8 ~ THE STRANGER
Isabella awoke, once again startled by a vision of the night. The same man was in it but the vision itself was different. This time she could see him sleeping. He was in strange clothes and even though he had many layers over and around him, he was so very, very cold. She could feel the cold come to her through the vision of the night, and once again it distressed her. But then she could see what he was seeing and realized he must be looking at the outer walls of her village.
There was no mistaking what walls they were, but they looked different from his view. She knew from having grown up with the view that around the entire outer layer of the village the walls were covered with roses of a deep lavender colour. That was what she saw whenever she went anywhere, every day of her life.
But the view she got from the point of the view of the man in the night vision was not that of a wall covered in roses. It was grey, dark, blank and so … bleak.
All of a sudden a deep male voice echoed into her head, stunning her as she could not make out where it had come from.
"What mysteries do you hold?" the voice asked, but what was he asking about? The walls? The village? Or her?
Her vision changed so that she was no longer seeing from his point of view anymore, and instead felt like she was looking at him again.
In her vision she walked toward him and watched him sleeping there, in the odd layers of cloth he seemed to be using to keep him warm. And he looked so cold. How could he be so cold? It was always so warm where they were.
In her vision she knelt down close to him and reached out her hand, and upon touching his cheek, saw him wake up, confused, before settling his eyes on her. They did nothing more - they did not smile, they did not speak. They just looked at each other with such a knowing.
She sat upright in her warm bed, holding onto the night vision as tightly as she could. These visions were different from others she'd had. These were so real.
Immediately she jumped out of bed and dressed. She had to get to breakfast and find Adrian.
~~~~~
"These night visions are different, Adrian! Something is different!" she said to him, showing him exactly how much the night visions were affecting her.
"Isabella, all of us have them at some time or other. They don't mean anything."
"Yes, but that is where something is different - I know it is. Something isn't right. I think I need to go and speak to an elder - perhaps Elder Rhys," she said and saw Adrian's eyes go wide. "What do you think?"
"Elder Rhys?! He is … an ancient! You can't just go and talk to him about something trivial…"
"These visions of the night aren't trivial! I know they are something else," she said to him with a volume that was louder than her usual voice, causing people to turn and look at her. Instantly she lowered her voice before speaking again. "I must go to see him. Straight away. I will see you at dinner time."
She stood to leave and instantly saw him stand also.
"Wait, Isabella. I will walk over to the temple with you. I may not be able to go inside but at the very least I will escort you as far as I can."
Isabella smiled at him sadly but gratefully.
"Thank you."
~~~~~
Isabella tentatively stood in the temple entrance. It was a commanding structure that had always seemed to call to her, as if it were silently but consistently extending a private invitation to her. She did not know if everyone else felt the same way about the building. Nor did know if the feeling was even real, or simply a figment of her imagination. But as she approached to enter, she felt a sense of homeliness come over here, like this was where she was always meant to be. As if the spirits of her ancestors still resided here, and were calling out to her, telling her she was special and that she had a purpose … a calling.
She stepped further into the temple, aware that it was not a public space that people went to for trivial purposes, and she wondered if she should really be there after all. Visions of the night were not rare, and as far she knew, they never meant anything, but something about this felt different to her, as if it were not something to be overlooked or ignored.
Isabella stood for a moment and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath as she felt … something … flow over her. She couldn't define what it was, but it stirred her blood whilst at the same time making her feel incredibly at peace.
"Isabella," she heard a voice call out to her, for a moment alarming her and forcing her to open her eyes and look around.
Her eyes settled on Elder Rhys. In addition to being an elder, he was also an ancient - one of the oldest persons of the village. She did not understand yet why some elders were ancients and some were not. To her she only knew that they were old, and wise … and that the people of the village put full trust in them on the very rare occasion when any decision had to be made. But generally they were never seen, keeping themselves hidden away behind the façade of the large temple.
"Elder Rhys," she whispered, in awe of the power of the man in front of her, and not sure what etiquette she should follow by greeting him in the temple.
He saw her start to smile, then seem to change her mind as if she were uncertain if she were welcome to do that. Then she started to bow, or nod, and once again seemed confused.
Suddenly she heard him laugh quietly.
"Isabella, you are welcome here. Come. I can see that you have something to discuss," he said to her, helping her to relax before she smiled at him and began to walk alongside him until they were in a small room.
He guided her to sit in a hard wooden seat in the room, as he sat down opposite her and looked at her with a look of anticipation and patience. In front of him he saw the young woman looking around her, full of curiosity and extreme inquisitiveness.
"What do you wish to discuss?" he asked her and finally she turned her head to look right at him.
"I … I have seen things in my visions of the night, and they are … confusing me. I know night visions are unimportant…"
"On the contrary, Isabella, Visions of the night sometimes tell us things that we need to know, and can provide us with direction for us to go on our path of life. I sense that you have been experiencing something more than a standard vision of the night, though," he said and she saw him lean forward, as if hungry to hear what she was going to say. "Tell me."
"A man … there is a man who appears. He is not from here. He looks different. And he is so cold. When I wake I can feel the cold that he is feeling. He has a different face. But how can I have a vision of someone I have never seen and do not know? My visions of the night are about Adrian, or my mother or father, or … other people … but always the people in my night visions are people that I know. I do not know this man. And I have now seen him in more than one vision of the night. How can that be?"
The ancient before her sat quietly. He already knew of her vision of the night - he had seen it too - but he did not share that with her now. She was startled by the night vision, and her knowing that the vision was being seen by him as well would not serve any purpose, or put her any more at ease. So he kept quiet, his mind also curious about the discovery that suddenly he was seeing a vision of the night that had belonged to someone else. When he had woken from that vision of the night, he had wondered if she might have seen him there, in the vision too, but as he listened to her now he realized that she must not have. She had seen the vision just as he had, except to her it was only the man and herself in it. To him, he had been watching from a third person view point, as if seeing it happen from a distance.
"How many visions of the night has he been in, Isabella?" he asked her, inquisitive as it had only been the one that he had been somehow made a party to.
"Two."
He was surprised further by her answer. Why had he seen one but not the other? He was 600 years old and he had been through one similar experience before, but not quite like this, and in his extremely long lifetime, the rarity of anything new happening made this discovery in
triguing to him.
Isabella watched his face, somewhat expecting inside of her that he would laugh at her and tell her she was being silly, and there was nothing to worry about or even think about with regard to her visions of the night. But he didn't do that at all.
"Sometimes things happen, Isabella, that we cannot explain. Perhaps it is your mind creating this person as a way to indicate to you that you should be moving forward in some part of your life."
"You do not think it is in any way real? You do not think that the man in my visions of the night is real?"
"I think … I think that you should keep remembering your night visions if you can, but do not worry about them. In time if there is something you are to learn from them, it will be revealed. It is always the way."
Isabella looked at him in the hope that he would continue speaking, but soon realized that those words had been his closing of the conversation. She stood up and smiled at him before quietly leaving the room, having not learned anything more about the odd instances that were happening to her in the night, than she had known before.
~~~~~
The following morning Isabella awoke again with yet another night vision fresh in her mind. In this vision of the night she saw the same man again. The vision showed that he was now inside the village, near the temple.
Immediately she took a moment to make sure she was properly awake, before dressing quickly and running from her home. It was a 10 minute dash to the temple, she knew, with it being at the far end of the village.
As the temple came into view she slowed, seeing a figure standing directly in front of it, staring at it. As if sensing her there, he turned and saw her, and she saw him drop the bag he had been holding over his shoulder, and go quite white.
Slowly they walked toward each other. It was still early and no-one in the village was yet roused apart from the cooks in the kitchen, who she knew would not come outside.
He saw her walking toward him and he felt his heart beating heavily in his chest.
Finally they stood facing one another, each seeing such a look of intense curiosity on the other's face.
"You have been in my visions of the night," Isabella finally said, not sure if it was a statement or a question that she was trying to portray but he looked confused.
"Visions of the night?" He seemed to play the words over in his mind and then smile softly. "Oh, perhaps you mean dreams."
"Dreams," he heard her repeat softly, as if she had never heard the word before.
"And you were in mine also. Although you are far more beautiful now that I see you in person," he said, instantly hearing himself as if he were a player from the life he had just left.
Isabella was enraptured. She was drawn to him automatically, and moved closer. He did not step away from her, as if he also felt they were meant to be much, much closer.
Trent brought his hands up to gently touch each side of her face, and was warmed by the feeling of her skin, as if she were emanating warmth from deep within her.
He saw her lean into his hands as she continued to look directly into his eyes and he was instantly drawn to want to kiss her.
Isabella saw his lips coming down toward hers but felt no fear. When they touched she felt something she had never felt before. It was as if this was the moment she had been working toward - waiting for - all of her life. She did not dare pull away - she had no wish to pull away. She was 21 and it was her first kiss in her lifetime. She wanted it to be … to remain … the most special kiss - the most special moment - that she would ever experience.
At 30 years of age, Trent had kissed a great many women - far too many, he knew - but he had never felt what he was feeling now. In his dreams he had felt an incredible pull toward her, and those feelings were only intensified now that she was so close to him and her lips were on his.
When they separated they stood back from one another and just looked closely at each other, both uncertain how this had come to be.
"I don't understand any of this," he said, shaking his head as if he expected to wake up from a dream. "Who are you?"
She looked closely at him, also so scared - and yet at the same excited - by what it all meant.
"I am Isabella," she said simply and he laughed softly at her, since she obviously did not understand the full extent to which he was asking. "Who are you?"
"My name is Trent. Trent Solace," he said and held out his hand in a greeting natural to his world, but she immediately stepped backward and stared at his hand.
She looked up into his eyes, suddenly remembering another part of one of the night visions she'd had.
"There was something else … something yellow. I handed it to you."
Immediately Trent remembered that part of the dream also. He had forgotten but he could clearly see it in his mind now that she had mentioned it.
"Yes! You handed it to me," he said, letting his mind remember. "It was…"
"Warm," they both said at the same time.
"What was it?" he asked her but she could not answer.
"I do not know. When I saw it in my night vision - my dream - I did not recognise it."
Trent looked around, suddenly remembering what had seemed so odd to him when he had first arrived within the interior of the large walls. He was warm - but outside at such a distance from the walls it had been so cold.
"How can it be so warm here?"
Isabella was alarmed that it was the same question that Adrian had so recently asked her, but she did not want to betray her friend so felt it best to pretend to be unsure of the question.
"What do you mean? It is always this temperature here."
"But you are on top of a mountain, and it is very, very cold out there," he said, pointing in such as way as to indicate he meant outside of the large walls.
"Yes," she replied, remember the other aspects of her night visions. "When I had my night visions of you I could feel the cold. But it does not get cold here. It is always like this. It is our home."
He looked at her then, for the first time wondering about who the structure had been built for.
"Our? Are there other people here?" he asked just as Isabella saw a stray mill worker come outside and make his way toward the eating area.
She laughed softly and quietly at the strange man before her.
"Yes, there is one right there!" she said, pointing, but Trent saw nothing, and it showed on his face. "You cannot see him?"
Trent was confused at what she was saying … what she was seeing … and now he was really wondering if he was inside a dream.
"All I see are a lot of broken buildings and rubble … and you."
Isabella looked around her but could not see the broken buildings he referred to.
"Nothing is broken here. What looks broken to you?" she asked, curious.
He pointed behind him to the temple.
"That, for starters. It looks like a bomb went off and flattened it."
Isabella walked past him and up to the temple door. To her it felt normal as she passed through it.
"What is this 'bomb' you speak of? There is nothing wrong here. This is our temple, and it stands as it always has."
To Trent it looked like she was magically walking … through rubble.
"Wait! Don't go there!" he yelled at her, thinking that she would surely bring down some of the random beams that were standing upwards but which looked completely unsecured in any way.
Isabella turned to him and saw the concern on his face so stopped and came back to him.
"I do not understand. Do you see different from what I see? How could that be?"
"I…" he stammered, feeling well out of his depth now. "I don't know. But Isabella, please don't go there. It doesn't look safe. Is there an open area perhaps - somewhere where there are no buildings or any other things that might fall?"
She smiled at him, wondering if he was jesting her as Adrian did sometimes. But she only saw fear and seriousness on his face.
She held
out her hand to him.
"Come. I know a great open space we can go to, to sit and talk."
He looked at her, saw her hand extended, and found himself surprised at how at ease he was with her, and how at ease she seemed to be with him. Taking her hand in his, he then let her lead him past the broken down buildings and rubble that he could see must have been a great township at some time … a very, very long time ago.
They walked in silence, looking at each other while continuing to hold hands, not sure what was happening with or between them. At a logical level it seemed wrong that they should be walking together so companionably when they did not know each other. Even for Trent - a man well versed in meeting strangers and even taking some of them home with him for sexual pleasure - he felt that they might be crossing a boundary by holding hands. But he did not stop it. As much as he had wanted to be away from human contact on his quest, he found that right in this moment, he was very glad of it.
When they reached the area where Isabella had felt the land warm when she was with Adrian, she sat down on the ground and invited him to do the same.
Sitting down on the dirt, Trent was again surprised that he felt no cold there. But when she told him to put both of his hands flat on the ground, as Adrian had done, something surged through him. It was warmth, but it was more than that. He closed his eyes and let the feeling rush through him. It was not like anything he had experienced before. It was like his veins had something new and exciting rushing through them. And he felt so healthy and … alive.
Isabella watched him sit like that and took the time to really look closely at his face. He was not like anyone she already knew but she found she liked looking at his face. She felt close to him, like she was meant to be close to him … like she was meant to be even closer to him.
Suddenly he opened his eyes and initially looked directly into hers, before she saw him jump up and backwards, then look confused again.
"What is it?" she asked, alarmed at his response, and standing up with him.
The Golden Desires Page 4