I hiked to the hut in the mountains. It had been a journey of many years, much labour, much soul searching. The place didn't look like much but nestled high above every city and town, the vistas stretched further than I could see. I peered at my journal. Yes, this was my destination, for the lowly hut matched the ancient sketches in my book.
I breathed in the wind, which carried the scent of the nearby flowers, haunting and sweet. I could hear the wind sighing among the granite tors, and a small bird singing a love song, the melody bewitching.
There were things to be done. I had no idea how long I'd be here, or even if I'd ever return to my own. I was an old man by now, so it mattered not. I had nothing left now but the sun and the rain, the stars and the earth beneath my feet.
The weathered door opened of its own accord, to my surprise, but I plucked up courage to step in the door. Glancing about, I saw it was bare save for a bed and a chair. There was no food, no place to draw water, no tables, no cupboards. This puzzled me. From my studies, all was supposed to be provided for me; I would need nothing but the clothes on my back and faith.
Clearly faith is what I needed more of. There was nothing to do but wait for the sundown before I could sleep. I went inside when the golden sun was ribboning across the sky with the promise of tomorrow in its arms. I was asleep just as the moonbeams danced a ghostly waltz across the hard wooden floor.
And I dreamed of dragons.
A black dragon, glittering with the stars, whose tail drew the Milky way with him, was my first guide. I grabbed onto a bright shining scale and he took me into the skies with him. He showed me without words the stories written across the galaxies, the despair of the darkness but the joy of the light. The stars twinkled, the comets passed, the bright planets glowed. There was no I, no me, just a being lost in the immenseness of space itself.
There can be no Shadows without Light. There can be no Light without Darkness.
As soon as this thought entered me, surely from the Dragon itself, I plunged down out of the heavens. The black dragon vanished and I screamed. Faster and faster I fell toward a blue expanse below me. The wrinkled sea crawled and when I was closer, the great waves crashed and rolled. A great splash without pain, and I was in the water. But I was not alone. A great blue dragon, all fins and shiny scales, swooped around me and caught me. A great multitude of fish of all kinds and colours followed him. I nestled in his great forearms and found I could not drown. He took me down to the depths. I saw whales, who sang their eerie music to the watery void. Silvery sharks zoomed on past but I was not afraid.
Water is soft and forgiving, yet it cuts through rock. The ocean depths are not to drown but to let us swim in the wonder of the world.
The water pulled away from me as soon as he spoke and solidified. A coldness swept through the water and I rose to the surface. As soon as I did so, I was upon a white barren landscape. Yet it was beautiful. Snow glittered as diamonds all around me, white and pure. Shades of blues and greys and whites met my eyes wherever I looked. A hill nearby shook and trembled. I soon found it was not a hill at all but a great ice dragon, his scales whiter than the cleanest snow, his eyes blazing turquoise and eternity in his face. I put my hand on his snout. He drew the storms with him, for hail and blizzards and sleet fell around us but did not harm us.
The storm in one?s soul does not subside until one sees the beauty of the snow and ice within.
The snow melted around me with a sudden heat. I turned to see an inferno blazing before me. I blinked. When my eyes opened, a burning fiery dragon stood before me. His eyes were rubies and his body all the colours of fire: red and gold and orange and blue and purple. The air was stifling hot, yet he took me into his embrace. I saw before me great belching volcanoes, the blue fire dancing in the marsh, St. Elmo's fire racing over ships, wildfire ripping over the shadow-haunted woods, the cold fire of the sea, and at last the melting away of sand to brilliant gems and precious stones.
Fire is not an enemy but a friend. If you do not let it burn you, you will walk through the flames and emerge a gem that none can destroy.
The world turned green. I stood upon my feet and blades of grass grew high. Trees shivered out their leaves. Rich soil, damp and sweet to my nostrils, stretched as far as I could see. I laid my hand upon a nearby tree. The bark was warm to my touch and moved under my fingers and I saw it was no tree at all but a great dragon, all green and brown. His hide was bark coloured and his eyes golden as the corn in tassel. When he unwrapped himself from his tree all manner of flowers burst upon his scales. All manner of birds and beasts resided near him. His footsteps shook the world itself.
The tiny seed knew in order to grow it must be dropped in dirt, buried, and struggle to reach the light.
The earth dragon's voice faded away and I opened my eyes. I was once again in the hut, feeling as if I had travelled all eternity. I think I had, for my soul was far from me back in the realm of the dragons. I stood up shakily and gazed out the window. All the universe had been laid open for me. Now I knew I could not have made this journey as a young man. I would not have seen what I had and understood it.
There was only one thing left to do. I took my battered journal. I wrote what I had seen. The space dragon in the heavens, the water dragon in the seas, the ice dragon in the snows, the fire dragon in the burning desert, the earth dragon of the lush green land, all went down into the pages. As soon as I had finished chronicling it all, my book took on a life of its own. The freshly inked pages ripped out and circled around my head like small white birds. The journal dropped from my hands and the pages became tiny miniatures of the dragons I had seen. They merged together to form a new dragon altogether. She was shadows and smoke and light and rain and grass and fire.
I knew then.
I was dying.
Nevermore would I walk the earth among my people. My soul was bound for infinity. I had been graced with the Time dragon herself. And I was ready. My book would be found by the next worthy man who came here. I reached my hand and laid it on the dragon's snout.
Come with me. The past is a road to the future, and the future is past. We will be nothing and everything. Come.
I smiled.
Topic: First Draft: Universe of Time (Read 2587 times)