A Dreamer's Worlds

The Sea is Callous (Part 3 of Eyes of the World)

Well, this is the next part. I see you brought a drink. What? You think I'll need it? How thoughtful of you. My throat did get rather dry towards the end last time.

You know, you're doing something very nice here. It's not often folk as young as you listen to folk as old as me.

Oh, don't give me that look! I'll just get on with the story then. I bet you'll like that.

I told you about the light from that watch didn't I? Don't worry, this time I'll tell you where that light took me.

It took me somewhere incredible. Somewhere amazing, and awesome. Ferns taller than I was reached for the sky, and what a beautiful sky it was. Untainted by the smoke and smog of humanity, it was blue as can be and the clouds were a soft white, shadowed by downy gray.

It was peaceful. So peaceful that I didn't move for what felt like ages. I simply wanted to enjoy my environment.

Eventually I did move. I stood up and looked through the ferns, into a tremendous forest.

I pushed through the ferns and into the forest. The wet smell of the forest was tinged by the scent of fire. What? It wasn't worrying. A forest that smelled of life and fire... That was a healthy forest. A forest teeming with life and lacking the wooden graveyard so many forests now have.

This was the unspoiled nature, and I had the privilege of walking through it.

I then realized that I hadn't heard a single bird since coming here. Not even a chirp. The forest may look and smell healthy, but there was something wrong.

I fiddled with the watch, frantically hoping that maybe I could summon up the light again and go home. The watch did naught but continue to tick.

I resisted the urge to throw it. The watch was my only link to home, and likely my only way back as well. I strapped it back onto my wrist and, lacking another option, continued to walk.

My steps, cushioned by the grass and soil, were the only sound. Occasionally the wind would rustle the leaves above me, but even it seemed muted, as if it were afraid to make a sound.

And so the silence remained.

The forest was on a hill, and I soon realized that as I began to descend. The ground became steep and I leaned back to keep my balance. The ground slowly became more rocky and the trees less and less common.

I was then walking on rocky ground. It almost seemed as if the earth had shaken off dead scales and never bothered to move them off its back. An odd thought, but one that I found strangely accurate.

And so I reached the sea. It was a great body of water, stretching out to the horizon with no sight of any land besides that which I stood on.

The watch chimed out the time. Three chimes, three o'clock.

A ship appeared on the horizon.

I shaded my eyes to try and get a better look, but the ship's appearance remained mostly a mystery. It had a sail, but I would have to wait until it closer to find out more.

I sat down on the bench, content to let the ship come to me. There was nothing else I could do, and the chimes of the watch pointed at the ship being important.

So I waited for the ship to drop anchor, and perhaps send a rowboat to the shore.

It took most of an hour for the ship to do exactly that. The rowboat was empty, but its oars still moved as if a ghostly presence rowed.

The rowboat nudged itself onto the stony beach, the oars neatly placing themselves inside.

I weighed my options. Unless I wanted to return to the silent forest, this was my only one.