And so the time had come to pass.
The man stood before the towering palaedian, struck with fear. Not fear of harm, but of unknown. Unknown of what is to come of him and his family. Fear of no future for his children. Fear of the void.
Behind the man, at the other end of the living room, stood the wife soothing their children, assuring them all will be well.
He spoke, "I fear you."
… "You needn't fear, we are love."
Silence.
… "As it is, you have a choice." The options were shown to the man.
His mind was not ready for the download, immediately his cranium felt on the verge of exploding. He could feel his temples pulsing, his pupils dilated. Simultaneously he began to silently weep, he saw the spider web of the future unfold of each choice, of the many only 1 can be chosen, but of the many the choice was obvious.
The man "how can I know you will keep your word?"
More thoughts, nay memories, were transferred, then it became clear.
The man looked back at his family, with tears streaming down his face, looked at each in their eyes, looked back at the towering mirror, "lets go."
The man's body crumpled to the floor and the figure stepped over the figure sprawled upon the floor, striding to the fractured family amidst the throes of agony, the palaedian spoke "we must leave now."
Despite the woman's agony, despite her knowing what her husband had said, despite knowing these "beings" were not the emotional creatures humans were, at least not in the same sense that she could understand, she could hear the tones of pain and agony in "it's" voice, similar to her, now dead, husband.
.
.
.
It was not until many decades later, when she too was faced with the same decision, the same history was shown her, by a similar towering mirror, did she understand why his voice was inside "it's" mouth.
After she too made the same choice did she realise that there more than two palaedian's in their family room that night, not in shadows, or behind walls, but on the other side of the dimensional barrier. There were as many equal to the family, some here and some "there".
.
.
.
Similar instances happened for each of the children as "time" marched forward. Each situation unique to each child. Each child seeing a different number of tall ones in that room. Each body crumpling to the floor.
.
.
.
As the last of the mans children made the same decision was the family whole again, each singular and as a whole. One by one were the fractured souls reunited with their celestial bodies.
The wife and the children were guided their bodily journeys by the fathers soul in his celestial body, unbeknownst to them. That is until they made the decision, a decision made in understanding. A decision made knowing that he left his body, but he didn't leave them. A decision made where the next instant they too were reunited with their celestial body. A decision, that transported them both forward and backward in time back to the living room where they saw their father reunited with the waiting family at long last.
