Salvation

Cold winter winds continue to fiercely blow towards the south. I’m heading towards north, so every

step I take against the winds, through the snow, is a brutal test of my resolve against the divine powers

of nature. My boots are six inches deep in snow, the winds are pushing me back to the opposite

direction, and I haven’t eaten anything for the past four days. Despite wearing four layers of

technologically advanced winter garments �" the saleslady who sold them to me called it anti-winter

technology, the cold pierced through my skin and made my spine shiver. If hell did exist, I wish I was

there right now, having my skin peeled off by grisly-looking demons along with the other poor souls

being tortured there for eternity. That way, I won’t feel the cold with my skin being separated from the

rest of my body. It does work that way right? I don’t have a very good understanding of the human

anatomy. What I’m trying to say is that it’s really f*****g cold right now.

I pause for a short moment to catch my breath. The blizzard continues to test the limits of my body. I

start to picture myself ending up like Jack Torrance when he got lost in the hedge maze and froze to

death in the ending of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. The image of Jack Torrance’s frozen body,

particularly the horrifying look on his face as he was half-covered with a pile of snow, makes me

question my own decision to have pushed through with this journey. How did I end up here anyway?

The dream. It’s all because of that damn dream I had fourteen days ago.

I was in the middle of a blizzard, very similar to the one I’m in the midst of right now, and I was also

wearing the exact same anti-winter technology garments, freezing cold to the bone. A young clean

shaven man with a greasy slicked back hairstyle came up to me with a smile that accentuated his

dimples. He was wearing a black pinstripe suit with a navy blue tie in the middle of the snowy terrain.

“Up there,” he said pointing at the sky.

“What?” I asked him.

“Up there,” he repeated while still pointing in the same direction.

I decided to look up to the direction he was pointing at, but all I could see through my winter goggles

was the white sky with snowy winds rapidly blowing by.

“Are you talking about the sky? I don’t see anything,” I told him.

“Look closely,” he replied.

I gazed at the direction where he was pointing at again, and this time I was squinting my eyes, trying to

observe the space he was referring to more attentively. Then I saw it. It was blurry, but I saw the outline

of the figure well enough to recognize what it was. It was a mountain. I couldn’t tell how far away it

was, but I could tell that it was no small hill. I could feel that it was trying to intimidate me, letting it be

known who the more superior being is. Strong howling winds made it seem like the mountain was

letting out a furious roar. It was like it was a living being with a soul of its own �" a transcendent

presence that I could not comprehend.

“The mountain?” I asked the man in the pinstripe suit.

He gave me a thumbs up.

“Okay. What about the mountain?” I asked.

“Climb it. Reach the top,” the man answered.

I gaze at the mountain again. Yeah. It still looked pretty big.

“It looks like a very long and high climb,” I said.

The man didn’t reply.

“Why should I climb it?” I asked after failing to get a reply.

“Just climb,” he replied.

“For what?” I asked as I was getting impatient.

“Salvation,” he answered.

“What?” I asked again confused.

“Salvation and contentment. You will see,” he said.

He suddenly vanished into thin air, and I was left gazing at an empty space in the snow.

“Salvation huh?” I said to myself.

I didn’t understand what he meant, and I still don’t. But I was too intrigued then to not see what was on

top of that mountain, so I decided to climb it and find out what was this “salvation and contentment”

that man in the pinstripe suit was babbling about. I mean, it was all just a dream anyway, so what did I

have to lose?

For fifteen days I walked to the base of the mountain, and for another fifteen days, I hiked the mountain

to its summit. I was able to take down how many days have passed because of my solar-powered Casio

Pathfinder strapped on my left wrist �" all my other electronic devices were no longer functioning. This

Casio Pathfinder was just my style of watch. Tacky but reliable, bulky but comfortable, rugged but

durable. It had all the functions a man on an adventure would ever need; it had a compass, a barometer,

an altimeter, and all the other features a standard watch would have. Not to mention, it was in my

favorite color, black.

I don’t have much recollection of the journey since meeting the young man in the pinstripe suit up until

reaching the peak of the mountain (based on what I’m experiencing right now, I’m glad I don’t), but I

do recall every detail of what happened after I reached the peak.

At the highest point of the mountain, there were no winds, no snow, no coldness. The atmosphere was

warm, cozy, and welcoming. It was the perfect temperature, if there ever was one. Not too hot, not too

cold; the flawless mixture of both warmth and coolness. The air was hugging me affectionately, and I

felt a sort of intimacy. I felt the tenderness of a hug from someone you love. It was an ethereal feeling

just being there, even if it was just a dream.

Sitting on the very tip of the mountain was a creature that had recognizable features, but the being as a

whole was something that I found unearthly and anomalous. It had the body of a polar bear, the horns

of an eland, and the face and head of a snow leopard. The creature had this sublime presence about it,

especially in the midst of the already otherworldly environment. Seeing the creature sitting on the

mountain peak, as I was climbing up towards it, was dreamlike. I know it literally was a dream, but it

felt real because I was in full awareness of everything that my body was experiencing at that moment. I

could feel the tender warmth of the air, the beating of my heart, and the visceral reactions my body was

going through the moment I saw the creature. It’s impossible for me to describe accurately what I felt

throughout the dream with words �" it’s hard to describe something that most people have never seen or

felt.

The creature, still sitting on the mountain peak, tilted its head to my direction. Gazing at me was its icy

blue snow leopard eyes. I noticed there was something eerie about its face other than it being a snow

leopard’s. It was the facial expressions it made �" it was almost human-like. The way its eyes squinted,

and the way its face muscles contracted and relaxed to show different emotions was like a human’s

face.

“What do you seek?” the creature asked me.

The creature spoke in a very deep and calming voice. It was almost therapeutic. It reminded me of

Johnny Cash’s voice in his song, Hurt. Broken and melancholy, but at the same time, there was this

sense of fulfillment and peace.

“What do you seek?” the creature asked again.

I forgot to answer his question the first time because I was so mesmerized by his voice �" I was also not

expecting the creature to speak.

“Salvation,” I finally answered.

“Salvation?” the creature asked in return.

“Salvation and contentment,” I answered again.

Then there was a brief moment of silence.

“Look,” the creature said while pointing towards the sky.

I looked at the direction he was pointing at. I was looking at the sun. At least I thought it was the sun,

but it did something that no sun would ever do. The mysterious bright figure suddenly burst into

multiple rays of light of different colors. Red, yellow, blue, orange, green, violet, and plenty more

colors that I have never seen before. I don’t really know how to describe it, but I will say that it was the

most enthralling experience of my life, dream or not dream. The lights were getting brighter and

brighter up to a point where I could no longer look at them because they were so blinding. I had to

cover my eyes with my left arm. I tried to lift my right arm at first, but for some reason, it was numb

and I couldn’t move it.

“Do not shy away from the light. You must look,” the creature said.

“I can’t. It’s too bright,” I answered while still covering my eyes.

“You do not have faith. You must have faith!” the creature shouted.

I lowered my left arm away from my eyes, but I kept my eyelids shut tight.

“You must see the lights in their final form!” the creature shouted.

I started counting down in my head.

3...

2...

1.

I opened my eyes.

I had awakened from my dream not being able to see the lights in their final form or get the “salvation”

that the young man in the pinstripe suit and the creature promised me. But it didn’t matter because it

was just a dream right?

Even if it was just a dream, I grew very curious and I had so many questions.

What did that dream mean?

What were those strange but majestic lights?

Who was that young man in the pinstripe suit?

What was that creature?

That dream deeply affected my reality. It greatly influenced every decision I made after I woke up. In

fact, the very morning after that dream, I went straight to my computer to look for the mountain in my

dream. I wasn’t sure if that mountain actually existed, but I had this urge to try and find it �" I wanted it

to exist. “Snowy Mountains” was what I typed in the search engine. Picture after picture, I searched for

a mountain that looked just like the one in my dream �" I thought that I would be able to recognize it if I

saw it in a picture. It didn’t take much time for my dreams to suddenly become closer to reality. I found

the mountain. The picture showed the mountain from afar, but I was able to recognize it because it had

the exact same shape of the mountain I saw in my dream when the man in the pinstripe suit pointed it

to me. I was sure that this was the same mountain that the creature was sitting on.

I made a decision on that very day. I was going to travel to that mountain and climb it to the very top,

but in reality this time. Even though I knew that it was foolish for me to go through great lengths just to

see if anything more in that dream could be real, the very existence of the mountain was enough for me

to at least try. I clicked on the image of the mountain I found on the internet. Apparently, the mountain

already had a name. It was called Mount Pelastus.

Mount Pelastus can be found in the snowy terrains of an isolated island country in the south. It’s very

rare for tourists to travel there because the country isn’t very civilized yet. There’s only one airline with

a plane that travels there at least once a week. The area is constantly covered with severe snowstorms.

There are no facilities around to assist people who choose to climb the mountain. The locals apparently

aren’t very welcoming to the tourists who travel there. And the most intriguing information I found, no

one has ever climbed to the top of Mount Pelastus and came back alive.

Another interesting detail I came across is that all the photos taken from the mountain were from a far

distance because, for some reason, any electronic device suddenly shuts down when you get too close

to the mountain. There has been two reported plane crashes around the mountain’s area and a total two

of twenty-one people have gone missing after attempting to climb the mountain. Even with all that

information, I booked a plane ticket set to depart twenty-four hours from then.

I called my boss to tell him that I would be taking my one month leave for the year. Then I headed to

the mall to buy everything I needed for my little trip. First, I went to look for some outerwear that could

withstand harsh climates. That was when I came across the saleslady that sold me the anti-winter

technology jacket, pants, shoes, gloves, and goggles. You could go to Antarctica and you’d be sweating

with these on, she said. Next, I went to buy navigation tools, first-aid items, ropes, ice axes, a harness,

and other mountaineering equipment that I saw on the internet when I searched “things to bring when

mountaineering”. As I was walking around the mall, I passed by a watch shop. I saw through the shop

window a background picture of snowy mountains with a watch displayed in the middle. It was the

exact same Casio Pathfinder that I was wearing in my dream. I decided to buy that too. I had to, it was

in black.

The following day, I boarded a small plane, that had about six other passengers on board, on the way to

the island country where the mountain in my dream would be found. When the plane landed and the

passengers arrived at the airport, there were barely any people around. It was just the lady in charge of

arriving passengers and a couple of other guys that probably worked at the airport as well. They didn’t

have any computers or televisions around, so they just used pen and paper to take care of everything.

After exiting the airport, I went straight to my hotel, which was a small wooden hut with no air

conditioning or Wi-Fi. The cranky old lady, who owned the hotel, sluggishly led me to one of the three

rooms available after taking my payment. My room contained one white mattress on the floor with no

other furniture. I set all my luggage on the floor and jumped straight into bed. The following morning, I

would be beginning my long walk to the top of Mount Pelastus.

I had no prior experience of mountain hiking, mountain trekking, mountaineering, nothing. I was going

into war as a blind man. One thing I surprisingly did have was faith. The creature in my dream told me

to have faith, so there I was, ready to risk it all for something that might only exist in my head.

Here I am now, fourteen days later, standing still with my eyes closed, trying to catch my breath.

I open my eyes to see that I’ve made it to the base of the mountain. Seeing at a very close distance how

much area the mountain covered made it seem even more colossal than how I remembered. The sky is

getting dark; the sun is passing and night is about to come. I look around to see if there’s anywhere that

I can take shelter to rest till the following day. There’s a small cave near the base of the mountain. I

head there and take a look inside. It’s pitch black dark inside, so I can’t see how big the inside is or if

there’s anything in there �" my phone and flashlight stopped functioning seven days ago, all I have are

my matchsticks. But I am exhausted and desperate for some sleep, so I’m making this cave my hotel

room for the night. I’m just going to assume that nothing inside is going to eat me.

I gather some wood and place them in somewhere inside the cave. Then I reach for the matchbox inside

my backpack, and take out a matchstick to light the fire. Then I take off my gloves to warm my hands

by the fire before checking the time on my Casio Pathfinder. Finally, I lay down on my left side to fall

into a deep sleep.

I wake up to realize that my right hand is frozen. I forgot to put my gloves back on before I went to

sleep. Luckily, I slept on my left side, so my left hand was tucked under my jacket to prevent it from

freezing. Although, I didn’t really feel my right hand being frozen. My whole body is already

anesthetized after being exposed to sub-zero temperatures for the past two weeks. I’m actually

surprised that I haven’t died of Hypothermia yet, most people would have. Not to mention, I haven’t

eaten anything for the past five days either. I ran out of rations after the tenth day and I haven’t seen a

single plant or animal around these areas. I don’t feel as hungry as I expect I would be though. Every

now and then, I would have this sudden surge of energy. I don’t know where all this perseverance,

toughness, and grit is coming from, but it has made me hopeful that I might actually finish this journey

alive. Science doesn’t even apply to me anymore just because of the fact that I’m still alive.

“Great. I’m stuck with one hand now,” I say to myself.

I lift up my left wrist to check on my Casio Pathfinder. There’s another thing I’m grateful for. If it was

my left hand that got frozen, I would have to switch my watch over to my right wrist, but that would be

very awkward for me. I’m used to having my watch on my left wrist. I imagine that if I ever put my

watch on my right wrist, I would consistently check my left wrist mistakenly anyway because my brain

is already wired to lift my left hand whenever I want to know the time. It would take a while before I

get used to having my watch on the right wrist. However, in these conditions, by the time I get used to

having my watch on the other wrist, I’d probably have already hacked an ice axe through my own skull

because of how infuriating it would be to always mistakenly check the time on the wrong wrist.

Walking through the life-threatening snowstorms for two weeks, I can endure, but having my watch on

the wrong wrist, that’s asking too much. I’d rather die. Thank God my left hand is perfectly fine.

I get up, put out the fire (which surprisingly didn’t get extinguished while I was asleep), and gather all

my stuff using only my left hand, then start to walk outside the cave. There’s still a snowstorm and I

can see the base of Mount Pelastus.

I stare at the mountain in front of me. I have no idea how I’m going to be able to climb this thing with

one hand, but I’ve made it this far and I am more than motivated to reach the peak.

From my backpack, I take out one ice axe and strike it against the mountain to start my climb. An

experienced mountaineer would be making use of ropes and a harness for extra safety, but I am not one

of those experienced mountaineers. This is the first mountain that I am ever going to climb. I’m just

winging this thing. Even though I fully understand that this is a life or death situation, I don’t really feel

like I’m in any danger. Ever since the beginning of this journey, I’ve never felt any presence of peril,

although I have gone through a handful of physical agony. After having that dream, I was possessed by

something. By what exactly? I have no idea. Whatever it is, it has transformed me into an entirely

different person.

Climbing up the mountain isn’t is as punishing as I thought it’d be. After about thirty minutes (I

consistently checked the time on my Casio Pathfinder every chance I had), I’ve already gotten used to

the flow of climbing. Just strike the ice axe against the mountain with my left hand, make sure that it’s

pierced through nicely against the surface, lift my left foot and stick it somewhere sturdy, do the same

with my right foot, then just repeat the whole process. I catch a break every time I come across a flat

surface where I just have to walk. Things were going smoothly, too smoothly, it’s as if the universe

wants me to climb this mountain. All the physical, psychological, and emotional distresses I’ve been

through ever since that dream, I’ve put behind me. Right now, all I’m thinking is that I’m almost there.

I’m just one mountain away from seeing the creature and those lights. The creature and those lights

have to be there. They have to be. Even if I’m yet come across any hard evidence to back up the

existence in reality of the happenings in my dream �" the man in the pinstripe suit did not greet me

before I started my climb up the mountain, I still believed that everything that was in my dream could

be real. I’ve already invested too much for it not to be real.

After hours and hours of climbing, I come across another flat part of the mountain. According to the

time on my Casio Pathfinder, I’ve been climbing for twelve hours with no breaks. I’m not hungry, tired,

or afraid. One thing that did alarm me is my frozen right hand. It’s starting to crack. Eventually, my

hand just shattered into pieces. I can see more than a dozen pieces of my frozen hand fall to the floor.

Seeing the whole process happen before my eyes is really freakish, because the whole time, I felt

nothing. My whole body has gotten so numb that I’ve become susceptible to any kind of physical pain.

That also means that I don’t feel any soreness or coldness throughout my body at all. Being in this state

of painlessness, makes me feel invincible, like I have a superpower. I’m basically like Ajax, the Marvel

created super villain that feels no pain �" he had some mad scientist remove his nerves to dramatically

increase his pain tolerance.

Being so amazed by the level of numbness my body has reached, I don’t even care about losing my

right hand. I mean, what’s the big deal? Before, I had a right hand that wasn’t functioning. Now, I

literally don’t have a right hand. Who needs a right hand to climb a mountain anyway?

I take out bandages from my first-aid kit to wrap around my handless arm. I also remove my jacket and

every other piece of clothing underneath. The cold is no longer a nuisance. I’m Ajax now; I feel

nothing. After having all my clothes off, my whole arm is visible to me. There isn’t even any blood,

everything is frozen solid. It’s strange. Touching the part of my arm where my hand used to be is like

touching the frost around the inside of a freezer. It’s all icy, rough, and how do I say this? Lifeless, like

looking at a dead body in a morgue. I find it surreal to think that this arm is still attached to a living

being. Me.

I decide that there’s no point of wrapping a bandage around my arm if it’s not bleeding anyway. It

probably won’t get infected either since it is frozen solid. Instead, I put all my winter garments back on,

take out the portable tent from my backpack, and set it up on the floor underneath the shade of a giant

rock. The sky’s getting dark, so it would be best for me to rest now then continue the rest of my journey

the following morning. As I lay on the ground, I check my Casio Pathfinder one last time before I fall

asleep.

“This marks the first day of climbing Pelastus,” I say to myself while looking at my beloved watch, “You’re my only friend.”

This watch, my Casio Pathfinder, is the reason why I’m still sane even after such a long journey

without technology, my family, or any type of human interaction. Knowing what time, day, and month

it is when I wanted to, really helped me feel at ease. I don’t know, maybe it’s because it’s a reminder of

how much progress I’ve been making, how far I’ve already come. Time is our best friend. It’s what

gives purpose to everything we do in life. It’s what makes us grow old with our family and friends to be

able to cherish all the moments we’ve spent together. It can kill a person as fast as it can give birth to a

pair of twins. Without time, what are we?

For the next fourteen days, I continued to climb the mountain. Same process. Same routine. Nothing

grand happened to changed the flow. Climb, check the time, walk, check the time, climb, walk, check

the time, sleep, wake, and check the time. That was it. Over and over again. I no longer needed to rest

(unless if it was to sleep) or eat food, my only purpose was and is to climb to the top of this mountain.

And I did it without breaking a sweat.

After fifteen days of walking to the mountain, and another fifteen days of climbing the mountain, I can

finally see the peak. I check my Casio Pathfinder again to make sure my calculations are right. Yup.

Thirty days in total. There’s snow everywhere and the winds are still blowing. I don’t feel any sort of

warmth, tenderness, or comfort. In fact, I feel nothing. My body is still completely numb. While still

climbing, I take a glance to see if the creature is there. I’m don’t see anything or anyone at the peak. A

few more moments later, I make it to the very tip of the mountain. I sit down where the creature was

sitting in my dream. Then I look above to see the sun. Is it really just the sun this time or is it going to

be like that mysterious bright object that will explode into a million rays of light of different colors?

Will I get my salvation? I have no idea.

I close my eyes and start counting down.

3...

2...

1.

I open my eyes.

What do I see?

The sun. I see the f*****g sun. There goes my “salvation”.

I let out a huge sigh before I revert my gaze from the sun to the snowy winds blowing right in front of

me. The snow is so thick that I can’t see anything beyond the whiteness.

Suddenly, I hear a deep voice.

“You took my spot.”

That voice sounds very familiar. I follow where the voice came from with my eyes. It came from

somewhere below me, so I look down. I see the creature. It has the body of a polar bear, the horns of an

eland, and the face and head of a snow leopard. It’s sitting a few meters below the very tip of the

mountain, on a small flat surface. The two spiral v-shaped horns of the creature are pointing right at me

�" the creature itself is facing away from me, staring into the whiteness I was staring at before it caught

my attention.

“Who are you?” I ask.

“Why did you come here?” the creature asks, ignoring my question.

“Some handsome guy in a pinstripe suit told me that I would find salvation and contentment here,” I

answer.

“Did you find it?” the creature asks.

“Find what?” I ask in return.

“Salvation,” the creature answers.

I have no idea. I thought it was supposed to know.

“I thought you would give it to me. You were gonna show me all these weird lights and stuff,” I say.

A moment of silence comes in between us.

“Salvation is not something I can give you. It is something you must find yourself,” the creature finally

says to break the silence.

That sounds deep, but I don’t get it.

“So what were those lights you showed me in my dream?” I ask.

The creature guffawed in its deep voice. I did not expect that. It didn’t seem the laughing-out-loud type.

“What happens in a dream is just a happening in a dream. Dreams are not reality,” the creature answers.

Now I’m really confused.

“Then how come you’re real? You were just in my dream,” I say.

“I am real, but everything that happened in this dream you speak of did not happen in reality,” the

creature replies.

Where the hell is this conversation even going?

“Look man, I left my home and traveled all the way here just to see those lights,” I impatiently say.

“It is foolish to sacrifice so much for something so much as a dream,” the creature replies.

It has a point, but seeing the creature here right now makes it even harder to believe that those lights in

my dream are simply just inventions of my mind. I’ve already seen half of what I wanted to see.

“Many people have come here before you. But you are the first to come for salvation. Maybe that is

why you are the only one to reach the peak,” the creature says.

“What happened to all those other people?” I ask.

“Dead. Buried in the snow,” the creature answers.

Well that’s straightforward.

“So where do I go from here?” I ask.

I receive no reply. The creature has vanished in thin air.

“Nice conversation,” I say to the empty space in the snow.

That was the weirdest conversation I’ve ever had in my life.

I check my Casio Pathfinder on my left wrist, then I check my right wrist to be reminded that it’s no

longer there. After removing my glove, I start caressing with my fingers on my left hand the rough and

icy part of my right arm where my hand used to be. I have a sudden realization that I still have to go

home and revert back to normal everyday life. I start thinking about my job and the bills I failed to pay

this past month. If it took me thirty days to get here, it would probably take me around the same

amount of time to get back to civilization. Plus, I still have to book a plane ride home.

“Time to look for a new job I guess,” I say to myself as I continue staring into the whiteness.