2.
Wei Chen started to pack some things like one going on a journey of no return. 'what's wrong with you? Where are you off to? Tell me something. Anything! I screamed. He moved past me with the load hanging across his chest. He reached for a heavily marked floor mat, forcefully pulled it away and stepped into it. It took me few moments before I realized that I stepped in right after him. As we went down an unseen stairwell, I was right beside him and he didn't seem surprised at all. He obviously expected me to.
'You are smart and that will really help you in this journey. Do not lose your guard, be swift in your thoughts and be careful with every action. You will meet different types of people and many will seek your loyalty. Do not be fooled by their schemes. Listen within and you'll be guided into the path of light' with this Wei Chen stopped talking. 'Where did all that come from' I thought to myself. I never knew the weight of those words until much later.
We started to travel down the stairwell,I saw many artefacts suspended in what seemed like a jelly like enclosure. Some were things I remember reading in books in my past life. There were emblems, sea shells, urchins, ancient crowns, swords etc. The stairwell itself had the ability to change themes. At first,it seemed like an ancient cave,soon it became like a library of battle essentials. Later, I could literally swear I heard echoes of tears and laughter at the same time. Wei Chen did not even take a glance at the artefacts, the shifting themes nor myself(visibly shaken by the sights).
'Will this journey ever end?' I thought to myself. At the nick of that thought, we entered into a tunnel that was full of icy mirrors. My first glance into the mirror beside me,I saw myself as I hid behind a rock on the battlefield. The next one showed the anguish I felt as Wei Chen made to leave. Yet in another I saw the arrival of the four horsemen at our tent,I lifted my eyes up and lo,there they were. This was not a mirrored view, they are here in flesh. My heart started racing, my palms sweaty, It really seem I am in for a spin.
As they all held an object in their hands, Wei Chen was baded forward by an unseen voice. He stepped forward with such elegance that I became memerized to the point of daydreaming. I saw us on field of Meadows with his arms curled about my waist. I rested my head on his broad shoulders and I could feel my heart racing against his. He looked into my face and I felt my soul drawn to his. ' Esteemed One,I present my 'Dune' to you' The echo in his voice jolted me back to reality. I most definitely got caught up in my thoughts. I could see three of the emissaries step further away from Wei Chen and the Queen stood beside him. 'Why have you neglected your duty to the 'Dune' Wei Chen.? Your 'Dune' shows obvious signs of neglect!' 'I did not, esteemed one. I saw a clan in serious need of help and I chose to help them. That's all, esteemed one.' Wei Chen said in his defence. 'Who then did you give the charge of your 'Dune' to? Never mind!You are to return to the Sea immediately and give full care to your 'Dune', nurture it back to full bloom and establish dominion over the territory! said the esteemed one sternly. 'At once, esteemed one' Wei Chen submitted, with an abrupt sound, the voice ceased.
'Wei Chen' Why did you leave without informing anyone,not even our queen? questioned Lin Ping 'He is not to answer to you, hence,you have no authority to ask him such questions. 'Xiao Feng! I was not taking to you! Don't interfere!' Lin Ping angrily responded' I'm weary of your bawling,let us determine who has authority over who in the 'battle of will' Xiao Feng confronted him. 'Enough! You two! the queen commanded.
Unmoved by the brawling of the two, turning to face the Queen,Wei Chen quizzed 'what happened at sea? I never got word that the territory experienced an attack. Who dares invade the land of the protectors of the Dune?' 'Who else? the queen retorted ' Is it not the Northern emissaries,as soon as they heard of your absence at sea,they had the liberty to plan an attack. 'Although we were able to hold the fort of our gates, they will be back and that soon.' Xiao Feng(the purple horse rider) inputted. 'Let them come,we will be ready for them' Wei Chen said with a strong sense of duty.
Each rider got on their horses and made to leave. I was still in awe of all that has happened this night that I do not know when Wei Chen's horse come into the space nor did I notice him riding towards me. As he got to me,he picked me, flung me onto the horse and we stomped out of that space. We travelled along a long frosty path wilderness lined up with a handful of Hunter dogs,few wolves and quite a number of bats. The path got narrower than we started out with more hostile beasts. They did not look like they would cause us harm but Wei Chen had to place his 'Dune' visible enough to be sighted. 'They will know I'm a native, with that in sight' he said.
'So true, he's a native but I'm not! What if I'm sighted with him and someone tries to harm me. My heart started racing again and I could imagine different things happening at the same time. I saw arrows coming straight for my head. I could see a flint knife aimed for my throat. The list was endless. I was in the middle of these thoughts before I felt a subtle breeze, started out towards our horse,I lifted my eyes to see where it was coming from and I saw that it was an horse rider,so different from the ones we've just encountered. 'Wei Chen',he said, welcome back,I have made the preparations you told me about' I'm headed for the soulful lights' Wei Chen nodded in affirmative and we continued our journey.Finally,after about two hours ride we arrived.