THE DREAM

  She was staring at the flame of a candle. She didn't know where her body was, but she could feel herself breathing slow and deep in a perfect tempo. She wasn't thinking about anything, no, her mind was completely calm. It was like looking at the four inch cream colored candle made her perfectly content. In any normal situation she would be so relaxed that she would just fall asleep.
Maybe her body was asleep already and her mind was awake. No matter, she was waiting for something, and finally, the candle flame flickered disappeared with only the light from the flame remaining. The fire revealed to her a book.
This was not just any book, and she could tell by the soft leather cover that it was very old. She took in the sight of the book and looked it over like she had done so many times before. She figured that it had been made by hand because it had different colors of leather, switching from brown to black, that were sewn together with a leather cord. The front of the book had a golden buckle that held the book closed with a single strap of leather that wrapped around from the back.
Like so many times before, She felt the urge to open the book and thumb through its pages. Excitement began to fill her chest and she could feel her breathing speed up. With this distraction of thought and emotion, the sight of the book began to get fussy. "No," she thought as she began to force herself to regain her meditative state of mind. She closed her eyes tight and took a deep breath and held it in. She let all thoughts and emotions about the book leave her mind, and after a while, the flame and the candle reappeared. She pushed out of her mind the disappointment she felt, for letting herself break her concentration.
Shortly, she saw another vision within the candle flame. It was one of a path through an unfamiliar forest, which was only wide enough for one person to travel comfortably. On either side there were trees and shrubs that were overgrown like no one had traveled on it in years.
Again, Curiosity consumed her, but this time the vision didn't fade. Every detail of the forest could be seen like she was there in person. The wind blew cool air all around her and the leaves swayed slowly. There didn't seem to be any other living object in the forest but her and the foliage.
She looked up into the sky to see what time of day it could be, but she couldn't see anything but the branches of the tall and old trees towering above her. It was hard to tell how tall the trees were. They let in very little light from the sun over head. It seemed like the only thing that was lighting her eyes was the candle flame she was staring into on the other side of her vision. It lit the path in front of her and anywhere she looked, but it didn't reach out further than a couple of feet from where she stood.
She walked lightly along the path for a while, she noticed roots from the trees breaking out of the ground and growing back inside the earth a foot or two later. She continued forward until a small clearing broke, and as she studied the area, she could only find a circular path around a large tree. Confused she walked around the path a couple of times but still couldn't find anywhere to go but back down the path that she came.
Frustrated, she sat down against the tree in the middle and took another deep breath. She opened her eyes again just as quickly as she had closed them. The path must have end because there was something here in this clearing. She looked up into the tree and saw something like a tree house in its branches. Could this be it? The only place the path lead? She climbed a wooden ladder that ran along side the tree until she reached a platform. She pulled herself up onto the porch of a cabin in the branches of the tree; she was no longer in control of her own actions but more like a spectator watching someone else or having someone drive her body like a car. She felt and watched herself walk over to a small box and open it. "Libero vereor," (release fear) she said without knowing why. With her hands pointing toward the inside of the box, light shot from the tips of her fingers and filled the inside. Her emotions were calmed, relaxed, and peacefull. This feeling became stronger as the light in the box grew brighter. When the streams of light from her fingers dulled and dissapeared, she closed the box. With the box closed tightly she said, "evanesco." (vanish) after a few moments she reopened the chest the light was gone, inside was a large old fashioned key. As she reached for the key an unusual sound echoed into the forest.
It was hard to keep the dream clear with this noise. Slowly her vision vanished.