This was during a trip across Asia one summer, which ended shortly due to something I will explain later. It began when me and my associates from university; Carter, Lyle, and Gianna had flown into Tibet.
We were here for a week visiting holy sites and learning about the land. We took our time exploring because it was free as long as we didn’t interfere with any ceremonies. That’s why we weren’t staying at hotels—we couldn’t afford them anyway, not when the only currency we carried was old and beat-up Australian dollars.
Gianna spoke some Tibetan, so she served as our sort of guide on our trip. When out travelling the streets, Gianna had listened to some locals chattering and pulled on my sleeve, “Hey, Benny. You wanna’ hear something interesting?”
“Sure, shoot.” I replied, cocking an eyebrow.
“I just heard some locals talking about a monastery called the… Silent cloi-… Silent Cloister! Yes! That was it! They said it’s a monastery of monks who practiced mystical arts.”
Carter, our American friend, exclaimed excitedly, “Wow! The Silent Cloister!”
Gianna smiled triumphantly, but then grew sombre again. “But that isn’t all they say…” She went quiet.
“What do they say?”
She gave us a weary look.
“No one has managed to find it as it’s said to be located deep in the mountains.”
Lyle looked at us, “I assume no one thought of bringing climbing equipment…?”
I sighed and said, “No, we haven’t. Maybe we can get someone to take us there? We got enough money to pay for a couple of pack mules.”
Carter frowned at me and raised his eyebrows before asking, “Why did you think we would have done that?”
I glanced around nervously, trying to think if there was anyone nearby to overhear. “It seems like it’d be hard to go anywhere without going through people.”
Gianna had the bright idea to talk to one of the locals; a herder who had some mules to spare. They were talking to each other, Gianna appearing to haggle for the mules. The herder, however, laughed in her face but urged her to follow him and dragged along the mules. Gianna turned towards us and motioned us to follow her.
We got on the mules once we reached the outskirts of town, the herder leading us on a dirt path. I looked at Gianna and asked, “So what did the old man say?”
“He said that he’ll take us to the entrance of the temple grounds, but also told us that we’re insane for wanting to go there. He believes the monastery is cursed.”
“Cursed?” Carter asked.
Gianna nodded grimly, adding, “Apparently this has happened many times over the years.”
As we rode, the sky was starting to darken outside until I noticed the sky looked more blue than black. The herder was drinking some sort of milky fluid from a hideskin canteen, chuckling as he said something in his own language. Gianna said, “He says that no one comes back from travelling up to the Silent Cloister, either because those who did either were taken in to be trained as monks or just… disappeared.”
“What is he drinking then?”
“Fermented goat milk.”
Carter scoffed, “This guy is drunk off his fucking ass!” chuckling to himself.
“What are you laughing at, George?” Gianna responded although she did smile as well.
“You mean we’re going into a temple, being led by someone who has been drinking fermented goat milk?!”
We were now close to reaching the small entrance to the monastery, a lonely gate that led to an upward staircase carved from the rocks of the mountain. The herder and Gianna said their goodbyes before the herder left us with the mules. We had no choice but to continue our way on foot. Gianna, Carter, Lyle and I walked up the cold stone stairs up to the monastery grounds, eventually being met by the sight of a dark temple with only the sound of howling winds welcoming us.
There were no lights, no torches to illuminate anything. Only darkness. Our footsteps echoed in the empty space. Suddenly I felt goosebumps crawl up my arms, chills gripping me. What the hell was happening? Gianna started whispering to herself, softly reciting something, seemingly praying to God, I supposed.
There was a large wooden door leading to the inner sanctum of the monastery, I looked to be colleagues to gauge who would open it. I guess I had to. I slowly opened the door, to be greeted by a group of monks in gold and red robes. They were having tea. I smiled, “Oh! So sorry to disturb you, gentlemen! Is this the Silent Cloister?”
“It is. Are you lost?” One of the monks asked.
I shrugged, “Not really, I’m friends with the herder that brought us here.”
The monks looked surprised and suspicious at the same time. “Then perhaps you should speak with one of our teachers instead.”
I gulped, knowing this wouldn’t end well. One monk approached me and took us to a room, revealing a large and detailed orrery. Lyle asked the monk, “What is this?”
“We of the Silent Cloister practice an art where, through deep meditation, we can enter into other worlds and learn the mysteries of reality.” The monk replied solemnly. I asked,
“What is the purpose of travelling to these worlds?”
“Knowledge, for it is our path to enlightenment and to understand everything in its wholeness.”
That sounded kind of religious… I’d heard the term ‘enlightenment’ before, so that seemed legit. It wasn’t quite clear if they were being serious though. The monk continued, “In this case, we travel to another world, learn everything about it, and we contemplate.”
“Sort of like researching,” Gianna said, “Could you show us how your practice works.”
“You are lucky to have come on this night. We are preparing a ritual to travel to the celestial realms, which you westerners may know as Heaven.”
Carter nodded and motioned for the monk to lead the way, and the monk led us back into the main hall where they were all now in a circle, sitting in meditative positions in silence. The monk put a finger to his lips to signify for us to remain silent before joining the circle. We only watched as the ritual began.
Then, the monks began to hum in harmony. Inside the circle, a pool of light swirled around like a whirlpool in water. I started to hum as well, wanting to participate. I didn’t realize that my humming was not in harmony with the others until a monk who appeared to be the eldest of the monastery, shouted at me in his language. One of the other monks said,
“You disrupted the harmony! What have you done!?”
The whirlpool seemed to shake, turning from a luminous light to a deep shadow. The candles were suddenly snuffed out and left us all in complete darkness. Gianna, Carter, Lyle and I ran into the orrery chamber to hide. We feared the worst, since we witnessed something otherworldly with the ritual but now a sense of dread filled the air.
I could hear the sound of wet ripping and screams from the other side of the door, but I dared not open it or crack a peek to see what was happening. We sat in silence for a while, not even daring to breathe. I thought maybe now would be a good time to leave but then I heard a distorted voice call out from the other side of the door,
“Come out…”
It didn’t sound human. At all. There was something almost alien about the sound. I kept wondering if this was even real. Lyle silently pointed at a door and scuttled away through it, the rest of us followed in hopes of finding a way to escape. The door led us to the kitchens, with various unlit wood stoves and clay pots around. I could hear and feel my heart pound in my throat as I looked around and keep an ear out to listen to whatever was out there.
Nothing.
Suddenly, from the kitchen door, I heard a sharp knock. Carter whispered,
“Get down!!”
The four of us quickly ducked under tables and overturned chairs. I realized that the knocking was coming from the window behind the kitchen. I heard the strange entity taunting us,
“Come out and play… It’s so lonely in here…”
It let out a maniacal chuckle. It continued,
“Benny’s been so afraid of things for so long… Wouldn’t it be nice to play?”
Another chuckle and that evil laugh made me shudder. How did it know who I was, then the voice morphed into sounding like an old woman,
“You have such a handsome face, young man-“ It then transformed its voice into sounding like mine,
“Would it look as good on mine?”
It cackled before continuing,
“You might regret this Benny… We’ve only just begun…”
And then it fell silent, and then we heard the banging on the door. Wood from the door splintered as the door started to crack into pieces. The creature was now inside, and it was wearing my face. It lunged at Lyle and ripped into his back, pulling out his spine with the bloody claws of a tiger. The creature was a weird amalgamation of features both animal and human, constantly twisting and contorting.
“What are you?!”
“Fear. Made flesh by those monks. You brought me into this world, like a mother and her babe…”
Gianna gasped, “Benny,”
“What?”
“I think I’ve heard about a myth about this type of creature…”
The creature waited, “Enlighten us, dear girl.”
“A tulpa. When you disrupted the harmony, the monks must’ve feared something would go wrong and it did!”
The creature chuckled, “Wise. You would have made a great philosopher.”
It plunged its claw into Gianna’s head, ripping out chunks of her brain. It began to take a bite out of it and smirked, “Wisdom tastes amazing…”
The mouth of the creature was covered in red blood. It then tore apart the rest of Gianna’s body, leaving her nothing but a pile of flesh and bones on the floor. Now it turned to face us. As it tried to devour Carter, I screamed and knocked it back with my palm, causing the visage of my own likeness to smash onto the floor.
The creature snarled and leapt onto Carter, slashing him with its claws. Carter was paralyzed by the shock and the blood loss, unable to move. I had to escape, so I ran past the creature as it mauled Carter. I slammed the door shut and yanked the heavy wooden latch shut, leaving the beast trapped inside. The creature pounded against the door desperately trying to get out, the hinges cracking and splitting apart.
I waited until the pounding stopped before I ran out of the monastery and out into the cold night, running and climbing my way back to any sign of civilization I encountered. My breathing was laboured, my muscles tired and my eyes beginning to sting with exhaustion. The next morning, I was stumbling through the streets, grateful that I escaped.
Now, I’m at my apartment in the comfort of the city. Things have been quiet, and I intend to keep it that way. I can’t help but feel that the tulpa is still out there, looking for me. I wonder what it wants from me… What will it do when it finds me? From what I learned from my trip, it’s that great and terrible things can come from emotions and our thoughts. If you see someone who looks exactly like you; run.