The Magical Quest: Meditative Bedtime Tale

This is a bedtime story where you check a magical mailbox. Inside the mailbox is a crow in a fedora hat and dark sunglasses. It sends you on a quest. You begin to follow a blue, glowing light in search of a mouse.

You find your way to a desert of diamond sand. You meet a fox riding a bicycle with a piano playing on the back with each peddle. The fox helps you to find out where you are supposed to be going. You head to a zip wire. Head down the zip wire and find yourself in a snowy environment where you encounter a penguin.

You head to a cliff and down to a cave, before heading over to a point out to sea where there is a sunken pirate ship. You dive down to the pirate ship to retrieve a chest. In the chest, you find a magical piece of coral. You take the coral with you back home. You place the coral in the mailbox and head back into your home.

Sometime later, you get a note from the crow explaining the coral and its importance.

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 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 drift asleep,

I'm just going to tell this bedtime story in the background.

And you find yourself relaxing at home one day.

And you're sitting in the most comfortable chair,

Reading a book and enjoying the silence.

And as you rest there,

So you become aware that you should check the mail.

And you check on the mail.

And you go out to a mailbox.

And this mailbox is only for special mail.

Mail from another time and place.

And you head to that mailbox.

And you carefully open the mailbox.

And inside that mailbox,

You see an unusual sight.

Instead of just having a stack of letters,

Or as is most common,

The mailbox being empty,

There's a crow.

And the crow's wearing a fedora hat,

Dark sunglasses,

And a daisy chain hanging around its neck.

And that crow squawks at you and you can hear its feet on the inside of the mailbox.

The sound of its claws tapping as it moves.

Its head moving in small jerky movements as it eyes you up.

Almost as if it's sizing you up.

Before it begins to talk.

And it tells you that there's a quest for you to go on.

And they're here to deliver this message.

And they nod their head forward as if trying to shake the glasses from their face.

And the glasses fall to the floor of the mailbox.

And they tell you to pick those glasses up and to put them on.

And you look at those glasses and you see how small they are.

You know there's just no way they'd fit on you.

But it tells you again to pick those glasses up and put them on.

And so you reach into the mailbox and with a thumb and a finger,

You carefully lift those glasses and you begin to pull them towards your face.

And as you pull them towards your face,

So it seems like those glasses are getting bigger and to a more natural size for you to wear.

Only you notice that actually,

You're getting smaller at the rate and speed that you pick those glasses up and move them to your face.

So that as the glasses reach your face,

You're about the size of that crow.

And yet,

You're stirred on the ground,

Surrounded by grass,

Which you would now describe as tall grass.

But moments ago,

You would have said it was a perfectly mowed lawn.

And as you put the glasses on and look around you,

You see that the landscape has changed.

The mailbox is still there.

You're stood among what is now tall grass.

You can see towering trees.

And yet,

The street has vanished.

And you didn't even notice that happen.

It seemed to happen somehow all by itself.

Just the process of handling those glasses,

Placing them on.

And the crow jumps down from the mailbox,

Gently flaps its wings a couple of times to slow its descent,

Lands gracefully before you and carries on talking and tells you that these are magical glasses,

Something you were able to figure out for yourself.

But that what these glasses do,

One of the bits of magic,

Is they're able to direct you and guide you.

They use your thoughts to create paths through space.

They tell you that you have to go and find the mouse.

And that that mouse will guide you further on your journey.

Because the mouse has something in the house of importance and use to you.

And then the crow flies away.

And so you think about that mouse.

You don't know who the mouse is.

You don't know where the mouse is.

But somehow,

The glasses know the mouse you need to think of.

So as you think of that mouse,

You see this gentle blue glowing light seeming to almost emanate from within your body,

Weaving across the countryside.

And so you start to follow that weaving,

Gentle blue light.

And you follow the blue light through the tall grass,

Past the giant towering flowers,

Seeing the butterflies and the bees flying in and around those flowers.

Almost like giant flying creatures and birds flying high overhead.

And you follow that blue light until you arrive at the edge of the woods.

And you head into those woods,

Carefully,

Slowly,

Walking through the undergrowth.

The leaves crunching underfoot.

Having to climb over what would ordinarily be twigs that you would just crunch your way through.

And that blue light just continues weaving through this woodland.

There's something magical about walking through this woodland,

The way the light dances around you.

Almost like walking deep underwater and seeing the beams of light dancing around overhead.

Only these beams of light are dancing because of the breeze blowing through the trees.

That gentle rustling of those leaves.

And there's something deeply peaceful and calming about this walk on your own.

About the solitude of the experience.

Time to be lost in your own thoughts.

Pondering about nature.

About reality.

About these glasses on your face.

And pondering that mailbox.

One day,

Many years ago,

A small,

Wise person arrived at the door.

They handed you what they said was a gift.

You unwrapped it.

And it was a mailbox.

And they told you to place it in a safe place near your home.

That from time to time,

Gifts will appear in that mailbox.

And those gifts will often come with a catch that you'd like to have.

You may have to go on a quest or seek something.

And normally it's going and finding books,

Lost scrolls or manuscripts.

Exploring weird and wonderful places and placing those items in the mailbox.

And you never see anyone turn up at the mailbox.

You never see deliver anything or pick anything up.

But things appear and things disappear.

And you recall a time you were told that you needed to go to a specific library.

And you went to that library.

And it was a really old library full of ancient manuscripts.

And the smell of those old books was just the most pleasant,

Aromatic smell.

And the feeling of turning old pages and feeling your fingertips touching those pages.

Feeling the words written on those pages.

And you had to find a very small leather-bound book.

It was a collection of poems.

And they were poems about sacrifice.

About one person's journey through life.

And they'd written poems frequently throughout their life.

And that poetry book showed that this person had a dream fairly early on.

But then something happened.

Someone needed help.

And so they put aside their dream to help.

And then there'd be another poem about a few years later.

They were looking forward to finally going and following the dream that they had.

But on their way to leave the town,

They found that someone needed some assistance.

And they stopped and helped.

And they never made it to leave that town.

And this pattern continued right through their life.

And for most of their life,

They smiled.

For most of their life,

They gave off an image of enjoying their life,

Being happy.

But deep down,

There was a different life they wanted to lead.

Until one day,

They encountered somebody who helped them to see that life is rarely about the destination,

But the journey that you take.

And they started thinking about the life they'd had in a different way.

And discovered that their life wasn't actually so bad.

There was lots that had happened that they'd liked.

It's just that they'd filled their mind with focusing on the one thing they didn't have.

And not focusing on all the things they did.

And you retrieved that old book.

And despite being a small old book,

Something about it felt heavy.

And you were happy to put it into that mailbox.

And be able to let go of that weight.

And there've been other random quests you've been on.

But you've never,

Until now,

Found a crow in the mailbox.

And while you continue walking,

This woodland seems so much larger when you're this small.

You don't know how large this woodland is,

You've never seen it before.

But you know how large these trees normally are.

And you know it doesn't normally take 30 steps to get from one tree to the next.

With trees this size,

They'd normally be just a stride or two apart.

But it does help to give a sense of awe and wonder when you're so small compared to everything else.

And as you journey,

So you reach a point where you're aware of the sun setting.

And that you're going to have to camp the night.

And you find a few broad leaves.

And you make yourself a hammock with those broad leaves.

You climb into the hammock.

And gently rock asleep.

And the next morning,

You carry on journeying,

Following that path with those glasses.

And while you follow that path with those glasses,

So you notice that the light is gradually becoming more solid.

Or at least that's how it seems.

It's becoming more vivid before you.

As if the light is getting stronger.

And you wonder if this means you're on the right track and getting close to your destination.

And then you see an unusual house at the base of a tree.

And you think to yourself,

This house is the size of a mouse.

It's probably a little too small for you to get inside.

And as you walk towards that house,

So you see,

In the back garden behind it,

Is a mouse.

And the mouse truly is the size of the house.

And you walk around the house.

And you ask the mouse,

If they're the mouse you seek,

The colour you are following ends with them.

And they tell you that they are.

And they invite you into the house.

And you look at the mouse,

And you look at the house,

And you wonder how this could be possible.

And they introduce themselves as Klaus.

And you think this is Klaus the mouse who lives in this house.

And the house that Klaus lives in is as big as the mouse.

And you look back at the door,

Which is about a quarter of the size of Klaus.

But as Klaus walks towards the house,

That mouse begins to shrink.

And as the mouse begins to shrink while walking towards the house,

Klaus calls you into that house.

And as you hear the voice of the mouse calling you into the house,

You follow Klaus.

And as you head towards this house,

Very confidently,

Because you're wearing these glasses,

You just trust that something must allow you to be able to follow Klaus into his house and shrink,

Just like the mouse.

And so as you begin to walk towards the door,

So you begin to shrink and get smaller.

And the more you walk,

The shorter you become.

And you follow Klaus into the house.

And this house is such a cozy house,

With a soft light passing through net curtains over the windows,

Soft furnishings,

And you sit down on the most comfortable settee in the living room.

And you realize now how small you are even compared to what you were,

And you were already small compared to what you were when you woke up yesterday morning.

And Klaus offers you a drink,

And says that they'll tell you a story,

A story that will send you on a journey,

And as they sit next to you on that settee,

Both of you drinking your drinks.

They open up a jigsaw puzzle.

They pour those puzzle pieces over the table in front of them.

And while telling their story,

They carefully begin to search through those jigsaw pieces.

They start by finding the corners and the edges,

And as they find them,

So,

They begin to place them down roughly where they think they'll go.

And then they begin to spread the other pieces out,

Making sure all the bits are face up.

And while talking almost as if what their hands are doing,

They're absentmindedly happening,

They continue to sort those jigsaw pieces.

And they seem to know what's on this jigsaw.

They seem to have an idea based on where they're organizing the pieces.

And yet,

The box just says jigsaw on the front.

It doesn't give any clue to the image.

And they continue to tell the story.

They talk about a desert,

And how you're going to have to find this desert.

And they share about how,

Searching in this desert,

You'll end up coming to a crossroads,

And you'll have to make a decision of which way to go.

And one way is left,

And one way is right.

And you want to make sure you choose the right path.

Because the one that's left will be wrong.

And you don't want to be left making the wrong decision.

It's important that you make the right decision and choose the right path.

And you wonder if this was a little vague,

And so you ask them,

Could they be more clear,

Do they know which path to take?

And they say,

Yes,

You've got to take the right path.

If you take the wrong path,

You'll go in the wrong direction.

So make sure to take the right path,

Because the one that's left is going to be the wrong one.

You don't want to have taken that.

And you think you understand them,

But you don't think they've been as clear as they perhaps could have been.

And they continue telling this story,

About stargazing in the desert,

About things you'll discover,

And things you'll have to do.

And from time to time,

They stop,

Handling that jigsaw to have a swig of their drink,

As you continue to drink the drink you've been served.

But to you,

This drink just tastes like gloop.

It's quite tasty gloop,

But it's thick and sloppy.

And it's barely even a drink.

It's almost got the consistency of a very thick soup.

Perhaps even as thick as a mousse that's been stirred up.

And after what seems like no time at all,

They complete that jigsaw puzzle.

They tell you that they're going to have to give you a tattoo.

And the tattoo won't last forever,

But it will identify you.

And they get a device.

They place it on the inside of your wrist.

And in what's almost a single punch.

Like when you do a hole punch,

Or stamp.

You feel a slight prick,

And then it's done.

They remove that.

And what you see is a tattoo of a shield.

And that shield seems to have an armoral crest.

And they say that is the crest of their family.

But if you show that,

People will instantly know.

That you're on a quest and that you've encountered me.

And you say goodbye to that mouse as you leave that house.

And as you walk out the house,

Waving goodbye to Klaus.

So you start to grow larger again.

But you only get as large as the crow size you were before.

And you continue on your journey.

And you've got the thoughts in your mind of the directions you were given.

But your glasses mark the way.

And so you follow that path your glasses line for you.

And as you continue,

Weaving through this woodland,

And way off in the distance,

You can hear the sound of flowing water.

And you can notice that that light is directing you towards that sound.

And so you continue following that light as it weaves through this woodland.

Over the gently undulating landscape.

The soft sounds of nature.

The rustling of the leaves.

And the tinkling of the distant water.

And as that gets louder and louder,

You notice what ordinarily would barely be classed as a stream.

Some trickling water crossing through this woodland.

But at your normal height,

A sneeze would probably be enough to make you stumble to the other side of that trickle of water.

But here,

Just for you,

You see a bridge.

And it's a bridge made of twigs.

And you notice as you look at the sides of the bridge,

And you look at it from different angles,

That it's been made just by resting the twigs upon each other,

Interlocking them.

Nothing has been cut,

Nothing has been glued.

They're just resting there.

And you walk over that bridge,

And it gives the most gentle creak as you do.

You walk down the other side,

And you follow this water on the other side.

And the sound of water gets louder and louder before you.

As you head to the main stream.

And as you arrive at the main stream,

You can hear the sound of a frog croaking.

And you know you're supposed to see the frog.

So you continue on,

Following that croak,

Following the light the glasses are projecting before you.

And as you arrive near the frog,

So you discover that the frog seems to be in some kind of a wheelchair.

But the wheelchair seems to have tracks instead of wheels.

And in a deep and gruff voice,

They tell you that it's an off-road wheelchair.

They're in woodland after all.

And you ask,

What happened?

And they say that they were larking around.

They were diving from different heights into the stream.

And there was a fish that was acting a bit coy,

And they were trying to get its attention.

And they're doing backflips.

They're doing all sorts of different acrobatic dives.

And then eventually,

They did one big dive and just landed wrong on a leg.

They said it was lucky they didn't croak,

But they did manage to injure a leg.

But luckily,

Their friend Toad from down the road,

He's very clever with making inventions designed for them.

This unique wheelchair.

And they said they're actually having more fun in the wheelchair.

As it's something novel and new than they were diving and jumping around.

They've had a lifetime of diving and jumping around.

They haven't had a lifetime of having wheels for legs.

So while they do,

They're making the most of it.

And you say that you've been told you've got to see this frog.

And you show your wrist,

And they instantly recognize that tattoo.

And as they do,

They say that they'll show you to their house.

And so,

You follow this frog as they speed across the undergrowth.

Traveling much faster than they perhaps should.

They take you to their home,

Which is like a small hole in the side of the riverbank.

And you head into this home.

And they take you to a room through a few doors.

And they tell you,

There's one door in front of you.

And you're going to have to carefully open the door,

Walk through that door,

And you'll find a corridor.

And as you walk down this corridor,

You'll notice there's multiple doors.

And those doors open to different places.

And one of them is right.

And so,

You walk through the door.

You close it behind you.

You find yourself in a long corridor.

You start to walk down this corridor,

Footsteps barely making a sound.

As if the ground absorbs them,

Making them like the dullest of thuds.

The sound seeming to absorb before it even makes it to your ears.

Making it to your ears feel slightly funny.

Because your brain tells you that it should hear some kind of an echo.

But instead,

It's just a gentle,

Dull thud.

And with a slight creak,

You open the first door.

And you see through that first door,

A child having a party.

You see them,

Swinging a bat at a piñata,

Family having fun.

You see different animals around the garden,

Watching on with intrigue at these humans and the unusual customs they have.

You head through another door.

And through that door,

You see somebody exercising.

And they too are in a garden.

And you wonder if these are just doors to gardens,

And not actual rooms.

But when you open the third door,

You realize it must be the right door.

Because before you is a vast desert.

But you notice there's something unusual about this desert.

It looks like a desert,

Except it's whiter than a desert.

And the magical glasses become more tinted,

Reducing the light.

And they do so,

So instinctively.

And you see as you look around,

That everything is sparkling in every direction.

You reach down,

You scoop some of that sand up,

And notice that you got a handful of thousands and thousands of tiny diamonds.

And then,

As wind gusts through this desert,

So it blows up glittery clouds of dust,

With sparkling dust flying through the air.

Looking very beautiful,

But uncomfortable when it bashes against your face.

And your skin.

And you back out of the door,

You know this is the right door.

But you want to check the other doors,

Because there needs to be something that can help you to be able to travel through that desert much safer.

Then you head to another door,

And as you open this door,

So it's a very marshy,

Woodlandy kind of area.

There's a very deep,

Mossy scent here.

The sound of crickets.

It's night time here.

And as you walk around in this area,

So you notice a glowing mushroom sticking out the side of a tree.

And you snap that mushroom off the tree,

And it feels so soft in your hands.

And as you hold it up above you,

You can notice gentle pulsing light coming from within the fronds under the mushroom.

You carry that back into the corridor.

You head back to the other door.

You walk through that door,

Heading out into that diamond desert.

And you hold that umbrella at an angle between the sun,

And partially in front of you,

With that glittering cloud of dust.

Worming its way around the outside of the umbrella.

Protecting you.

And then you notice the light within the fronds of this mushroom umbrella begin to get stronger and brighter.

And they seem to be emitting something.

And it starts to form into a shield around you,

Like a force field emanating from the underside of the mushroom with the faintest hum.

And you can see the glow spreading out in front of you.

You continue following that glow through this diamond desert,

Through the glittering cloud of dust.

And you can feel that sensation of those legs working so hard to keep that mushroom umbrella in place.

And you begin to think to yourself that you need to almost imbue yourself with the strength of the elephant.

That strength to be able to withstand anything.

And the magic glasses make that so.

You suddenly find your legs gaining the strength of an elephant.

You notice your legs feel heavier,

But the muscles feel stronger.

Almost like you're planting yourself as you walk.

And you push on through this desert.

And as the sun begins to set,

The air is still warm,

But the wind starts to die down.

The glittering dust cloud starts to dissipate.

And a reddy-orangey glow dances around the sand dunes,

As the low light reflects off the billions of diamonds in this desert.

And as that sun continues to set,

So you can move that mushroom umbrella.

And you hold it over your shoulder,

Gently resting it on your shoulder as you walk,

And enjoying the sights and sounds of this evening.

As that sun sets over the horizon,

And the inky blue of the night sky starts to pull itself up around that sky.

As if the stars overhead,

The diamonds sparkling down,

Almost talking to those diamonds underfoot.

And once the sun has fully set,

So the last rays of light settle down for the night.

And in the darkness,

With that inky blackness,

It's as if you're surrounded by diamonds,

Almost like a cocoon of diamonds overhead.

In front of you,

Behind you,

Off to the left,

The right,

Beneath you,

Anywhere you look,

It's just glittering light.

And you rest down for the night,

Lying on your back,

Gazing up at the stars,

Watching the shooting stars pass across the sky.

And noticing the stars twinkling,

Recognizing certain constellations,

Wondering where this is,

When some of these constellations seem familiar.

And as you look at those stars,

You think about how some constellations have stories attached to them,

Usually stories of warriors,

Or of gods.

And your mind drifts to those stories.

And with the mushroom planted upright beside you,

Your head tucked up near the stalk of the mushroom,

So you fall asleep,

Drifting into the most pleasant dreams.

And those dreams don't seem anywhere near as strange as your actual lived experience that you've been having,

But you find that they're connected to your experience,

Almost like they're processing the insights you've been learning.

And the next morning,

You awaken to the gentle glow of the sun as it rises low on the horizon,

Those diamonds glistening and sparkling,

And that glistening and sparkling seeming to dance as the sun slowly rises,

And the light catches the diamonds at a slightly different angle,

From moment to moment.

And as your head moves and your eyes move,

So it all leads to those diamonds,

Reflecting light at different angles.

And you pick up the mushroom umbrella.

You continue on your day as you did yesterday.

You continue following the path laid out by the glasses.

And it isn't until the afternoon,

When the sun is right overhead,

That you find that the path seems to stop.

And you look around you,

And you can't figure out where you're supposed to go,

Or what you're supposed to do.

You look left and right,

You look straight ahead and there's no other path.

And you plant the mushroom down into the ground again,

Sitting down under the mushroom umbrella,

Keeping yourself cool under the shade of that umbrella.

And you wait,

And you wonder,

Trying to work out where you should go.

And as the hours pass,

You watch the sun continue its journey across the sky.

And you hear something approaching.

And you look around the stalk of the mushroom.

And you see a fox.

And it's just ambling its way in your direction.

And it seems to be riding a bicycle.

And on the back of the bicycle,

It's got a piano tied to it.

And it seems to have an unusual contraption attached from the back wheel.

To some bound together bits of wood that are arching over.

And as that fox is cycling,

So the bits of wood are moving up and down.

And as they move up and down,

The ends of them tapping down onto the keys of the piano,

Playing out a tune.

And as it gets nearer,

So you can hear that tune.

And then it slows down.

And the fox comes to a halt near you.

And as it slows down,

So the tune slows down.

And the tune stops as the fox does.

And they pop out a stand and dismount from the bike.

They try to carefully rest the bike on the stand.

But as soon as they let go of the handlebars and the saddle,

So the stand just sinks into the sand and the bike falls on its side.

And the fox just looks at the bike,

Shrugs their shoulders,

And in a very friendly way walks over to you.

And you say that you think you're perhaps lost.

You've been following a path,

You found your way here.

The path is laid out by your magical glasses.

Not an actual real path through the landscape.

But the path ends here.

And you're wondering which way to go.

And the fox says they're some kind of a mentalist,

Really.

They can help you figure out where to go.

They tell you you just have to be willing to engage with them while they do this.

They ask you to stand up,

To look at them.

I say look into my eyes,

Not around my eyes,

Look into my eyes.

Three,

Two,

One,

Sleep.

And they take hold of one hand by the wrist.

They lift that hand up and they're gently moving the hand left and right.

And as they move the hand gently left and right,

They ask you about your journey,

Those creatures you've met,

The things you've been told,

The doors you'd entered and seen.

And while they ask you,

They just continue to gently move your arm left and right,

Left and right.

And they tell you they know which way you need to go.

The way you need to go is the one that they know.

And the one that they know is the one you'll know,

But only when it's time to know it.

Because if you knew it before you needed to know it,

Then it's already known and you wouldn't be here.

They tell you that the glasses didn't lead you to nowhere.

They led you to here.

If you'd gone anywhere else,

They would have passed by and you would have been gone.

So the two of you wouldn't have met,

And the glasses knew the two of you needed to meet with each other.

And as they talk,

So you find your mind wandering deeper and deeper into the experience.

They tell you that you need to take the right path,

Because the wrong path,

Which is the one that's left,

Isn't the one to take.

And you think to yourself,

You already know that because you've already been told that,

But there is no path.

And then they take your hand,

And they start walking you gently around.

And as they walk you gently around,

You notice you're moving slightly more in one direction than another.

And you can't work out whether you're guiding them or they're guiding you.

And they tell you to open your eyes.

And you're stood in a different location.

You can still see that mushroom umbrella back there.

But you're some distance from it.

And they tell you this is the path you need to take.

And you look around you and you look at the ground,

You can't see any path here.

They say you need to dig a little.

But they don't have anything to dig with.

They run back to their bicycle.

They grab a couple of spoons,

And they hand you a spoon.

And they say they'll help.

And together you're on your hands and knees,

Digging with some spoons.

And you dig your way down a little way.

Until you hear a clink,

As the spoon seems to hit stone.

And you use your hands to brush the sand away.

And you uncover a stone that seems to have been placed here when this path was visible before that diamond desert had encroached fully across this land.

And it's like a waystone that says how far to different places and there are arrows.

And you see one pointing left and one pointing right.

And you know which path to take.

And as you know which path to take so,

The glasses make the next bit of route appear here.

And you thank the fox for their help.

You hand back the spoon.

They go back to their bicycle.

You go and get that umbrella.

They pull their bike up out of the sand.

They say to you,

Their contraption that plays the piano on the back of their bike,

Gives them some music to listen to while they cycle.

But it also helps them to cycle at a right pace.

They have to cycle at the correct pace for the tune to be played correctly.

And they say goodbye and set off,

Getting up to speed as that music plays behind them.

And you head back to that waystone.

And you start to follow the right path.

Following the path laid out by the glasses.

And as you follow that path,

So the day continues passing on overhead.

And the sun is traveling in the same direction as you.

And as it begins to set,

Something glistens in the distance.

And it isn't just this diamond desert,

Because this glistening is a very different type of glistening.

And as you get closer,

You notice it seems to be a glass staircase,

Spiraling up towards the sky,

Except it doesn't seem to go anywhere.

And you notice that the path laid out by the glasses is heading straight to that staircase.

And so you follow the path,

Trusting that path.

And you arrive at the staircase.

You begin to ascend that glass staircase,

Spiraling around a central glass pole.

You walk all the way to the top step.

And at the top of this staircase,

Is a zip wire on a pole.

And you look in the distance,

And that zip wire is incredibly long.

And you can't see where it goes.

And so you grab hold of that handle hanging beneath the zip wire.

And you lift your feet off that top step.

And you can hear as that whirs above you,

Feel the breeze against your face.

See the desert below sparkling away,

The setting sun,

As you travel along that zip wire.

And a part of your mind tells you this is a bit of a risk,

To be following a zip wire,

Just randomly situated at the top of a random staircase,

In the middle of a desert,

Full of diamonds.

And it feels like you have all the time in the world to think,

Because this zip wire seems to just go on and on and on,

Until eventually,

Looking ahead,

You can see that the wire just seems to disappear into a haze.

And as you rapidly pass through that haze,

You come out the other side of the haze,

Almost like passing through mist.

And your surroundings have totally changed.

All you can see around you now is snow,

And the zip wire strikes a padded area at the end.

And you fall comfortably down,

Into a bank of snow,

Landing like a snow angel.

Scrambling up,

Out of that unintentional snow angel,

Crunching through this snow,

And noticing how tall everything still is around you.

And being aware that when you're in the desert,

You had nothing really to compare yourself to.

To know that you are this small,

Apart from your encounter with the fox.

And yet here,

You can see the snow-covered trees,

And you can see that path still laid out by the glasses.

And so,

You crunch your way through this snow,

And you can see the surface of the snow glistening a little bit like that diamond desert,

Only it's freezing cold here.

And then you see something,

Black and white,

Flying overhead.

And it crashes down and lands in front of you,

Skidding to a halt.

And it seems to be a penguin,

And it takes off some wings from its arms.

It says that it's designed these special wings because its own wings aren't suitable for flying.

They're barely good as arms,

But they're very good for swimming.

But as a bird,

They've always wanted to fly.

And so here,

They've made an invention that allows them to experience that.

And they tell you the invention was only made possible because of an item that they own.

And they pop a backpack off their back.

They tell you that this backpack is a magical backpack.

And as they tell you this,

They open the backpack,

They place those wings in the backpack.

They then pull out a chair from the backpack that seems larger than the pack it's just come out of.

They place that down.

They sit on the chair to carry on talking to you.

They tell you that they know you're here on a mission,

That you're nearing the end of your mission,

And that this is probably one of the stranger missions you've had to go on.

That you aren't just seeking a random book.

That the crow himself came to visit you.

This mission was so important.

They knew that they had to give you some additional tools for this,

Like those magical glasses.

And this mission,

Which is nearing its end,

Requires you to head all the way to the coastline.

And so they offer you the backpack.

And you place that backpack on your back.

They tell you to head to the coast.

And the magical glasses begin to guide you.

And you crunch your way through the snow.

You're passing through snowy woodland.

You feel like your journey has been very long.

You head out the other side of the woodland and you can see undulating landscape of snow.

But that undulating landscape seems to have an end on the horizon.

And it seems quite abrupt.

And so,

Through the day,

You walk through this undulating landscape.

And the sky is grey.

The landscape is white.

The sun barely seems to change.

It doesn't get lighter or darker.

And so you struggle to have a concept of time.

It feels like a long time has passed.

And yet,

It could have been a very short time.

You've got no way of knowing.

All you can do is carry on through the landscape.

And eventually,

You reach that point that was on the horizon and find that it's a cliff.

And you think,

I think I can see something shimmering out to sea.

And you can hear those waves crashing against the cliff below.

And you stand a good distance back from the edge.

You can see the deep blue colour of the water contrasting with the white of the snow,

The grey of the sky.

You can see giant floating icebergs standing out against the deep blue of the sea.

And you think,

If only I could get a closer look.

And you reach into the magical backpack and you pull out some binoculars.

And you look through those binoculars and there's definitely something out there.

And you wonder how you can get down the cliff,

How you can travel on the water.

And you walk along the cliff a little way.

And you notice that there seems to be a way down.

And so,

You start to follow that path down the side of the cliff,

Heading all the way down to a ridge just above where the water is crashing against that cliff.

And you notice on this ridge,

There's a cave embedded into the cliff.

And in that cave,

You see a chipmunk just enjoying eating some food by a warm and comfortable fire.

And they invite you to sit and enjoy too.

And so,

You sit and have some food with the chipmunk.

And you say that you're trying to find a way out to whatever that is out there off the coast.

And the chipmunk tells a story of hydroplaning and how maybe you could do something similar to them.

And they tell you a way to invent something that could allow you to almost skim across the water.

So,

It's like flying just along the surface.

They say that they remember having to do that once when they lived in the countryside.

Before they went traveling and exploring the world around them.

They said they used to live in this place where there was a hedge.

But all their friends hogged it.

And so,

Their only option was to go elsewhere.

But there was water between them and hedges the other side because flooding had happened.

And that's how they developed the idea of hydroplaning.

But then they decided when they got to the other side to carry on going.

They'd reached a crossroads in their life and they took the right option.

And now they're here,

Camping and traveling.

And here to meet you.

And you reach into that backpack.

And you pull out what seems like some wings,

But something that you climb onto the back of.

And so,

You finish eating the food with this chipmunk.

Chipmunk.

Let me tell you many years ago,

This whole area was like a giant lava field.

And these rocks formed.

There are weird magnetic fields here.

There are weird cave systems.

And maybe,

Something about that is connected to what you're about to discover.

And they wish you good luck.

As you then head to the edge of the cave.

Walking through the cave,

Back out.

Over to the edge.

And then you jump.

And on the device,

You've pulled from the magical backpack.

It heads down to the water and then skims,

Almost like skipping a stone across the water.

It skims across the surface of the water.

And just a very slight lean to the left or right.

Keeps you on track.

As you keep your eyes fixed on your destination.

And as you reach your destination,

You see that it's the top of a pirate ship.

That's obviously sunk here at some point a long time ago.

And you reach into the backpack again.

And you pull a small device out of that backpack.

And it's a breathing apparatus.

And when you put it in your mouth,

So it suddenly expands.

Like a suit around your whole body.

And you roll off the side.

Into the water.

Splashing down in the water.

Hearing the bubbles of each breath.

Feeling the weightlessness of being in the water.

As you start to descend.

Noticing on your diving gear,

Some lights light up around you.

A little bit of light.

Illuminating the area around you.

As you dive down.

Towards the ship itself.

And you can see that there's damage to the side of this ship.

And you notice that the rocks around here.

Are black,

Like within the cave.

And you swim into the base of the ship.

You start to explore the inside of this pirate ship.

And as you explore.

You find your way to a small room.

And you can see a compass in that room.

And the needle is still spinning.

Erratically.

And you notice this ship probably sunk.

Because of being unable to successfully navigate.

And as you look around.

You find a chest.

And you take hold of that chest.

And you pull it through that room.

You pull it through the boat.

You pull it out of the boat.

You then reach into the backpack again.

And you pull something out of the backpack.

Which you place underneath the chest.

And it inflates in all directions.

And lifts the chest to the surface.

And the chest is bobbing up and down on the surface.

And you climb back on to that hydroplane.

And as you sit there.

You take the breathing apparatus from your mouth.

And as you do.

So the suit from around you disappears.

You open that chest.

And inside the chest.

You find lots of gold coins.

And everything in the chest is so dry.

You thought that perhaps water would have got in here.

And you dig through the gold coins.

And deep in the base of the chest.

You find something smooth.

And it's a smooth bit of coral.

And you take that bit of coral.

You hold it in your hand.

Moving it around.

And it seems to almost glisten.

With an oily kind of look to it.

With colors undulating and weaving.

Almost pearlescent.

And you find attached to that bit of coral.

There's a small note.

And you can't read the writing.

And as you think about how you can't read the writing.

So the glasses reinterpret it.

And it says where this coral came from.

And then you learn that this is what you've been seeking.

You just know that.

As if the glasses are communicating that with you.

As if they're symbolizing,

Just as they have for your whole journey.

That you've reached your destination.

You've found what you're looking for.

As you start to make your journey back the way you came.

You head back towards that cliff.

And when you're at the cliff.

You reach into the backpack.

And you pull out some rope and a hook.

And you throw that rope into the water.

It catches on the cliff.

And you climb your way up the cliff.

And you see the chipmunk still sat there.

They ask you,

Did you find what you're looking for?

And you say that there's treasure out there.

Lots of gold in a chest.

And their eyes light up.

They ask you to show them.

But you say you left that there.

That's not what you came for.

And then you take out that bit of coral.

And they don't show much interest in the coral.

And you continue your journey.

You head through the snow.

Until you encounter that penguin.

And you wonder how you're going to get back.

You can't go up a zip wire.

And the penguin reminds you,

You've got wings in the backpack.

As you fly up through the portal,

Through the mist.

Flying back to the desert.

You don't fly all the way to where the zip wire started.

Instead,

The glasses guide you at a different angle.

Towards where you came into the desert.

And you fly all the way to that door.

You head through the door.

And you slowly work your way back.

And eventually,

After what seems like such a long time away.

And plenty of time to wonder about that piece of coral.

You arrive back home.

You stand at the foot of the mailbox.

You take the glasses off.

And as you reach towards the mailbox,

So you begin to grow taller.

Until you're back to your normal size.

And the coral has increased in size.

And it's the relative size to you still.

And you open up the mailbox.

You place the coral inside that mailbox.

You say,

Before you close the mailbox,

That you're curious about why that coral was sought.

Why you were sent on this mission.

I would love to know.

As you close the mailbox.

And you head back inside your home.

And you notice,

In your home,

That no time seems to have passed other than the time it takes to have walked to the mailbox and back again.

And so you continue on with your day.

Like any other day.

And then at the end of the day,

As you arrive home.

You decide,

Before you head inside,

To check the mailbox.

And you see a note.

And it's from the crow.

And it talks about the importance of that bit of coral.

That that bit of coral was taken from a specific coral reef by those pirates.

Hundreds of years earlier.

And it was from a magical coral reef.

That brings life to the oceans.

And the rest of that coral has now gone.

And so the only bit left was the bit on that ship.

And so it was important to go and find that bit of coral.

So that the magical beings could take that coral and replant it.

And help it to regrow.

And bring life back with a sprinkling of magic.

And you read that letter.

As you relax indoors.

Before then heading to bed.

And when you head to bed.

You think about the adventure you went on.

You wonder whether you'll ever find out why you were chosen.

To be the one that goes on these adventures.

The one who has that mailbox.

You wonder whether there's a portal or something within the mailbox.

And how that mailbox works.

And all these thoughts fill your mind as you sleep.

And so you drift into the most pleasant dreams.

Drifting,

Floating,

Peacefully asleep.

Into slumberland.

Reviews

Very soothing and help me get to sleep so quickly thank you, shame I got woke up but means I can listen again x