~~~~~
That night he dreamed of a woman. A young woman with vibrant red hair. She was absolutely beautiful. She approached him, walking toward him with a smile on her face, and her hands outstretched to him. He was mesmerised as he walked toward her and looked down to see what she was holding. He was surprised to see that in her hands was an entire handful of … gold. At first he thought it was normal gold - the same metal that his ring would have been made of if he had given in and let himself be taken away on the recent offer of matrimony. But when the girl in his dream reached out and indicated with her facial expressions that she wanted him to cup his hands for her to put the gold into, he realized it wasn't normal gold at all. It looked like gold. But when it was placed in his hand … it was … hot. He was surprised that it could have so much heat, and he looked around to see what was heating it. The girl in his dream laughed at him, seeing his disbelief that it could just be hot in its natural state. Not requiring anything to heat it at all.
He looked back at her face and was in awe of the feeling in his hand - the warmth of it - combined with the natural beauty of her. In the world he had come from, women hardly ever showed their true selves, hiding behind makeup and accessories, and to see this woman before him, natural and not seeming to desire to look different, he felt like she was someone of incredible confidence … and power.
~~~~~
The next morning Trent ate and then packed up his gear once again, with only a shadow of the dream remaining in his head as he filed it away in his mind as just another dream that did not associate in any way with reality.
~~~~~
That day he made even faster progress but at the same time had to keep stopping himself from rushing too much. He knew that if he had an accident out here he would never be found by anyone. Even without an accident he knew there was an increasing chance that he would not survive out here and get back to civilisation safely, but he still wanted to take care and do the best - go the furthest - that he could.
His daydreaming helped him to pass time now. Seeing the structure - or thinking he had seen it, as the case would probably turn out to be - had caused his mind to wander, wondering what could possibly have been built so far away from the rest of the world. It must be in the middle of nowhere, as far as he could tell. So who built it? How long had it been there? And what was its purpose?
But the question that his mind kept taking him back to was, was it even real? And if not, did it really matter?
4 ~ THE TEST OF A FRIENDSHIP
After breakfast Adrian walked to the place where he usually met up with Isabella. There he waited, feeling strangely nervous at the prospect of simply meeting his lifelong friend, even though he had done that hundreds of times. He hoped that by having spoken to her the night before he had not frightened her or made her so nervous about his words that she would avoid him.
But he needn't have worried. This morning, just as yesterday, and on so many days before that, he saw her approaching him with a smile on her face once again. It wasn't the same smile as usual, but it was a smile nonetheless, and it was definitely directed at him.
"You have beaten me here this morning, Adrian. This is so unlike you," she said, instantly teasing him upon her approach to where he was standing. "What mischief have you been up to, to have you standing here before I have arrived here this fine morning? And if you are so early today, why did you not come and dine with me for breakfast?"
He smiled at her and simultaneously felt his body relax and his breath ease out slowly and deeply. Late into the night he had been so worried about the possibility of having overstepped a friendship boundary and her being inaccessible to him today, but now it was very clear to him that he should have known better. She had never acted in such a way, even when they were children and she would think he was not being nice to her. No matter what, she was - and had always been - there for him as a trustworthy friend.
"I didn't want to miss you," he said with a sheepish grin on his face, making her laugh.
"I keep telling you that I will wait for you! When will you ever believe me about that?" she asked, the two of them laughing softly together now. "Come on. I have to go and get apples for Cook Mary - green apples!" she said vaguely and he knew what was next. "And something else … hmm, I can't quite remember what it was but I am sure it will come to me when I get down to the garden."
Adrian laughed out loud at her again. So many things about where they lived … and the way they lived … never changed, and made him wish for desperate for something to change. But this - this morning meet and listening to her not remember what she was supposed to get for the cook of the morning - that he knew he would never tire of. It was one of the things that set him up in a good mood for the rest of each and every day. That and looking at her beautiful face that almost always had the happiest smile on it.
"Have you asked or said anything to anyone about what we talked about last night?" he asked her when they both relaxed from their laughter.
"Which aspect are you speaking of, Adrian? I seem to recall we talked about two equally important things last night."
"Just the first one, Isabella. I won't pressure you for the second. If you reach a place where you want to talk to me about the possibility of you and I pairing, I will be here for you. For now, let us not talk of it again. Your friendship is too important to me," he said and she looked intently at him while nodding her head. "So, the other - the warmth of the ground."
"No, I did not and will not speak of it to anyone. Did you?"
Adrian shook his head and spoke noticeably quieter and closer to her.
"No, but I want to go out again and walk further tonight. Will you join me? After dinner?"
"Oh Adrian, I don't know. You know we are not supposed to go out at night. And two nights in a row? What if we put it off till tomorrow?"
"No! I want to explore now, but I can explore alone. You do not have to come with me. It is quite alright."
They approached the fork in the path where they would go their separate ways. He moved closer to her and just reached out to touch her arm lightly, a move that did not startle or concern her.
"I will see you at dinner?" he asked and she nodded and smiled at him before turning away and beginning her daily trek to the large garden and orchard.
5 ~ THE NEARING
Trent had crossed another mountain and knew he was getting weaker now. Although he was eating enough to sustain himself in a usual stationary life in the city, the lesser amount of food combined with the excessive walking - particularly uphill walking - was resulting in a negative equation in energy levels, and he could feel his clothes getting looser. But now he was at the top of the mountain that stood directly before the one he wanted to get to.
As he reached the summit of this mountain he quickly took out his binoculars and looked in the direction of where he thought the structure must be.
At first he did not see it and felt a deep thud in his heart at the discovery that he had must have been seeing things and there was nothing there after all.
But then, looking again after a few minutes, he realized that it was there. It was so high that some light cloud had been sitting in front of it, but that cloud had passed and now the structure was visible - very visible.
He sat down on a large rock with force, his legs trying to give way as his brain tried to argue with him that he was still seeing an optical illusion of some kind. Through the binoculars he still couldn't make out exactly what it was but as he was getting nearer it was starting to look like … a castle. Large, high and broad with incredibly sturdy looking walls that appeared to be made of grey brick.
But that made no sense! Castles were from the days of medieval kings and queens. And they were in England, France and other parts of Europe. They were never here.
He quickly considered leaving immediately and trying to go straight to the valley and up the other side without stopping anymore, but knew he couldn't do that. It was already possibly a mission
that he would likely not survive, being this far away from civilisation now, but to try and walk at night when he could not see his footing properly would be more than irresponsible.
Instead, he made his way down to the sheltered side of the mountain he was on and set up camp again. It would only be a few more days and he would be there. But what then? Did the grandeur of claiming an unknown and unheard of castle seem in any way appealing to him? It was a useless thing to seek, he knew, but regardless his curiosity about the structure was already piqued and he could not give up now. If nothing else, it might provide him with some shelter for a few nights … enough to regain his strength before attempting to head home again.
Home.
Where was that, anyway? Where did he belong in the entire scheme of the whole world? The whole planet. If he really loved his 'home' so much, why had he felt so suffocated and desperate to leave?
6 ~ THE DREAM
Isabella woke abruptly from a night vision she had been having. She did not often have visions of the night but this one was vivid - far more vivid than she had ever experienced before. She took a moment to think about it before it disappeared from her mind - so often she woke with something she was visualising but then as the day wore on the memory of it dissipated until she could not remember what she had seen in her night vision at all.
But this one was different. It was a man. He was walking toward her. Isabella could see that he was not of her people. He was from somewhere else. She could tell that from the clothing he wore and the things he carried. He was the first person she had ever met - had ever seen - who was unfamiliar to her. New to her.
In her dream she walked toward him, and saw him walk straight up to her. His hair was dark and short, and he did not have long facial hair like the men in her village. His facial hair was so short, like he cut it as the people of her village occasionally cut the hair on their heads sometimes.
He held out his hands to her, and when she looked down she saw yellow in her hands. Although she did not know what it was, she could feel it warming her, making her smile. She felt a need to give it to him, to warm him, seeing how cold he seemed.
Why did he seem so cold? They were never cold here in the village. That was what was going through her mind when she awoke so suddenly, experiencing her very first feeling of an extreme chill running through her body.
7 ~ THE ARRIVAL
Trent stood before the massive walls. It was whilst standing before such a structure that he finally comprehended how big it was. As he stood at the base of one grey brick wall and looked upward, he had to crane his neck back a long way to be able to follow the line of sight upward and see the sky.
He reached forward and touched the brick, expecting it to be frozen at this height, where he was starting to feel the effect of the air lessening. Instantly he was surprised that the wall was not only not frozen to the touch … but almost warm. He looked upward again. The sun was out so that must have been the provider of the warmth. Of course it was. Sun beating down on a brick structure would always enable the brick to absorb the heat and hold it for probably the whole day. Yes, that explained it.
He placed a marker where he initially stood and then started to walk along the edge of the wall. From where he was he could not see any kind of gate or doorway, but there had to be one. Otherwise how would it have been built? Unless … it was built from the outside in, and the builders never left…
But even if that were the case, those men would be long perished, given how old the structure looked.
"What mysteries do you hold?" he asked out loud, to no-one listening.
Except that although he did not know it, someone, in their subconscious, had heard.
~~~~~
He seemed to walk for hours - certainly the sun was beginning its journey downward again and he was now getting considerably colder. When he had started walking around the structure's perimeter, he had purposely tied a marker to a nearby tree so that he would know when he was at the right point to start heading back again. But he did not think he had even started to make even an indentation on the entire perimeter yet.
The question now was, what to do. He could make his way part way down the mountain to find some shelter for the night, and then come back the next day. Or he could huddle against one of these walls in the hope that it would shelter him somewhat. He didn't know how long the sun's warming would still emanate from the brick walls, but it was certainly nice standing up against them for the moment.
He looked up at the sun and judged which would be the most sheltered side of the mountain to rest on for the night, and then continued his skimming of the perimeter for a bit further before tying a second marker and walking down the mountain a short way until he found a more sheltered spot to rest up.
From where he camped he could see the structure through the flora, and he was invigorated by having found it. At least now he could rest and be sure that it was real.
Now he just had to find a way into it.
~~~~~
Very early the next morning, with the sun only just starting to begin its very first stage of starting to rise in the sky, Trent woke with the knowledge that he felt warm. Wrapped in his sleeping bag inside the tiny pup tent, night after night, he had not had any nights where he felt too cold, but the warmth he was currently subjected to was different. It almost felt like a created heat … a manmade heat, as if reaching him from a heater or a heating appliance such as an electric blanket.
Enjoying the warmth, he moved himself so he could view the structure again, fearing for a moment that it might not be there - that it might have been a vision of imagination after all. But when he looked, it was definitely still there, and unavoidable in being seen by him from the close distance he was from the walls.
He climbed out and quickly ate, noticing he was now on the last dregs of the dried food he had brought with him. It was an expectation that he wouldn't - couldn't - endure a return trip to his home city without finding sustenance, and he knew the likelihood of that was grim. It was now a well accepted expectation that he would not survive this life much longer but he was at peace with that. He had set out from civilisation wanting to simply find peace, and he certainly had found it.
But amongst the resolve that his time on Earth was coming to an end, was a determination and excitement to explore where he was, to try and learn as much as he could about the structure before him.
He packed up his things into his tramping pack once more and walked up to the point of the wall where he had set the marker the evening before. From there he continued walking along the wall perimeter, desperate to find the entry point.
He must have walked for a good hour or so before suddenly he leaned on a portion of the wall that was currently bathed in sunlight. It was not the first part of the wall he had leaned on today - the warmth coming from it was soothing and he was finding himself more and more frequently desiring to let its emanating heat engulf him in order to make him feel recharged and able to continue on.
At this particular point though, as he leaned in to once again enjoy the heat, something different happened, and all of a sudden he found himself … on the other side of the wall.
At first he didn't realize what had happened. He felt the fall, but it wasn't until he refocused that he could see that he was not in the same place.
He looked around him and for as far as he could see were the remnants of buildings, broken as if they had gone through a war and had suffered the horror of bombing.
Trent staggered to his feet, feeling a combination of excitement and fear inside of him, as he looked around. So many questions came into his mind about the strange place but the one that called out to him most loudly was, 'what happened to this place?'
Before he walked forward he placed a third marker at the point where he had come through. Even looking at that spot on the wall now he could not see any doorway, but he tentatively placed his hand on it and felt the absence of the solid wall that he could see. It was like some ki
nd of magic, covering the entry point. A hologram? A portal?
He turned and began his exploration, but although he could see that there must have been buildings here at some point, the sight of rubble far outweighed the success of any one building having survived.
The massive space that he could see seemed to go on for miles and he realized the extent of which it must have been more than just a castle, as he had originally guessed it would be. It was more like an entire township - an entire land within a land.
His curiosity piqued, he now felt full of excitement and alertness, so began walking around all of the distinct outlines of where individual buildings must have once stood in a long past period of time.
The other thing he was so aware of, was that he was warm. He knew at a logical level how high he was currently on top of a mountain, and yet his body and the air around him seemed truly warm. It was still early in the morning and the sun was hardly up, so he couldn't account for it being the result of the sun. No, there was something more going on here, in this place. Something … magical.
He walked further, trying to visualise what the layout of the buildings must have been like, and found himself standing in front of what appeared to be a pile of rubble far greater in size than any other he had yet passed.
As he stood in front of it, seeing large parts of the rubble, he tried in his mind to put them back together like a jigsaw puzzle, so he could imagine what the structure had been.
As he stood there he became aware of a new feeling start to come over him - that of not only not being alone, but also of … being watched.
He stood where he was, facing the same direction, excited and yet fearful of what he would see when he turned around.
The Golden Desires Page 3