This is no dream, no hallucination of an overtaxed mind. I am as real as are you. So are the wholly freed spirits who bear me from Earth to Ento. So was your sister Onta̤, who has appeared to you, but who, until you are further prepared, will not again attempt to do so.
In time you will be made to comprehend the laws involved in spirit return, but at present I cannot explain them. The Spirits with whom I am associated, and hosts of Spirits, of Spirit Spheres, of other Spirit Worlds, have combined their forces in a supreme endeavor to release the peoples of Ento from the hopeless religious beliefs, which long have held them in a state of such pitiful despair that as I gaze on their almost smileless faces, my heart throbs with sympathy for their perpetual sorrow. Dano, fear not, but rejoice that you have been chosen as a message bearer to them. Rejoice that through your instrumentality light from your spirit world soon will dissipate the shadows enshrouding the lives of your peoples.
The hour draws very near when Omanos Fûnha̤'s fair daughter, your affianced bride, must pass into your Spirit World. Only now does Valloa̤'s father realize that her days may be drawing to a close, and through fear and grief he is well nigh crazed. Daily in the Temple Zim he sacrifices to Andûmana̤, imploring with agonizing moans and tears that his precious Valloa̤ shall not be taken from him into the dread silence of death, but still she fades, as fade the lovely, fragrant rodels on Bascama's limpid water. Vainly your father, Basto Andûlēsa̤, endeavors to allay Omanos Fûnha̤'s fears, to assuage his grief, for at last he and your mother perceive Valloa̤'s perilous state, and they propose to immediately call you home, hoping, as does Omanos Fûnha̤, that your presence may arouse and aid the drooping girl to prolong, if not to recover her waning life.
It is indeed pitiful to see the light dying out of her beautiful azure eyes, and the bloom fading from her lovely young face, which grows as pallid as roina̤ blooms. As her physical strength declines Valloa̤'s vision grows more Spiritualized, and as through a thin veil she sees the spirit forms of her mother and of other dear ones, who whisper to her unfolding Spirit senses words of loving cheer for her, for her stricken father, and for you, dear youth. She fancies that she dreams, and when smilingly she relates to her father the loving Messages from the dream-world he is filled with consternation lest her mind is being lost, and in the privacy of his own apartments he prostrates himself, crying to Andûmana̤, and to the mighty gods to suffer her to live, or if that may not he, to take her in her perfection into Astranola̤.
I am made to tell you this, that in a measure you may be prepared for the ordeal awaiting you, and to urge upon you to be strong and courageous, for you will require both strength and courage to sustain you. Even now a swift Messenger comes from Omanos Fûnha̤, bearing a letter from your father, so hasten to prepare for your journey to Dao. To these persons who gaze on you in breathless expectation of they know not what speak of what I have been made to say to you, for I know that when you shall have regained control of yourself you will imagine that you have had a fanciful vivid dream. Remember that I charge you to speak of what I have said to you. And now I am bidden to say Info oovistû.
ROINA
Dr. Vyonda—Ah, he is reviving, his pulsations are quickening, and his color returning. This seizure is peculiar, very peculiar. Such long continued unconsciousness indicates a low state of vital energy. Professor Dalmaon, with your approval, I shall at once advise his father that he for a time must have entire mental rest and change of scene, which will assist in his recovery from his present devitalized state. Why, my dear Dano, you have been quite unconscious of the anxious interest which for a few moments has disturbed our minds. But as I have said, it is nothing serious, nothing really uncommon, quite a natural result of continued mental strain, and you must rest, Dano, for a time, you really must rest and recuperate. Do you now feel quite yourself?
Dano—Friends, I wish to say something that will surely try your belief in my sanity, but if your kindness may permit you to listen to what I desire to relate you will make me your grateful debtor. Doctor, I believe that I am quite myself, but after I shall have related my story I shall not find fault should you all question my opinion.
While you have thought me unconscious I have been as fully conscious as yourselves, but unable to move, or to unclose my eyes, or to utter a sound. Yet in some strange manner I have seemed to see for the fourth time a fair skinned, dark haired, strange woman enveloped in shining garments, who says that she is from a world known in her language, as Earth, which is so far away in space, that to us it appears as a shining point in the night sky. She says that her Ento name, Gentola̤, has been given her by some who understand our language, which she does not. That she speaks from dictation of those who do understand it, and she has told me of something so sorrowful that for the present I shall not speak of it. She declares that through me a new religious revelation is about to be given to the children of Ento. But as Andûmana̤ only speaks through the great God Tymonas to the most high Priest, this declaration cannot be true. She also has said what is altogether improbable, that from our Supreme Ruler comes a swift Messenger bearing a letter from my father, who desires that I shall at once return to Dao, and that I shall make immediate preparation for the journey. Do not I pray you, gaze upon me with so much concern. I realize that this peculiar experience is the result of too much abstinence from youthful pleasures for which I care but little, and of over close application to study, for which I perhaps care too much.