Chapter Seven

"Actel"

"Actel"

"Actel"

A soft, angelic voice kept ringing in my ear. The voice echoed in my head. As I tried to focus on the voice, the sound started to fade slowly and gradually became more distant.

Suddenly, for a brief moment there was silence. I almost thought I was imagining things and only misheard the mysterious sound. But then, the voice resurfaced. This time it was louder, clearer. As if someone whispered my name to my ear.

"Actel"

I finally opened my eyes. A bright and blinding light greeted me. Slowly the scenery became apparent. My squinted eyes were comforted with amusement from the scenery before me. I saw tall, green trees around, as far as my eyes could reach. Cool wind blew softly on the trees and everything on its path. It brought fallen leaves soaring into the sky. The sky was bright, blue, and clear as day. The sun was radiant and warm. I could feel the heat gently touch my skin. Birds were flying around; and I could hear them chirping cheerfully. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I could smell the leafy and earthy air that surrounded me. It reminded me of the beauty of life. I opened my eyes and let out a soft sigh as peace engulfed my soul. I was definitely standing in the middle of a forest, but where?

A snapping sound of a twig made me look to my left. My eyes landed on a 6 foot tall horse, five feet away. It had beautiful soft, white fur. There was a glowing and heavenly light enveloped its body. I noticed its white long hair was kept in one side. A few strands draped on its golden eyes as the wind blew softly. It stood with pride and looked at me intently. To call it beautiful is an understatement. To be more precise, it was majestic.

For a few more minutes we held our gaze, neither of us breaking the eye contact. More accurately, I couldn't look away. A ray of light brushed against its long white lashes. Its beautiful sparkling golden eyes were enthralling. In those minutes I felt as if the creature recognized me. It then gently closed its eyes for a brief moment and simultaneously lowered its head as if giving a greeting. To carefully not scare and drive it away, I did the same in order to acknowledge its presence. I took a few steps closer in attempt to shorten our distance but it let out a soft neigh which made me take a step back.

Okay, I guess we haven't established that much trust yet.

Once again it gently neighed and began to gallop away. Enchanted I followed the path it took. The horse moved farther and farther away. In the same rhythm my feet started racing in front of me. I started half-running after the moving image of the creature. Suddenly it was out of view. I ran forward trying to pursue it. But it was nowhere to be found.

Where is it? W-where did it go?

I ran faster than I did before and my heart started racing in a similar rate. Somehow I felt like I lost something important. Eventually I had to stop to catch my breath. I didn't even run that far but I felt exhausted. Maybe all the thinking and chasing took so much of my energy. I looked around scanning the area.

Where are you? Show yourself. I hopefully thought. Rather than a command, it was more of a plea.

Suddenly I heard a neigh. I looked to my right where the sound came from. And there again it stood heavenly. I sighed in relief as I was once again graced with its eminence.

I found you.

I smiled and began to approach the horse. Once again it galloped away. I immediately ran after it.

I won't loose sight of you again. Not this time.

But surprisingly, when it got to a distance a little too far, it would stop and look my way. Once I was able to shorten our distance just about five meters away, it would start running again, and I would chase after it. The cycle went on.

I think it wants to take me somewhere.

Where are you leading me?

It finally stopped and I halted about three meters away. I felt like if I got too close it would disappear on me again.

"Walk further ahead and you will see a town."

I heard the same saintly voice that repeatedly called my name earlier.

I looked around me to find the caster of the voice but I saw no one. It was only me and the horse present.

Wait, the horse! Did the voice belong to the horse? But it didn't show any motion of speaking.

"Did you say that?" I asked the horse. It was kind of foolish of me to do so but trying wouldn't hurt.

The horse looked straight into my eyes – shortly held our gaze, and gently closed both of its eyes in response.

Does that mean yes? Or did I reach a wrong conclusion? But how else am I to rationalize this situation?

"If you closed your eyes earlier to answer yes, could you close them again but this time twice in arrow?" I skeptically requested.

And it did as I asked. I was a bit confused since the horse could have spoken in response in the first place but I chose to shrug it off. Knowing where I came from this shouldn't be surprising, but I didn't see it coming.

I walked straight forward just as the horse instructed. I looked both to my left and right to scan the area, as I processed everything that has occurred until now. Suddenly a thought occurred to me.

How far do I have to-? I was caught off guard when I looked forward and found no trace of the creature. It's gone. Perhaps it has left.

I guess from here on I need to do things on my own. The town huh? So that's where it wanted to take me. I wonder what it's like. I thought to myself as I continued my little venture.

I walked quite a distance before I reached the end of the forest. Sets of buildings – both big and small, stood side by side and raced to the sky. The streets swarmed with running carriages going to all and every direction. People - young and old, strolled in the sidewalk, crossed the streets, and entered stores. Everyone was busy doing something and going somewhere as if a part of the town's daily routine. They all went about the locality in a hurry like someone was chasing them. It seemed to be a very busy day.

As I walked further into town, I noticed it was filled with noises of people chattering; tapping sounds of horse shoes hitting the ground; rolling sounds of wheels running over the rough surface of the ground; and bells chiming from opening doors of boutiques, stores, and coffee shops all over the place. All these noises blended in into one tranquil sound which gave life to the town. Different scents filled the air. I could smell the dusty odor of the earth, the refreshing fragrance of new products, the bitter aroma of coffee beans being brewed - I could almost taste it, the sweet scent of a freshly baked bread, and the sour stench of sweat from different people walking about minding their own business.

I was interrupted from my admiration when I heard barking up ahead. I saw a golden retriever just a meter away run straight towards me in a rather very fast manner. In fright, I tried to step to the side to avoid collision but my mind went blank and my feet were glued to the ground. The dog was about to crash into me, but to my horror it ran straight through me instead. Everything happened very quickly, in a mere instant.

I looked over my shoulder to chase the figure of the dog as its barking became more distant, and turned towards its direction. I felt very confused. Suddenly, I saw a ten year-old boy emerge from my stomach coming from behind - right pass through me as if I was a ghost. He continued to run ahead while shout-calling a name. Perhaps he was chasing after that golden retriever.

What did just happen? Am I invisible? Why didn't I notice this before? Maybe I was too occupied with admiring the town and that the matter didn't occur to me at all. Not until I almost met an accident. That explains why I felt too convenient walking around town despite it being crowded.

Perplexed, I touched the nearest person in front of me but my hand just passed down through her shoulders. She was standing on the edge of the street waiting for an empty carriage to pass by. I walked and stood in front of her.

"Umm, hey!" I called to her while I waved my right hand at her face but her eyes were distant, looking straight ahead but me.

Do I not exist in this dream? That's weird. Well, more often than not dreams are a series of inexplicable events.

Determined to know where I was, I walked over to the other side of the street where a small newspaper stall stood at the corner of the block. I looked over the folded newspaper that was on top of the pile and read the date on the uppermost right corner of the front page. It printed June 13, 1463. The date was 558 years from the present.

Am I currently dreaming about the past? I thought to myself.

"Yes. The time before the Empire of Wraindel existed." I heard the voice of the horse say in my head.

"Empire? But the Wraindel I know is only a Kingdom"

"Or was it?" the voice answered.

I looked around to look for the horse but it was nowhere to be seen.

If this was not our kingdom, then where is this?

I looked over again at the newspaper I read earlier and read "The outskirts of the Kingdom of Zviera Radenie" on one of its paragraphs.