Leo parted with Ralph and decided to visit Raynark"s inn, but when he arrived, he noticed that instead of an inn, a smithy stood where the inn should have been."Oh wait, this is the past," Leo remembered.
Indeed. Solomon ruled this city in the dream of the past, and Ahab was his son... apparently.
Leo walked over to the smithy. He paused at the entrance. He looked over to the area where the slums should have been, and he didn"t see them. Instead he saw a row of well-kept houses, with flower pots in random window sills, with children playing without fear, with parents not worrying for their children"s safety. He saw workers building new houses in an vacant lot.
But, Leo could also see the future of these buildings through his memory. He remembered the deadpan look on the children that Raynark fed. He remembered the brave face of Elizabeth. He thought of the blank faces on the townspeople, wherever he traveled in Ahab"s city of sin.
Long, hollow thoughts undermined the happiness and joy he witnessed in Solomon"s flourishing city. He could only imagine how sad the old and elderly Solomon must feel, knowing his son... His son ruined everything... knowing his son was about to summon a wind pillar due to the large amount of demons.
"But wait," Leo thought, "Wouldn"t a wind pillar have destroyed Ahab"s city by now if that were the case?"
he was confused, and distraught. He roamed the city in search of some form of solace. He walked through clean alleys and past sparkling fountains. He smelled delicious food, and saw beautiful women, but nothing gave him joy.
He climbed a hill and overlooked the city. He stood at the gate to the large palace in the center of the city. People b.u.mped into him and yelled at Leo. He lifted up his head and watched Solomon"s city in all of its splendor, and he proceeded to say quietly in a whisper: "How meaningless. It"s all so meaningless."
"Move out of the way Blackcoat! You"re blocking traffic," a soldier that was guarding the gate to the palace said.
Leo ignored the soldier and screamed, "You hear me Raynark! I"m done playing your games. They"re all so meaningless! There"s no point to showing me the past! There"s no point to making me slumber. Please! Wake me up! It"s all so MEANINGLESS!"
Another soldier came and the two soldiers proceeded to drag Leo out of the way of traffic, for he had been blocking the caravan of an important merchant who was here to see King Solomon. The merchant"s caravan was loaded with jewels and spices and silk from east of the seven mountains. The merchant was pleased that Leo was finally moved away from the gate to Solomon"s palace, but to his surprise, and the soldiers, and to a lesser extent Leo"s, Solomon in all his glory was announced as having arrived.
"Here ye! Hear ye! The king will meet his subjects!"
People clamored. The hustle and bustle of the city stopped like time had frozen, but only for a few seconds. Then, suddenly people rushed up the hill to the palace and shouted, "Long live the King! Long live the King!"
The surroundings of Leo had become quite crowded. The people gathered around the palace gate, while the guards who were holding Leo let go in an attempt to bring order to the crowd.
The gates opened.
A figure stood at the balcony of the palace, where long, thick tapestry hung down from the balcony six meters above the ground, while soldiers clad in gold-plated armor exited from the palace and created a pathway towards where Leo was.
Much to the soldier"s surprise, then chagrin, the figure grabbed a hold of the tapestry and descended from the palace balcony.
The people gave a great outcry. Screams and gasps escaped from the mouths of many, while the guards who had previously made an imposing entrance now frantically scrambled to protect their king in a very awkward manner.
The figure reached the end of the thick tapestry and proceeded to swing. He swung until the fabric tore while he was at the edge of the swinging motion, and descended from the air. Some covered their eyes in horror, while others stared in disbelief.
The figure landed, and he stood before Leo, while the gold-clad guards surrounded King Solomon, who had descended in a majestic or quite stupid fashion.
Leo saw him and gasped. Despite knowing it was a dream, he couldn"t help by think, "Is Solomon"s face... shining?"
Solomon looked familiar, yet strange to Leo. The Solomon before him had a fine complexion and a unrestrained aura befitting a king. He was much different from the old Solomon he had met, yet at the same time, he was all too familiar.
"You, What did you say?" young Solomon said.
"You"re shining?" Leo said.
"No, what, no! What you said earlier in the street! What did you say?"
"Oh... um," Leo thought for a while, and then he realized with a slight blush and said, "It"s meaningless."
Solomon leaped and danced, and the people were surprised.
"Surely this isn"t our king," they began to say in disbelief, "Has he gone mad?"
Of course they said this in different manners, each unique to their own mind, and they spoke not at once, but in a murmur. What I suggested previously was the sentiment.
Am I a lazy narrator, or just tricking you? Regardless, just learn to accept what I say as fact, and if you cannot do that, then this story will become all too confusing and troubling to speculate about, especially at this stage in the story of: The Humble n.o.ble Wanderer.
Anyway, Solomon stopped and said, "Guards bring this Blackcloth to my reading room. He is a guest of the highest degree! Cancel all other engagements for the day. This man is somone to celebrate!"
Everyone, the guards and the crowd, and Leo were perplexed at this turn of events. Leo expected to meet Solomon--but not in such a grandiose manner.
"Oh, and what is your name, dear Blackcloth?"
"Leo..."
"Splendid! He gives his birth name and not his Blackcloth name before a king! Surely he is the man I was looking for! Come! Bring Leo into the palace! We have much to discuss!"
Leo followed the guards push into the gate of the palace, and after he had entered, the crowd slowly disperesed after realizing nothing else would happen. But still, some wondered about the significance of this event, and pondered it deeply, for the wisest man in the world would not do a foolish thing for nothing. Surely not.
They thought, in general, in their hearts, "If only that was me with the king..."
The clouds did not move themselves, yet the wind blew them across the sky, without anyone on the ground noticing.
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