Walk With Me

Chapter One (and only?)

"See this, the world I dream. The deep indigo sky filled with lilac clouds floating over the hard, igneous ground. Green-stemmed and blood-petaled flowers peek out through cracks in the rocky surface, and a gentle breeze stirs everything. Waves sound in the distance, from where I am not certain. Walk this way please. See the valley yonder, hidden from view by a granitic outcropping. Within the valley lies a forest that lives in an eternal fall. The trees stand tall and erect, gathering light from the white glow that peaks out from cracks in the sky. We may walk down into the valley, if you wish. In it live small, humble creatures of an unobtrusive nature. Rabbits with golden fur nuzzle about through the fallen leaves, chewing up the grass that hides beneath the red and yellow covering that coats the forest floor. A hedgehog curls up, worried by our presence. Its spiky spherical shape seems to hint at some abstract mathematical formula in its surreal perfection. Do you wish to continue?

"The valley spreads out a ways, but there is a path up the sides near where we stand. Do not fear; the rock will not crumble. Nothing decays here. From the edge of the valley one might think that the rock continues onward but at the top there stands a willow tree on the edge of a prairie, connected to the rock plateau seemingly without segue or boundary. There are riders on the prairie, riding off towards a sunset that tints the sky and turns it orange, and the light that peeks through the cracks becomes sparkling and gold, shining down into the spaces between the riders almost like lightning. This light is harmless though. It sparkles down and lands upon the glowing fields in a burst of color.

"Let us move closer. The riders sit astride horses black, grey, brown and spotted, and other creatures besides. A small child is atop an enormous ram, fingers wrapped within its fleece of gold. Behind the riders follows a red heifer carrying a man wearing Kittel, Kippah and Tallit, and yet further behind there rides a Reaper atop a three headed dog, faded and transparent, his robes a deep purple and his scythe gleaming and silver. Where this strange group is headed I do not know. Their fate is beyond my knowledge and certainty. The heathen, the purifier and the death of them all headed to some location far, far away from here. To their final destiny? Perhaps, perhaps not. Wherever they are headed it is not a place for us to witness them.

"Would you like to walk out through the field? The grass is warm and flowing and ripples in the breeze. A weasel scampers about in chase of a mouse; snakes entwine themselves up the grass to watch the lightshow that falls down from the skies. Watch the sparks of light as they land, see how they flutter and gradually turn into glowing insects before fading away. Real fireflies join the show, sparking in and out in a variety of colors too numerous to list, for the rainbow comprises only a mere fraction of the colors contained within these fragile winged creatures. They gently float away as we draw near.

"There stands the pond, glowing under the evening lights and sky. The surface of the water curves slightly upward from the shore, bubble-like. Fish swim near the meridian of this strange rebellion against the rules of physics, unaware that their home is a defiance of the natural laws you and I know to be true. A small beam of light sparkles down and lands inside the pond and the fish convene upon the light insects and begin snapping them up. Their bodies are unable to extinguish the glow and each fish who has eaten of the insects soon becomes a swimming lantern, lighting up the pond and revealing the myriad scattering of detritus that fills it. A boat propeller with a coating of pale white mussels, a tangle of fishing line and hooks, with worms and other soft bodied creatures stuck upon the curved and barbed bits of metal, impaled and prostrate like some Christ like martyr of a poor man's failed hobbies.

"The pond has grown polluted and crowded with the leftovers of people. It is not as beautiful as it used to be. In days of old when the fish ate of the insects and spread their lanternlike light upon the bottom of the pond they would shed their light upon other fish, upon wobbling tendrils of plant and weed that served as home to many creatures.

"At the other edge of the pond there is a small beach of cool white sand and seashells from creatures that lived here a long long time ago. The edge of shore is pockmarked with small holes that serve as the homes for freshwater crabs. If you watch you can see them peeking out from their sanctuary and moving from one hole to another. Occasionally a daring fish will make a leap out from the water and onto the shore in an attempt to catch these crabs, a meal that the most agile fish can grow fat on. They swallow the crabs whole and immediately flop back towards the safety of their bubble. Of course some fail, and the crabs will relish the great feast that mediocrity has provided them.

"But now alas, it is now evening time, and there is little of this activity during this hour. When the fish become lanterns their light alerts the crabs to their presence and scares the fish's would be meal back into their homes. Perhaps we will come back someday, but for now, the activity and the beauty within the pond have faded away. But do not feel sad, for there are innumerable wonders yet within this world. Come this way, but watch your step.

"Somewhere in this prairie there hides a cave, an enormous cracked open geode embedded in the earth, almost like some trinket of a god from aeons past. If we are not careful we may fall into it, but so long as we keep watchful we may find a safe outcropping of crystals and climb our way down into crystalline sub terrane.

"There, do you see? The first spire is ahead. It is the first of several that we must utilize to make our way to the grotto below. Tread cautiously; the crystal steps may be slippery. It is not a steep drop, but a painful one, most certain. Step here, now there, and there. We have reached the bottom, but it is dark. We may have to wait for a light to drop from its crack into this place.

"It is quiet, silent in fact save the sound of our breathing. Are you nervous? Fear not. Nothing hides within this darkness save prismed walls with a variegate of coloring as to confound the senses. We need merely to wait. I... Does this world frighten you? It is merely a world of my own devising. Nothing truly harmful stands within. I thought of it as-

"Wait! Up there, an ignus fatuus to bring us light. Its falls slowly, gently. The sun has set in full now, and the lights behind the cracks in the sky have calmed. They no longer strike down upon this earth like lightening. They float down, acting briefly as lanterns for occupants of this world, before touching to the ground and releasing their glowing nonpareil of rainbowed fireflies. This one falls almost unbearably slowly, flitting up and down through the warm air as a breeze pushes it one way or the other. Finally it passes the mouth of this pit. Now you shall see the true wonder of this place.

"Our little wisp's light spreads but a small ways into the grotto, illuminating only a mere fraction of what lies here, hidden beneath the flowing grasses of the plain. A second passes; another. The light makes contact with the clear crystal floor of the cavern, and then- The grotto is filled with sparking light, an enormous space where crystals coat every surface, prisming the light they collect and shooting it across the room to some far off companion who repeats the process until we stand within a shining sub terrane. The fireflies die away rapidly but the light remains, captured for a time within this cavern, continuous and shining, bright but never blinding, the colors shift and turn about the walls in a spectacle that seems almost demanding of music or noise to accompany the shifts, but there remains only the sound of our breathing. This is a quiet place, a private place.

"I thought of it for us. Somewhere where we may be together, alone and uninterrupted, without the burdens of real life. This is a beautiful place and it is but a facet of this world that I have dreamed. You are welcome here and everywhere else. But this place, this hidden area in a hidden world known only to you and to me... This is ours. Do you like it?"