The World Outside The Shell

Chapter 1: The Dream

The early morning sunrise was my first memory.

The sky was a clear blue, with no clouds, warm, and raining. I turned to a sound, like the rumble of thunder,. The air was damp, and realized I was behind a waterfall on a platform ledge, constructed with moss covered white stones and statues and columns.

The ruined building was on the side of a hill, in a forest, overlooking a clearing.

I watched see a group of people approach the clearing and stand below the towering ruins.

I was impressed with the ornate designs on the robes and the sounds of the conversation, but none of the words were familiar, and none of the people looked like they were from a world I could remember. I noticed how one companion spoke in a musical tone different from the others.

The words left me in a loud shout of excitement “Is this a dream?” I looked to see if the outburst caught the attention of the companions.

To get the attention of the travelers in the forest, I called out. “Hi, I’m over here!” No response.

I decided to remain hidden behind the cascade of water.

The small group set up a camp in the afternoon, while two people approached the ruins and searched for a path. The body language was clear, and multiple attempts to climb the hill failed with both loosing their footing on the ruined stones of the building.

The tall one in a white robe appeared to be a man and the shorter one in a green robe appeared to be a woman with hair braided. The conversation sounded like an argument, with wild gestures and pointing at the highest levels of the temple hill.

I was too nervous to move I tried to remember a time before the comforting sound of the waterfall, then started feeling sad. 

The sky darkened with ominous clouds and rain began to fall, a mirror of my feelings. I rested in the shadow of the waterfall, on a small ledge decorated with a tiled floor with strange patterns and scenes. I was later awakened by heavy footsteps climbing the rocky hillside as the sunset. 

The figure in the white robe stepped into view. I could see a gold and silver interlocking ring pattern design on the front of the robe. He looked determined and was shouting orders to the group who all stood watching from a distance.

The man stepped onto the ledge, noticed the basin and continued his climb.

The flat stone area behind the waterfall supported a large round stone basin, a decorated object with the same interlocking gold and silver ring pattern. I climbed into the basin, which appeared from my perspective close to the ground, as a large container, positioned under the waterfall to catch the mist and fill over time. 

The sides were not much higher than my view, but it took a few tries to scale the carved edge until I scaled the stone edge and fell into the shallow water with a splash. I looked around and noticed that I was standing on a mosaic tiled pattern of a gold ring. I guess the realization is what sent me across the basin to reappear in the neighboring silver ring. The two were not interconnected like the rings on the white robe. 

I tried the reverse and found myself standing in a newly formed third ring, green, and connecting the other rings. The ground began to shake, then I fell as the ledge collapsed, tumbling through the air until I splashed into the pond at the base of the waterfall. 

I paddled with small webbed feet to the shoreline and crawled into the protective branches of a large flowering plant. The plant had rigid spiked leaves, but the spikes could not harm me because of the protective shell. For the moment, I was happy to be a turtle. 

I watched as two figures in green robes entered the shallow pond where the broken stones from the ledge were piled high, and began looking for something. 

The men were equal in appearance, with pale long faces and long hair, but one had two large spears on his back, while the other had no visible weapons and was holding a heavy looking shield with the same gold and silver interlocking rings pattern as the man in the white robe.

The pair took very little time exploring the fallen rocks, statues, and tiles in the waterfall pool, shrugged their shoulders and returned to the camp. I soon noticed a woman in green robe and hair tied in three braids. It was the cold look in her eyes that sent me back into the shadows.

The woman approached the waterfall with determination, scaled the heights with effortless grace, entered the ruined building set on a ledge on the side of the hill, and vanished.

In time, the woman returned holding a long golden staff with a silver crystal sphere. I shrunk back into the deepest branches of the flowering plant when she stopped on her decent from the hill and looked directly at me. She waved the staff and nothing happened. She looked frustrated and returned to the camp.

The long day of new experiences changed to night and the sounds of the forest became a distant whisper. I was falling into a deep sleep and imagined floating in a shallow pool of water on a summer day. I closed my eyes, and found myself standing in a room decorated with handmade furniture. The space had the appearance of a rural cottage without doors or windows.  

The inside of the cottage was an oval, with smooth walls and a domed ceiling. The rocking chair, the large table in a small kitchen, and the large bed were home. I could feel the ground dissolve into mist and suddenly dropped to my knees, in the form of a turtle. I was outside.

Instead of feeling helpless, I was too tired to be concerned and rested for what seemed like hours or days, alone, while the shell remained hidden in the protective branches of a flowering plant, by the pond under a waterfall.

© J. Bateman

Concentrikey  © 2024