Dream Mountain

by Charissa Taylor Lees

The ramp rose steadily and it didn’t take the two of us long to figure out we were on the way to the summit. I wondered if perhaps it was protected from anyone trying to approach it from the sky. That would explain why we had to use the ramp.

  “Look,” Hunter muttered, pointing ahead of us with his free hand.

  “Um, is that supposed to be there?” I asked.

  Ahead of us was a solid wall. The tunnel itself wasn’t that big, Hunter just barely made it through without ducking, so it couldn’t have been taller than seven feet. Hunter and I could easily pass though side by side, but two horses would just barely make it, and if one was claustrophobic, forget it. So, needless to say, seeing a solid purple rock wall in front of us was not encouraging.

  I signed. “Okay, now what? Is this some kind of riddle?”

  Hunter shrugged. “Could be, I guess.” He squeezed my hand, then dropped it and walked up to the wall. He put both hands on it and pushed hard, but with no reaction. Next he ran his hands up and down it.

  “Looking for a release?” I asked and he nodded.

  I headed to the tunnel’s left side and did the same. We had to go mostly on feel, because the only lighting was the dim purple light the mountain gave off. We searched for a good five minutes before Hunter took a step back.

  “We’re missing something.”

  “Yeah, a door,” I responded, wondering what he could be thinking.

  Hunter shook his head. “No, I mean, yeah, we’re missing the door, but we’re missing how to find it too.”

  “Okay…” I let my voice trail off, figuring he could explain some more.

  “Well, think about it, we haven’t done anything normal on this trip but sleep. So why should we expect the door to be where it should?” He thought out loud.

  “You mean look for a trapdoor?”

  “I don’t know, something like that,” he said slowly, thinking hard.

  I looked back at the obstacle in front of us. It was blocking us from wherever we were suppose to get too. You would think there would be directions or something. But, then there had been more feelings than directions on the whole trip. I smacked my forehead.

  “Duh!”

  Hunter looked at me. “What?”

  “You’re right. We haven’t done anything normal on this trip. Focus, Hunter, not on the outside, but inside.” I grinned.

  “The song!” Hunter exclaimed and I laughed. “I can feel it getting stronger.”

  “Yeah, me too,” I responded. “Okay, what’s up?”

  I closed my eyes and once again focused inside on the song that was my breath. It hummed in me gently giving answers I couldn’t understand yet, but for once that was okay, because I realized I soon would understand everything. I felt it flow through me, focusing it from my heart and into my mind, letting it flow from the back of my mind to the front, and letting it vibrate inside me. In only a few moments, it filled me completely.

  Gently, it urged me to the wall. I was at it before I fully realized I had moved. The song was moving me or else I was just moving with it. Either way, my hand rose and I felt a cold spot on the stone. I felt Hunter come to stand beside me and knew he too had felt the song’s directions. With my eyes still closed, I felt the stone warming beneath my fingers. The song’s humming moved through my fingers and I could feel the stone moving. I have no idea how it happened, because I wasn’t pushing the stone, but more like it was reforming around my hand. I knew it was the same for Hunter.

  Slowly, I opened my eyes and gasped in amazement. Before me, the solid wall was now separating. It looked like it was melting away to form an archway. The place where my hand still pressed was on the right of the new doorway. Beyond the open arch was a magical scene.

  I took a step to the left and stared. Through the archway was the summit. The mountain directly in front of me was flat, but about ten yards away the mountain rose again forming a taller pinnacle shaped almost like a throne, but there was no seat. It rose to form a sharp triangular peak. I could see the pulse of the mountain’s purple glow from in it and surrounding it softly.

  “It is pulsing at the same rate as the song,” Hunter murmured from beside me.

  I nodded, not able to speak.

  “I think we need to go there,” Hunter added when I said nothing.

  I nodded again, trying to form a coherent thought, past awe struck.

  Hunter shook his head at me and grabbing my hand pulled me forward. I stumbled, but quickly took up his pace. We walked together to stand in front of the peak.

  It was a jagged pulsing purple rock. I shook my head at the description, but it was the best I could do. The funny part was it had this regal feel to it as well. My hands were suddenly sweating and I released Hunter’s hand to wipe both of mine on my pants. I felt so small suddenly. What was happening?

  I had no idea what to do, so I did the only thing I could. I looked to the song. Again it flowed through me humming along and bringing a gentle peace with it. Whatever was about to happen, it was right.

  I looked again at the mountain peak and took a few steps closer. It didn’t really look different closer up, but I held out my hand to it. “I want to see your true form, not the shell you show. Please, let me see the truth.”

  The song sang happily and I watched as once again I could see without my eyes, but with my heart and mind. The harsh jagged look melted away and in its place was the smooth gleam of soft violet gems. It was beautiful. Then I noticed something inside the gems, something the held a different look and a different color.

  I reached out to it, but it was inside the actual peak and beyond my reach. I frowned annoyed. I knew I should to be able to reach it, but for some reason I wasn’t allowed.

  “Hunter, can you see it?” I asked not taking my eyes off of my discovery.

  “I think so, do you see something inside the stone too?” He asked.

  “Yes. How do we get to it?”

  “Maybe we are not suppose to yet,” he commented.

  “You sound way to patient. I know I’m supposed to get to that.”

  “I think it is meant for you.” He paused. “Grace, listen! Hear the song? Is it me or does it have words?”

  Words? I listened more closing to the humming song. It seemed to me to be the same as always. I was about to tell Hunter that, when I did notice something different. I could feel it in the back of my mind. It was as if the humming of the notes was actually voices. Hunter and I stood silently for how long I do not know. But I do know that as we stood there listening, the truth began to grow clear. I didn’t really hear the full words until the verse that Hunter had on his scroll sang its way into my heart. I recognized the words and a smile came to my face. It was familiar and suddenly words and music came to light.

  “God up above gave the mountain a job

  Protect the dreams of His world in love

  A passion became the mountain’s own

  To serve God in the realm of fantasies right.”

  “Dreams of the mountain forever abiding

  They are freeing and flowing

  Breathing fantasy and light

  The dreams of the mountain’s right.”

  “Then came the doubts and the disbelief

  Our mountain falls to ruin

  How can the forest stay alive

  When the world rejects the majestic call.”

  “Save us and reunite with our hearts

  Where did it go wrong to allow such misery

  Our happy dreams fall to nightmares

  As people demand your light and life depart.”

  “Dreams given so freely on wings

  Believe in the joy they can bring

  Hear the whispers of their love

  Fill our minds and hearts with hope.”

  “You have not forgotten, oh Mountain,

  You have placed God’s plan in motion

  To reunite our hearts with dreams

  Our forest and meadow will once again gleam.”

  “The twins reu
nited will bring peace to the land,

  Sister and brother united for our cause,

  With goddess and hunter our world, Dream Mountain,

  In happy abundance forever will live.”

  The song sang itself through twice and the second time I found myself singing along. A few seconds later, Hunter’s voice joined mine. I knew the tune so well, the words slipped easily into place. If I hadn’t known better I would have said we had been singing the full song since the day of our births. But then maybe we had, even if only in our hearts, and perhaps our dreams.

  I listened to the words of the song as I sang. The first verse struck me as I sang that God had played a large part in the story; yet He had received no credit from me. It was as if I were really listening to God’s story. How the world had rejected His love and chose instead to fill their world with darkness. He had given the mountain a job to do, but it could not do it on its own. And in the very mountain’s song He had put His own metaphor. I had left God behind a long time ago, because He had not seemed relevant to me. But, if He cared enough to put a reminder of Himself even in protecting dreams and fantasies, I could find time to search my grandfather’s lessons for the God of the Bible. After all, a God who would give a mountain power to protect dreams and fantasies was worth looking into… and thanking.

  I turned my mind from the unexpected thoughts to focus on the Mountain’s story. It was a story of how God had brought the Mountain to life and given it a passion and desire to serve Him and protect the dreams of the worlds. Then it told of the Mountain’s desire to share those dreams. How people forgot to believe and the effect on the Mountain and those it protected. It sounded as if the land itself or the animals were singing the song as they cried out to restore the land and dreams and protect them forever. Through the twins, sister and brother, peace and happiness would spring alive again and Dream Mountain would live forever.

  The song was true.

  I held out my hand to the mysterious thing captured in the peak and as we sang the peak began to peel back. Slowly, as the words grew stronger the treasure inside was revealed. As it melted away the song came from inside the peak as well. It cycled through again, just as strong, but I stopped singing to watch. It was amazing to hear the song with my ears now, instead of just with my mind and heart, it flowed through and around us binding Hunter and I to Dream Mountain. A noise behind me caused me to turn for a moment to see Daydream, Tommy, Nightmare, and Rougefire standing behind us.

  Daydream had tears in her eyes as she spoke to me. “We heard the words and could not stay away. The song called too strongly.”

  I smiled gently at her. “You should all be here. Look,” I turned back around with a gentle sweep of my arm to indicate the newly made place in the peak. While the peak stood firm, where was once a solid wall, a dais jutted now out. On top of that were a bow and a single silver tipped arrow. Behind them was an outfit, not of armor, but it had that look of medieval flair. The top was two pieces. The outer wear was sleeveless and a shimmering green trimmed with gold around the neck and arms. Underneath was a long sleeve skintight shirt that was a darker jade green. A miniskirt the same color as the top with gold trim hung beneath and inside that were skintight pants of the jade green from the longer shirt. The ensemble was amazing. All the pieces hung above the dais suspended in midair. I could only guess that it was the song that held them up, that or pure magic.

  “Look,” Hunter whispered, pointing to above the outfit with its bow and arrow.

  Written in the gemstone in a slight arch were the words:

  DIANA MISTRESS OF DREAM MOUNTAIN

  I stared silently at the words.

  “The Roman goddess of the moon and forest. Her Greek name is Artemis,” Hunter said softly.

  “That’s me,” I spoke softly, staring at the words, the name. My gaze slid down to focus on what hung on the dais and then back up.

  “You?” Hunter looked at me questioningly, but then nodded. “I know.”

  I turned to face him. “We are the twins.”

  “You’re my twin sister.”

  “How? It doesn’t make sense.”

  “I don’t know, but it’s the truth.”

  I smiled at him only a little shell-shocked. “Disappointed?”

  He smiled and shook his head. “Not a bit. You?”

  “No, we already knew.”

  “Yeah,” he agreed.

  It almost seemed anticlimactic. He had been searching so hard, only to find that I had been with him all along. I had… I had a twin. I had a brother! And with that the shock wore off and the excitement took over.

  “We’re twins!” I yelled.

  Hunter laughed and I sprung across the few steps separating us to give him a large hug. He held me close and squeezed hard. It felt good to hug my brother. I had never known I was missing one and never understood that a part of me was with him, but we had connected right from the start. Now I understood how I knew where he was when we had first met, and I knew why I could read his thoughts and expressions so easily. Even without fully understanding we had the bond that only twins have.

  Hunter gave me a squeezed and then released me. I stood back to smile at him.

  “Wow,” he said.

  I nodded. “It’s hard to believe and yet not hard at all. But how did I never know? Are we twins from our own world or just from here? How could this be kept from us?”

  “I don’t know. But for once, I’m not sure it matters. We have each other now. Our parents probably did what they thought was right. Maybe one day we will find answers, but we have questions to answer here as it is.”

  I nodded. “That’s right. We are going to bring peace and abundance to the land forever.” I turned to look at the dais quizzingly. “And that is suppose to happen how exactly?”

  I stretched out my hand to the dais and could feel an energy crackling around it. I could almost see it too. “That answer is here.”

  I looked to the words again. “I am Diana. I am the Mistress of Dream Mountain.”

  I could feel the power of the words as I spoke them. And then I could see the energy around the bow and arrow glowing. The song leapt up in me and grew stronger from around the dais. And I knew I was to command it, just as I had Daydream to change.

  I looked to the sky and raised my hand above my head. “I am Diana, Mistress of Dream Mountain!”

  Energy soared around me and a brilliant white glow surrounded me. It only lasted for a few seconds, but I could feel the change take root inside me. I was filled with belief of hope, joy, love, and dreams. Suddenly, I understood that it was the ability to dream that enabled all of those feelings to live and thrive in the hearts and minds of people and animals everywhere. For with that belief came the power and knowledge of Dream Mountain. When the glow was gone, I stood holding the bow high above my head and the arrow in my left hand at my side. My old clothing had disappeared and instead I wore the clothing that seconds before had been suspended on the dais. I had become Diana, the true Mistress of Dream Mountain.

  ^^^^^^^^^^

  Chapter 8