The World Unseen

Chapter 1 -- The Otherworld

'The Visible World is no longer a reality,

And the Unseen World no longer a dream.'

--William Butler Yeats

My young brown eyes watch as my reality race on by, just outside of the stationery window. The sound of iron sliding across steel rails sang a rhythmic song of clickity-clank, making me very sleepy from the steady rhythm and the gentle rocking of the speeding train.

The city had given away to suburbs. And towns had faded away into villages. Now the train was following an ancient river carved canyon as it crossed the dense green mountains and flooded river valleys of ripen golden rice.

And though the train was traveling faster than the cars on the roadway, the journey seemed like an eternity in the mind of a bored nine-year-old boy who just wanted to reach his destination already.

I was on my best behavior, as sitting beside me was my loving mother who quietly listened to a book being read as she had to constantly focus on something to ground herself. She loved to read, but years of commuting on the rails has made her violently motion sick.

When I did not move or make a sound; she turned her focus upon me as I continued to silently stare through the window, escaping the cramped train car via my imagination. I imagined myself as a wild white fox, running alongside the train, jumping over rocks, and fallen trees. And when the train had crossed over a river, my avatar transformed into a scaly finned mermaid, swimming across to the other side of the riverbank to meet up with the train.

"The mountains are very old here." she commented, looking at the ancient worn-down peaks covered in forest green. "A place like this is deeply guarded by nature spirits. You can sometimes see their ghostly lights at night, and their divine host upon the breeze."

"Hmm?" I asked, not really paying attention. I watched as my avatar flew away upon black feathered wings as I turned my gaze upward to mom "It looks just like any type of typical forest to me."

"That is because you have undisciplined eyes, my son." she scolded me. Life sometimes can be difficult when your mother is a staunch follower of the local Shinto practices, back in Kyoto. She was employed at the local shrine in Fushimi Ward, but of course we would never say employed, but instead we would say 'serving.'

"Why does Ojīchan have to live so far away from us?" I asked, not liking the train "Why doesn't he come and live with us in the city?"

"He does not like the noisy crowded feeling of the city, Sora." she told me "He likes to live in the wilderness where it is vast and peaceful. I too deeply miss the wilderness myself; we are not meant to be coped up in some concrete jungle. Our family has lived and grown for many generations in the forests & mountains of Japan."

I just smiled lightly as I resumed looking outside as my mother focused on the front of the car so that she did not get motion sick. I could not bear the boredom as I then asked her, "Can I please go walked around? I promise not to bother anyone!" she nodded but gave me a kind warning.

"Just behave yourself."

I nodded my head as I liked to think that I was well disciplined. Before mom could actually change her mind, I sprang to my feet and dismissed myself as I walked to the next car.

When I was far away from my mother's watchful gaze, I relaxed and walked down the aisle, glancing at the many passengers that were also on board. As usual, the train was well packed and there was not a place to sit or linger in this car. Some of the passengers had fallen asleep, and some of the passengers watched me whenever I was not looking directly at them.