The Golden Field
16 Cylus 720
Six trials...lost like they hadn’t existed...
The fever had left Yrmellyn with next to no memory of what had happened but Ha’zel had told her that they were in Volta. They had planned to travel from Rharne to Carevalle and from there to Volta and Zynyx, but she had fallen ill and he had changed the plans. It was what travelling in Cylus and getting too cold could lead to. Fever. Yrmellyn had not been physically strong enough to endure a recruitment campaign for Storm’s Edge in winter without any consequences. Now she was down and out. They rented rooms in an inn. She lay in the bed, half-awake in one of her brief moments of clarity but was already falling asleep again...
A vague sound of intense drumming faded out and fell silent.
Waking up in the dreamscape felt like it had done the previous time she had done it. Yrmellyn knew that she was lucid in a dream again, in the same pastoral landscape as last time. It was The Meadow of Spirituality. Cattle grazed on green meadows, among small groves and solitary leafy trees. Flowers blossomed in the grass and insects buzzed. The sky was blue and the sun was shining. No time seemed to have passed here since the last time she had been here despite it was seasons ago in the waking world.
Yrmellyn looked around. Her gaze fell on the dragonfly sitting on a leaf of a bush right beside her. A trill of insecurity followed. Then she recalled that the insect was her companion in Emea. She wasn’t sure why she had a guide in the world of dreams, but she did have one and its name was Bizette. At least that was the name Yrmellyn knew it by. She also knew that the being was an amazing drummer and that her perception of it alternated between insect or as a tiny female insect being. If it was female for real was hard to say. When Yrmellyn perceived it as a miniature woman it had curly dark hair, big dark eyes and an energetic countenance.
She saw it as an insect now. It flew up from the leaf and hovered in the air in front of Yrmellyn. “Are you going to spend all your dreaming time here in the meadow of spirituality?” it asked. Its small voice rang like silent silver bells, mild as a whisper, yet easy for Yrmellyn to hear.
It hadn’t occurred to Yrmellyn to even think of anything else. The meadow was lovely. Spending all her dreaming time there seemed like a splendid idea. Still, something in the insect's tone made her hesitate and wonder why it asked her. The question implied that she might have more options. She wanted to at least know what the possible other options might be.
“What else is there? “ she asked, feeling cautious.
“Other zones in your own dreamscape. You haven’t explored it beyond this meadow. The meadow seems to be the heartland, but your dreamscape isn’t limited to this.” The insect paused before it continued. “There’s also the dreamscapes of other people. If you find your way through The Veil you can enter them. It can be very interesting to investigate the dreamscapes of others.”
Yrmellyn mulled over this but not for a long time. “What do you mean?” she said finally. “Where are my other zones here in my own dreamscape? And what is The Veil?”
“Beyond.” The insect buzzed around a bit, dancing in the air. “Beyond the meadow. If you keep sitting under a tree looking at grazing cows and sheep you will not find them. If you travel in your dreamscape you will get to other zones sooner or later.”
It landed on a leaf again. “The Veil is a mystery. It’s a sheltering barrier. It encloses the order, meaning and sense and shuts out the chaos. There is no verbal explanation of how it works. But, many describe it as a layer of living crystalline or glass-like fabric. It separates the many realities of dreams and keeps them from bleeding into each other. Only those who are awake in their dreams can pass through it and visit the dreamscapes of other people. As you are able to walk, you can do it.“
Yrmellyn had listened without interrupting her little companion. Now, she had new questions. “So all I need to do if I want to find other zones in my own dreamscape is travel beyond the meadow? But if I want to leave this dreamscape and go somewhere else I can pass through a barrier named The Veil?”
“You can attempt to find other zones of your own here in your dreamscape. You can travel and search. I’m not saying that you will find anything else than the meadow. But, it’s possible. When it comes to The Veil it’s not only to pass through it. First, you need to find the gates, the passages that can take you from one dreamscape to another.”
“Where is The Veil?” A quick look at the lush surroundings told Yrmellyn that there was nothing that looked like a veil. The green meadow continued all the way to the horizon.
“The Veil is nowhere in particular but it’s everywhere you need it to be. You must find out how to think about it and how to find it. There can be perceptions of The Veil in many places. If you think of it a bit you may get ideas.” The insect spoke faster now like it was running out of time. “I have more things to do,” it said. “Whisper for me if you find The Veil.”
As its habit was, the dragonfly flew away and was gone. The air where it had buzzed was soundless and there was no trace of what had happened. Yrmellyn watched the empty air and waited for her mind to come to rest. Beginning to run around like a headless hen looking for The Veil seemed nutty. So did an unplanned journey to places beyond the meadow. Staying where she was also felt nutty now when she had heard about the other options.
Find out how to think about it. Think and get ideas. Bizette had told Yrmellyn that more than one time. And her Emean companion had spoken of “perceptions of The Veil”. Those could be present in many places. Nowhere in particular but everywhere Yrmellyn would “need it to be”. But, need it for what? It had seemed like she would need it to protect herself against chaos, but that seemed bizarre to her.
Yrmellyn interpreted this through her personal reference frame as a painter. Art demanded her to deal with chaos. When she painted she needed the picture to manifest. It was her innate need to paint it that motivated her to create something out of nothing ... it was by looking at her motifs she found the special “it” in them...
Her thoughts surprised her. But Emea was a mysterious place. Mysterious thoughts might be what it took to deal with the mystery named The Veil.
Mystery Seeks Company?
If Yrmellyn hadn’t been an artist she might have discarded that thought as utter rubbish. But, she was often working with quirky concepts. Now, she decided to think of how she would want to paint a picture of The Veil. As usual, ideas for pictures began to appear in her inner vision. She felt that she wanted to use nuances of green and gold, brown and blue It made her associate to the grass and the trees of the meadow, the blue sky and the golden flowers and sun rays. She didn’t know why she imagined this, but it appealed to her. She figured that The Veil would be integrated into the landscape the way she as an artist would find it pretty to have it. Dwelling on this a bit, she began to feel that she even needed it to be that way. She didn’t want such an intriguing phenomenon as The Veil to be flat and simple. She wanted it to have depth. Complication.
Yrmellyn began to walk. The dream landscape around her was lush, fresh and green. The atmosphere was peaceful. The cows and the sheep were nice animals and the flowers in the grass were lovely. But, she was looking for something different. There was no chaos in sight though. It didn’t seem probable that she would find what she was looking for in the open meadows. After a while, she decided to search in the impediments. Groves of trees were growing on low hills where the ground seemed stonier. Those spots deviated from the flatter parts of the meadows. Gnarled roots meandered over the uneven ground and grass and plants grew in patches between them. It did look a bit chaotic, she decided.
After six fruitless investigations of impediments, Yrmellyn felt exasperated. Her need to find The Veil rose to an even higher level of frustration. The feeling grew in her as she wandered uphill yet another time. She headed toward a group of trees halfway to the top. A part of The Seventh Impediment (she labelled it so to keep track of it) became steeper there and rose like a cliff behind the trees. An annoying obstacle? By now, her need to see The Veil to appear raged like a chaotic storm inside her. She felt like an emotional tornado was about to whirl her away to the end of the time. But, she still held on to the hope of finding that sheltering veil, that mystery which would keep chaos at bay and protect her...
Entering the grove she saw that the cliff behind them looked like the ground continued up toward the sky. Odd! Intrigued, she moved closer until she was close enough to see that her green and gold vision had come true. She had found it. The Veil! It had appeared when her need had grown so great that she could see what she wanted to see. She had found what she had been looking for. Euphoria and relief ran through her for a moment. But, then her experience of domain magic and its illusions came to her mind. She saw what she had been looking to see. It was tempting to persuade herself that this meant that she was right. She recognized that murky approach though. Truth was that she saw something unknown and that she felt very curious and wondered if it might be The Veil.
A bunch of memories of less fortunate consequences of curiosity in the past came to mind. For example, there had been the attempt to get rid of the odd metallic rash in fall 718 by alchemy. That had ended with almost getting herself merified, whatever that had meant. Whipped cream had saved her that time, or so she believed. Not that she knew how or why. It was still a mystery.
But, these days she knew better than to allow herself to get so awed by her own ideas that she didn’t question them. She calmed down and watched her finding with sound scepticism. It was beautiful, but many things in Emea were beautiful. If it also had a function beyond being decorative remained for her to see.
The fever had left Yrmellyn with next to no memory of what had happened but Ha’zel had told her that they were in Volta. They had planned to travel from Rharne to Carevalle and from there to Volta and Zynyx, but she had fallen ill and he had changed the plans. It was what travelling in Cylus and getting too cold could lead to. Fever. Yrmellyn had not been physically strong enough to endure a recruitment campaign for Storm’s Edge in winter without any consequences. Now she was down and out. They rented rooms in an inn. She lay in the bed, half-awake in one of her brief moments of clarity but was already falling asleep again...
A vague sound of intense drumming faded out and fell silent.
Waking up in the dreamscape felt like it had done the previous time she had done it. Yrmellyn knew that she was lucid in a dream again, in the same pastoral landscape as last time. It was The Meadow of Spirituality. Cattle grazed on green meadows, among small groves and solitary leafy trees. Flowers blossomed in the grass and insects buzzed. The sky was blue and the sun was shining. No time seemed to have passed here since the last time she had been here despite it was seasons ago in the waking world.
Yrmellyn looked around. Her gaze fell on the dragonfly sitting on a leaf of a bush right beside her. A trill of insecurity followed. Then she recalled that the insect was her companion in Emea. She wasn’t sure why she had a guide in the world of dreams, but she did have one and its name was Bizette. At least that was the name Yrmellyn knew it by. She also knew that the being was an amazing drummer and that her perception of it alternated between insect or as a tiny female insect being. If it was female for real was hard to say. When Yrmellyn perceived it as a miniature woman it had curly dark hair, big dark eyes and an energetic countenance.
She saw it as an insect now. It flew up from the leaf and hovered in the air in front of Yrmellyn. “Are you going to spend all your dreaming time here in the meadow of spirituality?” it asked. Its small voice rang like silent silver bells, mild as a whisper, yet easy for Yrmellyn to hear.
It hadn’t occurred to Yrmellyn to even think of anything else. The meadow was lovely. Spending all her dreaming time there seemed like a splendid idea. Still, something in the insect's tone made her hesitate and wonder why it asked her. The question implied that she might have more options. She wanted to at least know what the possible other options might be.
“What else is there? “ she asked, feeling cautious.
“Other zones in your own dreamscape. You haven’t explored it beyond this meadow. The meadow seems to be the heartland, but your dreamscape isn’t limited to this.” The insect paused before it continued. “There’s also the dreamscapes of other people. If you find your way through The Veil you can enter them. It can be very interesting to investigate the dreamscapes of others.”
Yrmellyn mulled over this but not for a long time. “What do you mean?” she said finally. “Where are my other zones here in my own dreamscape? And what is The Veil?”
“Beyond.” The insect buzzed around a bit, dancing in the air. “Beyond the meadow. If you keep sitting under a tree looking at grazing cows and sheep you will not find them. If you travel in your dreamscape you will get to other zones sooner or later.”
It landed on a leaf again. “The Veil is a mystery. It’s a sheltering barrier. It encloses the order, meaning and sense and shuts out the chaos. There is no verbal explanation of how it works. But, many describe it as a layer of living crystalline or glass-like fabric. It separates the many realities of dreams and keeps them from bleeding into each other. Only those who are awake in their dreams can pass through it and visit the dreamscapes of other people. As you are able to walk, you can do it.“
Yrmellyn had listened without interrupting her little companion. Now, she had new questions. “So all I need to do if I want to find other zones in my own dreamscape is travel beyond the meadow? But if I want to leave this dreamscape and go somewhere else I can pass through a barrier named The Veil?”
“You can attempt to find other zones of your own here in your dreamscape. You can travel and search. I’m not saying that you will find anything else than the meadow. But, it’s possible. When it comes to The Veil it’s not only to pass through it. First, you need to find the gates, the passages that can take you from one dreamscape to another.”
“Where is The Veil?” A quick look at the lush surroundings told Yrmellyn that there was nothing that looked like a veil. The green meadow continued all the way to the horizon.
“The Veil is nowhere in particular but it’s everywhere you need it to be. You must find out how to think about it and how to find it. There can be perceptions of The Veil in many places. If you think of it a bit you may get ideas.” The insect spoke faster now like it was running out of time. “I have more things to do,” it said. “Whisper for me if you find The Veil.”
As its habit was, the dragonfly flew away and was gone. The air where it had buzzed was soundless and there was no trace of what had happened. Yrmellyn watched the empty air and waited for her mind to come to rest. Beginning to run around like a headless hen looking for The Veil seemed nutty. So did an unplanned journey to places beyond the meadow. Staying where she was also felt nutty now when she had heard about the other options.
Find out how to think about it. Think and get ideas. Bizette had told Yrmellyn that more than one time. And her Emean companion had spoken of “perceptions of The Veil”. Those could be present in many places. Nowhere in particular but everywhere Yrmellyn would “need it to be”. But, need it for what? It had seemed like she would need it to protect herself against chaos, but that seemed bizarre to her.
Yrmellyn interpreted this through her personal reference frame as a painter. Art demanded her to deal with chaos. When she painted she needed the picture to manifest. It was her innate need to paint it that motivated her to create something out of nothing ... it was by looking at her motifs she found the special “it” in them...
Her thoughts surprised her. But Emea was a mysterious place. Mysterious thoughts might be what it took to deal with the mystery named The Veil.
Mystery Seeks Company?
If Yrmellyn hadn’t been an artist she might have discarded that thought as utter rubbish. But, she was often working with quirky concepts. Now, she decided to think of how she would want to paint a picture of The Veil. As usual, ideas for pictures began to appear in her inner vision. She felt that she wanted to use nuances of green and gold, brown and blue It made her associate to the grass and the trees of the meadow, the blue sky and the golden flowers and sun rays. She didn’t know why she imagined this, but it appealed to her. She figured that The Veil would be integrated into the landscape the way she as an artist would find it pretty to have it. Dwelling on this a bit, she began to feel that she even needed it to be that way. She didn’t want such an intriguing phenomenon as The Veil to be flat and simple. She wanted it to have depth. Complication.
Yrmellyn began to walk. The dream landscape around her was lush, fresh and green. The atmosphere was peaceful. The cows and the sheep were nice animals and the flowers in the grass were lovely. But, she was looking for something different. There was no chaos in sight though. It didn’t seem probable that she would find what she was looking for in the open meadows. After a while, she decided to search in the impediments. Groves of trees were growing on low hills where the ground seemed stonier. Those spots deviated from the flatter parts of the meadows. Gnarled roots meandered over the uneven ground and grass and plants grew in patches between them. It did look a bit chaotic, she decided.
After six fruitless investigations of impediments, Yrmellyn felt exasperated. Her need to find The Veil rose to an even higher level of frustration. The feeling grew in her as she wandered uphill yet another time. She headed toward a group of trees halfway to the top. A part of The Seventh Impediment (she labelled it so to keep track of it) became steeper there and rose like a cliff behind the trees. An annoying obstacle? By now, her need to see The Veil to appear raged like a chaotic storm inside her. She felt like an emotional tornado was about to whirl her away to the end of the time. But, she still held on to the hope of finding that sheltering veil, that mystery which would keep chaos at bay and protect her...
Entering the grove she saw that the cliff behind them looked like the ground continued up toward the sky. Odd! Intrigued, she moved closer until she was close enough to see that her green and gold vision had come true. She had found it. The Veil! It had appeared when her need had grown so great that she could see what she wanted to see. She had found what she had been looking for. Euphoria and relief ran through her for a moment. But, then her experience of domain magic and its illusions came to her mind. She saw what she had been looking to see. It was tempting to persuade herself that this meant that she was right. She recognized that murky approach though. Truth was that she saw something unknown and that she felt very curious and wondered if it might be The Veil.
A bunch of memories of less fortunate consequences of curiosity in the past came to mind. For example, there had been the attempt to get rid of the odd metallic rash in fall 718 by alchemy. That had ended with almost getting herself merified, whatever that had meant. Whipped cream had saved her that time, or so she believed. Not that she knew how or why. It was still a mystery.
But, these days she knew better than to allow herself to get so awed by her own ideas that she didn’t question them. She calmed down and watched her finding with sound scepticism. It was beautiful, but many things in Emea were beautiful. If it also had a function beyond being decorative remained for her to see.
