The Other Shore - General Synopsis

Is the time always flowing with the same speed and in the same direction? Do we live in a dream of do our dreams live in a real world? If a temporary bridge connects us to another corner of the Universe, how would we see such a world? How would we change it? How would it change us? If we encountered an extraordinary advanced civilization, will we acknowledge its existence at all?

1795. Excelsior, a military brig on a routine sea mission disappears without a trace, just to return to her harbor three months later with an incredible story. Alberto Shimada, the second officer on board is separated from his crew during a fierce fight with the locals of a mysterious island where gold is as cheap as stone. With his direct access to the coast blocked by the enemies, he treks along a mysterious river with the intention to reach the shore in a farther away area and return to his people by sea on an improvised raft. But things becomes stranger and stranger along his journey, as he seems to live several lives at once. He falls asleep in one just to wake up into the next. Faced with the Chuang Tzu dilemma about the man dreaming of being a butterfly or the butterfly dreaming of being a man, Alberto doesn't know which one of his lives is real.

A young woman and her father save the officer from the brink of death and help him recover in a mysterious village. Alberto falls in love with Nivit and they begin a journey across the mountains nearby planning to reach the shore and return to Excelsior. A snow storm blocks them in a cave and Nivit can't survive the prolonged cold. Now Alberto is split between his duty for his crew and his desire to cross into the world where Nivit disappeared and save the woman he loves. Can he do both? In the end, which one of all the existences he experiences is the real one? And what kind of universe is hidden behind the shores of this mysterious island?

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The first half of "The Other Shore" free to read on Smashwords

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Butterfly's Dream 3

I wake up and can't remember where I am. Why do I feel such a pain in my thoughts, such a sadness in my heart? I am inside an immense cave with an arched ceiling. The ceiling is lit in a yellow color by myriads of tiny organisms. The floor is covered in several places by large, white mushrooms.

Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man.

On what side is the real world and where is the mirror? Which one am I, the butterfly or the man? But if there is no "I", would this question even make sense? Because in this case I/there is no "I" can't even know who is asking. So, in the end, is there more than one reality? Or maybe everything is a dream? Am I/there is no "I" awake now?

During our dreams we do not know we are dreaming. We may even dream of interpreting a dream. Only on waking do we know it was a dream. Only after the great awakening will we realize that this is the great dream. And yet fools think they are awake, presuming to know that they are rulers or herdsmen.

Chuang Tzu has described correctly this situation since millennia ago. Slapping my face or pinching my skin would be dream slaps and pinches and won't make me wake up. One way to start figuring out what is going on is to check my notes. The last written date is June 20. So, is it June 21 now? This should be the longest day of the year. But is it really June 21? I suppose I didn't sleep for more than one night. My watch is broken and I can't tell the time. Reading the notes in my log I remember our expedition to the city and the kidnapping of the beautiful princess. Salik told me her name starts with an "N." I think it is Nern. And she looked exactly like Nivit from my dream. But was it a dream? Let's see. If it was a dream, then I haven't had time to learn the Edorian language. I shall try to write down a few phrases using their writing, which I am not supposed to know. If my trip to Edor, the mountains and Nivit were a dream, then I shan't be able to do it. If it was real, I am supposed to know about five thousand words in Edorian and have no problems to hold a conversation in this tongue. I call it "Edorian" because I have learned it in my dream in the village of Edor, but I suppose the people from Gold City speak the same language and might name it differently.

My hand writes the alien letters without any effort. And they are also easy to read. I can speak the locals tongue with a crystal clarity. So, assuming my log is correct, and today is June 20, how did I live somewhere else for more than a month during a single night of sleep? My beard should have had time to grow a lot during such a long period of time. But when I touch my face, I find my relatively freshly shaved cheeks. Because I did shave right before our expedition to the Gold City. If more than a month did not pass over me, then it means that I must be dreaming now. Otherwise, how could I learn a new language during a dream and use it while I am awake? I need to wake up quickly inside the circular cave from the mountains and see if I can cross over to Nosyon and look for Nivit. Still, I can't think of any way to do it. If I killed myself, I'd certainly leave this world, but can I be absolutely sure this is a dream? What if I just cross over from one reality to another? And what if I die in one? Would I die in the other too? This experiment is too risky. Better think about other ways first...

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Butterfly's Dream 2

I couldn't understand what was happening to me. I felt my body being lifted by someone, but could not move or talk. My vision was so blurry, that I believed it to be a hallucination or a dream. The pain in my whole body was overwhelming, yet I could not even utter the slightest sound. This must be the Hell. I suppose I was evil during my life after all, even though I thought of myself as a good person. Now it's time to pay for my mistakes. I didn't deserve to be saved and now an eternity of suffering is all that's left for me.

My eyes stay open and I can't move my eyelids. My gaze is immobile. I lie on my back in something looking like a long canoe. I can't hear anything. The huge sky is pressing my skull and the clouds are burning my head. They go in and out, indifferent to my pain. My skull is as big as a mountain and I can't move it. Soon it will crush under its own weight. At least, this would give me some satisfaction: I imagine the clouds inside it being trapped and squeezed until they pop up like soap bubbles. This image makes me laugh, but outside my mouth remains stiff. I see, all my body is made of stone now, that's why I can't budge. As from a large distance a face is moving across the sky. It's a young woman face. I can't see her clearly but she has long black hair on a beautifully oval face with pale skin, big eyes and a small, straight nose. And it seems to me that I have seen her before. Or maybe I have dreamed of her?

Something comes close to my lips. It looks like a cup. She's trying to open my mouth and pour its contents inside. Despite the intense pain that tortures my body within, outside I am completely numb and feel nothing. There is a swallowing move, but it doesn't seem to belong to me. I can't feel any taste. My eyes stay open and I can't close them back. But the vast sky is fading away and a few moments later I dive deeply inside the world of dreams. Only my fixed, glassy gaze, like that of the dead lizard, remains in this world.

Butterfly's Dream

"Once upon a time, I, Chuang Tzu, dreamed I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly, unaware that I was Tzu. Soon I awoke, and there I was, veritably myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man. Between a man and a butterfly there is necessarily a distinction. The transition is called the transformation of material things. "

I wake up in the middle of the night, thinking about the words of the great sage. I hear some noises in front and see a small fire still burning in front of me. An improvised spear and stone ax lay on the floor to my left. Where am I? Where is the great cave with the luminous ceiling and the edible mushrooms?
I feel totally lost. Then, slowly, my memory comes back. It is the early morning of June 20, I got lost from my people during the fight on the island and am following the river to the sea in order to rejoin them. The entrance of the little cave is jammed with many pieces of wood tied with vines. And from outside, some unknown beast tries to get in.