The Enlightened by Dima Zales Read Free Book Online

entirely. If angels or deities were real, I imagine this is how they would look.
    “Hi, Darren,” he says. His voice is the most melodic and harmonious sound I’ve ever heard and does to my ears what his visage does to my eyes.
    “Hello,” I manage to say, unable to blink from all the staring.
    I can’t exactly describe him. The beauty and perfection of his face are leaps and bounds beyond simple symmetry. It’s like every skin cell, every molecule on the right side of the face matches an exact one on the left. But even that doesn’t really explain it.
    “You have to stop worshipping me like this,” he says. “I look the way I look and sound the way I sound because I am not encumbered by the mundane limitations of physics. I am more of an abstract construct in your mind than a real person. You didn’t actually see me when you first saw me. The sight of me didn’t really register in your brain the way you were thinking of it a second ago. I explain this only because we have very little time, and I need you to get over your shock.”
    “You’re a what?” I can’t stop staring at him. “And little time for what?”
    “I’m you, Darren,” he says, “and Rose and Edward. I am also Paul and Marsha and all the other Enlightened with whom you are currently Joined. And the Joining is coming to an end, thus we have little time.”
    “I can sort of understand the time limit, but I don’t understand how you can be me.”
    “You don’t give yourself enough credit,” he says, still floating in the air. “I see you already know, on some level, that I am a manifestation of the combined intellects of all of you, but you are going through the motions reminiscent of denial, which we have no time for.”
    “You’re like a hive mind composed of all of us?” I ask incredulously. “Including me?”
    “Yes. Though without the negative connotation the term ‘hive’ carries.”
    “Wow.” I blink. “I’m not sure what to say to you.”
    “We’re not here for you to say anything to me ,” he says calmly. “That would be pointless, since I know everything you know, as well some things you know but don’t realize you know. I am here because I have an important message for you.”
    “Isn’t this a lot like talking to myself?” I ask, and for the first time, a disturbing thought occurs to me. Did the Joining make me go insane?
    “You’re not crazy,” he says. “But I don’t have time to convince you of your sanity. We’ve already used up too much time as is.”
    Wouldn’t an imaginary friend say something along those lines? I think at him, testing the theory that he can read my thoughts.
    “Perhaps,” he admits out loud, confirming my suspicions. “If it helps, you can think of me as a creative way your mind processes the information that’s already there, like clues in your memories that are crunched after accessing some extra brain hardware.”
    “You sound like Liz, my shrink.” A smile tugs at my lips. “And a little bit like Bert, my best friend.”
    “That’s intentional,” he says patiently. “I want to make sure you don’t think of me as a trick the others are trying to play on you.”
    “Oh,” I say, realizing he just voiced a fear that had been lurking around the edges of my awareness—a feat that is extremely creepy.
    “My message will be counterproductive to the plans your Joining companions have for you, which should convince you that they have nothing to gain from this,” he says, floating a bit closer.
    “What plans?” I ask warily.
    “That will be made clear to you after we’re done here. I really should get to the point. We have but moments left.”
    “Wait. What will happen to you after the Joining?” I don’t know why this matters to me, but it does. “Will you die?”
    “Great question, and I wish we had time to discuss it,” he says. “I am touched that you even care enough to ask about my fate. The short version is: I will, as you say, phase into the