Encountering The Phoenix (Long Bedtime Story)

This is part 3 where you are the wanderer. You continue your journey through the forest of Taramysia, where you encounter a phoenix which is rising from a burning tree. The phoenix asks for your help. You climb on its back and it takes you to a land in the clouds where you solve a mystery of a missing civilisation.

Transcript

So just take a moment to allow your eyes to close and allow yourself to begin to relax and as you begin to comfortably drift asleep.

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I'm just going to tell this bedtime story in the background and I don't know whether you'll drift asleep faster to the sound of my voice or whether it'll be to the spaces between my words.

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And as you comfortably fall asleep,

You can have a sense of being the wanderer,

Continuing your journey through Taramasea,

You've met with fairies and whispers and now you're continuing on walking deeper and deeper into the woodland.

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And as you continue to walk deeper into the woodland,

Off of paths,

Having to push your way through the woodland,

Hacking at those trees,

Squeezing around tree trunks,

Crunching your way through the undergrowth.

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You think back on how far you've come already,

The journey you've been making,

Lessons you've been learning,

Curious what you'll discover as you continue on this journey.

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Walking without any specific purpose of a destination,

But just exploring this land,

Going where your mind takes you and where your curiosity takes you.

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And as you continue walking through the forest,

The sound of rain on the trees,

Hitting those leaves overhead,

The occasional drip finding its way to the forest floor,

The darkness within the forest.

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There's very little light finds its way down here,

And a certain stillness to the air,

That scent of damp air,

As you walk and explore,

Walking and exploring deeper and deeper.

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And as you continue to walk through this forest,

Wondering what you'll discover today,

You find a large tree,

And a hollow in the base of that tree,

And although very little rain is finding its way to the forest floor,

You tuck yourself gently into the hollow.

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You take a moment to have a break,

To eat some food,

To reflect on your journey,

And after a while you continue walking through this forest,

And you find a very narrow,

Light stream ambling through this forest,

No wider than a footstep,

And you follow that stream.

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It's trickling so gently,

So calmly,

The sound of that trickling encouraging a sense of relaxation,

And you follow that through the forest,

Until you start to hear in the distance,

The faint sound of crackling through the trees.

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In the gentle darkness and gloominess of this forest,

You notice a glowing,

Undulating light,

You head in the direction of that light,

And find yourself coming out in a slight clearing,

And in the middle of this clearing,

You notice a burning tree.

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Only this tree appears to be burning yet,

It doesn't appear to be affected by the fire,

Then the burning brightens and intensifies,

And you can see the way the light of the fire is stretching up and spreading out from the top of the tree.

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And some areas of darkness are mixed in with the light of the flames,

And you notice,

Rising from the tree,

What looks like an ethereal phoenix,

And that phoenix seems to break free of the top of the tree,

And the fire seems to calm down.

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And the tree seems perfectly normal and healthy,

And that phoenix flies around for a bit,

And as it flies around overhead,

So it turns from looking like flying flames,

To something more tangible,

As this beast eventually lands in the meadow near you.

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And in a deep and booming voice,

Softly encourages you over,

And so you tentatively walk over,

Towards that phoenix,

As you approach,

You can feel a gentle warmth radiating from the phoenix.

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And see some steam seeming to rise up from the ground around the phoenix,

And the phoenix instructs you to climb onto its back,

And so without hesitation you do so,

And then with a few steps and a leap,

It launches into the sky,

Circling around as it does.

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And you can see the forest below,

And vast forest spreading out in all directions,

The phoenix flies up above the clouds,

Those clouds raining below,

It flies along the top of the clouds,

Almost as if it's galloping along the top of the clouds,

So close,

Barely.

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Touching the top of those clouds,

And you notice in the distance,

Among the grey clouds,

There seems to be a structure embedded within one of the clouds,

And so the phoenix heads towards that structure.

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And the closer it gets,

The more you notice,

It seems like a palace in the sky,

And the phoenix takes you all the way to that palace,

Lands in the courtyard of the palace,

And this palace appears deserted,

And you head in to the palace,

Dismounting from that phoenix while it waits for you outside.

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You walk into that palace,

The footsteps echoing as you go,

You ascend a large staircase inside this palace,

You can notice beams of light passing through those windows,

Reflecting off the marble floor.

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And you're surprised how empty this palace appears to be,

And up these stairs,

Following a balcony for a while,

You find a large door,

And it seems to be the only room up here,

You push with two hands on those doors,

Pushing the enormous door aside,

As it slowly swings open,

Moves aside,

You see a vast empty chamber,

And on the far wall of the chamber is a mirror,

A very simple looking mirror,

And with echoing footsteps and curiosity in your heart,

You approach that mirror.

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And as you approach,

You're surprised because the mirror seems to be reflecting the room,

And yet it doesn't seem to be showing your reflection as you approach,

And you wonder whether,

Perhaps,

The mirror's angled slightly,

And so is somehow managing,

To just avoid showing exactly where you are in the room.

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And that you're actually seeing a slightly different area of the room,

But just recognising it as being the room,

And you walk all the way up to that mirror,

And once at the mirror,

You notice,

Even though you're stood right in front of the mirror,

You have no reflection.

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You reach out a hand,

With curiosity,

To touch that mirror,

Only it appears like there's no glass in the place,

And you reach straight through the mirror frame,

And so you walk through that mirror,

Finding that you're in a mirror image of that palace,

And so you don't know if the mirror was really just a fake mirror,

Made to resemble a mirror,

But was actually just a doorway to another room,

That was a mirror of the first room,

Or whether the mirror was some kind of a portal to a mirror room.

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And you explore this room,

And notice everything does indeed appear to be reversed,

And while exploring this room,

You head over to some books,

And you see a book on a table,

And the writing in the book is all reversed,

You head back to that mirror,

Pass through the mirror again,

You go to the same table,

To the same book,

And you see that the writing is correct,

But you also notice that the book here,

Is open exactly as you left that mirror version,

And you read a little bit of the book,

You see that there is some handwriting in this book,

Almost written in the margins of a page,

With the handwriting,

Stating that a curse has been placed here,

That where there is time running forward,

There is time running forward in reverse,

And you don't really understand that,

But in your mind you kind of have a concept of it,

From your experience through the mirror,

And where there is space,

There is space in reverse,

And a curse was placed that swapped the two,

And those in the middle,

Have been trapped out of time,

Those who are present,

At the time of the curse's setting,

Are out of time,

Now,

On both sides of the mirror,

And it seems that this curse was placed,

And that the switch happened,

Starting from one point,

And expanding out,

Giving just a moment for somebody to share this knowledge,

And that's why on either side of the mirror,

No one seems to be there,

Because everyone who is here,

Is trapped in time,

In one layer of time,

And yet time has moved on,

On both sides of the mirror,

And so you have to search for clues on how you can correct this problem,

And you head back through the mirror,

Having closed that book,

And placed it on a shelf,

And through the mirror,

You head to the book's location,

And find that it's on the shelf,

And what you do in one universe,

Instantly affects the other,

And you begin to explore this mirror universe,

You head down the steps,

You head out of the exit,

And are surprised to see the phoenix waiting there for you,

Noticing that this curse only affects the building,

And the phoenix says that you'll need to solve this curse,

To undo this curse,

That the curse is affecting an entire civilization that lives within the clouds,

Up high above Tarimisia,

And that it was when the entire civilization seemed to just vanish,

That other beings from the land tried to investigate,

To work out what had happened,

And then the phoenix was called upon to rise from the ashes,

To see if they could find an answer,

Because they live out of time,

And they stretch into an ethereal realm,

As well as the physical realm,

But nobody had appeared in the ethereal realm,

So when they couldn't find them in the physical realm either,

They knew someone would need to investigate,

And you head back,

Into the palace,

Back,

Up those stairs,

Searching around,

And it seems whichever universe,

The mirror,

Or the regular,

It's only affecting within the palaces,

And as you explore,

You eventually find a secret doorway,

Leading down a spiral staircase,

You descend that spiral staircase,

20,

19,

18,

17,

16,

15,

14,

13,

12,

Going all the way,

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9,

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Finding a deep sense of peace as you descend,

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Finding your way to the bottom of the staircase,

Standing in front of a door,

Opening that door,

Discovering yourself,

In a vast library,

And at the far end of this library,

You find another scribble,

On the side of a book,

And the scribble seems to just be two sets of numbers,

And as you look around the library,

You realise these sets of numbers,

Are pointing to a specific location in the library,

And so you head to the books,

With those numbers,

And you find a golden book,

Of wizardry and witchcraft,

You take that book from the shelf,

And you begin to read through the book,

And as you do,

You notice,

That there's a spell in this book,

For flipping reality,

You realise that must be the spell which was done here,

You read through and find,

A spell to reverse this,

That should reset everything back to normal,

And you still don't know who did this or why,

But you write down a list of what you need to perform the spell,

You head back up that spiral staircase,

You find your way all the way back outside,

Going back to the phoenix,

You tell the phoenix you need to gather some ingredients,

And together,

You dive down beneath those clouds,

Heading back down to that forest,

You begin to search for those ingredients,

And the phoenix lands and waits as you go off in search of those ingredients,

Within the forest,

You are searching for a plant that is leafy and along the edge of flowing water,

And this plant has a gentle ringing sound to it,

And you search for that plant,

Gently listening out for that ringing,

And in the distance,

You hear that ringing,

The sound of tiny bells,

And you see the slightly glowing green leaves of that plant,

You pick the plant,

Move on to the next item,

You go in search of that item,

A plant you have to dig up,

You eventually find that plant,

Dig it up with your hands from the damp soil,

Clean off the roots,

And chop some of the roots to take with you,

You continue searching,

Trying to find a specific tree,

And it says that with this tree,

You have to take a twig from another tree,

And then jam that twig at a 45 degree angle up to the trunk of the tree you're searching for,

And a thick sap will gently flow from that tree down the twig,

And you'll gather up some of that sap before removing the twig,

Rubbing the sap gently into the wound in the tree,

Where it'll heal itself and seal the wound,

And so you find that tree,

Gather that sap,

And continue your journey,

Now looking for the most beautiful pink flower,

With petals as soft as silk,

And after a bit of searching,

Pushing through the undergrowth,

You spy a flash of pink,

And head over and find the flower,

You pick a few of the flowers,

Knowing you'll need those petals,

And then just have one more ingredient,

You head back to the phoenix,

And it says you need a golden tail feather of a phoenix,

You tell the phoenix this,

And reluctantly the phoenix agrees to you taking a feather,

And so you take hold of one of the phoenix's tail feathers,

Feeling how soft that feather is,

And with a sharp pull and a slight wince of the phoenix,

You get the feather,

The phoenix flies you back to the palace,

And you head back into the palace,

And you know you have to find the location to perform the spell,

So you begin to explore in this palace,

Checking out different rooms,

Different locations,

Searching for a doorway to a domed chamber,

And eventually after some searching,

And echoing around the corridors,

You open a door,

You descend some stairs,

And deep down under the palace,

You find yourself in a small but tall domed chamber,

And in the middle of this chamber is a golden looking pot,

Held by four posts,

Above an area for lighting a fire,

And so you follow the instructions,

You take some of the firewood from the corner of this chamber,

You light that fire,

You go to what looks like a small spring in this chamber,

Some permanently flowing water,

Bubbling its way down into a small pond,

You gather some water in a chalice,

You pour that water into the large pot,

You then pluck the petals,

Those silky smooth petals,

You tear them up and drop them into the liquid,

A little bit of steam begins to rise from the liquid as the water heats,

You add some of the plant,

Ringing like bells,

You tear that into small pieces,

And as you tear it into small pieces,

So each piece continues the ringing,

And so you go from one plant,

With one distinct ringing sound,

To hundreds of bits of that plant,

All individually,

Making a slightly softer ringing sound in harmony with each other,

You gather that up in your two hands,

And you drop that into the liquid,

You use a stick that seems to almost have a lump on the end,

As if it's designed for stirring,

To push down and stir the liquid,

The liquid continues to heat,

You add that sap,

And you strip off all the feathery elements of the phoenix's feather,

And add that,

You run your finger down the instructions,

Checking that you've done everything correctly,

It's now just a case of stirring,

Until it begins to boil,

And as it begins to boil,

So it begins to change colour,

It begins to thicken,

The ingredients begin to break down in the boiling water,

Dissolving even more,

Into a single colour,

A single bright purple,

And you continue to stir,

Glancing at the instructions,

Making sure you're on track,

Doing everything correctly,

And once it appears to be prepared,

And there's a slight purple smoke seeming to rise from the potion,

That seems heavier than air,

That's falling out of the pot,

Down to the ground,

And beginning to spread around the base of the chamber,

You begin to say the incantation listed in the book,

You recite that incantation,

And as you do,

Silver sparkles begin to happen throughout the liquid,

Popping,

Bubbling,

Sparkling,

And then the liquid seems to become thicker and thicker,

And it says in the instructions to remove the spoon,

Once it becomes difficult to keep stirring,

And so once it becomes difficult to keep stirring,

You remove that spoon,

And it continues to heat,

And heat,

And that purple liquid,

And the purple smoke,

Become denser and denser,

Until eventually,

The most incredible thing happens,

A purple dragon begins to form out of the top of that liquid,

Forming,

Circling,

Spiraling around higher and higher in this chamber,

As if coming out of that pot,

And this dragon is a long,

Thin dragon,

With small legs at the front and the back,

And almost wavy,

Feathery formations,

Running down in two rows from its head,

All the way down towards its tail,

It doesn't seem to have wings,

And near its mouth,

It seems to have what looks almost like cat's tails,

Almost like large,

Tail-like whiskers,

And the dragon continues to grow longer and longer,

Spiraling,

Circling its way up higher,

Until you see its tail clear the pot,

And the pot appears empty,

And all the purple is now this one purple dragon,

Undulating like waves,

As it flies around the room,

Circling around this chamber,

And then it talks to you,

Asking why you've summoned it,

And you explain about the curse on this place,

And the dragon takes a deep breath in,

And then breathes out,

And the breath is almost like an icy breath,

Only not that cold,

But it seems to spread out through the chamber,

The walls of the chamber turning slightly blue,

As if turning to ice,

And it continues to breathe out and breathe out,

And you're aware that this blue is spreading,

Filling the entire palace,

And then a slight shriek sound comes out with the breath,

And this increases and increases,

And then just as the dragon stops its long breath,

So everything turns silent,

The dragon flies down,

Lands,

Wrapped around the chamber,

Head facing you,

A short distance in front of you,

So close you can feel its breath,

The dragon explains that that loud shrieking sound was the sound of all the voices of all the people across both realms,

Meeting at a single point in time,

As everything is restored back to that single point in time,

And the dragon explains that there was an ancient wizard which had come here and caused this curse,

That they foresaw the moment when they returned everything back to the moment,

And that that wizard did this curse to clear out the palace in both realms,

So they could sneak in and remove something,

And what they removed looks like a dragon's egg,

An ornate dragon's egg,

Covered in jewels and emeralds and precious metals,

And they've removed the dragon's egg from the combined realities,

And doing so increases the power of the magic within the egg,

And they don't know what the wizard needs the egg for,

Why they've stolen it,

But it's important to try to return that egg,

To prevent it being used for anything nefarious,

And as the dragon speaks,

So it fades back to gas,

To the purple gas cloud spread through the chamber,

Dissipating,

And as you leave the chamber,

So you hear the hustle and bustle of people in this palace,

You realize that there's no longer a split with a mirror universe and a regular universe,

There's just all one universe,

All restored,

Everything is the correct way around,

Heading in the correct direction,

And the inhabitants here are moving at the right time,

And you talk with the queen,

Who tells you she's sending her best investigators to try to find the wizard,

Find the wizard,

And recover the eggs,

And she thanks you for your part in this,

For rescuing them,

And you leave this palace,

You head back out to that phoenix,

You explain as you're climbing back onto the phoenix what occurred,

And the phoenix just shows curiosity and intrigue,

And they take you back to where you found them,

They drop you off,

You dismount,

They head back over towards that tree,

They fly up above the tree,

Spread their wings,

They turn back into what looks like fire again,

As they lower and dissolve into a fire engulfing that tree,

And then that fire dissipates from the tree,

And you're alone here in the clearing,

And you notice how late it is,

How long the day has been,

You head to the far side of the clearing,

You have yourself something to eat,

You set up a camp,

And settle down to sleep,

And as you begin to comfortably drift to sleep,

So you ponder the day,

Pondering your experiences,

Wondering what the future will hold,

Whether you'll learn more about that evil wizard,

And what's going on here in this land,

And whether you'll be a part of it again in the future,

As you drift and float so peacefully,

So calmly relaxed,

Into slumberland.