*

…You begin to hear distant sounds…

The hub-bub of city streets…

At first faint…

Grows gradually louder…

Market sellers ply their wares…

Children shout and laugh at their games…

And behind the city sound-scape a lyre weaves its reedy resonances…

*

You find yourself amid a thriving thoroughfare of Uruk…

The sun is high in the sky overhead…

The sand beneath your sandaled feet is warm and dusty…

You are moving against the flow of people who are heading for the central precincts of the Great Walled City…

They babble excitedly to each other…

Straining to get ahead…

They are caught in the moment, focused

And drawn to whatever attraction is pulling them centrally…

*

But you are heading towards one of the huge pylon gates that break the massive stone blocks of the city walls…

Soon you find yourself alone…

The clamour of the city-folk fading behind you…

To be replaced by the steady rhythmic swish of your sandaled feet propelling you toward the city gate…

*

As the great pylons start to overwhelm your vision…

You can see the resplendent figures of the city guard…

Their spears and swords glint in the sun…

They let you pass through the mighty stone structures…

And before long you are out in the wilderness that surrounds the great city of civilisation…

*

The sun beats down but thankfully the shade of trees quickly envelops you…

And you press on…

As the sun sinks low in the sky…

You crest a rise and halt…

*

Before you, stretches a lush ravine framed by two distant peaks…

You rest up watching the fading light…

Listening to the night awaken…

A large full-moon rises between the distant peaks…

As if from the centre of that moon a white, misty figure moves towards you…

*