note the date of the dreams, as they happened in reverse order
5/20/07
Razor Ridge
the room was dark and chilled and the air moist. the hammock that i swung from didnt creak, i rocked silently in the room that seemed to be the hollow of a huge tree trunk. the room was spacious, the ceiling tall, tall enough that i couldn't see it and it seemed decorated. hanging from the unseen celing was all kinds of trinkets, amulets and charms. some of them glowing faintly, others had moving parts that spun or rolled, yet all were out of my reach. i slowly lower myself to the floor which is wooden like the walls. very little light comes in through the slats of the door, and it seems to be firelight, not sunlight. i test the handle of the door, afraid it may be locked on the outside and i were a prisoner. it turns freely and the door swings open quietly on wooden hinges. the platform on which i find myself is very large and open, much like a town square. in the center is a large pit with a dying fire in it. as i walk towards it i notice teh platform has rings... like when you cut down a tree, and count the rings to see how 'old' it is... i counted over thirty lines with every step, with 25 steps bringing me to the center. the center is a large bowl carved into the wood with some kind of metal lining it. the fire was dying but still warm. i stretched out my hands to it and looked to the edges of the 'town square'. now the room i woke up in made more sense. it was the hollowed out trunk of another large tree, much younger that had grown right along side this one that i was on. it seemed there were quite a few younger trees that grew up along side of this one, all with doors on the side. some of the doors had stairs leading to them, all at different heights. perhaps as those trees grew the doors rose above the level of the central tree, causing the need to add stairs as it grew. i pulled myself from the comfort and warmth of the fire and walked the perimeter of the platform. between a few of the trunks there were walkways that extended into the dark. i took the one that had light on the other end. a torchlight flickered faintly far out into the dark, so i headed that way. i expected the walkway to end shortly and the torchlight to be on another platform further away still. i was wrong, the torch was at the next platform. somewhere along the walkway it began to rain, and a wind blew across the walkway causing it to sway many feet from side to side. it was no more than a rope bridge, wooden slats a few feet wide, rope 'banisters' on each side for something to hold onto as it rocked. after exploring the second platform i began to wonder if i was alone here....
the rite of passage to go on this journey, was a painful one. it was designed to remind the onlookers and the ones about to leave of the hardships and pain that privious less fortunate explorers endured. a design was carved deep into the palms, the bottom of the foot cut deeply with a blade made from Razor Ridge shale, one night on a ledge of stone, in the cold, wearing only the thinest of loincloths... all part of the Rites of Razor Ridge. there were to be two of us going on this trip, as told by the scrying bowl. we each carved a golem out of a chunk of soft wood and dropped them into the bowl. the bowl was almost filled to the brim with a fluid that seemed to glow. there were seven of us that were old enough to go on the trip, so we dropped in our golems, watched them sink slowly as they absorbed the fluid, then settled in to wait. we waited to see which golem would float back up to the top, signifying which of us were to go to Razor Ridge. TuGot's and mine were the only ones to surface, so it would be the two of us leaving the day after the rites....
Vixiah, the healer assigned to me, was as beautiful as she was mysterious. her hair was long and a shade of green that made me think of the ferns in the forest that borderd Sol'Ra... i wonder where Alex'ra is, if she even exists in this time... her eyes were a very pale blue, but all blue, no iris, no pupil, just blue edge to edge. she wore a tattoo that wrapped itself around her right eye, intricate, and finely detailed. she was assigned to me to heal the marks on my palms and the bottom of my feet. this she did without touching my skin. the air between her hands and my carved flesh seemed to come alive with energy and a very warm yellow glow. after half a dozen 'treatments' like this my hands and feet were healed, leaving behind the scars of the cuts. the scars on my feet were there to remind me that men did this before without footwear as 'advanced' as i would have. and the markings on my hands would allow me to identify who i was to locals without having to speak thier tongue....
i would be making this journey alone, as TuGot became nervous the afternoon before the rites began and had a few drinks with friends, which turned into a party, during which he passed out, and slept through a ritual that was as old as the trees he called home....
i found out later upon my return that he was banished, not from the trees, but from the whole forest. as he was escorted out beyond the tree line, he took a few steps out towards the rolling meadows of The Plains, turned to face the ones that walked him there. he held out a hand and his eyes glowed as he muttered a curse under his breath. the warriors scoffed at his attempt to use magik, until TuGot stopped his curse, letting his lips curl into an evil smirk, and G'lath, one of the warriors dropped to the ground. he dropped to the ground like 'fabric' one of the warriors said. they found his skeleton lying in the grass near the pile of armor, skin, and inner organs that everyone saw fall. it was as if TuGot displaced his bones right out of his body in an instant. by the time the shock wore off the other warriors and they started toward TuGot, he was gone. vanished....
i was miles above the forest that i had called home for the last few weeks, clinging to the face of the mountain like an insect. i was but a few feet from a ledge that i was sure would give me some rest and cover from the wind. i reached the ledge, and pulled my elbows up and on top of it. it wasnt big, a shelf just big enough for a few men to call a rest stop. it was more than i needed, but id take it. i drove the SpikeLink into the rock at the edge and attached my safte line to it, then pulled myself the rest of the way up. just as my right knee came onto the ledge there was a sound i hadnt heard before in the wind, almost a whistling. then i was falling, i had just enough time to wonder; had i slipped? what was that sound? then i felt the left side of my head strike a small outcropping of rock...
12/6/06
Bloodbear
when i came to, i found myself hanging from a ledge... my saftey teather wrapped around my wrist, and caught on something up the sheer face above me. the wind snaping my cloak around like a flag in a hurricane...
it seemed that i had fell, and knocked myself unconscious for a time, then woke up there, slowly swinging from my safety line, hanging above a chasm to which there looked to be no bottom. above me was about 80 feet of sheer rock wall scarred with cracks and pits, below me... clouds..
i heard a voice from above me, barely audible, and what i could hear i couldnt understand. but from the tones it sounded like someone was asking questions, i can only assume "are you ok down there" was in there someplace
unable to take a deep enough breath to respond due the pain in my shoulder, i just hung there, hoping who ever was up there was in the helping mood, rather than being alot bigger than me and hungry...
the pain that followed that thought was undescribable, i must have dislocated my shoulder when the safety line stopped me from falling, because as whoever it was above me pulled me up, every tug on the rope sent pain rippling through my entire body
the pulling stopped abruptly when i could be pulled up no farther without my wrist being broken at the top of the ledge above me, then a large hand grabbed my forearm and heaved me over the edge onto a shelf of rock, looking up through tears, as the pull just about ripped my arm right off my body, i saw the Sh'tuk standing there... his feet spread wide,this barrel chested, stout, short creature stood there arms crossed looking at me, rather unimpressed. he looked like a man, but couldnt have been more than 4 feet in height, and his shoulders were about twice as broad as my own, big hands and feet with powerfully built arms and legs. his deep red beard that went to his waist, was bound and seperated into three strands. his hair the same colour as his beard was pulled up into a tail halfway between the top and back of his head. his skin was the colour of freshly shead blood, and his eyes a green that looked like Chyphan Crystal. he was clad in fur boots that extended up to his mid-thigh, thick trousers, tunic, and tightly wrapped hooded cloak that seemed to made from animal skin. i could see something circular on his back, which i assumed was a shield, and hanging from each hip was a massive axe, slung from his shoulder as my people were to do with their sword scabbards.
