The Return to Nature

Part 1: The Elders

One

Inspector Emil Mayer sat at his desk, scrolling through an email report of a Narcotics task force in the suburbs outside Bucharest, Romania. The department had a briefing on the recent arrests and operations of the Taskforce that afternoon. A thin stream of smoke rose from the ashtray on his small desk in the middle of the bullpen. Phones took turns ringing around him. Two rings. Three rings. Four.

Four months ago, Emil was assigned to desk duty. Being assigned to desk duty was usually a punishment. But, in this case, it was an act of charity. Emil needed to take a step back after a catastrophic event for the Anti-Drug Trafficking Taskforce. He wasn’t demoted from the team following the incident, but he had served enough time and emotionally needed to step down.

“Mayer!” called Lieutenant Avram from his office door. Emil stood up and walked to the door on the outer wall of the bullpen.

“Yes?” responded Mayer.

“Come in. Have a seat.” said Avram

Emil sat in a chair in front of Lt. Avram’s desk. The room was spartan. A calendar hung with a pushpin on the wall behind Avram’s desk. A bulletin board held a few office letters, pictures of his family, and random fliers and menus.

“I have another special assignment. Investigations said they keep getting calls about elders that show up dead on the streets up north.” Avram turned his computer monitor around for Mayer to see. “The red dots are the towns that reported these dead elders. I looked up some numbers and this isn’t common in the area. Do you see any patterns with the red dots?”

“Yea”, answered Mayer. “They surround the Hoia Forest.”

“Right”, said Avram. “These elders are found dirty. And not dirty like they’ve been in the streets. Dirty like they’ve been sleeping in the dirt.”

Mayer sat back, lit a new cigarette, and took a long drag. “Has this happened before? People living in the forest?”

“Drifters. That sort of thing. But never anything in these numbers.”

“So, what’s the plan?” asked Mayer.

“I need you to travel up there with Dragan. Ask around a bit and see if we can put anything together. A Deputy from that area is raising concerns in Parliament. The Prime Minister spoke with our Commander,” explained Avram. “We need to come back with some sort of progress for the Commander to report back to the politicians.”

Two

It’s over a 6 hour drive north on E81 from Bucharest to Cluj-Napoca, the city outside the Hoia Baciu (pronounced HOYA BAA-CHEW) Forrest. Mayer and Inspector Dragan drove most of the trip flipping through radio stations without speaking. It’s beautiful through much of the drive, but during a particularly bland stretch of scenery, Mayer asked, “How do you like being an inspector?”

“I wanted to make inspector since I was in secondary school. I love it.”, said Dragan.

They sit silently for a few beats.

“I’m excited to learn some tricks from you,” said Dragan. “Our instructors at the Academy always talked about you. I must have heard a dozen of your cases.”

“Oh. Great.” Mayer wasn’t much for talking about himself. He started regretting the small talk. He changed directions with the conversation.

“What do you make of this? Thirteen dead elders. Homeless.” said Mayer.

“Well, they say anything can happen in the Forest. Could be a drifter poisoning old people.”, responded Dragan.

“Could be.”

The inspectors arrived in Cluj-Napoca around mid-day. They checked into their hotel and called the mortuary to get permission to see the bodies. It was a short drive. After signing in, the inspectors walked back with the attendant.

“Has anyone sorted through their personal effects, yet? asked Mayer.

“The local police checked the personal effects when they identified the bodies. But they were told to leave the personal effects here with the bodies until you arrived,” said the mortuary attendant. He showed the inspectors the personal items in bins at the feet of each body.

Mayer started to sort through the first bin. “What did the medical examiner say? Cause of death?” he asked.

“It’s been cold up here the past two months. He said most died of hypothermia. One died from a circulation issue resulting in heart failure.” 

As Mayer sifted through the personal items in each bin, he noticed a few of the elders had a ring with the same image of the sun. It was an 8-pointed sun with the impression of flowing water underlining the sun. He saw the same image on a necklace charm, an engraving on the back of a watch, and tattooed on two of the bodies. Mayer called the attendant over.

“This image of the sun. Do you recognize it?” asked Mayer.

“It’s the image of the Spiritual Naturalists. They’ve hosted a lot of events in this area recently.” said the attendant.

“Pagans?” asked Dragan.

“I don’t know. They seem to have a lot of beliefs about the natural world, but they don’t have a place of worship that you can go to, to learn more about them. Some people believe they’re like a cult. Very difficult to join them.” said the attendant.

“Where could we talk to these folks?” asked Mayer.

“As I said, I don’t know where they’re based. But, they’ll have a group at the football match this weekend. It’s a major match.” 

Three

Mayer and Dragan were unable to find any information on the internet or various police databases about “Spiritual Naturalists” in Romania. There were some websites that talked generally about the broader belief system, but nothing with the sun image or groups local to Cluj or other major cities in Romania. Their last hope was to find the group at the next football game. 

Mayer and Dragan had to auction for tickets in the upper section at the match that weekend. They were dressed in casual clothes for the game. The arena was beautiful, filled with fans dressed in white and maroon. The inspectors learned that various vendors, political groups, and community groups would set up tables before halftime and interact with fans through the second half of the game and during departure from the stadium. The game clock was in the 32nd minute. Tables would be going up soon.

Dragan wondered, “What are we chasing down here with this nature group?”.

“We don’t know yet. You’re going to spend the next 25 years of your career not knowing, young man. Rarely do I get to feel easy about something. Maybe this group leads us to the next thing that doesn’t make sense. Or maybe the group is a big piece of information. We never can tell in this line of work” said Mayer. 

Dragan pauses thoughtfully for a few beats.

“See, I like that. Not knowing. It doesn’t make me feel uneasy to not know. It pumps me up. I used to run the 800 meter in secondary school. I was always slow on the first 400 meters. My breathing was heavy the first 400 from my asthma; my muscles warmed up slow. I’d be last place sometimes. I wouldn’t get pumped until I knew how far I needed to catch up. Catching that guy in the front, I loved that. You don’t know if you’re going to catch him, but step-by-step you get closer. Each step feels like a win. I wouldn’t even care if I lost the race. Catching up was enough of a rush.” said Dragan.

“I like that, kid. I still get the rush sometimes. But remember: the older you get, the more races you lose and the slower you get. You get tired of always having to make up the distance between you and the guy ahead of you. You can only do that sort of thing for so long. You know?”

“I’m gonna be one of those old guys that can run a marathon. I’ll always catch up,” Dragan said with a wink.“Let’s take a walk around the stadium. See if they’re set up yet.” decided Mayer.

The inspectors walked to the bottom of their seating section, to the middle of the arena. A wide walkway between seating sections took them to the outer walkway of the stadium. The mid-level floors of the arena had a walkway the circumference of the stadium with concessions, restrooms, and open areas for mobile stands, including the community groups. Mayer and Dragan walked about halfway around the arena when they saw a tablecloth with the image of the sun on it. They walked up to the three young adults that were staging the table.

“Hi. How are you guys?” said one of the young adults as the inspectors walked up to them. “Are you familiar with Spiritual Naturalism?”

“Hi. We’re inspectors from the National Police. We learned that you lost some older members recently. Is there a representative of the group that we can talk to?” asked Mayer.

“Yea, it’s really sad some of those older folks that died. We could give you some contact information for our director, Maria Balan. Is anyone in trouble?” asked the young man.

“No. We’re just trying to get more information. There’s no foul play with the deaths”, said Mayer.

“Let me call her. I’ll see if she wants to give you her personal number or her office number.” The young man turned away and found the contact on his phone. He received an answer immediately. Mayer could hear him say, “A few police inspectors.” and “…just want to talk to someone.” The young man turned back to the inspectors and said, “She says she’s glad to cooperate. Do you want to enter her cell number?”

“Sure. Thank you.”

Mayer and Dragan walked back to their car before calling Maria Balan. They entered the number into a search engine and police databases. There were no hits for a name and address or any police record. Mayer called and Balan answered on the first ring.

“Hello?”

“Hello. This is inspector Emil Mayer from the Romanian National Police. Is this Maria Balan?”.

“Yes. Hello Inspector Mayer. How can I help you?”.

“Would you be able to meet us in Cluj for some questions about your elderly members that died? We’re trying to figure out more information for the family members.”

“Ok. Yes. It’s so sad. They were such vital members. Where do I meet you?”

Four

The police office in Cluj was set in a majestic, ancient building in the center of the city. The police possessed the lower level of the building, with city administrative offices on the four floors above. While the other floors had retained their historic beauty, the police office had a utilitarian look. Mayer and Dragan met Maria Balan there early the next morning. A local officer sat in with them as well. The inspectors presented a cold demeanor since, so far, Maria Balan was the closest thing to a person of interest.

“Ms. Balan, as you know, nearby towns have found thirteen elders dead outside in the cold. It appears at least seven are affiliated with your community group. Why have the local police not heard from you yet?” asked Mayer. He sat across from Balan. Dragan stood in the corner.

“Yes. I know. Let me say first, Inspector, that I feel directly responsible for these tragic deaths.”

Well, Mayer thought, this was the fastest case he’d ever closed.

“I hadn’t talked to anyone yet because I was scared,” Balan continued. “I didn’t know whether there is culpability for the kind of thing that happened with our group. You have to understand, I didn’t realize this might be connected to our group until they identified one of the names yesterday. I didn’t even realize that there were so many deaths. I had heard about the elder in Old Town and the one in Baciu. But none of this made sense until yesterday.”

“You were concerned about culpability, Ms. Balan?” asked Dragan, refocusing Balan.

“There is a tradition in our group. It’s called ‘The Return to Nature’. We believe that old age is a beautiful time of preparing for our return to the basic elements of the Earth. There are members of our group that have questioned whether our older adults should drastically shift their lives, to give up their belongings and live in rustic nature. There have even been some fringe ideas that elders should stop consuming from society and decline survival measures. The leaders of the group, including myself, have reframed this concept multiple times. We’ve instructed our group that The Return to Nature is a spiritual process, not a physical process. We encourage elders to spend more time walking in nature, spending time with reflection, reminiscing on their contributions to the world and their relationship with nature. We hold some retreats with elders where we facilitate some of this reflection. We have beautiful discussions about regret and pride.

There was never any indication that elders in our group were considering the fringe interpretation. But after hearing about the condition of the identified member, and then the conditions of the other cases, I realized they may have starved themselves in the elements.”

“Would you be willing to identify whether the other deceased were in your group?” asked Mayer. He already started to lay out pictures of the deceased before Balan answered.

“Yes.” She watched as the pictures were laid onto the table. Her eyes kept falling with each picture, and she started to nod her head gently. “They’re all members.” A tear rolled down her cheek. “My God.”

“We’re sorry, Ms. Balan,” said Mayer.

“Do you suspect that any members would have been involved in this?” asked Dragan. “Can you name the members that had more extreme views?”

“I wasn’t present for all of these conversations. But I can track some of this information down. I can’t imagine any of our members would have organized or encouraged this effort. It should be harmless to talk to those folks,” said Balan.

Five

That afternoon and the next day, Mayer and Dragan connected with other members of the group, including the members that held more extreme views on The Return to Nature. No one appeared involved in any way. Most members could track their whereabouts in and around Cluj; not in the forest or in the other cities and towns. Foul play was becoming less and less likely.

The inspectors tried to retrace the elders last days by interviewing people in the cities or towns where bodies were found. Very few recalled any interaction with the elders, and the few cases of witnesses seemed to occur on the elders’ final days. The witnesses they spoke with figured the elders were homeless panhandlers. They said they either saw them sleeping under cardboard or a blanket, or they saw them sitting in a relatively vegetative state.

They also looked to see if there were any missing-person reports for the elders, with no reports found. None of the elders had local family members. Some longer-distance family members had called but not connected with their relative, but this was not out-of-the-ordinary enough to prompt the family members to file a police report or missing person report. They called some family members, and among the ones that answered, they had no idea their loved one would have adopted these beliefs. In some cases, the family members weren’t aware they had died.

The inspectors also talked with people in the parks surrounding the Hoia Forest. Two witnesses saw one of the elders walking out of the Forest. The elder was carrying a backpack and had tattered clothing. They looked like they hadn’t groomed themselves for weeks. They described the elder as containing a vacant expression on their face.

The inspectors ended their fourth day in Cluj with more questions than answers. But there was no smoking gun or evidence pointing toward foul play. There was no evidence to suggest why or how the elders followed the fringe belief that they should enter the forest without many survival supplies. The medical examiner determined that most of the victims were badly malnourished and dehydrated. The elders had probably not eaten in weeks and were weakened and more vulnerable to the weeks of cold weather.

The question that still bothered Mayer most was why all of these elders had returned to a city or town. Was there a desperate final effort to survive? Were they disoriented in their final days? He also struggled with the question of whether there were other elders that had taken this venture. Was there still a group of elders dying out in the woods? Mayer and Dragan would brief their Lieutenant and the local police department later that day.

Six

Mayer and Dragan summarized the investigation for their Lieutenant and the local police office this way: The decision of the elders to enter the woods is unexplained, other than an association to the perspective on older adulthood by the Spiritual Naturalist group. The causes of death by the elders appeared to be malnutrition followed by exposure to the cold resulting in hypothermia, as well as one case of a pre-existing condition. None of the members of the naturalist group appeared to be connected to the elders’ journey into the woods. There was no clear indication whether the 13 elders were the only ones to enter the woods.

Mayer finished the briefing with a recommendation to send a search party into the woods, to see if there were other elders.

“Are there any outstanding missing-person reports or police reports for elders in the area?” asked Lieutenant Avram. The police Commander was on the video conference as well.

“Not that we’ve found, no” said Mayer.

“Ok. We don’t have all the answers here, but there’s no indication of foul play and it appears these people entered the woods under their own volition”, said the police Commander. “We’ve answered the part of this that we need to answer. We’ll let the local police decide what comes next. Good work, inspectors. You can report back to Bucharest.”

And that was it. The investigation was closed after 5 days. Mayer had investigated plenty of cold cases and inspections that ended without foul-play with unanswered questions, but he’d never concluded an investigation with such a suspicious feel to it, and so many loose ends. But they had their orders. The inspectors headed back to the hotel.

Part 2: The Hoia Baciu Forest

Seven

While packing their bags, the inspectors continued to talk through the unanswered questions. The trail to determine if other elders were in the woods was cold at this point. The next step would have to have been a search party.

“Maybe we can have one more conversation with local police and lobby for a search. And we could ask them to keep us updated,” said Dragan.

“Yea,” said Mayer.

“What? You don’t think they’ll do it?” asked Dragan.

“No. They probably will,” Mayer paused for a few beats. “I’m wondering if we should spend some extra time here to search the woods.”

“We have our orders. We’re done here.” 

“Well, we’d have to take some time off. It would be off-duty,” said Mayer.

“But, what are we trying to find here? If there are more elders, are we trying to talk these people into coming home? They’re not breaking any laws. These people chose to die out there, right?”.

“I have a feeling these people were manipulated somehow. I feel like there is some factor here beyond the naturalist group. The group tried to talk them out of this crazy idea, right? So, what happened from there? Either there was a subgroup that progressed these ideas and eventually encouraged the elders to follow through. Or, this idea is more widespread and there are other people involved outside the naturalist group.”

“Ok. Maybe there’s a conspiracy here to encourage this crazy idea. But, so what? Unless you take some kind of wild leap – like the old people were drugged or kidnapped -, this is still a free decision by these elders,” said Dragan.

“But, if they decided to do this, why have so many come back into town? If they knew they were going to die, why would you do that in the middle of a town without an effort to get medical attention or help?”, asked Mayer.

“Emil, we don’t know and it’s not the sort of thing we do. I hear you. This has a bad feeling. It makes me want to investigate more if we had our orders. But doesn’t this happen all the time in our work? Aren’t you supposed to be the guy that’s hardened against this stuff?” said Dragan.

“That’s the thing. I’ve let dozens of unsolved cases go. This one bothers me. Something’s not right.”

“Is it possible you’re gun-shy after the incident in Bucharest?” asked Dragan. He didn’t pull punches.

“I’ve thought about that. Maybe it had an effect. But is it bad to check on a group of people that might be in trouble and might feel they made a bad decision?” asked Mayer.

Dragan stopped for a few more beats.

“Listen, I’ve always wanted to explore the Hoia Forest. There’s plenty of stories about the place and I’m a sucker for a ghost story. If you need to see this out, I’ll go with you,” said Dragan.

“Let’s ask around about hiking the forest. If it’s possible to do a good search in 2 or 3 days, we give it a shot.”

Eight

The Hoia Baciu Forest has the title of the most haunted forest in the world among paranormal enthusiasts. The forest is 729 acres, making it slightly smaller than Central Park in New York City. There are many legends that have contributed to the haunted legacy of the woods. People in the area report that, decades ago, a shepherd disappeared with a large flock of sheep after entering the forest, never to be seen again. Another popular story tells of a young girl that disappeared in the forest and returned 5 years later, not having aged a day since her disappearance. There are supposed to be over 1000 disappeared people that entered the woods. For this reason, Hoia Baciu has been referred to as the “Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania”.

Additionally, people who explore the Hoia Forest report feeling disoriented and anxious at times, as if an invisible energy is acting on them. Investigators have taken pictures that they say capture UFOs, strange lights, and strange forms in the woods. Many people report feeling like they’re being followed by dark shadows in the woods. Most interestingly, archeologists have found artifacts in Hoia Baciu from a farming community from 6500 BC, called the Stacevo-Koros-Cris culture. Some assume there is an ancient curse on the land from the demise of that culture. Furthermore, the Hoia Baciu Forest is connected to the various legends in Transylvania, including the infamous historical figure, Vlad the Impaler, who inspired Bram Stoker’s famous fictional vampire, Dracula.

Mayer and Dragan devised a plan to explore the woods in 2 days, with one night of camping in the forest. They also connected with a local parks representative, named Adi, that knew the woods. Adi agreed to spend the two days with the inspectors, helping them navigate. Mayer and Dragan rented hiking and camping equipment from a local store. Mayer packed extra water and food in case they encountered any elders in the woods.

The men decided to explore the woods in four sections. They’d climb from the outer limits of Cluj to the woods on a hiking path, which approached the woods from the south. They would explore the middle section of the woods through the morning and possibly part of the afternoon. Then they would head to the western section of the woods and set camp in a popular camping area. On Saturday, they would wake and hike to the eastern section of the woods and spend the day covering the second half of the wooded area.

Mayer, Dragan, and Adi set out on a Friday morning. It was unseasonably warm for mid-October. They decided to start at the section of the forest where an elder was seen wandering out of the woods.

“Is it possible to still track any signs of where the elder came from?” Mayer asked Adi as they rode in a cab to the outer limits of the city.

“No. The trails through the woods are too well used by walkers, runners, bikers, ATV riders. We’d have to find some kind of obvious item that was left by the elder,” said Adi.

After the cab ride midway up the hill, the men strapped on their backpacks and began the trek to the entrance of the forest. As they walked, Mayer asked Dragan, “What’s your take on the kind of supernatural stories you hear from these woods?”

“I’ve always been intrigued by that kind of thing. To tell the truth, I’ve always loved ghost stories and the supernatural around Halloween,” said Dragan.

“But do you seriously believe the stories about this place? Supernatural energies and shadows? Disappearances?” asked Mayer.

“I don’t know. Is it possible we leave some sort of energy behind when we die? Maybe. Are their dark energies that exist in the world? Of course. We see all sorts of dark shit and depraved human behavior in our line of work. Why wouldn’t we believe that?” said Dragan.

“I’m a religious man. I believe people can be influenced by evil and can seek comfort in their Creator. But why do these kinds of events only occur when only one person or a small group of people are looking? If these forces are so powerful – powerful enough to disappear a kid for 5 years – why wouldn’t they be universally experienced and believed?” said Mayer.

With a serious expression on his face, Adi listened to their conversation but said nothing.

The hillside outside the woods, around the outer trail, was dry and dusty. Adi finally found the right entrance point into the central part of the woods. There was a narrow trail that followed into the dense forest.

As the men walked into the woods, the light decreased significantly. The light inside the forest, between the leaves and trees, was a strange grey color. Not the typical bright, splendid sunshine you’d expect in the woods.

“Did you notice that?” asked Dragan. Neither Adi nor Mayer answered. “The sound of the city. How does the forest block the sound of the city so well? I can’t hear anything.”

The men continued walking the trail through the middle of the woods. There were very few sounds to hear in this part of the forest. Mayer also noticed that there was little to no wildlife to see in the woods. It’s possible their sound and presence would scare most animals away. But there was nothing. No bird calls. No rustle of the leaves in the trees (other than the leaves and sticks under foot as they walked). It was eerily quiet.

The forest growth in Hoia Baciu is unique. The trees grow at strange angles. Most trees are thin and bunched closely together. It has the look of a group of skeletal people standing together. Or a narrow, claustrophobic maze. 

“What should we be looking for, Adi?” asked Dragan.

“If there is a group of elders in the woods, they’ve chosen an area of the forest well hidden from the runners, bikers and hikers that typically come through the woods. While we’re walking some of these common paths, we should be looking around for sections of the woods that slope down into a hidden depression or areas with much denser tree stands.” 

Mayer was increasingly discouraged throughout the morning. They zigzagged back and forth through the middle section of the woods. There were no suspicious sounds or hidden areas of the forest. People traveling through the woods would have been able to recognize a group of people for hundreds of yards around them. This was not a wooded area that had a lot of thick growth that would have hidden people in such a small forest.

As they reached mid-afternoon, the men took a break on the north side of the forest on the wider perimeter trail. Adi suggested they start walking through the trees toward the camping area for the night. They’d need some daylight to set camp.

Nine

The Poiana Rotunda in the southwest section of the Hoia forest is a very popular camping site. It is also the subject of various supernatural/extraterrestrial sightings in the woods. Adi knew the Rotunda would provide some moon light to acclimate themselves to the woods at night, but also remained open to the possibility that they may experience something supernatural that might provide a clue to this mystery.

When they arrived at the campsite, the men gathered rocks to create a campfire pit. They pitched their tents and arranged their bedding. They each had a small, personal tent to sleep separately. Dragan dragged a few logs to the campfire site for the men to sit. They each unpacked a sandwich from their backpack and sat and ate before starting the fire. It was becoming cool, but the campfire wouldn’t be needed until a little later into dusk. The last light in the sky could be seen through the trees behind them. The city down the hill started to light up in the trees in front of them.

The men took the opportunity to debrief the day with each other.

“So, from what we’ve seen so far, I can’t imagine how a whole group of people were living in these woods,” said Mayer. “Maybe there was a plan among the deceased elders to go into the woods separately. I could imagine individuals wandering through the woods and looking like campers or eventually like homeless people camping in the forest.”

“Was there any indication from the Spiritual Naturalist group that the idea was to live in the woods in a group? Or have we just been going on that assumption?” asked Dragan.

“One of the members of the group with extreme views said the idea was to pray together and commune together in a group. He said something about the sacred rite of burying their dead together,” said Mayer.

“Well, it’s possible the elders made up the rules themselves,” said Dragan. “It’s much less mysterious if the departed elders did this on their own.”

“Adi, what are your thoughts so far?” asked Mayer.

“There are two ways to interpret our experience today. Either the classic stories about disappearances suggests that we will not find any evidence of the elders. They are gone. Or, we have not found any evidence because there are no more elders in the woods,” said Adi. His voice was very measured, like he was reading from a book.

“Yea. But a lack of evidence doesn’t prove anything. You could come up with any theory you want about a lack of evidence. I say we have to assume the simplest explanation. There are no more elders up here”, said Dragan.

After eating, the men took out two thermoses, one with coffee and one with hot water for tea. They also took out a bottle of wine and a bottle of whiskey. The evening quickly became cool. In fact, the temperature was dropping rapidly. The men could already see their breath in the moonlight. Dragan and Adi began arranging fire wood. Eventually, Adi used a lighter stick to light some kindling under the firewood. The dry leaves and brush lit quickly and soon the fire was growing to full strength in the campfire pit. The men drank their assorted beverages, switching between tea or coffee to wine or whiskey. The conversation turned to memories for a while. Adi talked about growing up in Cluj. He had explored the woods many times in his life and described a few mild supernatural experiences he experienced. He believed there were, in fact, some negative energies in the woods. Dragan asked Mayer to recount some of his most famous cases. Mayer described a sex trafficking ring in Bucharest that was exposed during an investigation into meth labs in the area. He also described the one time that he interviewed what he believed to be a pure sociopath. He said he never connected the man to a string of rapes. But was certain he would eventually be caught with some kind of violent crime.

Later in the night, Adi decided to go to bed first. Right before he entered his tent, Mayer asked Adi,

“Was it supposed to be this cold tonight?”

“No”, said Adi. “It was supposed to be mild weather tonight. The Baciu is talking to us.”

Adi didn’t wait to see their reaction to his statement. He climbed right into his tent. Mayer and Dragan were left sitting with a concerned look on their faces.

After Adi had settled into bed, Dragan asked Mayer, “What happened on that last case with Narcotics? I know a gang opened fire downtown and civilians were killed. I know there was a family in a car. Where were you during that whole thing?”

Mayer sat and looked at his cup for a while. He was watching the fire light bounce off his tin cup. “The drug gangs…there comes a point in Narcotics where you see kids from the same neighborhoods ending up in the same gangs. They grow up. They become hardened. They run drugs or girls. They die or go to prison or disappear. 

I was working with a teenage boy a few years ago. He’d provide some information and I helped him go forward in school. He started playing sports and became a big athlete on the high school football team. He was talking to universities. Then, in the span of a month, his older brother was killed in a gang shooting and he was badly injured on the football pitch.

“He dropped out of school and I lost track of him. I figured he joined a gang. Then, I discovered he was one of the shooters in the downtown incident. He and his cousin opened fire on members of the gang that killed his brother. He had killed a 2-year-old child in a car seat, in the crossfire. I was off-duty during the shooting, so I came to the scene late. The first body I saw was my guy, lying face-down in a pool of blood on the street. Half his head had been blown off by a high-caliber police assault rifle.

What good are you supposed to see in the world after something like that? What hope is there for these kids?”

Mayer and Dragan sat for a few more beats. Dragan had been present and attentive. But he let the weight of the story settle in the air for a bit.

“Fuck, man. That sucks.”, Dragan finally said. “You have kids?”

“I have a daughter in college from my first marriage”, said Mayer. “I didn’t watch her much as she was growing up. I put most of my time into Narcotics. I spend more time with her now.”

“It’s tough. Bringing kids into this world.”, said Dragan. And the men let the idea hang on the cool night air. Soon, they both went to bed in their tents.

Ten

Mayer’s eyes opened in the dark and he didn’t know where he was. He was standing and he could feel the cold forest floor on the bottom of his bare feet. He had awoken in the middle of the woods, with his pants, socks, and shoes removed. He also didn’t have his fleece jacket on. Mayer looked around. All he could see was the dark outline of trees. He had never sleep walked before. He knew he wasn’t within eyesight of the camp after looking all the way around him. Mayer couldn’t hear anything. There was no sound in the woods at this time of night. Mayer could see some light at what looked like the edge of the forest. He decided to walk toward the light until he exited the woods. He had to walk carefully. A few times he stepped on a sharp stick or a jagged rock and hurt his foot. His feet were almost completely numb, but he felt the slight, sharp pain when he stepped on something. After a few minutes, he reached the edge of the forest. He walked out into the clearing and could see the lights of Cluj to his left. He would be able to follow the outer trail to the campsite to his right.

Mayer was really shaking at this point. He was cold from head to toe and his feet hurt and ached. The walk to the camp felt like hours. How had he gotten out of a small tent, removed some of his clothing, and walked across the uneven forest floor while remaining asleep? He hadn’t drank enough to be drunk or blacked-out. Though, maybe the food, booze, and all the walking from the previous day had put him into a deep sleep.

He arrived at the Rotunda after 30 or 40 minutes of walking. He walked to the campfire and moved around some of the logs, seeing if he could get the fire started again. The logs were all extinguished and after the time it took him to return to the camp, he noticed there was a slight hint of daylight on the horizon. He opened the thermos of coffee and took a few sips. He put on extra layers of shirts and his fleece jacket and an extra pair of socks. His clothes had been left right outside his tent. Neither Adi nor Dragan were awake. They were sleeping soundly in their tents, with a low rumble of snoring coming from Dragan’s tent.

Mayer didn’t bother with trying to go back to sleep. He found the lighter stick and lit the campfire. As he sat, he noticed his heart was still pounding. Sitting in the semi-dark, he felt very shaken. Questions of what could have happened to him and why he was sleep walking continued to spin in his head. When the sun started to officially creep over the horizon, Mayer could hear Adi and Dragan start to move around in their tents. It was actually getting pretty warm since the light had started to appear in the sky. The men ate a breakfast of crackers and cheese. Dragan handed a few energy bars to Adi and Mayer. While they ate, Mayer reluctantly told the men about his sleep-walking incident. Adi looked concerned as he recounted the story, and eventually said,

“This is very unusual. It’s possible you were conscious when you left your tent, but your current consciousness doesn’t remember that now.”

“Like a dissociative experience?”, asked Mayer.

“I don’t know”, said Adi. “It could be a lot of things in these woods.”

After a pause, Mayer said, “We need to pack up camp and get moving. We’re walking to the eastern part of the woods and finishing the search before the evening. Let’s get out of this place as quickly as we can”, said Mayer.

Eleven

The second day search was more of the same. There was no evidence of any suitable living areas or items left that would suggest the elders living there. By noon, the men had completed their search of the eastern section of the woods. It was time to head back and conclude that there was nothing more to be found in this case. The 13 elders had lost their way in or around the woods and had died on the streets. That was it.

“There is one more area to investigate,” said Adi. “Outside the northern part of the woods, there is a nature preserve called ‘Cheile Baciului’. This land is where the ancient artifacts were found. We should look at this area.”

Mayer and Dragan looked at each other in disbelief.

“Yea. We should look at that. Maybe we should have started with that.”, said Dragan irritably.

The men walked north to the outer trail and followed a road that passed the nature preserve. In addition to an open field, Cheile Baciului featured a series of cliffs on the side of a hill beyond the field. The cliff face was composed of loose sedimentary rocks, sand, and dirt. You could also see that there were small, cavernous depressions in the cliff face at various points. Until they walked closer, it wasn’t clear if any of these cavernous areas actually went into the cliff face and under the hill.

“There is a small cave in this direction”, said Adi as he pointed farther down the cliff face.

In addition to being annoyed with Adi for not telling them about this section of the area earlier in the trip, Mayer was also overwhelmed with a strong feeling that told him this is where the elders gathered and lived during their trip into the woods.

The men reached a small opening in the cliff face at the base of the hill. Half the entrance was filled in with a pile of rock, sand, and dirt that had eroded over time. But there was still enough space for the men to enter the cavern. Adi reached into his backpack and took out a flashlight. He led the slow, careful walk into the cave. The ceiling of the cave was low and the men had to bend over quite a bit. They seemed to be squeezing through a small corridor between dusty sedimentary rock. Though, a few steps further into the cave, they reached an opening that took them to a taller, wider space. They stepped down onto solid rock that had a stream of water in the middle. They looked around the open space and saw that the cave walls had become more solid in this part of the hill and mineral formations hung from the ceiling. There were also areas to the side of this space that seemed to drop into other sections of the cave.

Adi kept his flashlight centered toward the back of this open space. Mayer and Dragan began walking toward the walls of this space to look for any evidence of people living there in the recent past. They noticed some circles on the rock floor drawn there in bright colors. It looked like a circular seating area around the center of the room, with colorful circles marking each person’s sitting space.

As Mayer walked toward the outer wall, he put his hand onto the smooth rockface. Suddenly, his feet slipped out from under him. He fell backward and then slid down a wet, smooth area of the cave floor into a separate cavern. The drop was only about five or six feet. He landed sitting up on a hard, wet surface. He could hear the men above him calling:

“Emil! Are you okay?”

“Inspector Mayer!?!”

The light from the flashlight flickered in and out of the space Mayer was in. He had landed on a piece of rock not much larger than himself. There was a smooth rockface to his right, a jagged wall straight ahead, and some dark, open space to his left. This dark section of the space likely dropped into another section of the cave. Mayer had to be careful to not slip and fall farther into the hill.

“I’m okay!”, said Mayer. They weren’t talking too far from each other now. “I should be able to climb back up. Can you hold the flashlight steady? Right down into this space?”

Adi held the light steady toward the middle of the small cavern. Mayer looked around to get his bearings and to start to look for some footing he could step onto. While looking around, Mayer found a carving in the rock to his right. It was the symbol for the Spiritual Naturalists.

Mayer touched the symbol on the rockface. The lines were carved deep into the rock, as if a tool was used for a long time carving a groove into the rock. Strangely, the symbol felt warm. Mayer rinsed his hand in some of the water surrounding his feet and touched the symbol again. It still felt warm.

“Emil! You on your way up?”, asked Dragan.

“You’re not gonna believe what I found, Andrei”, said Mayer. “I’m going to start climbing up.”

Mayer looked again at the wallface that he had slid down. Much of the rock was smooth, but there were a few jagged footholds toward the side of the opening. Mayer stretched his leg up to the first foothold and set his footing. He was able to grab a piece of rock to the side of the opening and lift himself up. He stretched his next leg to another foothold and, as he went to grab for another piece of rock above, his feet slid out from under him again. Mayer fell backward onto the floor of the small space. He hit his head hard on the rock floor. He was looking up toward the opening in the small cavern and his vision started to fade. He could hear his companions yelling for him in a muffled, slow yell. Then he heard a scream from above. Suddenly, Mayer saw a tall, lean shadow bending over him, as darkness closed around his vision until he was unconscious.

Part 3: Spitalul

Twelve

Mayer awoke strapped down to a stretcher. He was being loaded into an ambulance. Vivid dreams were fresh on his mind. His head throbbed. He reached for the first-responders wheeling him into the ambulance. He tried to ask a question, but he suddenly felt the heaviness of his head. He layed his head down, drifting into sleep again.

Mayer was in and out of consciousness for the next two days. At one point a doctor spoke with him, but Mayer didn’t register much more than the fact that Dragan was being treated in the Spitalul Hospital, too.

When Mayer finally became more lucid, the doctor explained a lot. Mayer had suffered a minor brain injury. He learned that he was lucky to be found in the cave. A hiker heard screaming from the cave and called for help. The doctors had been monitoring him neurologically for a few days, and all the neurological tests progressed positively during that time. Initially there was a concern he may slip into a coma, but he’d recovered from the primary injury. There may have been minor swelling of the brain, but nothing that they thought would create lasting effects. He would have to monitor concussion symptoms for the next couple weeks, but he was likely to be on his feet in a day or two.

Then it was time for the bad news. Dragan had undergone some kind of breakdown in the cave. He was recovered on the floor of the cave barely conscious and disoriented. He was being treated in the psychiatric unit and had been sitting in a bed, catatonic. He had not spoken since being recovered. Also, Adi was missing. He was not found in the cave during the recovery. There was not any clear evidence of whether he had gone to a different part of the cave or if he had fallen into a deeper cavern somewhere. Police had opened up a wider search outside the cave and had no current leads. He was declared missing at 5pm the day before. 

To make matters worse, police had received a series of missing person reports over the past week for elders from the areas surrounding the Hoia Baciu Forest. Police had opened up a massive search of the forest and the cave. There was no trace of the group of elders after the first day of searching. The police wanted to be briefed by Mayer on the events of their trip into the forest. His doctor was keeping the inspectors updated on Mayer’s condition and had not yet told them he regained consciousness.

“Do you want to rest this afternoon and evening? Would you prefer to talk to them tomorrow?”, asked the doctor.

“No. After I eat and wash up, I’d be okay to talk to them.”, said Mayer.

An hour later, Lt. Avram entered the hospital room. The national police had taken over the missing persons investigation.

“You look good, Emil.”, said Avram. “It was a hell of a hit to your head. The hole you fell down was covered in blood. The doctor said there’s no permanent brain damage. We’re grateful.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant.”, said Mayer. “Is there anything new on Dragan or Adi?”

“No. Dragan is still catatonic. Nothing new on Adi.”

Mayer laid back onto his pillow, rubbing his eyes. “Jesus. What a fucking mess.”

“So, let’s talk through what happened if you’re up to it.”, said Avram.

Mayer put his hand up, as if to say he was fine. “After we finished the investigation on the deceased elders, Dragan and I decided to take some time to look quickly through the woods. We met Adi and learned he knew the woods well. We made a plan to search for two days, with a night staying over in the woods. There were a few strange occurrences the first night, but we didn’t find anything that led to the elders. Then, at the end of the second day, Adi throws a curve ball and tells us that there’s a final place to check in the series of cliffs and caverns outside the northern part of the forest. We entered the place where you found me. I fell down the side shaft, and things are pretty blurry from there. The doctor said I had commented on seeing the symbol of the Spiritual Naturalists in the cave. I had dreams about the cave. But after all of that, we had no real evidence of the elders, my partner lost his mind, and our guide is missing; possibly disappeared, possibly dead.”

“What were the strange things happening the first night?”, asked Avram.

“I woke in the middle of the forest after falling asleep in my tent. I had walked about half a mile safely while sleeping. I also had taken most of my clothing off. I’ve never sleep walked before, but it was a strange environment to be sleeping. I might have gotten mixed up.”

“So, there was no sign of the elders. How do you figure a tough guy like Dragan goes catatonic after entering those caves?”, asked Avram.

“I’m trying to sort that out myself. The last fuzzy memory I had of interacting with Dragan, he was still speaking coherently. I wasn’t conscious for whatever caused his breakdown.”, said Mayer.

“Anything else to share that might help?”, asked Avram.

“No. I don’t think so. I’ll let you know if any other memories come back.”, said Mayer.

“Well, you rest. We can talk at the beginning of next week about how much time you’ll need off. There’s no need to rush this.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant.” Mayer paused for a beat. “Sorry for this mess. We should have left well enough alone.”

“Hey, the other men chose to go with you. It was a brave effort to look for those elders.” Avram reached out and patted Mayer’s shoulder. “Get some rest!”

Thirteen

Mayer was told by his neurologist during his third day in the hospital that he’d be going home either later that day or the next morning. His scans were clear and he continued to pass each step in the concussion protocol. His headaches were pretty well managed with over-the-counter pain medicine. His final step that day would be a required neuropsychiatric exam. His neurologist didn’t feel he needed it, but it was protocol to have a consult in these cases.

Mayer had traveled to the hospital gift shop the previous day to buy a few novels to read during his final days. He also passed the hospital chapel and stared into the room for a few minutes. It was a small room with two rows of pews and a modest alter with a cross. He didn’t know what he was trying to pray for. It was obvious to pray for Dragan’s recovery, that they’d find Adi, and for the missing elders. But he was compelled to look into the chapel for some other reason.

When he returned to his room, Mayer sat in a chair by a window and read. The neuropsychiatrist knocked on his door and walked into his room after a half hour of reading.

“Inspector Mayer? I’m Dr. Vladislav. Here for the neuropsych consult.”

“Hello. Yes.”, said Mayer.

“You could actually stay seated in your chair there. Let me pull over this tray to do some of the testing and I’ll pull over a chair for myself.”, said Dr. Vladislav. He was carrying a big briefcase.

“I’m going to do a few tests that check cognitive functioning. I’d like to be a little thorough, so it will take a few hours. If you need to take a break at any time, let me know. We tend to do more these days after head injuries to test for any cognitive changes that could affect functioning or any signs of depression or anxiety post-concussion.”, said Vladislav.

The doctor had Mayer manipulate blocks and answer knowledge questions. A little after a half hour, Mayer’s vision started to blur and they took a break. When they resumed, Dr. Vladislav started asking some questions about the accident.

“What do you remember about hitting your head?”, asked the doctor.

“It’s fuzzy. I don’t think I hit my head when I first fell into the side cavern. But I vaguely remember hitting my head when I tried to climb out and fell backward.”, said Mayer.

Mayer had started to remember the image of the Spiritual Naturalist symbol in the cave. 

“Your neurologist said you’d been having vivid dreams and you were starting to remember more from the experience. Have you been feeling anxious or depressed from the incident?”, asked Vladislav.

“Between my headaches and erratic sleep, I’ve felt a little shaky the past couple days. But I wouldn’t call it anxious thinking or depressed mood. I’m concerned about Dragan and Adi. It’s a haunting feeling to think of the whole experience in the forest and the fact that I wasn’t conscious for the impact on either man.”, said Mayer.

“Are your dreams about the forest? Would you call them nightmares?”, asked the doctor.

“No, the dreams are these vivid images of different odd experiences. But it’s hard to put them together in a coherent concept or story.”, said Mayer.

“Would you want to try to retell them? Sometimes the content of dreaming can be recovered in the telling. It helps to describe the experiences in the present tense, as if you’re experiencing it now in real time.”, said Vladislav.

“Ok. I can try.”, Mayer paused for a beat to determine where to start. “The main image I keep dreaming about is a tall, older woman in a long flowing gown. She’s was wearing beads…”

“Again, I would try to tell the dream as if you’re there. Present tense.”, said Vladislav.

“Oh. Right. Ok. Um, she’s wearing a necklace with beads and she has beads braided into her hair. She tries to hand me a book. For some reason, I don’t want to take it. She keeps looking at my hands and trying to hand it to me.”, recounted Mayer.

“What does the book look like?”, asked the doctor.

“Um, it’s a big, formal, leather-bound book. It has golden writing on the front, but I can’t make out the wording on the front.”, said Mayer.

“Ok. Do you remember what happens next?”, asked Vladislav.

“It feels like the request to take the book goes on for a while. She keeps holding it out for me, like she’s presenting it to me. While the woman is making the request, I look around the cave we’re in and I can’t tell if there are other people in the space with us or not. It feels like there is a big crowd of shadows around us. And I can’t make out if there is anything on the walls. I end up feeling really frustrated about not being able to sort out what’s around me.”, said Mayer.

“If you think of the dream imagery as symbolic of a certain feeling or conflict in your life, what do you think the old woman and the book represent?”, asked Vladislav.

“Well, if I’m following you correctly, I’m sure the book represents trying to get more information about the case and the old woman represents all of the elders.”, said Mayer.

“Why do you think you don’t want to take the book?”, asked the doctor.

“It feels like there’s something in there that I don’t want to see.”, said Mayer.

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. My waking self wants the answers. I don’t know why my dream self wouldn’t want to read the book, but the only connection I can make is that the mood and feeling in the cavern feel dire and morbid. It’s like I’m assuming I’m going to get bad news. I’m not going to like the answers.”, said Mayer.

“How would it feel to let the dream play out? To take the book in the dream?”, asked Vladislav.

“Do you mean how would it feel to imagine that now or do you mean I should let the dream play out while I’m sleeping?”, asked Mayer.

“Well, we could try to answer both questions. What do you think now?”

“I’m not sure it would feel much different than I actually feel right now. I wouldn’t be scared to try to read the answers, because I already want to know. As far as letting the dream play out, I’d be glad to do anything to resolve the dream. It feels like it’s haunting me.”, said Mayer.

“If you recognize that you’re dreaming in the next couple nights, try to let it play out.”, said Vladislav.

“But it’s just a dream, right? Whatever happens is just my mind, right?”, asked Mayer.

“Yes. But that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be helpful to let your mind start to resolve this issue.”, said the doctor. “It looks like they’re going to discharge you tomorrow morning, so I’ll try to stop by tomorrow morning to see if the dream advanced at all.”

“Ok.”

“That’s all we’ll need to do for the neuropsych consult. There don’t appear to be any cognitive deficits. I’m not concerned about depression or anxiety. You only seem to have natural reactions to the situation you were in.”, said Vladislav. “If any symptoms develop, let your doctor know during your follow-ups after leaving the hospital.”

“Ok. Thank you, doctor.”, said Mayer.

Fourteen

Mayer visited Dragan that afternoon. Dragan sat in a chair, catatonic. Mayer decided to talk to him for a while. He talked through their experience in Cluj. He skipped the time in the cave. He talked through his dreams and told Dragan he didn’t know what to think of everything. At one point, when Mayer described the woman in the cave, Dragan’s eyes moved and looked at Mayer. Mayer thought he saw the slightest expression of fear in his eyes. It wasn’t enough to make any conclusions.

Mayer rested through the evening. He called his daughter. Told her he hit his head during an investigation but was okay. He didn’t want to go into the larger story. Later that night, while watching a television show, he picked up his cellphone and looked for the number of Maria Balan, the leader of the Spiritual Naturalist group. There the number was in his recent calls. He looked at the number for a minute. He decided to press her number to call.

It rang three times before an answer. “Hello?”, asked Balin.

“Hello. Ms. Balin. This is inspector Mayer from the investigation into the elders from your group. I hope I’m not bothering you.”

“Oh. Hello Inspector Mayer. No, this is an okay time. What can I do for you?”, asked Balin.

“Um, I wanted to keep you updated on the investigation. My lieutenant is the lead on the investigation now. His number is 0264/555813, if you need to receive an update at any time. I can also update you on the past week since we talked.”

Mayer told her about their efforts to reach out to townspeople and the families. He told her about the trip into the Hoia Baciu, though he didn’t mention the experience in the caves. Mayer told her he believed something supernatural happened to the elders in the woods. It was the first time he said what he’d been thinking out loud.

“The Spiritual Naturalist group doesn’t necessarily think of it as supernatural.”, said Balin. “We believe there are many aspects of nature that we are not in touch with unless we allow ourselves to experience it more directly, in a more focused way. There are many things that people call supernatural – like seeing apparitions – that our group believes to be a part of nature.”

“I appreciate that perspective.”, said Mayer. There were a few seconds of silence and dead air over the phone.

“Are you okay, inspector?”, asked Balin.

“Yes. Sorry. I’m very tired. Um, I just wanted to keep you updated, Ms. Balin.”

“Well, thank you inspector. Make sure you get some rest.”, said Balin.

“Thank you. You have a good night.”

“Ok. Thank you. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

Mayer had already turned out the lights in the room. He rolled over to his side and drifted into a deep sleep.

That night, Mayer entered the recurring dream yet again. He was standing with the tall, older woman. She kept looking at his hands and holding out the book. He recognized he was dreaming and decided to proceed. Mayer reached out and took the book. He opened it and looked back at the woman’s face. She was staring at the book’s pages with an intense look on her face. Mayer couldn’t read the text in the book – we rarely can read when we’re dreaming – but he knew he was immediately absorbing what was in the book. There was a long span of time, at least in dream time, where he was looking at the book, absorbing information, and look back at the older woman. He felt like he was conversing with her, but her lips never moved and he never heard them talking to each other. 

Slowly, Mayer woke from his sleep. It was still dark in the hospital room. He sprung from his bed and walked over to a seat and table. He looked for paper and pen and couldn’t find them. He buzzed his nurse. Mayer’s head ached only slightly. After a few minutes, his nurse arrived in the room. She turned on some lights. Mayer requested a pen and paper. The nurse gave him a hard time for a minute, saying he should be getting rest and not straining his eyes in the middle of the night. But she eventually capitulated.

Mayer wrote frantically. He wrote down everything he thought he understood from reading the book in the dream and talking to the older woman. The information he received summarized in this way:

The relationship between human beings and nature is now in major conflict. A relationship that was once close, is now nearly gone. There was a time when human beings were a new species on Earth and they used natural resources responsibly. But, of course, we have since misused the Earth’s resources for our evolving societal needs and desires. Population growth isn’t handled responsibly. Water, air, land, food are all used wastefully. However, a smaller group of human beings have preternaturally decided to take a “Return to Nature”. This decision typically occurs later in life, when a person has more experience in the world and are not preoccupied with personal pursuits. The book in the cave is a record of all the people who have returned to nature. These people experienced an unavoidable urge to live in the natural world.

The Stacevo-Koros-Cris culture were the last group of people to live responsibly in nature in the Cluj, Romania area. They were eventually conquered by a barbarian group that cut and burned trees in the area to produce metal out of ore. However, before they were conquered, the Stacevo-Koros-Cris culture blessed the land with an energy that called attuned people to the Return to Nature.

The Return to Nature – or leaving one’s place of residence and changing consumption to live entirely off the land sustainably – is a hard experience for those that are called. The person has to re-acclimate abruptly to a hard way of living. Many people fail to survive for very long and some leave the Return to Nature after a brief period of struggle and return to their modern lifestyle.

The ancient spirits believed the Return to Nature would be a check on the natural world for the remainder of the Earth’s life. If the population dwindled from climate disaster, famine or “Acts of God”, there would always be a small group that would return to a healthy relationship with the Earth.

During the Return to Nature, people could become so attuned to the natural world that they would enter into different dimensions of existence, no longer seen by modern people. Sometimes, a person’s physical body never returned to the physical world. The person would return to the elements metaphysically and their spirit would live in the natural world eternally.

The names of people in the book in Mayer’s dream numbered in the trillions. Many of the people listed pledged their return to nature at the very end of their life. Their body would rejoin the elements after burial and their spirit would remain in the natural world.

A spirit living in the natural world after the death of the physical body lived in the purest dimension of  nature. They lived in the Garden of Creation. As Mayer learned about this during his dream, he saw an image in his mind as if he were flying above this place. He saw an endless forest; trees with the greenest leaves he’d ever seen. Groups of people communing with animals in peace. The bluest water flowing in rivers and streams and waterfalls; pure white clouds of fog floating near the canvas of the trees. All beings in this natural world were invulnerable and perfect. The experience was an unending oneness with the full natural planet.

Later in the dream, Mayer spoke with the older woman. The information from the book seemed to answer a lot of the questions from the last two weeks. But he still had some burning questions that needed to be confirmed.

“Did Adi disappear into another dimension of nature in the cave?”, asked Mayer

“Yes.” The older woman’s voice was wispy and soft, like a quiet whisper, and it echoed off the cave walls.

“What happened to Dragan?”

“What do you think happened?”, responded the older woman.

“Did he confront some sort of natural energy in the cave that he couldn’t handle?”, asked Mayer.

“Yes. Many aren’t ready to encounter the Return.”, said the woman. 

“The missing elders: did they also disappear into another dimension?”

“Yes.”

“The elders that returned and died: were they not able to handle the Return?”

“Yes.”

“Why would they just die like that? Why didn’t they return to their former lifestyle?”

“Sometimes, if a person goes so far into the process, they never fully return.”

This was all that Mayer remembered. By the time he finished writing, he had written on twenty sheets of paper front and back. His hand ached and he had a stabbing headache behind his eyes. He hadn’t even noticed how uncomfortable he was while he was writing; he was completely absorbed in thought. He had been writing for three hours.

Mayer sat in his seat stunned. He started to wonder what he had just experienced. Did he just have a vivid, rich dream or had he received a true bible of information about the Return to Nature? 

Fifteen

Mayer was discharged from the hospital that morning after visiting Dragan again. He walked out of the hospital, hailed a cab and asked them to ride to the outskirts of the city. On the way, he bought a canvas bag and filled it with a few bottles of water and a few energy bars. He wasn’t sure how long he intended to stay in the woods, but after the cab dropped him at the head of the road to Hoia Bacui, he walked directly to the Poiana Rotunda. He found a shaded area and sat down. He wasn’t sure if he was praying or meditating. He wasn’t fully sure what he expected to happen. He just needed time to process the information from his dream. Mayer sat there for hours. He didn’t really experience anything except the quiet of the woods. His mind didn’t absorb anything new from the book in his dream. He felt calm, though, when he left.
Mayer decided that he’d tell his lieutenant about the dream. He’d let Avram decide whether to believe the information or not. Mayer wasn’t fully sure he could say that he 100% believed that the dream was a direct message to him either.

Mayer had the dream most nights through the rest of his life. For some reason, he was chosen as a messenger. Maybe he was too eager to answer the question of the elders in the woods. Maybe he opened his mind to being the messenger. He didn’t absorb much new information after the night in the hospital. He still had conversations with the older woman and clarified some of the details. He also felt the mood of the dream changed at times, and this sometimes corresponded to a big crisis in the world.

Dragan never fully recovered. He coped with brain damage the rest of his life. His cognitive abilities were that of a three-year-old. He was physically able to walk and do most physical tasks, but he chose to sit or lay down most days and his body atrophied quickly. He only lived to his 49th year.

Adi was never found, as Mayer expected. He was comforted by thinking of Adi living in the Garden of Creation.

Mayer never sought a Return to Nature, and he never returned to Cluj. While Mayer would have wanted to live in the Garden of Creation, he was also intimidated by the energies involved in the Return. He wasn’t sure he ever fully believed the validity of his dream and didn’t want to try a Return and botch the attempt, with a fate of either living the rest of his life catotonic like Dragan or dying in the street in a stupor like the elders. 

Mayer spent more time with his daughter after the trip to Cluj. The violent incident in Bucharest with the Narcotics Taskforce had left him with a sense of purposelessness, and somehow the trip to Cluj helped him find purpose in his relationship with his daughter. Despite not taking the Return, Mayer did commit to conservation of the planet. He hoped his spirit would merge with nature after his death.

More and more elders were found returning from the woods, near death, in Cluj over the following decades. Mayer searched other news reports around the world and discovered that similar patterns were occurring in other cities as well. Interestingly, these areas had a reputation for heavy paranormal energies.

Mayer wondered if we had reached a point where we were so disconnected from nature that it was unlikely for a person to successfully make the Return. He felt his encounter and ultimate role as a message-keeper for the Return came at a critical, intentional time. He tried to be as vocal a messenger as he could. He also tried to encourage a public health campaign to warn elders of the rigor of the Return, but few believed the central tenets of the mysterious disappearance and deaths of elders.

Mayer also became less skeptical of the supernatural world. He spent more time in nature and experienced amazing, beautiful, sometimes scary encounters through the rest of his life. He knew the connection in his mind to the spiritual world of the Return to Nature left him with a fuller vulnerability in the world, with times of overwhelming anxiety. But he accepted this price for living more fully.

Afterward 

In his final days, Dragan sat in a room alone in a wheelchair wearing a dark bathrobe. It had been years since his hair had been properly groomed and he had a poorly kept beard. His caretaker sat in the other room and passed the time watching tv. He could hear her laughing at a sitcom, with the volume turned  high. Dragan was staring at his bold, colorful red curtains in his room, seeing a few movements outside the window. He was repeating a phrase softly, under his breath, at a rhythmic pace. 

“The old woman. The old woman. The old woman. The old woman. The old woman.”

Though he had been staring forward for a few hours, Dragan’s eyes suddenly darted to the ceiling. He had seen some sort of flash of light above him at the corner of his eyes. He felt a presence in the room. He wasn’t scared. The presence was just visiting him.

In a soft whisper, Dragan asked, “Adi?”