CURIOUSER and curiouser!" cried Mike Parris,
“OH! Dear”, Mike thought, momentarily bewildered.” What nonsense am I talking about! My Guitar is GOLD!?" He sat up abruptly, scanning his Bedroom for any other oddities or misplaced objects. Everything appeared as it should-no mysterious changes.
Mike peered about his Bedroom. Across the room, a Tap dripped slowly into the Kitchenette sink. All seemed as normal as he remembered it. Water beads collided with an unseen object bursting against an unseen object at the Basin’s bottom, creating a rhythmic spattering sound. Perhaps a small saucer was filling to the brim, interrupted by a piece of Cutlery. Mike strained his Neck to catch a glimpse, but the object remained elusive, too low in the Sink.
His attention shifted back to the Guitar resting on the Floor. Rising from the Bed, he stood up, still fully clothed, Boots caked in Mud. The Guitar- a modified 1976 Les Paul Deluxe Gold top- gleamed in its golden glory. This morning however, it seemed to shine even brighter.
"Crap! What was I thinking?" Disgusted at the soiled Bedding now caked in dried Dirt from his Boots.
He was about to step towards his Guitar sitting on the Floor...when it started to Glow! He looked around quickly to see if something were reflecting light upon it but could see no such cause. Stepping closer, the Guitar seemed to shimmer and pulsate in growing intensity!! Perhaps the Guitar’s golden Hue was playing on his Eyes? Having seeped into his thoughts, blurring the lines between reality and imagination. Or maybe, just maybe, the Music he often hears in his head had woven its Magic, leaving him with a touch of golden madness.
"What the F....!?!?" Was all he could say...
Then a Voice boomed in his Head, an all too familiar one.
["PICK IT UP! PICK IT UP!"].
It was the Voice of the Mysterious Old Man in the Tunnel from last night! No way?!?! How is all this possible? And why is this happening??
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Fighting it, Mike seemed to Involuntarily grab his Guitar off the floor and its glow enveloped him in a Bronze-coloured Aura. It was cool to his touch and the source of this phenomenon was not Heat. The Voice again spoke to him and seemed to be coming from a closer place, from within his Guitar.
["Let yourself go... let your Mind reach into this Vessel and just let go. Take that leap of Faith"].
A numbing Faintness began to roll over Mike's consciousness. Mike’s reality had taken a surreal turn, as if the fabric of existence had unravelled. He felt flushed, hot and dizzy. Like he had a case of the Spins? Suddenly, he felt a weightlessness tug his legs from out under him. Mike was unable to see beyond the range below that his Boots were still on the ground-yet he seemed to be positioned on his Back...but could look ahead at his Boots also in stretched out in front of him! He ought to be feeling terrified, but strangely was not, in fact, he felt little sense of alarm at all. All around him was an Orange Orb, like he was situated inside a living and Pulsating Light Bulb, surrounding him with an electrical energy.
His Guitar, which now was resting upon his Torso, seemed to be grounding him into this ethereal space. Mike by this time, had lost sight of the remainder of his Bedroom and seemed to literally be floating freely. Glancing down, his Boots and legs were now gone. In this suspended state, Mike became both Musician and Muse, a vessel for the electric currents of creativity. Perhaps, just perhaps, the golden glowing of his Guitar held the key to a symphony of existence – an invitation to dance with the Cosmos. And so, Mike floated, a note in the grand composition of the Universe, lost yet found, weightless yet whole.
A humming sound reverberated through the Room, its gentle vibrations weaving a mysterious Tapestry. Mike, wide-eyed and bewildered, gazed ahead. There, suspended like a celestial sentinel, hung a Lantern-the very same kind the enigmatic Mage had revealed to him in the tunnel the night before. Or was it in an earlier fragment of this bewildering Dream? The Glass sides of the Lantern's Windows were portals into another realm, and within them, Human Faces materialized intermittently. They spoke to Mike, their voices a symphony of unknown Tongues, yet he strained to decipher some of their familiar words.
Abruptly, a forceful jolt pushed him downwards, as if gravity itself had shifted. Mike felt propelled forward, at an increasing speed, a sensation akin to hurtling through Time and Space. The Lantern loomed larger, its closest glass window expanding until it enveloped him and his trusty Guitar. Astonishingly, he crossed the threshold into the Lantern's interior, hurtling toward what resembled a Spiral Nebula. The very fabric of reality quaked and buffeted him, and the humming sound crescendoed - a cosmic melody that resonated through his very being. Trails of dark strips were swirling around the outsides of Mike's Peripheral vision of where his Bedroom used to be, mixing with other colours like introduced Tints of Pigments squirted into a Tin of White Paint at the mixing stage.
Mike was away, off on a Fantastic Journey!
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He felt himself speeding faster and faster, the rotating colours that moved around him were spinning quicker by the moment.
Mike looked ahead, intently focused upon the Spiral Nebula that seemed to be slowly rotating in front of him. He realized that the Nebula was not moving; it was so massive that its apparent motion was due to his own rapid journey through Space. Was he racing toward it in a Capsule? The Nebula's positional Axis shifted as he neared it, and Mike grappled with the realisation that perhaps he was approaching death itself. And convincing himself that this is what dying must be like? He was seriously confused--but yet he still remained unafraid. Fear not Death, but fear nothing.
Flashes of light passed by before his Eyes, like Shooting Stars or Meteorites. Their origin remained a mystery, just a small part of the spectacular Universe unfolding before him. The dramatic scene stretched on, hours blending into eternity, and the Nebula grew larger, much like the Lantern done earlier. Time lost meaning as Mike hurtled through Space at a Velocity that might transcend Time itself. Gravity held him motionless, and eventually, he slipped into Unconsciousness.
Stay tuned for CHAPTER III: ...The 'STATIC RUN'.
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{Narrator}.
Curiouser and Curiouser, Curiouser and Curiouser...... ....a cacophony of Sound and Noise.
Guitars echo in the Void, Drums boom and thump out aloud.
...but there be no Sound in the Vacuum of Space?
Where dost thou go young Warrior and what dost thou seek?
Curiouser and curiouser--- the Future? A Peek!
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Footnote:
Spiral Nebulae, once a topic of great debate among astronomers, are objects that appear as spiral-shaped clouds. Long before we knew about galaxies beyond our Milky Way, astronomers with increasingly powerful telescopes discovered these nebulous objects filling the sky. Some argued that they were part of our galaxy, while others believed they were distant “island universes.” The famous “Great Debate” in 1920 centered around the scale of the universe and the nature of these spiral nebulae. Ultimately, Edwin Hubble’s observations of the Andromeda Nebula settled the debate, revealing that these spirals were indeed galaxies lying outside our Milky Way.
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