Chapter – 65 - A Place Called Sands Of Time...

There is a place called The Sands of Time.

Only Dreamers can find the way.

It s a place where dreams live on forever,

Like wisps of light brightening the dark sky.

People say that dreams never die,

That every dream can be found in time.

And if you stand on the sands and listen,

You can hear the melody of every dream.

And if you open your eyes and look above,

You can see every strand of dream,

That ever any man has dreamt.

And if you raise your hands

And try to touch these strands,

You can make these dreams come to you.

All these dreams forgotten, long gone -

Can belong to you, and you alone.

And when you leave this world one day,

You too can leave your dreams behind,

On these sands of times,

So another day, another man,

Can read the dreams which you began.

And then you will live on again,

As your dreams go on and on and on....

Rihanna lifted her foot, one step after another, watching as each step sunk deep into the soft white sands. Sand in front, sand behind, sand all around...and broken in places by the dry, arid and frozen grounds of the Ice Fire Desert. Just like the Ice-Fire pool inside the tunnel, the fiery sands and frozen lands somehow balanced each other, keeping each other within their boundaries and checks, existing together in mutual harmony.

Rihanna watched the glittering particles of sand fall all around as she pulled her legs out , then took another step and let it sink back in. She stopped, turning to gaze at the mountain they had long left behind. Why was she stopping? What was this yearning, like a deep itch in her heart? Who did she expect to see when she stopped and looked back?!

The silent figure of the man, standing at the top most level of the chasm floated before her mind. After the auction ended, following her four Uncles, Rihanna decided to take leave from these caves. It was time to move on.....there were people still awaiting her return.

Her Frozen Magma Flower had auctioned out for an astonishing price of 7.8 million mid-grade spirit stones. Well....at least it astonished her! It was not high grade spirit stones or spiritual artifacts.....but in her tight-budgeted condition, mid grade spirit stones were a lot. And actually, this much amount was quite a bit to even live in luxury in these lands!

As she stepped out of the auction house and stepped towards the stairway leading to the outside of the chasm, she couldn't stop herself from turning to glance at the third level of the buildings.....towards the door she had entered just yesterday.

And she saw him. Standing behind the carved balustrade, like a silent guardian, looking on after her. His face was still hidden behind his mask, his aura still cold and impenetrable.....yet why did she feel warmth in his gaze?....and also something else which she wasn't sure.

Every few steps she would look back unconsciously, and every time she saw him there, his mere sight giving her some sort of unknown strength and confidence. Like he was telling her, 'Go-where-you-want-i-will-always-be-there'!!

"If you keep stopping after every few steps, then it will take us more than a month to cover this distance!"

Startled, Rihanna turned back to face Uncle He who had also stopped and was berating her slow pace. Smiling with a guilty conscience, she hurried on, trying to lessen the distance between her and them. They could have used spiritual tools to float over the sands and travel faster, but that consumed a lot of power. So they had decided to walk their way to Mountain City, which was a mid point, and then use their spiritual tools.

However, Rihanna was going to part with her Uncles at Mountain City, because they were travelling to the Cetra Prefecture whereas she was headed to Ancient Beast Aura Sect which was in Duet Prefecture.

As the lines of the song kept on repeating through her mind, her initial feelings of yearning and nostalgia slowly started turning to annoyance.

'What is wrong with you today?! Why are going on singing this strange song since we left the Underground Labyrinth?'

'Sands of Time......do you know that there is a place in this world which is called Sands of Time? I don't know how it is now, but in ancient times very few people could find their way to this hidden land. And it was a place where everyone wanted to go to.'

'Huh?! What was so special about this place? Supreme level Beasts? High grade spirit stones? Or large ore mines?'

'Stupid girl. There are things more mysterious and powerful than these. Things for which people can kill all and wash the grounds with blood and massacre. And this land used to one such temptation. People used to lust for it. Many people wasted their life and even cultivation trying to seek the entry to this place. But no one knew what it was that would make the land accept or reject the seeker. It was said only the lands could decide who would enter through its hidden gate.'

'That....sounds so mysterious and fantastical! But what exactly was in that land that everyone wanted to find it?'

'It is said that this world has seven points of origin. You already know about the origin of the Spirit Seed - the Mother Seed which resides at the center of this world. The Sands of Time is also one origin point - the origin point of Thoughts. People of this world believe that every thought and dream that a person has, comes from this point of origin, and after death, goes back to its originating point. In other words, this is the place, which is like a giant storehouse for all thoughts and dreams, recording every aspiration, enlightenment, comprehension, knowledge that a person in this world has ever had in his or her mind.'

'That is like a gigantic network! Which means, all cultivation techniques, skills, ideas, alchemy recipes, array comprehensions, runic interpretations....everything is stored in this hidden land?....from ancient times till now?!'

'Hmmm.....and that is why there have been many bloody battles fought, many thousands of people sacrificed, many species exterminated and wiped out from their core of existence....just to seek this one land.'

Rihanna blinked in surprise, then slowly fell into deep thought.

'What are you thinking now? Feeling tempted?'

'Ummm.....I have noticed something. All the techniques and skills and recipes.....people and clans seem to guard them very strictly, not allowing the techniques practiced by one family to reach the ears of another family.....it seems very pitiful!'

'Pitiful?.....This is the method of preserving all the knowledge gained through decades, sometimes centuries of hard work. If they are given away, then they will lose their value!'

'My Dad once told me....people work hard for centuries and millenniums to gain one iota of knowledge, but once that iota of knowledge has been uncovered....then it becomes the birthright of every human in the world. What is the purpose of this iota of knowledge if it not shared by all, so we can all uplift our thoughts and perceptions, and lead the next generation to a brighter and more knowledgeable future?.....i somehow agree with his thoughts....'

Little Purple became quite, not speaking any longer. Rihanna wasn't sure if he was contemplating her answer....or maybe he outright disagreed with it. Anyway, she was falling back again, and didn't have the time to think about what was going on inside Little Purple's mind. Lifting her feet, she started stomping through the sands, moving fast to catch up.

"Is that the mountain ahead? I am not seeing things due to the heat and sand, am i?"

"No....that is the door to Mountain City. It is still far, further than what it seems. But if we keep up this pace, we should be able to get in before the second sun sets."

Rihanna looked ahead, shading her eyes with her hands, and could barely see a rocky black mountain rising through the layers of whitish sand of the desert. This was one of the few places in this desert which had absolutely no spiritual energy....but was strangely able to exist amidst the colliding fire and ice energy.

Though this belonged to the Cetra Prefecture, aside from the Mayor of the city, and some of the officials, most of the residents were wandering lone cultivators. As such the number of people always varied since lone cultivators were nomadic in nature.

But that seemed to work perfectly for this Mountain City, as these lone cultivators also brought a lot of trade and economy, and the city was always full of buyers and sellers, and its economy was thriving.

Being at a midpoint of the Ice-Fire Desert also meant a lot of people came in to rest and fill up on medicines and other necessities, and the inns and businesses were always blooming. And since they still had a long way to go, they had decided to stop and stay here for a day before bidding goodbye to each other.