Encountering The Ancient Elf (Original Long Bedtime Story)

This is a long sleep story where you are traveling on a beautiful steam train through a snowy landscape to a location where you will follow in the footsteps of an adventurer from many years ago. You are following the adventurer's diary to try to find a source of wisdom they spoke of. At your destination, you spend a night in a hotel before setting off the next day into the forest where you discover what you are seeking, you find a portal in a pyramid that leads to a land with an ancient elf being the keeper of knowledge and wisdom.

Transcript

Just,

Take a moment to allow yourself to get comfortable and close your eyes and as you drift deeply and soundly asleep,

I don't know whether you'll drift deeper asleep to the sound of my voice or to the spaces between my words,

And with your eyes closed,

You can begin to have a sense of relaxing your mind and body as I count down from 20 to 1,

Becoming deeper absorbed in the experience with each number,

From 20,

Beginning to focus on the top of your head,

Noticing what your head is resting on,

How it's supported gently in place,

The comfort in and around your head as it rests there,

19,

Having a sense of the muscles around your scalp and the back of your head,

Softening and relaxing deeper and deeper,

Drawing in peace and comfort with each breath that you take before moving your awareness around your face,

18,

Focusing on what it's like for that relaxation to spread around your face,

Your ears and your cheeks,

Having the muscles in these areas soften and relax,

17,

Relaxing the muscles around your eyes and across your forehead,

While the muscles around the side of your head and over the top of your head begin to relax deeper and deeper,

16,

Noticing how you can pay attention to fading tension or perhaps find that tension dissolves without paying it any attention at all,

15,

And you can continue to allow that relaxation to spread down around your mouth,

Relaxing your lips and your jaw,

Relaxing the muscles around the side of your neck,

Around to the back of your neck and around your throat,

14,

And as your jaw relaxes and hangs slightly loose,

Limp and comfortable,

That relaxation can continue to move down to your shoulders and your upper back,

13,

And I don't know whether that relaxation happens fastest around your shoulders or in the upper back or perhaps down the tops or the front of your shoulders,

As that relaxation progresses around your back and your chest,

Softening and relaxing those muscles fully,

Deeply and comfortably,

12,

And as those muscles soften and relax while you rest there,

That relaxation can begin to spread down the arms to the hands,

All the way down to the fingertips,

11,

And I don't know which arm will relax fully fastest,

Whether it'll be the left arm or the right arm,

Whether the arms will relax at the same rate and speed as each other,

10,

And as that relaxation continues through those arms,

It can flow down through your stomach,

Your sides and lower back,

All the way down to your bottom,

Before extending deeply down through your legs to the tips of your toes,

9,

And as your body becomes deeper and deeper relaxed,

While you drift into the most pleasant sleep,

So your mind begins to relax as a wave of healing light gently passes down through your body,

8,

You begin to have a sense of that healing light touching your forehead,

Enveloping your face and head with healing deep relaxation,

Absorbing comfortably and gently into you with each in-breath that you take,

7,

Filling you with peace and calm,

Spreading that healing restorative recuperative light down through your body,

Calming your mind,

6,

Breathing in healing,

Calm relaxation,

And breathing out any stress or tension,

5,

Aware of that healing light passing down your neck,

Softening and relaxing those muscles,

Spreading that healing light throughout the neck as it spreads down with the next breath to your shoulders,

Around the back of your neck and down into your arms,

4,

Gradually continuing that flow of healing light all the way to the tips of the fingers,

3,

And with another in-breath,

The healing light can spread down through the body,

Softening and relaxing muscles,

Healing deep within the body,

Filling the body with pleasure and deep relaxation,

2,

As the light journeys down around your stomach,

Your lower back and sides,

Into your buttocks and all the way down to the soles of your feet,

Perhaps noticing your whole mind and body filling with a deep sense of peace and calm,

1,

And as you allow that light to flow with each breath,

You can find your mind drifting deeper and deeper asleep as you drift comfortably into this story,

And as you relax into this story,

You can have a sense of travelling on a train,

And it's an elaborate train,

You're in the most beautiful carriage,

And in this carriage,

You can hear the clickety-clack of the train on the track,

You can see night time outside,

And in the carriage,

It's just dimly lit,

With ornate old-fashioned lights,

Some of the people in the carriage have the velvet curtains drawn over the windows,

There's a gentle rock to the carriage as it clickety-clacks across the track,

Not travelling too quick,

Not travelling too slow,

There's a gentle murmur from others in this carriage as they talk with each other,

Engaging in their conversations,

And outside,

Night time has set in,

And so,

As you travel on this ornate,

Beautiful train,

A train very reminiscent of the Orient Express,

Or another similarly elaborate train,

You can see the beauty of the moon,

Down near the horizon,

Hanging so large,

Seeming to hover almost stationary on the horizon,

You can see the fast-moving shadows of foliage near to the train,

Passing across in front of the moon,

And really having a sense of the difference between the fast-moving foreground and the slow-moving distance of the moon,

And as you gaze out at the moon,

It's light,

Shining so bright,

Making it difficult to see many stars,

Just a couple of pinpricks in the sky,

And as you watch that moon,

You're aware of some wispy clouds,

Likely high-up clouds,

And as some of those clouds drift across the face of the moon,

So you notice the ring of faint colour and light surrounding that moon,

And you're making this route on this train,

To head to a magical location,

In a very snowy location,

And as you're gazing out the window,

In the direction of that moon,

The train continuing to click-clack across the track,

The train enters a tunnel,

Suddenly,

Outside of the train is just darkness,

And a slight whooshing sound,

And an echoing sound of the train in the tunnel,

Occasionally the train sounding its horn,

As if perhaps passing certain markers in this tunnel,

And after what seems quite a journey through the tunnel,

Suddenly the sound changes again,

As you swing out and exit that tunnel,

And you know the location that you're at,

You know that having entered that tunnel,

You're swinging around the outside of the mountains,

Although you can't see them,

The view in the direction of the mountains,

Is too dark to see,

With a tall mountain face,

Alongside the train track,

And then as you continue the journey,

A member of train crew calls everyone through,

To say that food will be served soon,

In the dining car,

And so you join the people as they leave your carriage,

Heading through the train down to the dining car,

You settle down at your table in the dining car,

Food being served and drinks,

The murmur of people in the background,

The clinking of china and cutlery on plates,

The gentle occasional laughter from pockets of people,

As you enjoy the food and the aromas of the food,

Wafting through this car,

As this journey continues,

And after enjoying your dinner,

You find your way back to your seat,

You sit down feeling fulfilled and relaxed,

Letting your food settle,

As the evening continues to set in,

And others find their way back to the carriage,

And the murmur of people is quieter now,

As people are allowing their food to go down,

And some people have gone to settle down for the night already,

And after a while,

You decide it's time for you to go and settle down,

So you head through to the sleeper coach that you're in,

You find your room,

Having to walk down a small corridor,

With the windows on one side,

Still seeing that moon gradually now moving,

Lower beyond the horizon,

Seeing the shape of the distant shadows,

In front of the base of the moon,

The nearby scenery precluding the moon,

In bursts as trees pass,

And gradually more stars being visible,

When you look up high into the night sky,

And still the occasional wispy clouds,

Almost imperceptible other than,

As they get illuminated while crossing the moon's glow,

And finding your room,

You open the door and head in to your room,

Closing that door behind you,

And it's a small little cabin,

With a narrow bed,

You close the curtains in the room,

You prepare yourself for bed and settle down in the bed,

You take a small old book from your suitcase,

You have a reading light turned on above the bed,

And turn the main room light off,

You plump up the pillow behind you,

And rest back,

And begin to read,

And you're reading about your destination,

It won't be the destination of the train,

But it's where you're heading,

The train will be pulling in at a station,

That you'll disembark at,

You'll go to a hotel,

You'll check in to the hotel,

You'll rest for the night in the hotel,

So that you're fresh for the next day,

And then you'll be making your journey to the destination,

The destination itself is deep in the snowy forests,

In the shadow of the mountains,

In an area untrodden by humans for hundreds of years,

And you're reading this book about that location,

And this book is a diary of an explorer from the 1700s,

Who had traveled to this destination,

And written the diary about what they found there,

And as far as you're aware,

This was the only copy of this book ever to exist,

And so you read about their trek,

Into the forests,

Through the snow,

How they navigated the terrain,

And their route to find what they were looking for,

And the evidence for this location that they used has been lost to time,

And you only found out about this diary,

Through a couple of news clippings that you discovered,

That alluded to this journey that this person had been on,

And in one of the news clippings,

The person spoke of keeping their diary,

And writing down their experiences,

And it was only a single sentence in a news clipping,

But it was enough for you to begin to search,

To find this diary,

And to now be here following in their footsteps,

Hoping to find what it was that they found,

And after a while of reading,

You place that book beside you,

Turn off the reading light,

And settle down to sleep,

Almost feeling like you're being rocked to sleep by the train as it goes clickety-clack on the tracks,

The gentle rhythmic sounds of the train on the tracks,

Lulling you deeper,

And deeper into the most peaceful sleep,

And the next morning,

You awaken to the glow of the light leaning on the curtains to the cabin,

The continual background sound of the train on the tracks,

The ever-present rocking movement of the train,

You get up from bed,

Dress yourself,

Feel so refreshed and revitalized,

More refreshed and revitalized than you expected for sleeping in such a cramped bed,

But something about the rocking of the train feels almost like a childhood embrace,

Feels somehow almost nurturing and relaxing,

And you leave the cabin,

You head to breakfast,

You eat the breakfast and can see daylight outside the windows,

The glistening white snow,

The snow-covered trees,

As if a dusting has been poured over the landscape and interspersed into that dusting of snow,

And millions of tiny diamonds,

Reflecting the sun's light,

And you sit for half a day watching the world go by from the train,

Until eventually you arrive at your destination,

Pulling into a very tiny train station,

That could barely be called a train station,

Having to disembark by climbing down some steps,

Down onto the ground,

With no real platform,

And what looks like almost just a shed as a train station,

And you walk past that shed-like train station,

You hear the steam train at the front of the train,

Releasing some steam,

You see people working around the steam train,

Refilling the coal,

Refilling water,

And different people disembarking from different carriages,

With their suitcases,

Some families,

Some individuals,

Looking around as they disembark,

Taking in this most beautiful landscape,

Feeling that cool freshness against your cheeks,

Seeing your breath each time you breathe out,

Creating a cloud before you,

And you head from this train station down towards a road,

Which is more like a dirt track covered in snow,

That has been partially worn by vehicles,

And you walk along that track,

The slight crunching of your feet on the snow on the track,

Heading towards the small looking village,

A little way down the road,

And after some time you find your way to that village,

You wander through the village seeing the small homes and businesses,

The signs for the businesses,

And you recognize one business looks larger than the others,

Looks more hotel-like,

And as you near that,

You see the name of the hotel you're looking for,

And you head into that hotel,

Go to the desk,

To the smiling person,

Say your name,

You're here to check in,

And they check you in,

They ask some basic questions about where you came from,

How long you took to get there,

Whether you've had a comfortable journey,

And you smile and respond,

And then they hand you a key,

It's a very old-fashioned looking key,

And you take that key and you follow the directions you were given,

Up some creaky stairs to a floor,

Along the creaky floorboards to a room,

You put the key into the keyhole,

You begin to twist that key,

Almost feeling it,

Opening that lock with some level of weight,

As it clicks open,

You walk into the room and smell the freshness of this room,

And see the view from the window,

Admiring the beauty of the landscape,

Admiring the size and the softness of the bed,

Compared to what you've had to sleep on to this point,

Sitting on the end of the bed for a moment,

Taking a few comfortable breaths,

Before lying back,

Gazing at the ceiling for a second or two,

Then sitting back up again,

Sorting yourself out,

Checking out the room,

Looking at the bathroom,

Looking in the different cupboards,

Just generally being nosy,

To see what this place is like,

Where you're staying,

And you rest back on that bed for a little while,

Noticing the silence,

You've had days of listening to clickety-clack,

And now you're here,

On a comfortable bed,

With just silence around you,

And you think to yourself,

The silence almost sounds deafening,

Which is an unusual thought to have about silence,

But it's such a stark difference,

From the sound of spending days on a moving train,

And after a while,

You head downstairs,

You explore a bit more of the hotel,

You head out and explore a bit more of this town,

Of this small village,

You see people milling around,

But only in small numbers,

You see a couple of bars,

A few restaurants,

But it's not a particularly large place,

You find somewhere to eat,

And as you're eating,

There's some live music playing here,

And a girl dancing,

On a dance floor area,

In front of that live band,

Just allowing herself to be absorbed in the experience of dancing,

Being lost in that experience,

Dancing with freedom,

Without any cares,

Just a dance of self-expression,

And then after you've eaten,

Enjoyed listening for a while,

To that live music,

You head back to the hotel,

Back up to the room where you head to bed and settle down for the night,

With the plan that tomorrow you'll gather your stuff together,

Ready for your hike,

Into the nearby forest,

Following the footsteps laid out in the diary,

And you drift and float into the most pleasant,

Comfortable sleep,

Enjoying that deep sense of calm and relaxation,

And the most pleasant dreams,

The next morning,

Awakening,

Heading down for breakfast,

Before heading back up to your room,

Preparing for your hike,

Making sure you've got everything you could possibly need,

And then while it's still early,

You set off in the direction of the dense forest,

Setting off in the direction of the mountains,

And you walk into that forest,

Having to push through the thick snow to get into the forest,

But the snow thins as you head into that dense forest,

As the snow rests on the top of the canopies of the trees,

With very little of that snow finding its way to the forest floor,

Just some patches of more dense snow,

Where it's fallen through branches,

Perhaps overweighed some branches,

Or where there are some clearings within the forest,

And the forest is deeply peaceful,

The snowy and wooded landscape seeming to almost dull sound that passes through here,

And you can feel the sensation of the bark under your fingertips as you push past trees,

You can smell the pine smell in the forest,

And feel the cool chill on your cheeks,

And hear the sound of each footstep that you take,

And you're not entirely sure what you'll discover,

All you know is that the adventurer found what they described as a source of deep knowledge and wisdom,

And they were reluctant to explain any more,

And even in their diary they say they found it,

But they just say that it's indescribable,

No one would believe them,

And so in case anyone found the diary,

They didn't want to record what they'd found,

Just that they had found it,

And so you continue following that diary,

Following the route that was taken,

Curious within yourself about what it is that you'll discover when you get there,

And after quite some time of walking,

Where you're significantly warmer than the environment would have you believe you should be,

You decide it's time to rest,

And you can tell,

Although you can't see the sky,

That the light levels have dimmed,

And so night is probably setting in,

And you didn't plan on spending every night at the hotel,

Although you checked in for a series of nights,

You brought with you some camping gear,

And are well prepared for this journey,

And so with night setting in,

You set up camp,

And a campfire,

Which crackles gently to life,

And brings the pleasant relief of warmth to your cheeks,

And the dancing light and shadows to this forest,

The shadows of the trees leaping and dancing around in the distance,

The occasional sounds of different forest animals,

Which have awoken at night,

And their sounds also dulled by the forest,

And after having something to eat,

You relax back into your tent,

You zip up the tent,

And settle down,

And the fire had burned down to embers,

And was barely a glow outside the tent,

As you fall comfortably and relaxed asleep,

And the next morning,

You awaken and have something to eat before packing away,

Continuing your journey,

And after many more hours of walking,

You notice that,

Although the landscape looks very flat with the snow,

That gently carpets the ground,

Like a little dusting across the ground,

Just a dusting of what has managed to break through the canopy overhead,

You notice that just beneath that snow layer,

The ground is actually becoming more uneven,

And occasionally you step on bits which seem loose like rubble,

And so you rush away at some of the ground,

And you find that it is like rubble,

That it seems to be the ruins of an ancient town,

Or place that people lived out here,

That's been overgrown by the trees,

And you know you're on the right track,

And so you continue deeper and deeper into the forest,

And after some time,

The ground seems to be rising up gently,

And then even more and more,

And you realise this is what you've been searching for,

That this forest has built up over the top of what it is you're looking for,

That beneath this mound of trees and mud is a pyramid,

And so you refer to the notes in the diary to find your way round to the entrance to the pyramid,

Then you have to brush away some snow,

But you find the entrance as it was left by the explorer,

Where they'd made it much easier to get into,

And you head into this pyramid,

Finding that inside the pyramid,

It very quickly becomes strangely warm and comfortable,

The air pressure seems to almost change,

The atmosphere seems to almost shift,

There's a slight echo to movements within this pyramid,

As if the walls allow sound to reverberate far more than snow,

And so you continue walking deeper and deeper into the pyramid,

Until you find some steps,

And you begin to descend those steps to a chamber underneath the pyramid,

The pyramid giving off a warmth,

A very comfortable temperature,

And yet the outside of the pyramid remains very cold,

There's no sign of it influencing the snow and the forest above,

And as you reach the chamber beneath the pyramid,

You start to hear a slight hum,

And you start to notice what looks like a large electric blue glowing orb in the middle of this chamber,

And you walk towards that orb,

And as you approach the orb,

It's almost as if you can see yourself reflected back three dimensionally within the orb,

And you walk around the orb,

Looking from all angles,

You take a walking stick from your backpack,

Extend that stick,

And you poke it into the orb to see what will happen,

Before removing it from the orb,

And then deciding to step through that orb,

Unsure where it'll lead you,

And as you step through the orb,

You find yourself in the most beautiful lush green forest,

With the most comfortable temperature to the air,

You can hear the sounds of singing birds,

What sounds like perhaps distant monkeys,

And other animals,

Like this is a lush living environment,

A very healthy ecosystem,

And the sound of the rustling leaves as the wind blows a breeze,

And you walk away from the orb and turn to face the orb,

And you see that the orb is behind you,

Now reflecting this environment,

Still electric blue,

But reflecting the dense greenery of this forest,

And you can just make out a very slightly less overgrown part of this forest,

As if there's a track which has started to overgrow,

But is just about less overgrown than the rest of the forest,

And so you begin to follow that track,

Curious where it'll take you,

And you have nothing to go on from this point on,

The diary didn't say anything about the orb,

It mentioned finding something in a chamber,

But it didn't say what,

Or give any further details,

And so you continue following this path,

And seem to be walking for hours,

Before eventually hearing a distant stream,

And heading towards that distant stream,

And finding yourself in a clearing,

And you walk along the edge of that stream,

In this clearing,

Through the most beautiful meadow,

With flowers of all colours,

Insects and animals looking like butterflies and bees,

But also looking different in some way,

Flying from flower to flower,

And you can see a dwelling in the distance,

And it almost looks natural,

Like it's built into the landscape,

Almost like a hut built into the landscape,

Only larger,

And you can see someone pottering around,

Doing something outside that building,

As you approach them,

And as you get nearer,

And nearer,

You notice that they look somehow different,

To what you would expect,

They have the most beautiful features,

They have pointy ears,

They look incredibly athletic,

And tall,

Their hair is golden and flowing,

And as they gaze up at you,

You notice their eyes are a piercing,

Enchanting blue,

And their eyes,

The iris of their eyes,

Seems to almost shimmer,

Like pools of blue oil or liquid,

As their eyes change focus,

Looking in different places,

And they look so friendly and smiling,

And they greet you,

And you're surprised at being able to understand them,

But you can't place their accent,

It's almost as if they have no accent,

And you explain how you've been following a diary,

And you take that diary out,

And they see the diary,

And they say,

I remember when they visited here,

And they invite you in,

And you head into their home,

Into this dwelling,

And they say that they're the guardian of the knowledge here in this land,

And the explorer,

The adventurer that you've been reading the diary of,

Had come here previously,

And they make you a special kind of tea,

As you sit and talk,

And after talking for a while,

They say,

Would you like to see the knowledge too,

And they take you through to an enormous library,

And in this library,

There seems to be thousands of tiny fairies,

Flitting and flying from shelf to shelf,

Among all the documents,

And they say these fairies work hard to maintain this knowledge,

To constantly update the knowledge,

And add to the knowledge,

Keeping this library full,

Of all the available knowledge in this land,

And researching and gathering knowledge,

That people seek,

Because they know where every bit of knowledge is within this library,

And they say that they're an ancient elf,

And that in human years,

There would be thousands and thousands of years old,

And they share some of that knowledge with you,

They ask you what kind of knowledge you're seeking,

And you tell them about some of the knowledge you would like to know,

And they say that you can actually absorb some of this knowledge,

By drinking a special tea,

And so the fairies make that special tea,

And they say if you drink this special tea,

It'll temporarily give you the abilities of the fairies,

Because as the fairies fly,

They release fairy dust,

And the fairy dust lasts just a short while,

Almost like sparkling,

Shimmering around their wings,

But that fairy dust contains some of their ability,

And so making the tea with the fairy dust,

Can temporarily give you that ability,

And you'll be able to think of the knowledge that you want,

And close your eyes,

And access that knowledge,

That wisdom,

And so you drink this tea,

Finding it has the sweetest taste,

And once you finish that warm tea,

Your eyes close,

Your cheeks flush with warmth,

And you have a deep sense of peace and connection with this library,

Almost as if energy is radiating between you and every single item in this library,

As if you can psychically notice tendrils of energy,

Like a web of energy between you and every single book,

And as you start to think of questions,

You notice some of those tendrils,

Some of the web,

Becoming brighter,

As you connect with the relevant document,

And this is how the fairies can find the relevant knowledge and documents so quickly,

And so you become deeply absorbed in the experience,

Gaining such profound wisdom,

And suddenly becoming aware of how overwhelming wisdom can be,

Having certain questions answered,

And being in this state feels almost timeless,

And after the experience,

It begins to wear off,

You talk some more with this ancient elf,

Before saying that you should head back to your land,

And they say that through the portal,

Time stands still,

For the time you're here until you return,

And the same occurs the other way,

And so you head back,

You navigate your way back to that portal,

You head through the portal,

Finding yourself back in that chamber,

You find your way back out,

And start navigating back through the forest,

Considering the experience you'd had,

And then stopping,

Once night falls,

Camping for the night,

Before continuing your journey on again the next day,

Arriving back in that village,

Back at the hotel,

And settling down for the most peaceful night's sleep,

Aware that in just a few days you'll be making your journey back home,

Back on that train,

But for now you rest in that bed,

Just considering and thinking over the journey you've had,

The experience with that wisdom,

And you find that you can't even imagine how you could share that experience,

How you could explain the experience,

How you could even put the experience into words,

And explain what it's like to absorb all that wisdom,

Let alone explaining the wisdom that you'd had and gained,

But it's deep and profound,

And you know it'll transform you for the better,

And help you in so many ways,

As you settle down and relax deeply into the bed,

Drifting and floating so peacefully,

So comfortably,

Into slumberland.