Excerpt From A Piece So Far Untitled.

The boat rocked slowly; ahead I could make out the landscape before me for the first time. From here, though the sun was rising beautifully, the land looked foreign and ominous where the huge rock formations jetted. Approaching the rocky shoreline the mountainous rocks seemed to tower over me like the tallest buildings along the city streets.

Once out of the wooden vessel, I was ankle deep in the clear shore water, rounded pebbles of every color beneath my feet. I walked slowly admiring them living under the water as I bent pushing the boat along with me, under the shade of the giant boulders. Following the edge of the rock formation I came to an opening between two of the massive rocks that supported one another, the water flowed into the dark cave.

Tying the boat to a small rock at the edge of the opening, I began to walk along the edge of the flowing water that led into the rock. I touched the damp cold stonewalls of this walkway, tracing them up to the perfectly rounded ceiling.

The path within was wide enough to touch either side with my arms held out, and I did as I let my fingers run over the moss that had formed. I walked for nearly an hour in the winding hollow of the rock. The air was light but damp. Passed another winding way, the path widened and I could see ahead of me a glimmer of light flowing in through a gap from the touching rocks from above. When I reached the light, the path opened up into a magnificent cavern. Though relatively wide, about 50 feet, the ceiling was grander; slanted from the peak where the rocks met, at least 100 feet high. The cracks though, must have cut through for thousands of feet to let the light in. In the middle, the waters flow ran into a beautiful stone pool; the water carrying on through large cracks in the cave’s wall, leading to who knows where.

I unloaded my bag that I had been carrying on my back and sat down in the gleaming sunlight that streaked the inside of the cave. I closed my eyes and listened to the movement of the water and hollowness of the cave. The stone was cool against my skin and I lay back against the stone floor. I must have fallen asleep.

When I opened my eyes the sun had nearly filled the space. I looked up at the cracks from which it flowed, which were the imperfections of the rocks themselves as they leaned against each other, though from where I lay they seemed perfect and small.

I followed the light, still lying on my back and noticed the shiny reflecting of golden light from a large indentation in the wall of the cave; it took the shape of a natural shelf. The brightness grew, as I got up and moved closer to the clear pillars it supported. Rainbows emulated as the light touched them. Some were small, like specks of crystal dust encrusted on the rocks surface. All beautiful, but the most entrancing was the tallest. Like frozen water in a perfect pillar, cut with razor like precision at its edges. I touched the cool quartz, feeling the thick glass-like surface and quietly delighting in every divot and protrusion. The sparkling display was mesmerizing; I wanted to stay the rest of the day, or the rest of my life taking in every detail of the natural sculptures of the crystals. They seemed to glow as I traced my hands above them, sweeping their essence into me. I hoped they would reveal their secrets to me but they just shimmered in the light.

The sun had made the cave humid, I noticed. And so I stepped away from the treasure shelf and padded the sweat from my brow. The pool of clear water in the center of the cave seemed alluring now. I stripped down and stepped into the small gorge. I was alarmed a little when my toes could not touch the bottom. I assumed that the hole was rather shallow; when I plunged down I was able to sink at least four feet over my head. From the bottom I looked up. The water was so clear the only sign of being under was the mild distortion of the rock ceiling and the sun coming through the cracks, as though being inside one of the pillars of quartz. The walls of the small pond stretched out twice the length of my body, and were splendidly decorated with the patches of green moss. I held my breath down at the bottom for a few moments looking about; who knows how long it really was, it could have been forever, feeling the bumpy floor of cave pearls beneath my feet. It was a peaceful encompassing; free from noise, aside from the gentle swooshing of my hands as I glided them through it. Kicking up from its floor, I surfaced and rested my arms on the edge, looking about in wonder at the place I’d found.

I stared at the pieces of huge rock that made the wall and ceiling, some jarring out others gapping in, and I wondered just how likely it was that the whole construction could crumble in on itself and fill this little pocket I had found. I looked over the craftsmanship in awe, examining the outlines and curves of each piece as though a piece of art in a gallery. Then I saw it. The shadowy crevasse behind one of the boulders was another opening, another cave perhaps. I pulled myself from the water not taking my eyes off of the new discovery, even while I dressed and put my bag back on. I crossed the cave, to the opposite side of the crystals. The height of the opening was big enough for someone much taller than me to fit through, and the width about twice my shoulders. The floor of the tunnel was like natural steps carved out of the rock and seemed to incline slowly. After several minutes of walking I came to a curve, which then became the norm of the path every few minutes. My curiosity was insistent that I go further. I must have been walking on an incline for more than an hour but time was behind me now.

The height of the tunnel began to get lower and the width narrower. I had to bend my neck and turn half way to get through as the tunnel began to shrink. Before I knew it I was on my hands and knees. Struggling at that, it occurred to me that the tunnel may lead to nowhere and I was in too tight of a space to turn around now. I had no choice but to keep crawling. I tried to just focus on my breath and concentrate on the next few feet in front of me, not allow myself to panic. But the tunnel had grown very dark.

And then I reached it, a block, the end of the tunnel. I felt the wall before me in the dark. I started to back up slowly, feeling my surroundings. I was using my hands along the sides to feel the direction I needed to go, when I slid my hand across a jagged piece of rock. The pain shocked me and I reared my head, only in time to realize that I shouldn’t do that because of the low ceiling but I should have hit my head already, I thought, and I straightened out my neck. To my surprise I could lift my head right up naturally in this spot and I relished in the stretch. I slipped my hand up and felt the ridges where my head was protruding. I tried to reach the top, but I couldn’t find one. I squiggled upright and stood up. In this next leave of tunnel there seemed to be much more room, and much more light. Down about 100 feet to my right I could see a glimmer of the sunlight. I pulled myself right up into the new tunnel and stretched, and then I made my way down to the light.

When I reached the cracks that the light shone through, I was thankful to find it was big enough for me to fit through. I crawled up and put my head out into the fresh air and breathed in deeper than I had ever before. Without thinking of the risk I pulled myself to the outside.

The rock surface of the mountainous shoreline was vast and relatively flat atop the huge formation. To my left was the water I had come across and to my right was this new world before me. The tops of the rocks were high up, higher than the tallest trees in the surrounding forests although trees had sprouted right out of the sides of the escarpment. The wind was gustier up here than it had been at the shore, the air smelled of the water and the freshness of the great outdoors. The sky above me seemed to stretch on forever; in it’s own sea of blue. I just sat and looked at it all, there wasn’t much else I could do. When I noticed something looking at me from a branch from one of the sprouted trees across the rock. I wouldn’t have even noticed had it not been for its large black eyes; the rest of its body blended in with the tree’s bark, but it noticed me. We stared at one another, and although I was relishing in my solitude, it was comforting to see life.

The great owl took flight toward me and landed right beside, as though to inspect me further. I was delighted and cautious not to scare it away. The big bird of speckled brown and white did not seem intimidated by me though and edged closer to me. Locked into each other’s eyes, I extended my arm slowly. The bird stepped on to my forearm and I raised it to the sky. The owl spread its wings and flapped them as if it were going to take off, but stayed firmly with its feet curled around my arm. It looked back at me then and moved its head closer to mine, I pulled my arm in, and it bumped its soft face lightly against my forehead. From there it hopped to my lap and I extended my legs out in front of me to support in. The weight of it made its dagger feet dig into my thigh, but I left it alone as it curled against my chest. Eventually, the sun began to set on the day and I lay back against the hard rock and closed my eyes, the owl curled in my lap.

When I woke, it was the middle of the night. The sky was illuminated with more stars than I had ever seen. It seemed I could see the whole night’s sky from atop the huge rocks. A million stars above and there on the horizon line before me were the moons, each in a different phase. I blinked, realizing that it was out of place in my old world for there to be more than one moon. But there they were. One was full and magnificent, while the two others on either side of it were in their quarter phases, arcing around the full one. I rolled over to my side, switching my stiff position, when I noticed I was alone again. I sat up and looked all around for my new friend, but the owl was gone. Saddened, I lay my head back down and fell back into my slumber.

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