The Mountain Reveals Its True Purpose

The bellows of these lands; the wintery brew concocted from some mettle and mixture unknown. There seemed to be no land by mist and fog; no feeling to where the mountain ends and the mountain begins; phantoms unmeasured and leaking through the roaming and icy dews; the barren fields did roll underneath Daniel as he went. He tripped where he walked; stumbled, retrieved himself once more, then moved by inches to the higher elevations.

The strips were more narrow now; the hoof beats above most pronounced; the grunts; the long blows of air and breath came to Daniel's ear. He soundly heard the weapons this masterful horse possessed; the powers in its breast; the long, angled steps it took; the wretched shrills and high density snorts; the landings of its hooves as it rose and fell with defiant romps;

The cold blew with contagion now; heartless, unenvied blasts that cut and sliced at every turn-gust. Winds more contrary that could rise and fall with the eye's blink and pause; the highest tip of Heaven; more shadows born and to die in an instant; the horizon's not breached; phantoms of their own, though the identity's not to meet.

At last he found the level plain; the very top of this portion to Heaven. A snowy field that seemed no larger than fifty yards by fifty yards; still to be as level as the long meadows far below. Now the shadows did consume Daniel's every essence; nothing seen; nothing preserved; the indulgence of Heaven's nature in-wrapping him into an ever-motioning tomb.

The quiet stills; the haunting sounds of nothing; silence born and dominating here; the winds; the blows; carried about a symbiotic tune; no light be born; only the fading and mist-consecrated grays lived about. Daniel turned in some direction his instinctive ways told him to rotate to; the air silent from the previous stallion's call.

Slowly, with reverence, he heard the soft and gentle crush of long-standing snow compress under the weight of something massive; the stallion to approach.

The mist finally gave way; the haunting and ghostly appearance moved with something of a sparkle in golden hues; large and engrossing, the front shoulders high and towering with length; thus the snout, the breath of something alive and angry; the deep-pocket face and expression; those coal-burnt eyes; golden hair twisting by wind and matter; the lock of something majestical and unbridled; by no manner has it been tamed – alas, the Golden Horse.

"Aureus Equus!" Daniel spoke in wonderment.

The golden horse rose by its own thunder, with front hooves pressed high to intimidate and make his stand affront. His shrill brought a quake and threw the silence into an uproar; the plateau to shake and vibrate; the legs kicked higher still, then land in a rumble which shook Daniel completely.

The wings spread gallantly wide; as large as any angels, with thick and harsh feathers' fold; striking to shimmer in pure gold arrays, the flapping of which nearly blew Daniel from his stance. Though, to this the stallion did not fly, but remained to keep his ground and not wane.

The pause; a motion in silence; their eyes were to lock and penetrate the souls' of the other; a bonding with alliance and mayhem that was near to unfold; the battle of waging war near and at hand.

Daniel's shield, propped to his back and rear, shimmered what glimmer in light that could find this region and invade with. This but riled the golden horse further; the shouts of his forceful grunts; the rise of his hooves; the twisting violently of his enormous girth; the agency of power this stallion did possess. It could crush an earthly man with one turn.

Dare not ride such a beast; the Heaven's do watch; the test of angelhood; the matter to the eternal soul; the heart does wrench; the battle power to angel and valiant animal will commence…

"Daniel…" a voice is heard in the distance, up close, all round; with the softest touch, but to have the tone to halt all of existence, "It is by my power you are here…"

Daniel knew the breath of this voice. God had spoken.

He stood to the ready; haltered his sheath and brought forth the flaming sword; which did light as if to light the world; raised high and arched now to be the very tip of Heaven; hands affirmed; the fullest power now bestowed; looked skyward above and the sight of trailing fire from his blade all round the mist; shadows, fog, grayish hue did it all consume.

"I come in the name of the Lord!"

And with this pronouncement, Daniel vaulted down the sword with a ravaging thrust; two hands abreast and driving the sword with all his might and strength to the very belly of this land. The lands motioned and moved in violent sunder; all presence lost; gravity and force seemed to collide; the winds burst into a rapid twine and swirl; Heaven gulped and nature shuttered; the mist and shadows parted and failed away; sky, moons, and stars; galaxies of lights in every spectrum surrounded this tiny patch of Heaven's tiptop land. All opened up and gave way to pasture greens just underneath their feet and hooves; ice and snow melted and evaporated from this place; the sword still in blaze; its radiance warm alone; the handle not singed; to burn, but not to burn.

Daniel pulled it free and leveled the sword back to its scabbard; his eyes never to vacate the gaze upon his friend and adversary. The stallion stood; no move he made; the mane brushed from head top to shoulder-blade; the rear tail flapping in agitation as if the flies had consumed him. Still Daniel moved to proceed. The golden horse made motion to revert; steady in some retreat; its fear registering for Daniel to observe. Something untamed but warm to the spirit; adverse only to what was not known. Daniel, being the villain, foe, or ally – the stallion knew not which.

The two came closer still; the horse moved to retreat. Daniel's hand rose as a gift for friendship; the horse yet took a second pace backwards; greater fear now the proclamation.

Another step forth.

Another hoof beat in retreat.

Daniel leapt in all diligence to wrap his arms around the stallion's trunk-like neck; the horse blew high with a deafening shrill; front hooves unabated; stern and strong; kick to the throat and breast; to this, Daniel still held onto his ground and motions. Such hanging from the horse's neck and mare, it galloped in full steed from one edge to the other; trying in desperation to free himself from Daniel's aggression; the wings grew in spread and height; whipped about Daniel in fierce consultation; bantering him at every binge; the flapping rapid and harsh; the winds to kick and strike Daniel wherever it may; the handle slipping. Still he held to his force and sustained grip.

The horse limped and shifted; rose and twisted; hopped to its rear and flung his wings upon every angle like a weapon of its own; the force of which caused Daniel to cradle him even closer yet.

The battle raged for an eclipse; a breath of time even Heaven does not register.

Yet the war of angel and beast ensued round this freshly, green meadow patch. The dust rose and fell at their inevitable dance and collapse; Daniel hanging by the side as the great golden horse stumbled finally to its side; the energy to subside; the breath and girth enlarged in hopes to catch its air to breathe with again.

Daniel's eyes were in a holding, firm expression; steeled by what he must do; to lasso the stallion by his arms and strength.

One more sudden kick, and the battle was won.

the great golden stallion horse had succumbed.

"Now..." Daniel was in command, "to come from this mountain as you were born to do!"

The stallion returned to his stance with Daniel in bareback saddle; no handles to hold; no bridle he bore; no stirrups or reigns to control; only a mane to navigate with. There, in the frosty regions high above Heaven's realm, they moved in unison and symmetry, to start and gait forward with one herculean push.

Oh the view from Heaven's Everest-like plantation!

The soar of an eagle be not their envy; the regal flight and ride of ages unlike any. The travel of clouds below, as if they rode above all the suns and moons; moonrises and moonsets; sunrises and sunsets; the marvel of beauty; the sparkles and hues; the sunburst oranges and clear day blues; the red blossoms and the aurora's greens and violets, wrinkles in the skies. And as Heaven's plains and vast meadows; forests and streams came into distant view, the holiest of all creations showed out Heaven's wondrous range.

Daniel brought the stallion in guide and landing to another mountain rock outcropping; the view akin to being atop one of the four pillars of Heaven. They sat up in range and bastion glow; the painted skies to illuminate; the long-distant views of waterfalls tumbling from mountain crests to valleys below; spilling into rivers, canals and lakes; the masterpiece of worlds do all culminate in no greater paradise than what Daniel observed; the serene tapestry woven into Heaven's grand quilt.