What I saw was a dark room. There was a person walking through a transparent door carrying a heavy stone.

I watched as this carrier made its way to the back of the room. This blackened space had walls that appeared to have no edges. It felt infinite.

I saw the carrier of the stone place it atop of a monolith. This carrier then stepped back as though it was waiting for something to happen. It did.

The monolith became transparent and inside it was an amber fire. Its heat rose to the top. The stone that sat atop began darkening from grey to black. Its appearance was that of a large piece of beautiful onyx.

I looked back at the carrier who was unmoved and with eyes still transfixed on the stone. I noticed the carrier’s garment had changed from dark grey to black. It was then I realized the connection between the carrier and the stone.

I looked back at the stone and its color began shifting from black to dark garnet and then to a deep blue-red. The flame below it seemed to intensify through the changing colors of the stone. I kept looking back and forth between the stone and the carrier to see if the changes were simultaneous. They were.

The carrier’s garment appeared chameleon-like to this stone. While looking at the carrier I noticed a deep agony on its face. As it dropped to its knees its garment changed from a blue red to Amber. The garment burst into flames. I looked back at the stone and it also was on fire but inside the flame, the stone was not Amber it was a large floating diamond. I was stunned. I’d never seen a gem of this quality be so large.

When I looked back at the carrier it was gone. And in its place was a vapor of smoke that seemed to dance before me. The vaporous smoke made its way to the altar and the naked flames receded back into the monolith.

The smoke grew into a large billowy cloud around the diamond until I could no longer see it.

After a few moments, I realized the cloud had taken shape. It was a hooded figure. I could not see its face because its back was to me. The figure turned around with vapors rising off its garment and faced me. Still, I could not see its face, but I knew it was looking right at me.

A chill ran up my spine as it spoke.

“What you have seen is stored up within you. It is the place of your greatest treasure. You must learn to carry the weight of glory, allowing the fires of adversity to teach you to fix your eyes on the beauty it brings.”

Once the hooded figure stopped speaking it faded till there was nothing left. And the diamond reappeared on the monolith. I looked down at my own hands and realized I too was holding a large heavy stone.

Then I woke.