Shifting Stones: Eliona and Tagrac's Utopian Dream

It was a warm day.

The sun was beaming down on the hilltop as we climbed it, an oasis in a desert of dark-green trees. With each step my heart pounded faster, my breath grew deeper. Sweat dripped down my brow and joined my long black hair that fell across my face. We had left the cave early this morning, before the sun had risen. We had seen it from the valley below; its light bursting over the horizon, making its way higher up in the sky as we started our climb to meet it.

I stopped dead in my tracks and stared at the view before me. I stood transfixed, panting for breath, staring into the distance. The hilltop was covered with lush grass and flowers of all different colours; blues, reds, yellows, purples and greens. I looked down at my feet and saw myself reflected in the water of a small clear pond that sat between two large rocks. My red skin glistened in the sunlight, with streaks of blue across my cheeks and forehead dripping wet with sweat. My eyes were deep brown, almost black with excitement as I looked over to Tagrac who stood behind me panting heavily also staring at the view ahead of us.

“It’s beautiful!” I said out loud but did not turn to Tagrac to see if he agreed with me. He wasn’t in any state to say anything anyway so I left him standing there for a moment longer before I turned around myself to look at what he was looking at. “What do you see?” I asked him quietly.

He didn’t answer immediately but after a few moments he finally took a deep breath which made his chest rise and fall as he pointed his finger straight ahead of us into the distance. “I can see... green trees!” Tagrac exclaimed excitedly before adding “and yellow flowers! And blue pools! And pink flowers! And...” I interrupted him by turning back to face forward again, looking ahead now myself instead of at him like before when he was pointing straight ahead at whatever it is he saw further away than us and me. “Yes, I can see all that too!” I told him proudly as I stared out across our new land and continued: “and there are more colours than we have ever seen before! So many colours!” Tagrac came up beside me now and stood next to me once again with his eyes still fixed on what lay ahead of us both as he replied: “I can see... green trees! And yellow flowers! And blue pools! And pink flowers! And... uh oh.” His voice trailed off as he stopped saying all those things he could see that apparently were all there for him to see too now that he was standing next to me but didn’t have time to look at properly when he was facing forward alone just moments ago when I interrupted him earlier by interrupting him myself earlier too now that we were both facing forward together now though not alone anymore just moments ago either before, or when we were facing only forward not together before that some moments ago when Tagrac had paused mid sentence while facing forward alone then too while I hadn't been there yet then either until just moments ago when we both faced forward together but not alone any more anymore either now because now we're here together not just facing forward anymore but side by side too so Tagrac wouldn't have been able to finish his sentence about all those things he could see but couldn't seem to find anymore now that we're standing here together side by side instead of facing only forward then alone too before because now we're both here together no longer alone but still looking forward towards what's beyond that hill where we climbed from so early this morning where one could see all those colours from above whenever one wanted or needed to even though now they're actually everywhere so one doesn't need to climb hills anymore especially since they're everywhere now meaning they're every where far away from where ever one might be right now shared Tagrac's thoughts through his mind-speech with Eliona who replied: "Yes!" - she replied aloud though - excitedly - excitedly she added: "That means we can build our new village here!"