A Translation of Inspiration

only became aware of my surroundings after a long moment of mental emptiness. The first thought was of past movement. I felt as though I had just stood up. As if I had been lying down before and was now up without any say in the matter. One thought led to another, each more complex than the last. Nothing stuck. They came and went, just as the waves and clouds before them. And I was alone again, on the cliff without a thought.

  I knew what I had to do. I had to jump. I had to dive into the sea below and go somewhere. I didn’t know where yet, that would come with time. I spread my arms wide and hopped off the precipice. The air felt great but I needn’t get too comfortable. It ended of a sudden with a hard smack into the water. My face stung but I was alright. I swam down into the deep dark depths. The nothingness lasted for a long time. I needed air. My lungs ached for it.

  Tops of trees became visible below. I swam faster. My chest was about to explode. The water suddenly vanished and I fell through the trees and hit the soft ground. I could finally breathe. I was in a swamp. I took a minute to catch my breath and then got up and started toward a point of light I saw in the distance. A wood path led me up to a small house. I knocked at the door. When it opened a man with a short gray beard appeared. He wore a long apron.

  “Do I have a clock for you?” He asked.

  “I don’t know.” I said.

  “Well come on in.”

  I entered the little house. It looked more like a workshop. Clock parts were scattered all over the floor. Half finished clocks were on every table. The clockmaker led me around and showed me various types of clocks he had been working on.

  “Excuse me,” I said, “but I seem to be in a place unknown to me.”

  “Are you now?” He said brightly.

  “Yes, can you tell me where this swamp is?”

  “I can, but I don’t think you will know the name even if I tell you. Now about these clocks. . .”

  “Do I need one?”

  “Of course you do. You have a big mission in front of you.”

  “I do?”

  “Don’t you?”

  “I don’t know. You see I don’t remember much about where I came from. I think I just appeared on a cliff a little while ago.”

  The clockmaker rummaged around and took something off of a table. “I see what you are saying and I understand, but how about this clock? It’s great right? It doesn’t even need hands to tell time. Do you want to know how it works? Why wouldn’t you? But I won’t tell. It’s a secret. Here, take it. It will go off when you need it to.”

  I took the clock from him. It looked to be a regular wood box. “How will I know when it needs to go off?”

  “You won’t. It just will when the time is right.”

  “And that is when?”

  “No idea.”

  I was having trouble taking this clockmaker seriously. I asked him some questions about a road out of the swamp but he only wanted to tell me about his other clocks. Finally I thanked him for the little box and left his workshop. I didn’t need to be getting involved with people that wouldn’t help me get my memory back.

  When I left the workshop I saw that the wood path led through the swamp. I continued on it hoping it would take me away to someplace where somebody could help me receive my memories.

  Several hours later the swamp ended. The ground dried up and the trees lost their leaves. I was walking through the woods. As I did this certain things began coming back to me. My name was Brickem Ambrose Foster and I used to work in a large building. I had a desk job, though I don’t remember exactly what I had to do. Somehow I went from that job to that cliff, but there were no connecting memories to tell me how it happened. I would have plenty of time to figure all of that out on my journey.

  I saw a man standing in the way ahead. He wore a very regal looking outfit. I assumed he was royalty.

  “May I ask you a favor?” The man asked. “I seem to be lost in my own woods. Can you help me find my castle?”

  Help a royal person find their castle? Of course I would help. I agreed to help him and we started through the trees together. He told me all about how he was on his way from his father’s castle and got lost in the woods. His horse got spooked by a shadow and took off without him. His name was Prince Heradus of Amna.

  I told him what little I knew of my life and he told me that sometimes when people lose their memory, talking to royalty can help. It didn’t sound like anything I had ever heard of before, but I gave it a whirl just to see if it worked. To my surprise it did. I discovered that I went to the cliff because there is a legend that diving off of that cliff will bring a person to a world where their deepest desire can come true, if they know where to look. I wasn’t even sure what my deepest desire was, and so decided that a good dive off the cliff might make me remember it. It didn’t work, but that was alright. I was on my way to find it. I couldn’t wait to see what it was.

  I also remembered that I was recently engaged to a girl named Ramonia. She didn’t come with me because she thought the idea of finding one’s deepest desire didn’t exist. That was another reason I went, so that I could go back and show her that it was in fact real.

  Heradus and I arrived at a very large and very ornate castle. It rose one thousand feet off the ground. It had towers and balconies and everything else any prince would want. He thanked me for helping him and invited me inside for lunch. I was starving and didn’t even remember the last time I ate. I was also getting tired from all the walking. He suggested that I spend the night in one of the castle’s seventeen bedrooms.

  His cooks made the best steaks I ever had. After dinner Heradus took me around and showed me the castle. It was very beautiful but would take a month to describe every magnificent detail. He showed me to my room and I went to bed early. I was so tired.

  I woke up early. Heradus saw me to a coach that was to take me to the coast where I would then find a magic ship that was made of water. The kingdom’s sorcerer bewitched it to sail across the legendary sea of wood.

  The coach was comfortable and I had a great view of the trees. It sure beat walking that far. By midday we came to the coast and I was amazed at the sight of a giant sailing ship made entirely out of water. It sparkled magnificently in the sun. The hull was filled with barrels. I didn’t know what was in them, but I assumed something important. The captain looked a little scary but he assured me everything was going to be alright.

  The ship took off across a wood ocean. It looked as if the entire sea was covered with a wood floor. It was so wonderful that I pulled a small journal from my coat and began to write about my adventures.

  Day 2

  On a Ship entirely made of water heading for my next destination. I don’t know what this journey has in store, but so far it is well worth my time and energy to see this magnificent Desire World in person. All the stories are true, it does dazzle and amaze with sights and sounds unlike our own world. I already have a souvenir of my time. A clockmaker made me a strange little cuckoo clock that will apparently go off at an unspecified time. I can’t wait to show Ramonia what I have uncovered.

  I put my journal away. The captain wasted time by telling me all about his travels. I had never heard of a single place he mentioned but it was nice to hear about them anyway.

  Our good times ended quickly. We heard a rumbling underneath the boat and a giant fish monster with many little fins all over its body shot out of the wood and went through the ship, taking several barrels with it. There was no crew; we had to defend the barrels ourselves. The captain threw me a harpoon made of water and we took defensive stances, waiting for the beast to strike again.

  We listened intently to the rumblings under the wood, trying to determine where its next attack would come from. It tore through the wood right under me. I threw my harpoon but it missed. The creature swam away with more barrels. I looked for something else to use. There were several water spears nearby.
I grabbed two and waited for it to come again.

  The monster came into the ship from beneath it. There was nothing we could do. It grabbed the rest of the barrels with its teeth and escaped before we could even throw our weapons. Once it got all the barrels the wood grew calm again.

  The captain went to the edge and started yelling at the thing. The wood began to rumble. I walked toward the captain, telling him politely to stop. Before I could get three steps the beast jumped up, grabbed the captain, and returned to the wood with him. I kept to the center of the ship; if it came up there I might have more time to run. But it did not come again. I was safe.

  I took the wheel and sailed the ship in the same general direction we were already going. I felt for the captain, but he really shouldn’t have been shouting at a giant fish monster.

  As evening came I could see land. It had a black beach and many mountains. I didn’t know how to stop the ship and it smashed into the sand. I went tumbling off and landed with a hard thump on the edge of the wood. I picked myself up and limped onto the sand. I didn’t make it very far before having to sit down. My back ached terribly. I lay in the sand and looked up at the mountains a ways away.

  More memories came back to me. I now remembered the guide up to the cliff told me that temporary memory loss could happen. I also remembered that my life was very boring. I hated that desk job