So just take a moment to allow your eyes to close and allow yourself to begin to relax and as you begin to comfortably fall asleep.
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 and as you comfortably fall asleep I'm just going to tell this bedtime story in the background and the mountains were howling with wind with snow whipping its way around a tiny mongoose as it trekked and trudged through the mountain paths feeling its fur bristle in the breeze,
Its goggles buffeted by large snowflakes,
Its ears kept warm under some over ear earmuffs,
A red scarf wrapped around its neck waving behind it in the wind,
Its long coat flapping at the seams,
Its boots trudging through that snow as it pushes on and climbs higher and higher following this mountain pass that's barely visible being able to only see white no idea of what time of day it is just pushing on one step at a time and each step through this landscape feels like ten steps through a meadow and while walking through this landscape the mongoose finds their mind wandering and drifting almost distracting themselves so their body carries on walking while their mind is elsewhere in the same way that someone could be driving from A to B and they safely make it from the start to the finish but perhaps were lost in thought for the journey but a part of them knows how to make the journey safely and so the mongoose trudges on while their mind drifts and dreams dreaming of warmer locations just letting their body travel step by step the snow deepening the higher they walk that snow being up around their waist as they leave a trail behind them pushing on crunching through that snow until eventually they notice a slight change in the sound of the wind ahead and realize they're approaching the cave somewhere they can hopefully get out of this snow and as they keep pushing forward eventually they see a slight dark shape getting larger and larger through the white of the snowfall and the closer they get the darker the shape gets and the larger it gets until eventually they arrive at that cave they enter the mouth of the cave hearing the whistling sound of the wind wrapping itself into that cave circling around and finding its way back out again and they take a moment to sit down take some deep and comfortable breaths and allow themselves to relax to compose themselves as the sound of the wind is quieter in here and they light a small fire and rest by that fire eating some food and having a drink and just watching those flames of the fire create dancing light and shadows around the cave walls and the warmth of the fire soothing their bristling fur and their fur softening and the snow on them melting gently and after resting and eating for a while that blizzard continuing on outside the cave they decide to follow the cave and head deeper and deeper into the mountains and find their way through the mountains and so they pick up a bit of wood from the fire and they carry that torch as they walk deeper and deeper into this mountain following the cave the sound of the wind gradually fading the further they travel the air becoming still and just a distant low rumble from the wind buffeting the mountains and as they continue walking so the sound quietens enough that they can hear each footstep they take and the way the footsteps reverberate gently off the cave walls the occasional distant dripping sound and they walk further down these passages deeper into the mountainside and the caves twist and turn and split into multiple paths and so as not to get lost once they come to the first split in the caves they take their scarf off they unthread the scarf slightly and attach that thread to one location and just let the scarf unravel as they follow a series of routes and any time they backtrack to take a different path they gather up the thread of the scarf to the point they head in a different direction and let it unfurl in this new location and they follow one series of routes to a dead end backtrack to the last turning take the other turning follow that until it reaches a dead end backtrack to the last turning and follow that until it reaches a dead end and over many many hours in a very methodical and relaxed way they work their way through all the different options until they eventually find their way through this mountain to a large chamber in the heart of the mountain and they're still trying to make their way all the way through but this chamber intrigues them they can see that there's stream running through this chamber and weaving its way down most likely to come out somewhere the other side of the mountain and they head over to that stream and as they get near to the source of the stream so they can feel the ground has a very slight warmth to it and they can see the water gently bubbling up and then flowing along that stream and as they touch the water delicately they feel that it's ice cold that it's probably just about being warmed and melting and then seeping through and then rising up at this point and they gather up some of that water to carry with them on their journey before following this stream and they crouch down as they follow the stream through a path that it's likely created itself over millions and millions of years weaving between slightly weaker parts of the rock maybe seeping into cracks perhaps even freezing at times expanding the cracks and then thawing and flowing and repeating the process and they follow their way along this stream until they start to hear the distant sound,
That low rumble of wind but as they get closer they find that this stream ends at a waterfall pouring down into a small lake still within the mountain and they abseil down the side of that waterfall the cold water spraying on them as they go the droplets of water hanging on the edge of their fur as they touch down on the cave floor here and when they turn around they realize what the rumbling sound was that it wasn't the rumbling sound of the distant wind on the far side of the mountain the whole far side wall of this chamber seems to have silver liquid metal that looks like flowing mercury tumbling down the wall and passing down a fissure beneath that liquid metal going somewhere deeper under this chamber and they walk closer to that rumbling flowing liquid metal and they can see themselves a perfect reflection looking back at themselves with just the occasional slight flicker where the metal changes density very slightly as it flows,
Just revealing that it's flowing as it's moving liquid rather than a static mirror and while they think about how they're going to get out of this chamber they light a fire to boil that water they'd gathered to make sure that water is safe to drink and this chamber is gently glowing as light manages to shine in through ice and the walls seem to almost be coated in faint blue crystals and that little amount of light is enhanced,
Reflecting off this liquid metal and as the water boils they then take it off the fire they leave that to cool down for a bit and while it's cooling they just sit and rest thinking about their way ahead and they can still continue following this stream it flows through this cavern along near this liquid metal and out of this chamber and when the water has cooled down they pour it back into its container take a few sips of that water and as they do they see that everything around them seems to shift everything becomes much quieter the water flowing past them quietens down until it stops making any noise at all and as they look at it they see that the water has stopped flowing and the rumbling of the flowing liquid metal has ceased and they find the liquid metal has stopped flowing and then everything is beginning to go dark and the fire stands still and they find that even the light has stopped moving and as everything starts to go dark they can see the reflection of this space in that liquid metal and see that that isn't going dark as fast as the chamber and although everything is coming to a standstill they can look around,
They can move,
They can walk they can think so they seem to be able to still move despite everything else grinding to a halt and they walk towards that reflection of themselves and they watch the reflection of themselves walking back towards them and they reach out with a wooden spoon touching the liquid metal only the spoon passes straight through that metal the metal doesn't part around the spoon and as they move that spoon at a slight angle they see a spoon at a slight angle poking back in their direction and they realise the reflection is passing through into the chamber and so they move forward and closing their eyes they step into the liquid metal and as they open their eyes they find they're in the chamber only now it's better illuminated than the one they've come from and they turn around and they can see themselves in the reflection behind them as if what's behind them is the mirror image and they realise they've changed places with themselves and yet that mirror image is doing everything that they do and so they don't know if they're the ones moving around and that is just a mirror image of them,
Copying them or if the mirror image is the one moving around and perhaps they're the one that's copying the mirror image if that mirror image is now the one out in the real world and they wonder if there'll be any way to tell if your mirror image is copying you and then you step into the mirror and your mirror image steps into the real world which one is the one making the actions and which one is the one copying and is there a way to tell and they wonder what this place is like here everything here is much lighter and yet everything has stopped just like where they've come from and they head over and they start making their journey back the way they came they head up the side of the waterfall they head along the edge of the water back to that chamber and they work their way slowly and carefully to head out,
To see what the mountainside looks like here and as they head out onto the mountainside the snow hangs in the sky the particles only parting as they brush through them the air is still but there's more of a glow of light here and as they walk through the snow here not feeling any temperature not hot but not cold there's no sound of the footsteps trudging through the snow and yet the snow is compacting and they continue to explore this side of the mountain and with the blizzard stopped it's much easier for them to walk this side than the previous climb they had and they head all the way down to the foot of the mountain they walk into the forest still no sound they see a small mushroom house in this forest a door in the side of the house some glowing windows a small chimney and a wisp of static smoke and they head towards that house they knock on the door only their knocking doesn't make a sound they open the door and say hello only their voice feels muted they can hear themselves saying hello but it's as if their voice doesn't travel beyond their mouth and they see stood in the middle of this room a fairy,
Motionless and they walk around that fairy and in the right light its wings seem to work like prisms the light reflecting and splitting as it passes through and they reach out and gently touch that fairy on the side of the arm hoping to get the attention of the fairy being very tentative and unsure and with that the fairy very very slowly begins to move and so they jump back a little and the fairy moves more and more until their wings are buzzing and they start walking and looking around and they're startled at the sight of the mongoose and the mongoose reassures them says they don't really know what's going on they knocked,
The knock wasn't heard and so they came in and found that fairy,
Frozen in time and space and the fairy now also notices that the fire in the fireplace isn't burning but it also isn't out it looks like it's mid burn she heads outside of her home looks back at her home and can see the wisp of smoke sitting above the chimney snowflakes hanging in the sky the lack of sound of rustling leaves and the mongoose says they've no idea what happened,
They're in an unusual cave there was a liquid metal wall they drank some drink that came from the stream that was passing through the mountain and with drinking the drink time seemed to stop and it was almost like the liquid metal became a portal to a mirror world but for some reason although they've touched the snow and they've touched other things as they've walked and they touched the door to try and knock it's only when they touched the fairy that the fairy unfroze too and the fairy explained perhaps it's because they're a magical being and so maybe touching them triggered their magic and released them from this frozen time that's just a hypothesis and the mongoose said they probably should get back and pass back through,
Back to their own time and space but they don't know if they're going to be able to restart time they also don't know what'll happen if time restarts while they're here in this mirror universe will they be stuck here while their mirror self takes their place in their reality and where is that mirror self has it walked through their reality replicating the journey they've made they don't think that the two realities are identical because they're pretty sure there was no fairy house in the forest near the mountain when they were climbing in their reality and the fairy said that they can help to answer some of these questions and they travelled with the mongoose deeper into the forest and they went to a cabin in the heart of this forest and the fairy felt there was no point knocking because the knock would never be heard they walked into the building against the back wall they could see a grandfather clock and this cabin seemed empty like no one has been here for a very long time and the fairy went over to the grandfather clock touched the side of the grandfather clock and with that the clock started going tick,
Tock tick,
Tock the pendulum of the clock started swinging left and right the hands gently started moving and as that clock got up to time the fairy said she'd like to speak with father time and the clock transformed and a kindly elderly man with the friendliest of eyes and the whitest of beards appeared in place of that grandfather clock and she explained the situation and father time shared what the mongoose needed to do and explained about that liquid being healing water and that that healing water freezes time giving time to make a change and for healing to occur and explained that the liquid metal is magic and it's a portal created between worlds but it's a portal that can only be crossed when the liquid isn't flowing the mirror needs to be static and so they're in the right place and the right time to come here and they can find their way back but to start time again they're going to have to drink a different liquid they're going to have to drink the reverse liquid to the one they drunk before but if they drink that liquid they need to make sure they're in the right place and time before they do and so the mongoose heads back with the fairy back past the fairy's home finds their way back up and into the mountain they gather up some of the water from this side of the mountain they take that water through to the far side,
To the other side of the portal they then drink some of that water and as they drink so time begins to return along with the sound of the flowing water the thunder of the liquid metal and they then carry both types of water with them the water that freezes time and the water they gathered that starts time they know they won't be able to gather any more water that starts time unless they happen to be here in the mountain and so they know they have to be sparing if they decide to use the water freezing time because they don't want to run out of the water to unfreeze time and they continue to follow the stream until eventually after a long walk they exit on the far side of the mountain and the stream is flowing down almost thunderously on this side of the mountain and they climb carefully down the mountain heading into the forest on this side and it's as if all that strong wind and the storm is contained behind the other side of the mountain range and this side's much warmer and as they head into the forest so they notice the warmth in the air their fur puffing up in the condensation as they walk along like a puffball carrying all the equipment they used to keep warm on the mountain along with all their supplies and they walk through this forest the towering trees climbing over roots crunching across leaves the rustling of the branches as the wind blows a gentle breeze across the tops of the trees the occasional slither of sunlight weaving its way down to the forest floor carving out its mark as it goes and after a long walk they feel it's time to stop and rest and they set up a tent and they zip themselves into that tent the canvas wafting gently in the breeze the shadows of slightly dancing leaves and it's so much cooler in this tent than the humidity outside of the tent and they have something to eat before resting down and drifting peacefully asleep and while they fall asleep so they ponder their experience to this point their thought ideas around who was doing what them or their mirror selves and as they snooze they drift through different dreams and thoughts of times long ago of times with family at an old school sports day doing an egg and spoon race trying to balance that egg so delicately on the spoon while running of a three legged race with a friend of theirs and the coordination required to run fast with both of you having a leg tied together drifting through thoughts and dreams of encountering that fairy and father time with that seeming almost impossible now and even questioning whether the experience was real once logically thinking about it and then drifting deeper and deeper almost like resting on the swing on a porch rocking gently to sleep into a dreamless sleep asleep with a very still mind with no thoughts at all like a perfectly smooth lake where you can get your head right down to the water you can look for miles across the lake without seeing a single ripple like a lake on Titan where every wave is barely a millimetre high and then drifting even deeper into a deep recuperative sleep refreshing and fixing up those muscles from all that exertion of climbing over and through a mountain and forest sleeping deeply to repair the mind and body and the mind doing an immune system check and then going around and checking for physical well-being almost like there's a part of the mind with a checklist that makes sure that they're all okay before they awaken in the morning that everything that needs to be dealt with during the night is dealt with before waking up so that they can wake up feeling so refreshed and relaxed so revitalised and in the morning to the first sounds of the morning birds in this forest they awaken feeling like they've had the deepest most pleasant sleep feeling so wide awake so quickly and they leave their tent they pack their tent away they continue on through this forest until eventually they see a cabin deep in the forest and there's a lake behind the cabin and they can hear some voices coming from the cabin and they head up to the cabin they knock on the door and a badger eating a honey sandwich with honey up the side of its chops and breadcrumbs down its front answers the door wraps its arms around the mongoose in the most friendly of greetings getting sticky handprints on the back of the mongoose and then cutting through this cabin to a space out the back of the cabin a small garden and a small porch way all overlooking the lake out the back and out the back a kangaroo is skipping a rope with a wolverine and a mouse holding either side of that rope swinging it around for the kangaroo to jump and they think to themselves that anyone would think that this back garden was a schoolyard playground the amount of energy these friends have and they all drop what they're doing and come running over to the mongoose all give the mongoose a big hug before going back into the cabin the mongoose putting their stuff down the badger saying which room they'll be sleeping in the kangaroo bouncing the way along taking their stuff to that room for them and then they all gather in the front room they ask the mongoose what their journey was like here was it a long journey,
A difficult journey and they explain what this journey was the curious experience they had but they're glad that they've made it here and they all talk to each other and say how glad it is they finally met in person having previously been just pen pals communicating with each other over a shared experience a shared interest of wanting to stay in a forest of having an interest and trains and just writing letters back and forth and over the next few days they enjoy going down by the lake rowing on the lake swimming in the water resting on the shore of the lake just listening to the way it laps gently among the reeds telling stories to each other sharing tall tales and none of them believe exactly what the mongoose says because it sounds too mystical and a strange experience and one day the mouse goes down to the well to gather some water and they have to take a trolley with them to drag that bucket of water back to the cabin and while they're down by the well gathering the water,
Leaning over,
Winching it down hearing it splosh in the water and then carefully trying to wind that back up they say to themselves that they just wish that there was something much bigger than themselves that could help them with this task and as they get that bucket back up and manage to lift it over the tip of the well and dump it down onto the trolley they look inside and they see what looks like a large,
Wide tree trunk,
They don't remember a tree being there and it's all wrinkly and tough and scraggly and they look up the side of that tree trunk discovering it's an enormous leg attached to an even bigger body and an even longer neck with a tiny little head and the body stretches off way into the distance reaching all the way down to the tip of a very long tail and then this brontosaurus leans down and very delicately with its lips purses them gently around the handle of the bucket and the cabin is only a short distance for the brontosaurus's head from that well and it straightens its neck out and its head reaches to the cabin and it pokes its head through an open window and to the surprise of the others who are inside the cabin places that bucket down on the floor inside the cabin before pulling its head back out again and turning to the mouse and in a deep,
Booming voice asking if that's enough if that's been as helpful as they wanted and the mouse still stunned to silence stutters yes and in a puff of mist the brontosaurus fades and the mouse rubs their eyes in disbelief and then heads back into the cabin and sees that all its friends are stood around also stunned into silent disbelief and the mouse says they just made a wish while they were gathering water from the well they didn't do it expecting anything to happen it was just an off-the-cuff comment and the next thing they knew a dinosaur appeared and helped them just like they imagined and had wished for and ordinarily the others wouldn't have believed this but the mongoose had had their own unusual experience so they were willing to accept almost anything and the others had just seen a dinosaur head poke in the cabin window and place a bucket of water down on the floor and they're a little scared at the idea of making their own wishes in case something went wrong but at the same time they wanted to try and the kangaroo went over to that well and wished that the sunflower on the side of the house on the side of this cabin would become a giant sunflower that radiated light like the sun and as they turned around they saw that sunflower grow really tall its stalk grew really wide and thick as it darted high in the sky stretching so high the top of it was barely visible and then it opened out its petals spreading wide it looked as bright and powerful as the sun beamed down on the planet below and they very quickly realised that's actually too hot and they were starting to sweat too much and so the badger ran out and wished that it would rain so heavy it would put the light of the sunflower out and then dark grey clouds gathered overhead weaving into locking,
Undulating in the sky getting darker and darker and then silver sheets of rain started filling the land the sunflower sizzling as that rain struck its core and as they all tried to carefully look up through the rain they could see steam coming from the centre of that sunflower and then the rain got heavier and heavier thicker and thicker thundering down onto the ground like giant raindrops battering the landscape and so the mouse ran out and wished for the sky to become clear like a beautiful spring day and nothing happened and they tried a different wish and then the badger tried to wish for the rain to stop for that rain to stop and everything to be clear and dry like a beautiful,
Comfortable spring day and the rain crashed to the ground and the clouds fell from the sky and in the sky hung the most beautiful blue as spring birds could be heard around them and the air became comfortable and then they questioned why the wishing stopped working and they went back into the cabin and while in the cabin questioning what had happened and whether they're back to normal they had a knock at the door and as they opened the door so the mongoose recognised the person at that door it was a friendly,
Kind-eyed old man,
Father Time who said they're aware of magic being inappropriately used and the friends apologised for what they did though they didn't realise the mouse pointed out they'd just made an error they didn't know it was a wishing well they didn't realise they were making a wish and the others said they just thought it would be fun and didn't think it through and Father Time said they're going to have to correct this it's not springtime it's the wrong time and they went out to that wishing well they gathered up some herbs rubbed them together between their hands and sprinkled them down into the water while mumbling something and then a gentle purple puff of smoke rose from the wishing well and it spread through the land and as it cleared so the sunflower was back to its normal size and the weather was back to how it was before and Father Time told them to be more careful you've got to watch what it is that you wish for and the mongoose said it would be helpful if there was a sign on the well to say it's a wishing well and maybe some instructions would be good too and Father Time handed the mongoose a pen and paper and a wry smile and then left through the front door closing it behind them and as Father Time left through the front door so a grumpy cat walked in the back door soaked through and they realised that unfortunately the cat had been out in the rain and obviously hadn't expected to get caught in that rain and it marched through from the back door to a rug in front of the fire plopped itself down on that rug and almost like it was giving a shrug rested in front of that fire stretching itself out to dry itself off and drifted comfortably asleep and these friends continued to enjoy their time here and on the last day of their time together they decided to go on a long walk explore away from here they promised each other they wouldn't touch anything or make any wishes and as they walked deep into the forest they found some horses just grazing in a slight clearing and the horses went over to them bowed their heads down as if to say you can ride us deeper into this forest and travel further to explore and so they rode on the horses cantering softly through the trees until they saw a muddy clearing with a tall muddy structure looking almost like a volcano in the centre of this clearing with smoke coming out of the top and a window in the side and a wooden door that looked rickety and old and the horses stopped just before the mud and so they dismounted curious who might live here and they could see through the window the shape of what looked like perhaps a monster and the wolverine decided to go and investigate anyway and went to the door and knocked on the door and this creature opened the door it had wide eyes a long snout long fur claws on its hands and feet the friendliest of smiles and it spoke with a slightly higher voice as if it was slightly excitable and it greeted them and welcomed them to its home and invited them in for a cup of tea and they said that they've been staying at a cabin in the woods near the lake and this friendly monster said they knew it well sometimes visitors there come and visit here but sometimes when they visit here they're too scared to knock because they think a monster lives here just because of how they look but really they're a very friendly creature and they spoke about this forest and the history of the forest how they've lived here their whole life about their ancestors experiences of being here they shared about a magical treasure that once resided in this forest and that magical treasure was connected to magic from another realm and the mongoose said that they visited that other realm they know what they're talking about and this intrigued the friendly monster who was now curious about the stories of the mongoose because they'd heard the ancient tales of the treasure from another realm but never really believed that there was such a thing and the others shared about their experience with the wishing well and that there is magic that has seeped from the other realm into this realm and the friendly monster shares that must be from that treasure that's still resonating in this forest with just a hint of magic contained near where the treasure is buried and that it's best for that treasure to remain buried because wherever it is is where it's supposed to be and sometimes things are right where they're supposed to be just like when you go somewhere and where you are is where you're supposed to be in that moment even if you don't know that that's where you're supposed to be or why and as the day turned to night the friends said they had to get back to the cabin they said goodbye to this friendly monster they went back to the grazing horses they rode those grazing horses back through to that meadow before saying goodbye to the horses and making the rest of the journey back on foot to that cabin they spent this last night in the cabin telling stories sharing their experiences sat out on the porch listening to the lapping water of the lake watching the constellations follow each other across the sky the sound of a crackling fire the rustling leaves of the forest sharing stories enjoying good food and discussing how they'll keep in contact when they'll next meet up discussing each other's journeys to this cabin,
The different routes they took to get here and the journeys and the time it'll take them all to get home and after talking with each other late into the night the sounds of cicadas buzzing through the forest they head back into the cabin settle down in their beds they drift deeply and comfortably asleep and the next morning they clear everything away they make sure the cabin looks as it did before any of them had arrived they leave and lock up behind them they place the key where they were told to place it in the secret location under the third stone on the right and they set off down a path they see the signposts to the different towns many miles outside of this forest they say goodbye to each other and head off their separate ways the mongoose ascending that mountain aiming for that gap to cut through the mountain again and they cut through that mountain they find their way to where the remnants of their scarf begins and then gather up the thread of their scarf as they continue on through this mountain really taking time to enjoy the journey and hoping that when they reach the far side of the mountain the storm will have cleared and as they get to the far side of the mountain the storm's cleared but it's still very cold they decide to sit by a fire and knit their scarf back together as they rest and wait before drifting pleasantly asleep for a little while and then making the rest of their journey the next morning and the next morning with their scarf repaired they wrap it round their neck they brace themselves and then head out into the cold and crunch their way down through the snow this side of the mountain finding their way all the way down to the base of the mountain cutting through the forest after a long,
Long walk they arrive at a town they stop at the local pub in this town enjoy a drink and a pub lunch listening in to bits and pieces of conversations of the locals the hearsay they share with each other resting with a pint by the crackling fire reading through an old book its pages crackling with each turn the scent of that book wafting gently in the warm air from the fire staying at the pub for the night and the next day heading to the local train station making the long journey home on the train and once home back in their own town they head to their house they pack all their belongings away they have something to eat and drink and then head to bed and while they drift and float peacefully asleep they ponder over the experience they've had and with a smile on their face and warmth in their heart from the time spent with friends and the sound of the voices of their friends echoing in the memory of their ears they drift and float so peacefully so comfortably asleep into slumberland
