We soon arrived at the place where Meen lived, and, glancing around, I noticed that he led a simple lifestyle typical of the people living in the farmland or on the hills. Living conditions in the countryside might be even more challenging because there was no electricity, and, obviously, there weren’t any electrical appliances. Nowadays, however, hill tribes owned satellites and cell phones and some of them even earned more than I did. I remembered what Meen had told me earlier, that evolution had made our worlds different, and now I understood.

“If the word ‘evolution’ is defined as the advancement of building facilities for a more comfortable life, then that might be accurate,” Meen literally interrupted my thoughts again, without me having uttered a word.

“However, our definition of evolution is more about us achieving the ultimate knowledge or truth and then applying this knowledge in order to ‘become’ perfect beings without hurting or segregating other living things; that’s what higher evolution should be,” Meen seemed to have difficulty using his voice to articulate his thoughts.

“Frankly speaking, I can hardly understand what you are saying,” I told him.

“I must apologise, my ability to convert my thoughts into spoken language is not very good, unfortunately. I think if you stay here for a while, you will understand everything soon,” he said humbly.

“What? Stay here for a while!?” I exclaimed with alarm.

“Yes, stay here, meaning that you stay in this world, but not necessarily with me. I was assigned to welcome you and to tell you what you need to know about this world before you go on your journey to meet the highly evolved being in a different location,” he explained briefly, which immediately triggered several more questions in me:

“What? Meet who? What for? And where to?” I spluttered.

“There are good reasons for you to have come to this world, and you are the only one who knows why. I will only know them when you acknowledge these reasons and have the desire to tell me,” Meen explained, but his explanation confused me even further.

“For now, I cannot answer your questions but once I have the answers – which will actually come from you – I won’t need to offer them to you. Please be patient and wait for the answers to appear. All you have to do now is to relax without worrying. This is the safest place you can imagine. Let’s forget about your world for the time being, and just believe that there’s nothing to worry about,” Meen consoled me.

“Were there other people who had experienced similar situation like this before?” I asked, slightly concerned.

“Yes, but not many. There have been around a few dozen people over the past two, three thousand years, which is a very small number compared to the previous records of up to two or three hundred people,” Meen answered.

“But you said that I’m the first person in the past several thousand years to come here,” I objected.

“Yes, you are the first person in the last tens of thousands of years, or even longer, to pass through this portal. Did I say it wrongly? I apologise if that’s the case,” he said.

“There’s no need to apologise. I’m the one who misunderstood it,” I admitted.

“No, I must. What we need to be most careful about is not to speak untruthfully,” Meen added.

“Has there been anyone who came here and was able to go back?” I asked.

“Well, throughout history, none of those who came here wanted to go back. Those who did were very few,” Meen explained. “And for those who went back voluntarily, if I named them, you would know every single one of them very well.”

“Please tell me … who are they?” I asked curiously.

“If I do not tell you, it’s not because I don’t want to tell you the truth. I won’t tell you because it might change things. So please allow me not to mention them now,” he replied.

“Ah, if you say so. What about the person whom I am supposed to meet? Who is he?” I asked.

“The one to explain to you should be that person himself. When you meet him in person, please ask him yourself,” Meen said.

“Argh, you haven’t answered any of my questions! If I don’t know who he is, then how can I find him?” I asked.

“Don’t worry. It’s not you who will find him, instead he will find you. Once you meet him, you will know that it’s him,” he replied.

We walked and talked for a while. When we reached Meen’s little cottage, a woman stepped out of the front door.

“Let me introduce you to my wife,” said Meen.