Finding the Past
The Valley of Echoes
A white blanket of ivory snow was all that she could see. It seemed to almost burn from the light of the crescent moon. The swirls and gusts of wind carried sharp, icy projectiles, cutting at her face. She tried to cover it, desperately clutching her black fur coat with numb hands. The coat had once been given to her by the shaman of the Tribe of Wide Meadows. By now, it had been worn and torn for so long that she was barely able to patch it up whenever it began to fall apart. That's how long she had been travelling. Boots nearly worn down to the soles, garments unwashed and unclean, pressing against her skin as she waded forth into pale oblivion in yet another amongst countless cold nights. She had gone through the same ordeal for many months now. The shrieks of storming air forging paths between creaks and bends in the mountainous caverns and peaks warned her not to take another step, but she stumbled on. She had nowhere else to go, after all. But she wanted this. It wasn't a punishment.
"It is your call", the elder shaman had said to her.
Or wait... no. He had said "destiny". Yes. That was the word he had used. His long, white hair hung down like dead snakes, and the sparks from the fire that night had made him look like a traveler from another world.
"But I don't want to leave the tribe! This is my home!", she had exclaimed. His face was emotionless. Merciless? No. Emotionless. As if he was immune to protesting. There was no point, she knew it too. He was adamant and decisive like the river. That's probably why his name was How The River Flows.
"It may not be. A home is sometimes a place that you haven't yet been to", was his mysterious reply. She observed him as he prodded the fireplace with a rough stick. Like crickets, the fiery sparks jumped about, but gave little illumination to the rocks they landed on in the pitch black night. "You have had the dreams since you were newborn, my dear, and the melody you keep singing is connected to the dreams. It is why you were given your name. Your fate is not with us, and this place of your upbringing has not been your true home. It has merely been a shelter for you to grow within."
She bit down hard on her lips, since she knew the old man would banish her from the tribe. That is how she saw it. A banishment. He would insist that it's not to be regarded as such at all, that she should understand that this would be a crucial journey for her to undertake. A journey that would take her across the known and unknown world... and she would never be able to return.
"Follow your heart, my dear daughter. And never forget who you are. The spirits have beckoned you all your life, and you have always yearned to travel. And so your journey must begin. You are a grown woman now. Time to leave your nest and follow the visions that your dreams have rewarded you with. You will find that which you seek. This much I have seen. The rest, you must discover yourself, and in your own way. You must go now, while the moon is full."
She left the very same night. Although she shed no tears, the anxiety of leaving her known home manifested itself as a sensation of coldness in her stomach. She felt as if she was dying. But as she began to travel, she gradually became more at ease. She knew she was doing the right thing in following her dreams. She was on the path to her destiny, and for every step she took, she felt better and more confident.
My name is Hums A Strange Tune, and even before I could walk, I have been dreaming of a valley filled with dragons. There was always a young dragon there, who sang for me in my dreams. That melody gave me my name, as I have hummed it every night since he taught it to me. His song sounded strangely sad, as if he was begging me to find him. Even as a child, I knew that I would one day have to try...
-
With her back against a cave wall, she rested her weary body. Her trembling hands hovered over the camp fire, blood pumping sluggishly slow through her insides, unlike the thoughts that raged like the wind outside the earth-hewn shelter. The days had become a blur, and the passing of the seasons had been harsh on her. She wasn't used to this raw kind of living. She hadn't been prepared for it, but over the course of time, she had been forced to adapt. It felt like she was a completely different person than the one she was before, when she lived in carefree comfort, in the village.
Still, there was one trait that still remained unchanged; the magnetism of the dreams, pulling her like crazy in one direction; further into the maze of mountains in the cold north. It was like the song inside her was gaining grounds in her soul, pulverizing the remnants of reason that would otherwise have chased all unfathomable concepts of this vain prophecy away. But part of her still feared it was just lunacy. There was a time when she had dismissed it thoroughly as such, but with the reinforcement that she had gotten from her father, in that her belief was more than a child's hopeful dreams, she had decided to trust her instincts. She lived in accordance with her faith, no matter where it would now take her. To the brink of death, maybe. But perhaps that was the best way to live - and die? In full freedom and with nothing but her soul to carry with her into the wild.
As she lay herself down on her side, watching the fiery turbulence of the camp fire slowly cease to be, she was troubled by the notion that perhaps she was, after all, simply mad. Gnawing her teeth and grinding her hands around her torso, in order to keep the chill of the night away from her skin, the idea grew gradually stronger, and her eyes swelled and ached from salty tears, diffusing the crimson colors of dying flames upon charred wood, until it looked like a painting from a near blind artist, who had applied strokes in a vivid fashion. The unforgiving mindset had a sharp edge to it, and it was lodged deep into her mind, begging her to alter her current pursuit, trying its best to dissuade her from allowing this fruitless traveling to become her undoing.
But in a heartbeat, it all changed. For there it was; The melody.
It was like a pillow-soft promise being whispered into her ears, an attenuating waveform reproducing in the shallow mouth of the cave, bouncing between walls like a child playing wildly with the world at large. She began to look deeply into the fire, its mesmerizing dance marrying perfectly with the tune resonating all around. With ease, she was enthralled by the beckoning spirits, as if hands of ethereal beings lifted her body from the ground and let her lay upon a cushion of never ending dreams.
In her mind's eye, she could make out the features of the small dragon youngling, as he lay on the other side of the fire. He was like a blurry, out-of-focus mirage. He was humming the melody with his peculiar draconic voice, conveying warmth that would dwarf a volcano. True, it was a different kind of warmth than the physical world could offer her, and although the worldly addition of several degrees Celsius would have been more practical in a cold cave - the sensation that was brought to her at that point was much more preferable. She looked at the ghostly figure, and sensed he was smiling towards her. He was here, somehow, with her. Guarding her.
And with a smile, she fell asleep.
-
Harassing carpets of light paved a path into the cave, and when it reached her, it made her open her frosted eyelids. The air outside was still, and sunlight showered the snow upon the rocky hills, making them look like a giant's pillows. She began to travel, knowing she was close to her destination.
Around a bend, she came to a plateau, and below it; the revelation she had sought for months. She had arrived. Somehow, she had expected a miraculous sight, flying dragons soaring the skies. Their elegant shrieks from afar, resounding over the waking world. Instead there was absolutely nothing. Quiet. Empty. But huge - the valley that lay below seemed like a gaping chasm from above. Almost like a bowl, waiting for the gods to pour life into it. Around this valley, the edgy mountains made the configuration look like a crooked crown of thorns. With anticipation in her heart, she began the long walk down. Every step gave her a new dream, and new hopes. Not even the rough terrain and the inevitable bruises that followed would dissuade her.
After an arduous journey down into the valley, she was confronted with a peculiar sight; there were giant skeletal remains scattered across the landscape. Ribcages sprawled their dead bones towards the heavens, like claws digging their way through earth. Eyeless skulls peeked at the newly arrived and confused wanderer, their jaws open and slack. This was no longer the valley she had seen in her visions. It was only a valley of echoes now. But who had shown her those echoes? The visions she had been sent did belong to someone, after all.
All day she searched for answers, finding none. Just more corpses. Hopelessness began to swallow her from within, and over the tops and peaks around her, she saw red streaks of daylight sinking into black. It looked like blood was steaming from the mountains, and the cold of night made her almost think that it was a sign of her death approaching.
But it wasn't. Instead, the night made the valley even more beautiful. Incandescent light from the moon displayed all that which had seemed lifeless and hollow in a new way, as if it now teemed with invisible, untamed powers. She began to dance around in the luminance of the moon, like a strange form of happiness had been invited into her soul by its alluring gaze upon the earth. The bones of the fallen dragons became her dance partners, as she imagined them all to spring into life. In her ecstasy, dancing around, she almost didn't notice the figure that stood there, looking at her with glee. The very second she realized it, the figure began to walk away. The young dragon. She heard ... a voice? His voice? He spoke to her mind, telepathically.
"Welcome home".
Like a whisper, the voice had greeted her, but then it was gone. It was already reduced to a faded echo. Maybe she had imagined it all along? She still stumbled onward, in an effort to find the creature (hallucination?) that had wandered off. She felt estranged, walking there. Chasing.. whatever it was that she chased. But something suddenly struck her; all this time she had been in this valley, a strange feeling of Déjà vu had gradually settled in, like a haunting memory devolved as an obscure dream.
She came upon a cave entrance, and although it shouldn't mean anything to her; she instantly felt like a snare was tightening around her throat. Her limbs began to shake, and she couldn't control her breathing. Was this really her home? It felt such.
As she passed through the edges of the crevice, leading deep into the darkness, a desire to crouch came over her. It felt as if she would need to do so in order to not get cramped, which puzzled her greatly. Looking up, it was clear to her that there was no way for her to get stuck, cramped or anything like that at all; she felt miniscule in this large cave. She shook her head and continued walking farther in, but couldn't shake the feeling that she somehow.... walk here as another being? As if I am simultaneously walking as me and... someone huge...
She fell to her knees, fragments of memories rushing into her exhausted mind. It was like a strange storm of emotions and thoughts, that did not belong to her, tried to hijack her very being. Her blood felt like ice as she struggled to maintain her consciousness. Looking ahead, the vault of stone encasing her seemed to shrink, like an organically collapsing tunnel - like a vein closing. She crept on all fours, desperate to reach a destination she no longer understood. But she knew it was important.
"My child.." , she sobbed as she crawled, tearing up wounds on her knees and elbows. This was madness. She had no child. Or .. did she? She clearly remembered carrying something (a gift?) in her mouth to someone... no wait, muzzle. I carry dead animals in it.. for someone. For my child.
Memories painted pictures in her mind; the warm beating of her heart when she picked up her child's scent from afar, landing and entering their home. He would be there; an excited dragon youngling meeting her outside, and hopping around her legs as she ducked and entered the cave. Nights spent curled up around each other, his paws upon her front legs, face buried into her chest. Smell of grass from outside the cave, and a streak of moonlight paving its way along the stone, painting their bodies in nighttime white as they drifted to sleep, embracing each other. And then ... -
-..The end of the cave mercilessly confronted her with its inevitability. There, upon the stone cold ground, lay what she feared; the skeleton of a small dragon youngling, without his mother's bones at his side. She remembered it all now.
The winter had been so rough on us all. Humans encroaching our lands from all sides, yet remaining fearful of making the final attack. The danger of flight outside the valley was a fact; few of us returned. We would fly in pursuit of gathering food for our younglings, but the humans would get us, one by one. As the hunger kept digging our insides with its relentless maw, I knew what I had to do. I assured my child that I would return to him safely. Before I left that very night, I sung him to sleep. Every night I used to sing to him, while we were basked in the silver of moonlight from the outside. My song would lull him to sleep. If only I could remember what the song meant. It had a meaning.. I think my own mother used to sing it to me, in turn.. and I would sing it to him..
I remember how I stepped outside the cave and spread my wings. Looking back at my son one last time, I took off and ascended from the valley. I flew so very far away in my search. But I would not return. Arrows and spears would claim my life, and I would meet my fate at the hands of several violent creatures... they were humans. I hadn't seen them before, only heard about them. I remember being terrified before I died, but mostly sorrowful. My son would die of starvation without his mother at his side. I failed him. I failed the most important person in my life... and I couldn't even tell him one last goodbye...
As she laid there, as a human from a faraway tribe, amongst the bones in the cave, she cried while she observed her own, now unfamiliar body. The irony of turning into that which had ended her last life choked her with its cruelty. The final sting of betrayal. The tears flowed down like a river, and she couldn't stop crying.
She began feeling an indescribable sensation against her neck. It felt cold and warm at the same time. Looking up, she noticed the dragon youngling. The ghost of her former child. She could almost imagine his scent, as he was half visible, like an orchestra of mixing lights in front of her wet, human eyes. He looked like an angelic being, with a twirling aura that kept burning and steaming in unreal colors. He had been grasping this life relentlessly for so long now. He had stayed here - waiting for his mother to return.
"Why are you crying, mother?"
With effort, she tried to quench her sobbing as she spoke. "I am crying because I don't look like you remember me.. I .. I didn't return in time as I promised you, and you..I failed you.. I am so .. so sorry..."
With a deep purring sound, the youngling lay his snout in his former mother's hands and looked up at her, and deep into her eyes.
"But you did return, and I don't care what you look like. I would recognize you in any form. You're my mother, and you came back to me, like I knew you would! I am so happy!", the youngling said, his phantom body beginning to shine extra bright, illuminating the inside of the cave even more.
He began to laugh and jump with joy, frantically dancing around the bones that his physical body had left behind. She looked at him, and couldn't help but laugh too, wanting to join him in his wild display. But she was too weak. The weariness of the winter and the travel had worn her down a lot. She could just lie there and smile as she saw him. In so many ways, he was still like a child. It struck her that he's probably been a child a long time, walking and playing alone as an echo in this valley. A reminder of past splendor that had died away.
Eventually, he looked tired, and approached his former mother, as she was lying down; now by his bones. He lay down too, with his head upon her lap, and she began to stroke him.
"I have missed you so much, mother. Can you sing to me? I have been awake for so long now, and I wish to go to sleep. Is it finally time for me to sleep now?"
"Yes, little one. It's time for you to finally go to sleep, my dear...", she whispered gently into his ear. As her face hovered above him, she no longer felt neither human nor dragon. She only felt like a mother, happy to see her son again after what seemed like eternity. "Mother will sing your favorite lullaby... "
His face looked so gentle as she began to hum the strange tune that she had learned from him, her beloved son, from the time when she herself was a child. His eyelids were like caskets sinking into the waters of the horizon, begging mild questions of what was to come. Her soul had no answer at that time. She could only keep humming, as the tears streamed down her skin and released gentle drops upon his translucent form. At first, they more or less seemed to attach to his ghostlike body, but they soon melted through and pooled on her lap. He was soon sound asleep, but she kept humming her strange tune.
After a while, the tune she hummed became meaningful, as if she began to remember a language she once knew. The melody formed words in her mind, and she suddenly knew what she had been singing, all along, to her once child - from another life; in another body, in another age.
"Sleep, child, sleep.. rest your eyes. The Nighttime Dragoness invites you to her dance, under the moonlit world. Lock your talons, expand your wings, fly with her under moonlit skies... and when the sun rises over the lands of the Earth, you will wake up to a new day, and you shall feel her dance echo in your heartbeats, until you meet again. When the moon floats in the blackness of the night, she will find you in your dreams, and take you with her in the moonlight dance."
And outside the cave, the sound of the strange tune drowned in the torrents of wild winter winds engulfing the lands. Seasons passed, and weeks became months....-
-...and many years would pass before the valley would become a settlement for a small tribe. The settlers would all be entranced by the mysterious sight in the cave; the skeleton of an elderly human woman, with her arms clutching around the skeletal remains of a dragon youngling. This sight spawned many different theories, and wild stories were soon told to the excited children of the tribe. And on every moonlit night, some people could swear they would hear the sound of a strange tune being hummed within the cave - as if a mother was lulling her baby to sleep...