Let’s begin…
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Let me congratulate you on taking the first step!
The book has been open…
No turning back now!
Write down your name:
Okay! Let’s begin! See that door over there? That is where we are going to go first. Once you have walked through the door you will learn everything that you need to now…
…For now anyway!
Let’s go! Turn the page!
A great adventure is now yours…
Pick up the map.
Look at it.
This is now your world.
A door opens… I think you should enter…
Come close to the fire. Feel its warmth. Bask in its glow. This is your home… for now. You may not have wings but soon you might fly! Look out of the window… What do you see? The sea! Ah yes! I am happy to tell you that you are standing in the heights of the fine Tower of Ritanoss on the fair isle of Sirunvale. Look at the map! That is where you are… For now! Enjoy the fire, enjoy the glow! Enjoy it now while the time is slow… For time will not always flow quite like the glow of the flame. Enjoy this fine little moment of rest.
Let me introduce myself! I am the voice of the sleeping Trolloyed Lord who is called Hadononsphere and I am speaking to you through this orb of light. Many think I am dead… I am not. I am not dead. I am simply asleep. Asleep and waiting to awake. But I will not wake from my slumber by myself. I need YOU to wake me up! The time is here at last for me to stir from my long rest. Take the orb so that I might travel with thee…
A door opens… I think you should enter…
Come close to the fire. Feel its warmth. Bask in its glow. This is your home… for now. You may not have wings but soon you might fly! Look out of the window… What do you see? The sea! Ah yes! I am happy to tell you that you are standing in the heights of the fine Tower of Ritanoss on the fair isle of Sirunvale. Look at the map! That is where you are… For now! Enjoy the fire, enjoy the glow! Enjoy it now while the time is slow… For time will not always flow quite like the glow of the flame. Enjoy this fine little moment of rest.
Let me introduce myself! I am the voice of the sleeping Trolloyed Lord who is called Hadononsphere and I am speaking to you through this orb of light. Many think I am dead… I am not. I am not dead. I am simply asleep. Asleep and waiting to awake. But I will not wake from my slumber by myself. I need YOU to wake me up! The time is here at last for me to stir from my long rest. Take the orb so that I might travel with thee…
Take the orb and open the door!
See the road? Follow it. It will lead you to the coast. Hurry now! Your greatest enemy is time and time follows thee in all thy steps!
Now you must make for the sea. There is a boat waiting for thee… Step up and step out my friend. I cannot follow you on this next stage - but my friend here will accompany thee on thy fine journey.
Young Tallow leads thee aboard the boat. “This way dear Reader,” says he to thee. “We sail now. To Linkenoss we go!” And there was the fair port of Linkenoss a little way ahead of the bobbing blue waves of the sea. What a fine thing to see! O how the waves of the sea wave at thee thy fine port! “Let’s get a little closer, dear Read,” Tallows rode a little harder loyal fellow he is but it was not for nought for his valiant efforts finally brought them ashore.
“What lies in the land yonder none can be sure, but we will let the road lead me and thee, and I will lead thee the best I can, over hill and river!” said young Tallow. “Are you ready for the road, dear Reader? Yes! Then turn the page and off we go…”
You arrive on sweet land! Leap out of the boat and place you feet on the soil! Look around you and tell me what you see. You can see it, yes? And maybe you can hear it too! Listen to that sounds, listen to that music - it sings not in thy ears but in thy heart. Listen and drink it in - this soul will light thy soul on the road ahead.
LISTEN:
"All around the grass is green and in the mud flows all things that have ever been - lives lived and still yet not seen. They crown each other, life and light, and in the water their reflections dream. No lovelier sight has there ever been seen, thy scarlet flight, thy sight, thy right, in whose rays we all delight, praise the skies for all that has ever been, thou art the finest thing I have ever seen..."
"All around the grass is green and in the mud flows all things that have ever been - lives lived and still yet not seen. They crown each other, life and light, and in the water their reflections dream. No lovelier sight has there ever been seen, thy scarlet flight, thy sight, thy right, in whose rays we all delight, praise the skies for all that has ever been, thou art the finest thing I have ever seen..."
The orb returns. It speaks:
"Ah! What has become of me? I was a Trolleyed. I ruled nothing at all in my fine hall, windows gleaming on the floor! O I remember it well! Visitors came to see me from far and wide. I had eyes here and there and in ALL places. And in these places I saw many faces, and with these faces with me we would change the world like waves change in the sea... O that is how it once was with me in those golden days...
But now I am this light - and you have this light and with this light you can hear me, and when you hear me you see through me, all those places and all of those faces. Always listen to the voice in the light...
"Do you see me, fair reader? I am here for thee. I shall never be apart from thee. And I will always speak to thee. And whenever you need me think of a song and it will sing, and you will hear it in your heart. Your ears are no longer king, not in this world - not in matters of song and fife. For such is life. But strange though it is, you have your ears and a song in your heart and a quest in your soul! You may not hear the song, not yet - but keep walking along and it will be along, and the song will hold thy hand as time holds the seas! So if you please - turn a corner in the road. Dear Tallow will follow and aid thee, he knows this land from adventurers of old. Ah there! Look! Do you see it? Those pools! Dreams of dreamers that dreamed of dreams - born of tears wept from the skies! The sadness is gone! The storm is done! Look at the pools... Touch then... Listen to them! Don't you hear them? Please tell me that you can hear them?"
"Ah! You can hear it can't you? Blest art thou! I knew you could, and that you always would, hear the songs of the wiles of time! So take a drink and drink it all in. Let it fill you. Let i make you whole and full and strong. Let it make you be you, YOU, just YOU and no other. For it is not just the road that is yours - it is the dream that your soul sees and your heart weaves. That is YOU. So you must head out with my song in your ear, if you ever hop to be near, the peace the song long seeks and you alone do seek. Listen one last time if thou will. Now you know it you are ready to seek it! Step up and step out. The road is now truly yours."
"See me? See me not? See it for me and see it through me. Live for me as I have lived for you. I have seen the Mirrors... I have stood with them and seen through them. I have seen it all - nearly all... I know it - the secret behind the hills, I know the riddle of the shadows that bend behind the stars. I can read the signs in the moons and I understand the language of owls. Seek out the Great Owls! They will teach you. The wooded road of the woodland road awaits thee - west and south that is where thou feet should greet, let your feet meet with the road of the west!"
DO you hear? Tell me you hear it? The music! Tell me that thou can hear the music?
'We will seek out the Great Owls!' said Tallow. 'Follow me and I will follow you.'
Yes! I hear the music! Sounds like water! Water dripping into water - water echoing through time! For time is water!
And you return to dear Tallow - I will follow if you follow me. And you and Tallow set off.
What else can you do? Turn back?
If that is your wish then close the book! OPEN will be CLOSED!
Fine and fine indeed!
Other than that your only choice is to read on and walk on - Tallow knows the way. And you know the song. You have heard it before even though you cannot remember - O yes you have heard it! You have heard it while asleep. You have heard it in the quiet. It is your song! The song that goes on and on. The song that is in your heart! Tallow follows the road, but you follow the song.
You follow your heart, and your heart is harder and truer and lighter and fairer than the road.
**& #€**
** This way and that! I don't fancy that! But then that is the way of the road...
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Are those old Loricks I see? Or maybe my sight deceives me! Are those the old words carved on that stone?
You ask Lorick.
Mayhap, he replies ominously. 'But who is to know? And who is to care? There is but one road and that is all that we we need to know...'
And you respond bleakly, 'For now!' but you do not say your words outwardly so that they could be heard in the air. You store your words in the back of your mind and keep them there, a treasure chest for worthy ears - a feast for worthy minds. And you plan to save the feast so that when the time is ready it may be appreciated to its fullest.
Tallow leads on.
And he leads on.
What is this road that thou follows?
Is it not fair? Is no darkness lurking there?
No darkness!
The voice in the orb speaks:
"I cannot see it!"
No darkness - not there or here. Not in these fields.
For these fields, o so many fields - are like a dream revealed. Onwards and onwards they go.
You find a beautiful pool of water! It is just there on the side of the road, among the trees and among the grass. It's wasters are beyond pure - of that you are sure and in the waves there are words - they sing you over.
SING! YES SING!
There is a song in the pool:
drip
drip
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•
•
•
•••••••••
In the the sound of the water your hear music, and in the music you hear colour and in the colour you see a scene - a vision of something that had once been...
'This was Hinhall,' said a voice.
It was the orb that was speaking. 'I lived here once. What a place it once was - full of cold and cheer, light and dark - and o so many people bustling and rustling eating and fasting, sleeping and talking. This was the place where it once ALL was. IL miss it with my heart and dream about the halls of Hinhall with my soul. The place was never lost to me! I used to play war games here - games of logic and cunning -
- I miss it! But o well! Onwards and onwards. The road awaits. In a few more steps you will stand in front of the Valley of Birds, and then things will really start to begin!'
Birds. The valley of Birds! Up up and away! Let us fly like the birds to the Valley of the Birds! Lead the way hale spirit! I beg thee, I sing for thee - please lead the way...
'You know the way,' said the orb. 'Follow your heart!'
And that is when you begin to see things, signs...
Look around you.
LOOK.
You see sign in the stones...
The sign of owls...
See the owl?
Yes?
Now you know the way!
One step.
Two step.
Finally YOU see it! The golden valley...
So there it was in all its beauty.
You step up to the owls and they step up to you.
Twee Twoo!
'How are you?'
'Fine,' you answer, but deep down you are afraid. The owls! They are... taller than the greatest trees, and if you please, wilder than the seas. They gleam at thee, their eyes, o they gleam - deeper than the thickest green in the trees.
'Do you see my eyes? Yes! TWEE TWOO! Do you see my eyes? YES - say you? Good. Come closer! My eyes can be like your eyes! Would you like to see with eyes like my eyes? I can give you eyes like mine! Bend your ear a little bit my way and I will sing to thee - it will be a sing about the Mirrors. For art my eyes not like mirrors? Look again at my eyes - look INTO my eyes. Do you see your eyes in my eyes? Do you see your face? That is because my eyes are mirrors! Indeed they are. And it is with mirrors that I can see ALL things. And you can see ALL things as well! Are you ready to see, TWEE TWOO? Will you let me sing to you?'
Still very much afraid, you do not say a word. Young Tallow at your side sees your fear and steps up. he says:
'Sing to us O great owls! We are ready to drink your in lovely words! Please sing to us o mighty owls of the Valley of Birds!'
"Never let us be apart, o art, thou art a thing that plays in my veins - that stirs my blood like a storm, like a sea at peace you art, like a gale shaking in the branches of trees! We shall never ever be apart, o art that sleeps in my veins and whispers in my dreams - when I awake you sing in my heart and play games in my fingers - o art, let us always be a part of a world that is forever warm in winters! O art, let us start, and make art - let thy beauty gleam again and again in endless mirrors...
...Did you hear me sing it? I will sing it again.
Mirrors.
MIRRORS...
Young Tallow takes in a deep breath.
'We must seek out the mirrors!'
That was what WE have to do then.
Seek out the Mirrors!
Seen out the Mirrors!
Young Tallow plucks himself up. He says:
'There is no other way - so they say - but I know a way! Follow me!'
It was time to leave the Valley of the Birds...
'Alas for the observing eye - it was time to cast the gaze away from its glades, the memory of i will always linger but our feet cannot stay there. It was time to make a move. Goodbye fair birds that sing with words! May I see these again in these fair woods!'
Onwards and onwards!
The road swerves and serves as a dream - it feels like it is the only thing that has ever been:
You and Tallow sing he song of the road!
What adventures we might meet. What fine things we might yet greet!
Onwards and onwards!
O the air is warm and sweet, fragrant with lilies of the valley! And the sound of the birds among the leaves reminds you of the Birds of the Valley - you can still hear their song, you can still hear the song of the owl in your ears! It warms your heart...
"Let thy beauty gleam again and again in endless mirrors..."
O that song of the mirrors!
It plays in your heart!
You realise a truth as you walk along. You might only have ONE adventure like this. ONE chance to see the world for what it is. You adjust your backpack and stride on. You are going to make the most of this. This is not just your road - this is your story and you are going to live it to its fullest.
You decide it is the only way. You are going to live the game to its fullest.
Over hills, beside hills and beyond hills... On and on you go until you finally find it - LOOK! I can say without errors, that is indeed the Hall of Mirrors!
There is an owl resting on the mirror. It flicks its head at you and speaks. These are its words:
Look now and see thy heart!
Pick a mirror!
This is where you start.
You look at a Mirror:
Look up and look into it!
Such horrors you perceive? Past? Present? Future? It doesn't matter. What you see is awful and no angle in time will make it look sweeter.
A whisper draws you closer...
"Look nearer- peer deeper! Tell me what you see!"
So you step closer and take a deeper look - the image changes right in front of your eyes...
"What do you see?"
My gosh! What is that? Such horror.
You struggle to find the words - they refuse to arrive in your throat, though you can feel them dancing on the tip of your tongue.
Eventually you find the will again to speak and you describe what you see:
Why does the mirror show you such horrors?
What is the meaning of it all?
You want answers.
ANSWER ME! WHAT IS IN THE MIRRORS!
No response...
I feel a chill creep up your spine.
There is a dark feeling swelling in your heart.
These mirrors...
These visions...
None of it is good!
Not at all.
There is something foul about it all.
It feels like a nightmare is slowly waking up - a NIGHTMARE! Once a figment of the soul, now the nightmare is slowly being woven in flesh. You can't stand it anymore. You look away.
You need time to think, time to rest.
You hear a voice in your head:
"O dear sweet sounds of the world - birds and such - sing me a song! Will you not sing for me? NO? No... So sad. I need a song. My soul - find me a song. Restore a song to my mind. Dig deep into my memory! I need a song. A song that will kind a warm fire in my heart again. O please mercy find me a song!"
There is no song...
No wait! Here it is!
Fade not dear roses, dripping red in dreams -
such dreams after these...
Dear roses - fair poses - nothing might depose it!
NO dream may capture you though thou might stand still - never still are thou...
NO mirror is qualified to capture thy light,
thy might,
such a sight,
as gentle and as fierce as the sun,
O rose thou bleedeth in dreams, repose, like a man needeth
rest from the road.
Thy soul is a dream, that sleeps beyond sleeps and awakes in thoughts that glimmer
in the eye.
Thou dreams are my dreams, give me thou dreams,
bleeding rose - who repose - in worlds born again!
But your world, O rose, with its many mirrors...
O rose...
I beg thee bleedeth into my dreams.
Compose a song worthy to speak to thee.
A song of a dream!
One dream -one thing - that is all I ask
One dream of thee that I might sing of thee,
for such wondrous things are made of thee,
sweet rose, whose red drips into the lips
of the world that doth breatheth thee!
Needeth thee? O needless I dream of thee
O rose please sing for me!
Just sing for me.
"The song is over. My soul sleeps no more. I am awake again!"
You turn away from the mirrors. You cannot bear to look at them a moment longer, NEVER again!
They are not for you, not for your eyes. Absolutely not. You seek sunlight and light in the leaf in the glen and in the face of the flower - you seek not dark things that might devour thou happier dreams.
Young Tallow returns and he has words for thee:
'I have a plan!' says he. 'My brave father, Lord of Antor and Thennett of Aranoth needeth men in his guard. His armies are on the border, waiting to resist the armies of the king. But his home and hearth is inrounded with hollow walls - no blood to fill the gaps. But blood is harder than stone - stones crumble without blood and the king is all out of blood. Will you join us? You would make a fine warrior! I beg you, say yes. Aranoth needs all the blood it can get right now, young blood and hot blood - your blood. So stand up and say yes!'
You hold up the orb and it speaks:
"Follow young Tallow! He is a worthy fellow. Walk with him to Aranoth and you will learn much about the lands. Much indeed. Serve the Thennett of the west. It is a worthy quest indeed. The Thennett is a good man to fight for. You will learn much. You will learn to become a warrior. These tough times need tough men. As the man of the guard that is what you will become. And it will be good for you. It will put strength in your limbs. Strength in the libs means strength for the future. And your future is the future of the world! Remember that I said that!"
You agree.
You will follow Tallow.
Farewell Great Owls! Farewell O fearful mirrors of the past the future and the present! We are heading West. West is where our feet are going - beyond the Dragon Neck Mountains.
It is time to return to the road. With Tallow leading the way you move your feet.
Tallow speaks to you:
'My fathers fort at Komardien is seven suns away! Six if the weather is with us!'
Very well! Then let us make those suns not wait for us.
The road is far but fair.
'Be thankful it is summer,' says Tallow as you walk along. 'Rain and snow make a hard road harder! We may make it in six suns yet!'
Aye. The road is fair and far:
What a gorgeous thing it is to wake up in the morning with the fresh air swimming in your lungs! You pack up and grab your staff and head out.
You eat a loaf as you walk. You left and right, and everywhere your head looks a scene of delight greets your eyes.
The road goes this way and that, around rocks, stones and hill - gardens and little bundles of trees... o please those trees so fair they sing with the cheery throats of birds! A marvellous thing to see and to hear! Blessed is thy ear to hear the sound of the birds and the trees!
An old ruin pops up behind a hill to your right side, what memories lurk there? You might never know - you might never see the place again but at least you have seen it - and the sight of it might have given you a slight taste of what might have been... a trickle of a memory of another soul. Drink it, enjoy and move on.
Each soul nourishes the soul...
You wonder where the road will lead...
What an adventure this is!
O look at that stone...
There are... signs carved carefully into it...
You try to read the signs... you try to read...
^
( Io - )
* * ^ V
* *
But you cannot read them...
How strange!
A mystery!
A mystery never to be solved not at least by you!
O no! Not by you!
Time to move on.
And after a day or two you see it - a valley fair and far swept all over this way and that in oak and ash - the best dream could never please the sight that you now see. You hum a tune as you go along:
O yes this is for me!
O indeed certainly for me!
So let it be!
Bring it all to me!
There is a beautiful hill ahead crowned with stones eight feet high - perfectly symmetrical. You wonder about their story - how they found there way to be like that...
Another story you will NEVER know.
Sad and yet wonderful.
Beyond this the path curved away into a valley, and down to a bridge that leads over a trickling stream of silver water and beyond that a glen where sunlight is fighting for its place to gleam between the leaves of elms and the bur oak.
And up another hill you ago, where yet another remarkable sight greets you.
What is that on horizon yonder? Can it be? It must be! It is the wild and wily wiles of the mighty Dragon Neck Mountains! There lies the border of Aranoth fair - there lies the start of things that are to be for thee. Have a look and see what you can see:
Tallow tells you that there is a pass through the mountains that will lead right across the Green Heath towards Awatunt.
That sounds excellent.
You tell your good guide to lead the way.
The pass though the mountains is NOT a pleasant place... sadly.
You can see eyes above and below watching you go...
Unhappy unfriendly eyes!
Tallow tells you a story or two:
'This land is cursed my friend!' he says. 'Aye! We use the pass seldom these days. It has become the hiding place for many foul thins. The Torks held court there in the old days, and in these days Rhuks have taken over. There will be some waiting for us no doubt, but I am handy with a sword, thank goodness! How about you? Have you used a sword before? I mean properly, have you used a sword in a fight? Have you slain any beasts before?'
You tell him the truth.
'Then here you go!' Tallow returns, and he hands you a blade.
'Better arm up and ready yourself. There is going to be a lot of fighting ahead, my dear friend, and the Thannett of Aranoth needs fighters.'
You settle down for a meal and Tallow tells you a grim story:
'There is a war going on in the west. A sad war but a necessary one. The Thannett wants to break off from the rule of the King of Bradagus. As we speak he is forging alliances. But Vindark, the King of Bradagus rules three kingdoms, Rotanya and others across the sea, and he is very mighty. But we the Dragon Beck on our border, and once we have fortified its passes we can hold him back! We can crush him, and Aranoth will be one. It is the only way. But the situation is tricky! We have more than one enemy to deal with! But that is enough for now! We will talk about this more another day! Let us enjoy our meal and rest until tomorrow. You will find wine in that flask over there. Drink and enjoy yourself - for our road will be over in a day or three - and then I will bring thee to the throne of the Thennett!'
You enjoy your meal and your drink and spend the rest of the day at rest!
It is as Tallow feared...
The pass is full of foul things...
Ancient creatures lost and full of hate live in the pass. They will attack anything. Strange. Each other. The mountain pass is a place of madness, but you must make your way through it to complete your quest.
And so you put one foot in front of the other and do what you have to do.
And finally you make it through!
Almost...
Something is crawling in the back - so you turn and flash your blade at it. It runs away.
NO fighting today!
Thank goodness for that!
The pass has been cleared! The danger is behind... For now anyway.
Good.
Time to move on.
Ahead of you lies a marvellous pasture land. A few steps lead you to a beautiful inn, a lovely place that you would like to live in.
You enter the cheery homely looking building. O! How marvellous, as wonderful on the inside as it was on the ground outside. The perfect place to rest thy legs and back, to drink, to eat, to forget the weariness of life and the road - thy weary feet let them rest and let them forget the road.
But as you enter the lovely building an old knight, a wanderer of the lands, weary worn and weary beaten, raises a hand up to you and offers you a chance to join him at the table. Looks like he is wanting company!
The Inn is quiet.
The knight wants to chat.
He has a tale to tell.
He offers to buy you food and drink!
How can you deny such a generous patron?
You decide to join him at the table - you drink the ale brought to you by his generosity and widen your ear as he begins to speak:
'I have a tell or three, for thee. Wilt thou hear me through?'
You tell him of course - yes! Tell me thy tale!
And so he tells it to you:
'Were it drinking or stupidity or dreams - I know not - I was a youth and my youth is as lost to me as the waters of the 74 that bathed me in a ceremony when I awoke in the times of yore. I was young when I rose up to serve the flower and the tree, and as the souls of the long departed spoke to me: 'Go forth and do what you must do!' That is what they said to me. And so I awoke one day alone on a misty heath with voices in my ear "rise up and go on." And so I did what I had to do.
A little rest... I needed it...
So I sought the mirrors!
My horse and I set out abroad. It was time to get things done!
My horse and I set out abroad. It was time to get things done!
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To be continued... (this is an ongoing work and I shall add to it as the days go by. Best wishes dear reader - SWW).
NOTE to the reader: This story is a precursor to a MASSIVE story I have written and I am currently editing called The Trials of Rudwin. So this story is setting that story up - if that makes sense? Anyway this story here in this blog OPEN is just a bit of fun. I hope you enjoy reading it! Best wishes!
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