Beyond The Looking Glass - Words of the Unseen - Chapter 2
๐ฆ๐ธ๐ป๐ญ ๐ซ๐ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ช๐พ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ธ๐ป
Beyond The Looking Glass is the second book in the Unseen series, a story that came to me from the other side. A story where I thought I was just the narrator until I heard the Words of the Unseen.
This second story goes beyond time and place and mixes the long ago with the here and now. Because history keeps repeating until we learn and do something about it.
Beyond The Looking Glass - Words of the Unseen - Chapter 2
This time there was no need to seek, no weeks of preparation, and above all, no doubt.
Unlike my previous trip, this time I did not plan to go for my goal in a straight line and since I didn't have to take anyone into account, that didn't seem to be a problem.
It is hard to believe how many things have happened these last two moons. I have to get my feet back deep into the clay of this earth again. That takes time so for the first time ever I would go without a plan and try to let life lead me.
Well, I have to be honest and acknowledge that I and unplanned are not the best of friends. I did already have a first goal, going back to the coast.
Back to where my distant ancestors once lived and left. Of all the places I've been on this trip, the sea felt most like home, which is strange coming from a farmer who always lived in the mountains.
Maybe I want to go back there because I had to leave something behind. Something that I didn't want to leave behind. However when I think about it that canยดt be it. There has to be more, or would I really go down this route only to pay tribute to an old friend?
It is strange to be alone with my thoughts again, a solitude that I had so often appropriated for myself in our village but which had seemed less and less important during this journey.
Somehow it feels very uncomfortable to no longer be able to share, to no longer have to be open. On the other hand, I know that the hermit is a part of me as well, a recently neglected part, but part of me nonetheless.
When, after days of traveling, I finally descend the stone steps towards the coast, it does feel somewhat like coming home.
Not because we stayed here for so many days in apparent peace, but because I recognize the bond I have with this land. I recognize but do not understand it.
My people left this piece of the world many lifetimes ago. They fled from the brutal attacks of the Krotan Dua, the sea devils. Everything I know about this place comes from stories, and now I feel this.
For a moment I hesitate to skip this stop, turn around, and make my journey back home as short as possible. A sense of protest wells up at the very idea.
The need to return is there, that much is clear to me, but I am not yet ready to return.
For days I stroll through this area where my ancestors had lived. Every now and then I see something that points to human intervention.
After so many generations it is difficult to say with certainty what structures are not natural.
The stone circle I pass by is certainly not natural. Nature can create a lot but I see the human hand clearly in this structure. It might help that we still build these types of protected places.
I realize that my wanderings were not pointless when I find myself in the middle of a cave looking at the clearest human clue so far.
Irrefutable, grand, and right in front of me on the stone wall hidden in the shadows but very visible by the light of my torch, I stand face to face with images of the Krotan Dua.
The first images in what looks like an overview of charcoal and what must be some kind of paint show boats at sea with long-haired figures. They do not look anything like the sea devils from the stories, but I recognize them without any effort.
A little further on huts become visible, they are already destroyed. The once-red paint has become so dark that it actually looks like clotted blood.
Even though I want to tear my eyes away, I cannot. Something makes me look and absorb every detail. I have heard the stories, but the folklore just became real.
These images and the realization do not leave my mind while I walk around aimlessly until I reach the rope bridge. I drop to my knees and lie face down on the dusty stone ground, on or very near the spot where Retsj was left lying.
I see the giant before me.
Heยดs not kneeling down after the arrow tore through his immense body. He looks as I got to know him, as the Lord of the forest.
I see him, he's where he belongs. Back at that place, he didn't want to leave. And bright as the morning sun I see why.
Why didnยดt I see that during those first days?
His eyes, the sturdy way he left his forest, the fact he did not speak. Everything now shows that he knew, he knew how this was to end and yet he went along.
โHe knew it, by the gods, he knew it,โ I shout out to no one as tears flow and my throat clogs.
Only when dusk falls and the stones become cold do I get up, after putting my forehead to the ground and whispering "Bye Friend".
Next Chapter Coming in Two Days
Post Related To Closing Book One and Opening Book Two
The Closure A Personal Story With A Soundtrack:
Personal Story With A Soundtrack - A New Adventure - Part 1
Personal Story With A Soundtrack - A New Adventure - Part 2
The Closure - Greatest Hits For A Never-Ending Story:
Greatest Hits From My Book "Beyond Doubt: Whispers of the Unseen"
The Closure - Alice in ArtWorkLand:
ALICE In AI ArtWorkLand - A Crazy Manยดs Revelations