Wonderments Of A Reader

Free To Adventure

Finally.

My hands gripped the worn wood of the helm of my small sailboat. Sea spray whipped my face and the wind whirled my hair as wave after wave crashed the hull of my fragile boat. Lightning flashed down, touching water a good distance away, and was followed by a crashing boom of thunder. A storm.

The sailboat, old and rotten, featuring a few leaks and a torn sail, was quite simply, one of the worst boats one could ride out an Atlantic Ocean storm in. the wood creaked in dismay at the force of the waves, and a shudder went through me at the thought of what would happen should the old thing finally splinter. But even that terror couldn't take away from my excitement. I was free! Free from my old dreary home. Free from my responsibilities. Free from the lords who ruled our land. Free from eating nothing but bread and porridge every day. Free from the dreary gray and constantly wet atmosphere of England.

Free to adventure.

Ever since I was small, I knew I wasn't cut out for the peasant life. The mindless work day after day, toiling in soil that didn't even belong to me. I wanted more. I wanted to see beyond the grays and browns and fleeting greens of the soil. Beyond the shouts and moans of the poor that filled the little village I had left behind. It was a monotonous, dreary place, and I couldn't stand it. Not to say that I was cut out for the high and mighty role of a noble's daughter. Quite the opposite. I would be even less suited for such a life. Draping oneself in cumbersome fabrics, barely breathing through the laces of a corset. Talking to "Lord This" and "Lady That" about "Such things befitting my time and effort". Embroidering until my fingers are numb. Fated to marry someone twice my age, and four times as boring. Bear children until my womb rots.

Not for me.

When I was only a child, my father would tell me stories of lands far away, only to be reached through sea. Sail as far as you dare, and as long as the winds will take you, he would say to me, Sail to the absolute end of the earth. And once you feel as if you can sail no farther, your boat will drop, and you will reach a land of magical things, of happiness, light, and color.

A land of magical beasts, dragons and unicorns and flaming phoenixes. A land of marble buildings, filled with gold and diamonds. Of lush forests, flowing with fruit and game. With water so blue you could paint with it, and so clear that you could see the magic crystals that shimmered between the rocks, each granting one wish.

To reach that place, that adventurous, beautiful place, was the only thing I've dreamed of ever since my mother died when I was a child. My father lasted a bit longer, but eventually succumbed to the black death that swept through England. With it went my father, and my last bit of color. So, I saved, saved and saved and saved. And bought a boat, this rickety old boat. And now I am setting out to find that land, the long-forgotten isle.

A huge wave surged over the deck of my boat, knocking me off my feet and out of my reverie. Thunder blasted overhead, and lightning surged through the sky above. Another crash, and my boat was sent careening off course, swept away by the rapid winds that were sent down by the enraged heavens. Yet another boom, and a crash, a crack and then, falling.

Down

Down

Down.

Cold engulfed me, numbing my senses and shutting out any other sensations I might have felt. I felt the air leave my lungs, icy water rushing down my throat, into my very core. All around me was darkness so deep that heavens light couldn't have penetrated it. I thrashed, my very soul fighting and screaming that this was not the end, I wasn't at my paradise yet, I needed to breath, I needed to see that fantastical land just one time. I kept falling. Deeper and deeper until nothing. Everything stopped as suddenly as it had started. Blackness surrounded me from all sides. I was weightless, airy. And a light began to shine, dimly, but growing brighter and brighter. I followed.

Grass.

Birds chirping.

The sound of gentle rushing water.

Distant roaring.

Sunlight.

I opened my eyes.

All around me, was color. Lush green grasses, towering oak trees and a babbling creek so blue that it put the sky to shame, with glittering gemstones littering the bottom, glowing with an otherworldly light. Birds flited in and out of trees, each the color of jewels, sapphire, ruby, emerald and amethyst. And in the distance, I saw what was most certainly a dragon, black as ink, rising to the sky with a defiant roar and a snort of fire.

I'd made it. I'd found the Forgotten Isle! The air was sweeter than I ever imagined it would be, the sunlight pure and warm as it shined down on my face. Distantly, I heard my name being called, and I looked to the horizon to see my mother and father, arm and arm, running down to greet me. I shot to my feet, eyes shining with silver tears, and ran to meet them in the middle of a meadow speckled with wildflowers of every color. We collapsed as we met, into a tangle of hugs and tears as we embraced each other for the first time in years. All too emotional to speak, we simply held one another, and looked out onto the fantastical land we were reunited in, the magical Forgotten Isle.