Intermingled. Chapter 1. Memories

Chapter 1

Memories

He did not know why he suddenly thought of the oak tree. Nothing had recalled it. But he thought of it and of his childhood summers in his kingdom. 
 
The great oak tree had stood on a hill , in a lonely spot of his kingdom. He , aged seven, liked to come and look at that tree. It had stood there for hundreds of years, and he thought it would always stand there. Its roots clutched the hill like a fist with fingers sunk into the soil, and he thought that if a giant were to seize it by the top, he would not be able to uproot it, but would swing the hill and the whole of the earth with it, like a ball at the end of a string. He felt safe in the oak tree's presence; it was a thing that nothing could change or threaten; it was his greatest symbol of strength.  

One night, lightning struck the oak tree. He saw it the next morning. It lay broken in half, and he looked into its trunk as into the mouth of a black tunnel. The trunk was only an empty shell; its heart had rotted away long ago; there was nothing inside—just a thin gray dust that was being dispersed by the whim of the faintest wind. The living power had gone, and the shape it left had not been able to stand without it.  
 
His shock came when he stood very quietly, looking into the black hole of the trunk. It was an immense betrayal—the more terrible because he could not grasp what it was that had been betrayed. It was not himself, he knew, nor his trust; it was something else. He stood there for a while, making no sound, then he walked back to the castle. He never spoke about it to anyone, 
then or since.  

Today while climbing up this mountain his memories were showing loyalty to him and each memory was coming back slowly to him, and he still didn’t know what he should make out of this all, but he was going to get answers to all of his questions, to all of his restlessness since last 15 years. 
 
Its called Mountain of satisfaction, and the person who told him about this mountain also told him that every person can find the answers to all of his questions here, he will find the ultimate satisfaction here, and all the things he want. The only thing prince thought that moment was he doesn’t know what he wants, but he knew that’s the place where he had to go. 
 
There was pain ebbing in that part of his body which controlled his speech, He had not spoken a word in last 15 years until yesterday, not because he cant speak, but because there was nothing there to speak.