so that they realise how useless their senses really are. In science, things like relativity and quantum physics can be considered a koan, just that they try as much as possible not to confuse the student, but still do anyway. You understand?"

Lisa nodded. Kin and Ike were like Zen masters, understanding true reality and all. But Kin approached it in a totally different manner than Ike. She knew both weren't bad, and deep in her heart, she wished that they could just get along. With two such people working together, the world be much more peaceful

The two of them stayed in the cave for about an hour, and Kin never showed up.

"Do you think he gave up?"asked Lisa.

"No," said Ike. "My hunch is he probably found another suicide case while chasing us, and decided to take that one instead. If that's so then we have to do something."

Ike went up to the water surface and shot out his palm towards it. A bright glare emitted from the water and images began to form. It was an image of Kin. Ike was right, Kin was taking a young student under his wing.

"The boy failed his maths again and was afraid of going home to be scolded by his parents," said Ike. "Kin is making use of it, that bastard. "He then turned to Lisa.

"Lisa, stay here. I'm going to confront Kin, it shall be a fight to the death. If I don't return within the hour..."

He then used his finger to draw an imaginary circle on the rock wall.

"Use this portal, it'll get you back home. There'll be a number I leave on your desk, call it and just say 'Hira221'. You will get help immediately."

Lisa touched the area where the 'circle' was, and to her surprise, found that it passed through the rock wall!

"As a final note, what I did just now, Kin can't do it. My remote viewing abilities are way more advanced than his. So no need to worry about him finding you."

Without waiting for her reply, Ike dashed towards the dark area of the cave, gracefully striding across the water and vanishing into thin air.

Lisa buried her face in her hands. There were so many things she wanted to know... so many questions unanswered. What else could these two people do? What can they not do? All sorts of questions, ethical, philosophical, social, scientific, were running through her mind. Now all she could do was wait in this lonely cave.

Waiting...was all she could do...

To be continued...