(Page 1 of 2) A Forest Dream by Michael White
 (5 ratings)
|
SUMMARY: Some things should not be kept secret from those we love.A Forest Dream
By Michael White
You find yourself floating in a starry night sky above a clearing in a forest that stretches from a great river nearby to mountains in the distance in all sides. Moonlight illuminates the clearing as do numerous torches and a large fire in the center. Surrounding the center fire is ring within ring of people.
The people wear strange leather clothing. Finely stitched into a large array of clothing, many you recognize such as dresses, pants, shirts, but other stranger articles which while it seems strange to your eyes are beautiful to behold.
As you float down from above you can begin to make out faces. They have an odd cast to them, darker than you are used to and each and every one with intricate tattoo's depicting a multitude of natural shapes. Leaves, Bears, Trees, snowflakes, and countless others dot the arms, faces, and legs of all those gathered around the fire.
Closest to the fire you see three people apart from everyone else. An old man is standing before a kneeling couple. The woman is incredibly beautiful and is wearing an intricate dress doted with semi-precious stones. The man beside her stares into the fire seemingly thinking of what is about to take place. He is wearing a simple leather tunic adorned with a single sapphire in the middle which seems to glow with it's own faint light.
As you float there above the clearing the old man begins to speak, his words break silence that you had up until now not noticed. His voice is strong but the words he speaks are unfamiliar to you. However for some strange reason you feel that you can understand what he is saying.
"Life is a series of moments strung together. Each one touching another in an endless chain. The history reaching forward to touch the present. Evil and good strive against each other in an endless dance of life and death. Good and evil are not absolutes however. For each fallen paladin that twists in corrupt glee at the death of his enemies there is a horrid necromancer that mistakenly slays one he loves and repents his ways."
"None of these things are possible without reasoning. Without the ability to tell right from wrong and understand the consequences of your actions then good and evil creatures of the lowest order. These beings can also not know peace, which is the catalyst for change. A tortured soul that finds peace can change its ways where one that is continuously tormented can not reach for the light. Serenity is found though peace using reason. In this way one can find redemption for the wrongs you have done. The reasoned one will forgive but will not allow us to forget. The knowledge of our sins strengthens the soul until we are ready to reach eternal peace with him."
The old man lifts his hands to the sky and his voice deepens and he intones the words "Peace, Reason, and Serenity." Filled with emotion. The voices of every person in the clearing echo back the words cadenced so that their voices seem as one repeating the words, which seem to echo into the heavens above you.
| 
