Basilica Cistern or Yerebatan Sarayi, the Sunken Palace is a huge remaining underground cistern of Byzantium located in the West of Haga Sophia, and is named after Stoa Basilica, a public court on the top of it. The cistern is 140 meter long, and 70 meter wide and has a capacity of holding 100,000 tons of water. Justinian-I in the 6th century commissioned its construction as a great water reservoir for the imperial residence and the local population. However, during Ottoman Empire, the stagnant water was only used for watering gardens of the Topkapi Palace. The cistern’s ceiling has arches and is supported by 336 marble columns having 12 rows of 28 each. Some of these columns have pea-cock eyes on them while some are placed on the top of gorgon head of Medusa.

The cistern was a dark and eerie place, and I had a feeling of unease after going inside it. The dripping water from the ceiling on the floor created a haunting atmosphere that I found unsettling. I had come alone, and went to see the upside down head of Medusa. Even as a monster, it’s disturbing to see twisted head of a once violated woman pressed sideways under the columns. It’s said that this place might have been used as an altar for religious offerings and sacrifice. I knelt down to take a better look at stone head and see if I could figure out something, but there’s nothing.

I got up, and turned to leave when I heard a cracking sound behind me. I looked back to see the cracks appearing on the Medusa’s stone head all way up from the column to the ceiling. There’s a rumbling sound, and I hurried to get out of the cistern thinking that it might be an earthquake.

The sound came again, and I stopped midway. Ripples appeared on the surface of water, and a hissing sound made me turn back to see a giant serpent with a head of a woman towering behind me. The snakes on Medusa’s head hissed again, and I instinctively looked away from her face in fear. 

I started running through the water and cursed myself for failing to realize that I had entered that placed again. The column on the top of Medusa’s head was actually her body that had come back to life again. It crawled between the columns and caught up to me again. I immediately shielded my eyes with the arm, remembering that looking her in eye would turn people into stone.

“Will you not look at me?” She hissed, and I turned to run again, splashing through the water. No matter, where I’d run to, she would find me again and ask me to look at her. I couldn’t physically outrun her, so I did what a human could and pulled a mental trick on her. I shouted the name of her nemesis ‘Perseus’ behind her, and took a chance to escape when she turned to look for him.

 I hid myself behind a column, and searched for my phone but I couldn’t find it on me. I looked down at the wrist watch I was wearing, and raised my arm to see her reflection in the glass.

She had crawled up on the column behind me and was looking for me. Then, its gaze caught me looking at her in the reflection. I immediately pulled back, and closed my eyes hoping for her to go away, but what a wishful thinking.

 A trickle of water fell on my cheek from the ceiling above, and I instinctively knew that she’s hovering above me. One of her snake-hair hissed at me before lurching forward to bite me in the face. 

I screamed, and darted out from there with closed eyes as she crawled after me. She came to stand in front me, and I covered my face with both hands to avoid meeting her gaze since she would bewitch people into looking at her.

“Will you not look at me?” She tempted, and I shook my head on the verge of tears. Of all the things in the past, I had never been this afraid.

“Look at me!” She hissed, and I found myself lowering my hands to look at her.

“Don’t look at it!” Someone shouted, and I immediately recognized the voice.

 It’s him.

“Blindfold yourself.” He said to me as he fought with the snake. I ripped the hem of my shirt to make a blindfold and tied it around my eyes.

“Run in the opposite direction!” He told me, and I started running in the opposite direction back to the Gorgon’s head. Behind us, I could hear Medusa slithering through the water, and its snake-hairs hissing at me.

“You can’t escape from me.” She had whispered, and I fought the urge to stop and look back.

“To your left!” He instructed, and I ducked to side to avoid running straight into the column. I continued running through the columns on his instructions as he struggled to take down the Gorgon.

Then, there’s a swishing sound of his blade, and a high-pitched scream followed by a huge splash of water. I removed the blindfold, and saw her headless body floating in the cistern’s water.

 I looked around the cistern, but didn’t see him. The water on the floor started receding, and I noticed something next to the snake’s body.

It’s my hairpin.

A drop of water fell on my cheek, and I looked up at the ceiling to see all the Cistern’s water collected on it, mirroring the entire place.

In the reflection, I saw him standing there with a sword in his hand, and smiling down at me. It was the mirror world opposite to mine, and for the first, I could see us separated by two different worlds.

“You have dropped this.” A voice broke me out of the reverie.

“Huh?” It took me a moment to get used to my surroundings. The boy gave me the phone that I forgotten near the Medusa’s stone head. I took it from him and thanked him for this gesture. I looked up at the ceiling again, but there’s nothing on it.

I came out of the cistern and called Yousef asking to meet him after his class. There’s a coffee shop near his place, and I waited for him there. He walked in through the door and apologized for having me to wait.

“How are you now?” He took a seat across me, and I shook my head.

“I want to ask you about something.” I told him. “Is it…I mean, is there a slightest possibility of seeing someone from the other world?”

 I paused to see his expression, but hadn’t expected him to react calmly to it. “Who did you see last night?” Yousef questioned, and I told him that I met him in Romania, but it mightn’t be my first time there.

“What if it’s a dream?”

“Dreams aren’t perfectly structured. One is bound to find a flaw after analyzing them.” I reasoned to which he agreed himself but said, “Then, how are you sure it’s real?”

“That’s what I want to find about.” I told him everything in detail, and he patiently listened to it.

“Seeing someone from the other world is not entirely impossible, but it’s difficult to find actual records.” He remarked, and I became anxious.

“You don’t think I’m a lunatic, do you?

“You wouldn’t have come here if you wanted me to tell you that.” He said. “Rhea, there are laws of the world that are incomprehensible. You and I can’t explain them. However, Parallel universe is only a speculation. Interacting with or crossing over to another dimension while being conscious of it is humanly impossible.”

“Then, how do you explain this?” I showed him the hairpin that Dylan had returned, but he shook his head.

“I’m not a physicist. I can’t explain it, but Irem might know someone.” He called Irem, and the girl showed up after twenty minutes at the café. She sat next to me and put her bag and I-pad on the table.

“Why did you call me here?” She asked us, and I turned to Irem. “I’ve heard one of your friend is doing his research in quantum physics, right? Can I meet him?”

“Is everything alright?” She was confused. I told her that I was working on a new sci-fi book and wanted to do some proper research.

“Well, I can arrange for you to meet with Hisam tomorrow, but he’s going nuts with his research. He’s looking into the historical artifacts that can artificially create wormhole in space.” She spoke and her words caught my attention.

“Artifacts?”

“You know about London Hammer, right?” She asked looking at our clueless faces, then explained, “It’s believed to be an artifact that had appeared from another dimension, and Hisam is now interested in the theory. Recently, he’s been looking into this.” She opened her I-pad, and showed me a picture of a dagger. I shot up from the chair when I looked at it. It’s the same dagger from the desert, but its red stone was missing.

“Where did you find the picture of it?” I asked Irem who was shocked at my outburst. “I found it at the museum, but Hisam says it hadn’t been there before.”

“When did you get this picture?” I asked Irem to clear my doubt.

“Ten days ago.” It’s when I was back on train in Romania.

“Can I see Hisam?”

Next day, Irem arranged me a meeting with Hisam in the evening, and accompanied me as well. Hisam met us, and Irem introduced me to him. I told him that I was writing a book, and wanted his help. I asked him if it’s possible to enter alternate universe and experience it firsthand.

“Parallel universe or multiple realities do exist, and we may experience it everyday. Our multiple selves exist in each reality, living a slight or completely different life in that universe. However, it’s rare for someone to become conscious of it except for having a feeling of De Ja Vu or Mandela effect where you realize the things are different from how you remember.”

 I connected the dots, and concluded this might be the case. It’s me who had appeared in his world, and switched between two realities. But, there must be another me in his world. Where was she? Did something happen to her, and I kept showing up in her place instead?

“Irem told me you’re looking into the historical artifacts?”

“You know that wormhole is a hypothetical passage in space-time that bridges the two worlds. It’s not true but not entirely impossible. If something from another world can appear here, it would mean that thing might create a rift in the space too.”

“That thing might open up the portal?” Was my hairpin a link between his world and mine as well?

“Yes, look at this dagger.” Hisam showed me the picture. “Irem says it’s at the museum, but I don’t recall seeing it there before.”

“You might remember it differently.” I pushed hoping to be wrong.

“I may be, but not the curator at the museum.”

I asked Hisam about the curator, and went to see him next day at the museum. I inquired him about the dagger, and he said same that he didn’t remember it being there before. The dagger originated from Northern Africa, near Western Sahara and it had confirmed my suspicions. Three people couldn’t randomly have a false memory about a dagger.

It didn’t belong to our world.

I thanked the curator for his time, and went back to hotel. Things troubled me, and if I had been any wise, I’d have stopped looking into the matter. There’s call from Natasha and I decided to answer it. I told her I would come back next week and receive the proper treatment. I was lost in thoughts when I got a call from Irem who told me that Hisam was going to Morocco for his research, and asked me if I was interested in joining him since it’d help me with the book. I readily agreed to the opportunity, and asked Irem about further details as she was also going for her photography project.

In three days, we departed for Morocco and arrived at Blue Oasis of Morocco, Chefchaouen.

As we drove to Hisam’s friend house, I told myself that it would be the last time I was going to look for Dylan.