"What? I just saw things … differently…"
Neither knew what that meant, but Isabella coaxed him with the softness of her voice, to sit down again.
When he did, he put his hands on the ground as she had said, this time keeping his eyes open. Instantly things changed. Before him she still sat, unchanged, but suddenly the image of dirt was replaced with that of grass - green grass. And beyond, in the distance, he could see buildings - upright, intact and well formed buildings.
He removed his hands only a short way, just lifting them clear of the grass, and immediately everything was dark again, and it was dirt they were on. But still she sat there before him, exactly the same. She was in his view, no matter what he did.
"What is happening? What do you see?" she was asking him, full of curiosity and intrigue herself at what new and exciting things appeared to all of a sudden be happening in her home village.
He focused on her once more as he lowered his hands down again, and once more was forced to see a different landscape.
"It is all changing, Isabella. When I have my hands down like this I can see what I think you see - this is green grass we are sitting on," he said and she nodded. "And I can see buildings that look intact, over that way."
Isabella smiled at him.
"Yes. You are seeing my home. But why do you not see it when your hands are not down? Who is seeing real? Me? Or you?"
His eyes were deeply focused on hers.
"You are the constant here, Isabella. You I can see either way. Do you have a power that is making me see you?" he asked and she shook her head.
"No, I have no power. I am just me. No-one in my village has powers, I do not think."
Suddenly his stomach growled and he knew he was well overdue for food but did not know how he could get to any. She heard the sound though and laughed softly.
"You must eat."
"Yes, but how?"
She looked thoughtful for a while, also seeming to do calculations in her head about how she could help him with the current dilemma. Suddenly she stood up and held out her hand once more.
"Come with me," she said and he immediately took her hand and walked. "I do not know if this will work as I do not know if this will happen on all of our land, but our orchard is this way."
She held his hand as she walked him through what now looked like dry dirt and overgrown areas of growth. But eventually he could see what must have once been healthy trees. Now, though, they were just dried and dead stumps.
"Sit down here. Let us see if it works here," she said and he obeyed.
As soon as his hands touched the ground, he could see he was in an orchard with a vegetable garden nearby.
"Oh!" he exclaimed, unintentionally indicating to her that he could indeed see what was around them.
He watched her as she leaned up and picked a red apple off one of the trees that he could now clearly see was a fruit tree, and she went to hand it to him, but as he reached out to take it, even with just one hand, the image died … and so did the fruit. He was suddenly looking at nothing.
Isabella was thoughtful enough to comprehend what had happened so she instructed him to put his hand down once more, while she reached up and took another apple. This time she came to him and pulled out a small knife from the side pocket of her dress.
He watched as she cut off a slice and leaned in to place it in his open mouth. It wasn't the most gracious way to eat, but he let her feed him like that. He did not want to think about what would happen to the food inside of him once he moved his hands.
As he sat cross legged, she was close to him, leaning over him almost, and he was very aware of her as the beautiful woman that she was. It had been so long since he'd had a woman's company … since he'd had any company in fact. But it was more than that. Because of the dreams, he felt like he knew her … like they were meant to not only know one another, but completely be together.
Perhaps the fruit would end up being real - perhaps it wouldn't. But in the moment, it felt to him like his stomach was getting nourishment, and the fruit was far fresher than anything he had ever had in his life. He let her feed him, partly because he knew his body needed it, but also because he wanted to be this close to her. He had dreamed about her and now she was real - seemingly in either reality. Whichever vision was the reality. That was the ongoing question to which the answer was completely and utterly unknown.
When the apple was finished she threw the apple core away onto what appeared to be a compost heap, but remained kneeling in front of him.
"Isabella," he whispered, wanting to be closer to her but knowing he could not. But the pull to her was so great, like the universe wanted them to be closer. He had slept with many women, but had never felt anything like this.
She surprised him by leaning in and kissing him and he groaned in response, moving his hands off the ground as he did so. They remained kissing until she heard a voice getting closer, and he saw her head turn before she stood up quickly with the look of embarrassment. She knew that the outlook had changed for him again when he had removed his hands from the ground, but she couldn't leave him there for the gardeners to unknowingly walk through if they were to go near the trees. If he was actually there.
Suddenly he could see her talking to people, except he couldn't see them. He could only see her talking … as if she were talking to no-one. When she began walking he saw her indicate subtly with her hand behind her to follow her, so he did. As he followed her he couldn't see the people but he could tell from watching her where they were. He had no way of knowing if they could see him, but he guessed not as she seemed to act as if he weren't there, even though she now and then would look back at him.
He couldn't even tell where they were so had no idea if people were walking through him - were there ghosts? Was she a ghost? She certainly had not felt like a ghost when she had kissed him.
Or perhaps he was a ghost. Suddenly he was thinking that perhaps he had actually died and was now haunting this place, with the people there being real and her being some kind of medium.
The thought caused a shudder to pass down his spine and he disregarded it quickly. Whatever was happening, he could not change it or stop it, so trying to analyse it would do him no good. He opted instead to enjoy the feeling of food in his stomach - something that did feel like it was staying put, even though everything else had changed and disappeared around him.
Isabella had to think of where to lead him. She wanted him to be able to sit down and enjoy her village as she did, but without him being seen.
He saw her leading him once more into the pile of rubble she had tried to earlier. This time he let her, but while she seemed to walk freely among it, for him he had to climb over broken debris.
"This won't work, Isabella," he called out to her only a metre or two into what looked to him to be a war zone. "I can't go that way."
She looked thoughtful and nodded in acknowledgement. Looking around first, she then looked at him and said quietly, "You lead me to where you can go, where you think you can sit and be safe."
He understood her logic immediately, looked around him, grabbed his backpack and eventually led her to where they had first sat. Seeing no-one nearby, she leaned in close to him and whispered into his ear so no-one else could hear.
"I have to get on with my day as usual," she said and he nodded in full understanding. "But I am going to go into the temple and talk to one of our ancients, Elder Rhys. I will bring him here. Will you stay here?" she asked and he nodded again. "Are you warm here?"
"Yes, I will stay right here. No-one will walk through me?" he asked, feeling giddy at the thought.
She laughed softly.
"No, I do not think that they can see you, nor you them. But regardless, you are not on a path. No-one should walk here."
He saw her look around once more before moving right up to him and pressing her chest into his, and leaning forward to kiss him fully on the lips.
Trent was hungry with passion for her. He di
dn't know if it was a real passion - a real desire - or if it were driven by hunger for the human touch that he had been without for what seemed like so long. He did not even know if she was real. But certainly in that moment she seemed real, and whether or not she was, he was ready to indulge in the feelings that were passing between them.
He put his arms around her and pulled her tighter to him, kissing her hungrily and hearing her moan slightly at the passion they both seemed to feel.
Isabella felt a desperation she had never felt before. She wanted … needed … to be closer to him. Letting herself go with the feeling, she kissed him back as hard as she could but soon the sound of people starting to emerge from their homes made her pull away.
"People are waking up. I must go. Please stay here. Don't go."
He heard the pleading in her voice and nodded and smiled at her.
"I will be here, I promise."
And then he saw her wander off. He lay down on the grass but did not want to risk being seen so kept his hands off it, choosing instead to lie on his back and keep his hands on his chest. He didn't yet know for certain if when he transported to be able to see what she saw, other people in her view might be able to see him, even though she had said it must be the case.
Through the day he saw her from a distance a few times, often chatting and laughing as if she were having a conversation, although he saw no-one with her.
When he got hungry he reached in to his pack and ate a few of the last tiny morsels he had left in the form of dry food. He could still remember the taste of the apple and it made him salivate slightly. And he couldn't be sure but it felt like even though that apple perhaps should have disappeared from his stomach as soon as he removed himself from that time and place that he ate it, he didn't feel like it had. His stomach had continued to feel the same as it had when he had eaten it. It was a good sign - if he could get more food from her, he might survive this journey after all.
Later on, when he'd had some sleep, he heard her voice coming toward him, and opened his eyes to see her striding in his direction. She was looking around her but she also had someone beside her … and Trent noticed immediately that not only could Trent see the man, but that the elderly man was looking straight at him.
The older man guided Isabella to sit down on the ground, cross-legged, facing him so that to others it would look like they were meditating and having a serious conversation. He instructed her to not look at the third person in their seating arrangement, now that other people were seemingly moving around the village.
"You are a traveller, I see," the elderly man said.
"Can you … see me?" Trent asked, uncertain yet what was happening.
"I can indeed. You are not the first traveller I have encountered, but it has been almost 300 years since the last one came through here."
Both Isabella and Trent asked at the same time, "300 years??" and the elder laughed softly.
"Yes, 300 years. The last time someone came here though, did not end well. Your name is Trent, yes?" he asked and Trent nodded. "What you see, Trent, I think, is the result of what happened when the last traveller was here. He came here and at first he merged with our people, fitting in as a welcome guest. Then he went away. Not long after he had left, he came back, this time with many people. They did not want to just visit us. They wanted to take what was sustaining us - a power and heat source that sits under the earth that we sit on now. We would not let them take it, and they fought us to try and take it by force."
"And that is how your village became destroyed?" Trent asked, feeling quite ill at the story being told to him.
"Yes."
Isabella was disbelieving of what she was hearing.
"But Elder Rhys, we are here, and the village is not destroyed…"
The ancient looked at her.
"You have much to learn, Isabella. You and I are in a different timeline to what Trent is. What we see is hundreds of years behind what he sees. The ground here is the only link he can have to our time.
"But then how can I see Isabella? And you?" Trent asked, still open to the possibility that he had died and was a ghost.
The ancient nodded.
"It is a complex thing indeed. I have lived for 600 years and I have always had the gift to see and talk to people from different times, but I was not aware that you had it too, Isabella. But I fear that we are the only two, although if Trent remains here it may come to light that some others may see him also."
"But how can he survive here, Elder? He cannot eat or drink…"
"He can change," the ancient said, as if it were the most obvious answer in the world. "We can bring him back into our time, Isabella…" he said, looking at her first and then more intently at Trent. "But if we do that, Trent, you will be in our time securely. Your time will not exist. Do you understand?"
Trent nodded his head.
"We can only do this once. I do not have any ability to send you back to your time if you are unhappy in ours. Therefore I wish to advise you to take a day or two to think about it first. You are safe here, and I believe that Isabella will be able to help you to eat and drink, even though she will have to do it discretely. At night would be better, Isabella," he said and she nodded in agreement, having already planned in her mind to find Trent that evening and bring at least some bread with her to give to him.
Trent saw the ancient look at him closely.
"I sense you are a good man, even though I equally sense turmoil in your soul. You must take the time needed to make the right decision. I can see your journey here has taken a toll on your body. We will be able to amend that for you so you will be able to journey home again if you wish. If you do that, there will be no advantage to bringing people here in the future - in your time - as there is nothing really here anymore," he said and Trent nodded his head, understanding what was being said to him. "Do you understand what I am saying, young traveller?"
"Yes," Trent replied quietly.
"Good. Now I must stand up and move. Joints do not work well when you reach the ripe old age of 600!" he said, slowly raising himself off the ground with the help of both Isabella and Trent. "Take your time in thinking about what I have said, Trent. It is a one way trip, what I offer you, so be sure. Isabella here will come to me when you have made your decision."
"Thank you Sir," Trent said, in awe of the ancient as he moved away from them.
"I must go to dinner but I will bring some food for you afterward," Isabella said quietly and watched him sit down again.
As soon as she was on the path, she heard Adrian call out to her.
"Isabella! Are you coming to dinner?" he asked and she nodded, quickly putting on the mask she knew she needed to.
"Yes of course. Let's go."
~~~~~
Left alone again, Trent pondered what he had been told were now his options. Stay here, eat, recuperate and then tramp home. But to what? Noise? Pollution? People? And screens? Oh how he had come to loathe screens!
But what of the other option? He did not know how they lived, these people, so how could he make that judgement? He could not see them. He could not even see the landscape unless he placed his hands to the ground beneath him. But if he did that, would they then see him? It was not a risk he was willing to take yet. First he had to focus most of all on whether he even wanted to go home … ever.
~~~~~
Isabella and Adrian sat close together, as they always did during evening meal times … and morning meal times that Adrian did not sleep through.
"You are very quiet, Isabella. What is troubling you?" Adrian asked her, not able to even imagine where her mind was taking her on this day. She had always been such a fluent person, doing the same things day after day and never having any different thoughts at all, but over the past week she had begun to change before his eyes.
Isabella looked at him intently, wanting so much to share her discovery with him but not knowing if he could be trusted.
On the one hand he was Adrian
- her lifelong friend and confidant. That Adrian would never betray anything that she told him, and would always support her in whatever she said or did.
But on the other hand he had, only days before, offered her a pairing with him, and she had not said yes to that. He seemed to have accepted her decision to rush into that, but she was not certain if he would be so accepting if he knew about this strange man who had appeared. A man who not only had come into her life, but who she had kissed.
She knew Adrian was accepting of her not being ready to move forward yet into pairing, but how hurt would he be if he knew she was moving forward in physical intimacy with someone else?
"You can talk to me. You know that, right?" he asked and she smiled and nodded.
"Of course I know that, Adrian! You are my closest friend and you have proven to me over and over how much I can trust you."
Adrian looked at her with a look of curiosity on his face.
"Trust me? Oh, that sounds intriguing. What have you done, Isabella? Let the chickens out again when you gathered their eggs this morning?" he asked with a sound of light hearted teasing in his voice. "Did you forget which herb you should have gathered for the cook again? Did you grab a green apple this morning when you should have grabbed a red one?"
She knew he was trying to lighten the mood but in the depths of his eyes she could see that he was concerned about her. But when he mentioned the apples, she felt a blush appear over her face as it became warm, and saw on his face that he had seen it.
"What is it?" he finally asked, his voice now more serious, lower and quieter, as if suddenly concerned they were about to talk about something that no-one else must hear.
"I…" she started to say but then became tongue tied. She lowered her eyes from his before she spoke again. "Adrian, something is happening and I don't know how to talk about it."
He raised his arm and slowly stroked her forearm, trying to soothe her.
"It is alright. You can tell me - or not tell me - whichever you wish. Do not worry yourself so, Isabella. You are starting to worry me."
"No, I trust you and I do need to share this with someone other than Elder Rhys."
The Golden Desires Page 5