Moons, Stones, and Dancing Fountains

I had the most amazingly unusual dream last night.  So unusual that I was unable to sleep after for marveling about it.  The details are etched in my memory, but its the first part that is the most interesting, so that is what I shall write about.

I remember it beginning while I was on some sort of rocket or space shuttle, of some sort.  We had been traveling for a great length of time to a designated location, but our course was off, and we had to stop for supplies and fuel.  We knew of a planet friendly to us that we could safely land on, and made for it.  All went well and we landed in what seemed to be a great stone courtyard.  It was the size of a small valley.  We found that the air was suitable for us to breathe, and exited the ship, pleased to breathe fresh air again.

When our party were all out of the ship, we were free to look around us.  It was very dark, night was upon us.  Cold seeped through our suits but it was invigorating after the steady temperature for so long in the ship.  We stood on what seemed to be cobbled stones in a massive courtyard, unlike anything we had ever seen before.  The sheer size of it was startling, and one wondered why one would go to such great efforts to cover such an expanse of land for no obvious purpose.  I felt a vague sense of uneasiness, as if something were not as it should be, but shrugged it off, reminding myself that I am on a strange planet, and of course nothing was as I would expect it.  In the horizon, surrounding the square, we could see silhouettes of numerous buildings.

We decided to head to the west of the courtyard and began the long walk towards the buildings.  As we moved away from the ship, I suddenly realized what seemed so odd to me.  Even in the deep night, I could see almost as clearly as day, but with a cold silvery light.  Our shadows stretched far ahead of us.  I had never heard of moon light casting shadows and turned around to see what the source of the light was.  I stumbled to a halt and gasped in awe.  My vision was filled with a massive moon, the sheer enormity of its size was inconceivable.  It took up a quarter of the eastern sky and seemed so close one could literally reach ones fingers up and brush them across its cold surface.  It glowed with a silvery light that hurt ones eyes.  I squinted against the light and studied the moons surface and was awed by the multitude of craters strewn across it.

As I stood studying the moon, I could actually see it revolving and I watched it for many minutes, transfixed.  I had never seen anything so awe inspiring in my life.  Suddenly, my awe turned to trepidation and my mouth dropped open in shock as a new side of the moon became visible to me.  Some sort of terrible force had impacted the moon so devastatingly that a 5th of the moon was gone.  I shuddered then, wondering what had caused such destruction, and if the impact had pushed the moon closer to the planet than it was supposed to be.  I shook off my thoughts and ran to catch up with the rest of my party.

After several hours of walking, we finally reached the edge of the courtyard, and could see the buildings that edged it.  The buildings were in keeping with what I had seen so far, huge and awe-inspiring.  They reminded me of drawings I had seen of medieval stone dwellings. Only more.  So  much more.  Their design was archaic and yet seemed ultra futuristic as well.  The rock was dark and very smooth and dense.  The angles were more steep.  The carvings and designs were more obvious and imaginative.  Even the windows were made of stained glass, their colors glowing like living jewels with the vibrant moon light.

I noticed other things that were incredibly odd.  There wasn’t a particle of dust anywhere.  Everything looked as if it has been washed only moments before.  There was neither dirt, nor any green thing.  No trees, grass, bushes, or flowers grassed the beautiful buildings.  Not even weeds dared to sprout between the cobbles of the courtyard.  The breeze that drifted across our faces held nothing but pure air.  The only scent was cold stone and our sweat.  Our shuffling feet echoed against the buildings.  Our breathing was magnified, as if the land was hungry for the sound of life and wished to make the most of our coming.  The only other sounds were of the wind whistling through the corridors of the buildings and a pleasant almost musical sound that I couldn’t place.  I was beginning to feel almost panicked, never realizing till now, just how important bare land, greenery, sounds, and smells were to my peace of mind.

Just when I was becoming overwhelmed, a beautiful sound registered and I looked around for its source.  Just ahead and a little to the right of us, was a small courtyard nestled between two buildings, and in the middle of it was a water fountain.  Plumes of spray lifted in a soothing, arching design and then fell into a round pool at the base.  It was contained with a smooth stone wall.  The fount was fashioned in the shape of a lithe woman posed in a graceful position.  One long lean leg was crossed over the front of the other, her toes pointed down, barely touching the surface of the pool.  Her arms were lifted above her head as if reaching to pluck a star from the sky.  Her face was tilted towards the moon, and one ached from the beauty of her expression so realistically wrought.  She was carved in such a way, that her body seemed to be covered with the very lightest of fabrics, which enhanced her curves as well as covered her with modesty.  Water slide down over her curves in a ceaseless motion, but no erosion, rust, or moss could be seen on her form.

Our party surrounded the fountain for a great length of time.  One by one, I noticed that each member of the party looked from the fountain, to me, and back again.  Their faces were startled and incredulous.  I raised my eyebrow at the leader and he shook his head as if to tell me to wait until later for an explanation.  After a few more minutes the party left the fountain and made our way to the front of the building on our right and position ourselves in front of the door.  The leader knocked on the door, waiting for several minutes between each knock.  As we waited for something to occur, another oddity registered in my conscious.  I had seen no other living creature.  Not a single person, not an animal, not a bird, not even an insect.  I shivered, wondering what catastrophe had happened to cause such a void of life.  My thoughts were interrupted as the leader pounded on the door one last time.  When we surmised that no one was going to answer, he tried the handle and realized that the door was not locked, and pushing the door open, we entered...

Well.  That was the first portion of my dream.