The Fourth Dream Of The Waiting Prince

And this morning, of his latest dream, my Lord said to me, “My dear scribe, last night as I slept, I dreamt. And in this dream I stood on the balcony of the Palace Of The Imminent Prince, and looked across the waters of the Lake Of Stately Repose, and saw there in the garden of the Palace Of The Emperor’s Reign my father, beckoning me to join him at his side. And so I crossed the Lake, by means of the Jagged Bridge, and with each step the flowers before me blossomed and bloomed, while behind me they wilted, their petals scattering in the wind. And the waters of the Lake turned silver, and resembled beneath me a mirror, in which I saw this world and the other in equal clarity. Now when I reached my father’s shore, the Palace by then was empty, and though I searched could find there no memories of the Emperor, nor any evidence of his reign. And when I looked back across the Lake, I hoped to glimpse a figure there, so I could beckon them to follow me, and witness the glory of my reign. But all across the lake a mist had settled, and not even the nearest edge of the Jagged Bridge could by then be seen.”