Many days had passed. I had lost track of just how many but it seemed like years had passed by in a blur.
Time seemed to lose its meaning. I dragged my feet across the desert floor. Am I still walking? Or is this just a dream?
It became hard to tell fantasy from reality many moons ago already. All I had left, inspiring me on, were memories of a time long gone, before I ever entered this desert of the bear land.
The desert land of the bear seemed to stretch for miles in all directions. Despite the crystal clear blue sky and the dazzling sun in the distance, some days I felt scorched and on other days I felt frozen.
Still, I marched on one day at a time, through this barren landscape for two years. The years seem to drift by. Time lost its meaning and I felt as if I were slowly losing my mind with time.
Yet something drove me on.
That memory of a time just two years back, when summer was upon us and my bags were filled with bountiful tokens from those heady sunny days before the cave bear's desert arrived.
After what seems like two years had passed, I noticed one day, as I wondered through the strange landscape, what looked like something surreal in the distance. It glistened brightly under the dazzling rays of the sun and I could not help but feel my overwhelming curiosity draw me towards it.
As I approached, I saw that it was a door. The desert terrain seemed to lead me towards this doorway in the distance and I felt its pull on my weakened mind.
As I drew nearer, the fog which had swamped my mind for 2 years seemed to lift slightly, as if turned away by the dazzling reflection of the sun's rays that bounced off the doorway in the distance. Slowly the fog cleared and I could see more lucidly with every step as I approached the doorway with fascination.
After all, wasn't it true... those rumours that had been so clearly shared all those years ago? They said it was a four-year journey to cross this desert; they said that if you make it through the first two years, at the halfway point you will find the doorway and once you passed through it you will remember why you began this journey through the barren desert in the first place.
As I approached the door I realised that 2-year mark was now before me; and if I could just make it to that doorway and pass through to the other side, half my journey would be over and the second half would only be easier and easier with every step.
As I drew nearer, I saw in the distance on a mighty machine that looked like some kind of metal miner, what appeared to be a sentinel guarding the doorway. He held a mighty flag in his hand as he sat astride his metal creature. He looked down upon me from his dizzy height, as if I were nothing more than a beetle crossing the desert rolling a piece of dung to my hideaway.
As I approached the Gatekeeper, I saw written on his flag one word.
Crypto.
I knew then that I was heading in the right direction, as suddenly memories flashed clearly in my mind. The clarity washed over me with every step as my pace increased and my load of heavy bags that I carried seemed to lighten has the inspiration dawned on me.
Yes, I thought, this is why I have been risking it all to cross this desert. This four-year desert... the desert of time... is not for the faint-hearted, and now that I have found the doorway to the moon at the 2-year mark, I remember why I began this journey in the first place.
As I approached the Gatekeeper I looked upon his face and saw strange and fierce beast. It was the face of a creature not of this world and yet it was indeed a man who sat astride his metal miner, waving his flag as if to encourage lost travellers like myself, who had risked it all to cross this four year desert on their way to the moon.
I approached the Gatekeeper and asked him for his name.
Satoshi, he replied.
Help me, I asked him.
I need some kind of inspiration to help me through second half of my journey. What do you suggest at this stage, now that I am halfway through?
Satoshi looked at me from high up seated on his metal miner and smiled a cryptic smile.
You have what it takes, he said. You have come this far and the worst is over. Now you simply need to capitalise on your momentum and ride the bull home on the second half of your journey through this 4-year desert.
What skills can you give me so that I may succeed at the next leg of my campaign to cross this desert to Victory?
The gatekeeper Satoshi looked down at me and smiled, saying: simply use your eyes to see the patterns that are there as clear as day. Follow the path laid out by those patterns in the charts and you will be led to your goal. Destiny will meet you smilingly, and welcome you to the oasis where you can smell the rose, the sweet sweet rose, that grows on castle walls in heaven.
Something in the words of the Gatekeeper seemed to open a doorway with in my mind and memories flooded in.
Yes, now I remember, I thought to myself.
I've come this far; the worst is over. Surely if I follow the patterns on the charts I will make it through the second half of my journey across this four your desert and reach that long hoped for Oasis on the other side.
The Gatekeeper then waived his flag and saluted me, saying: The pass is open to you hero trader. The doorway is there, he pointed. Simply head through and all the riches you can imagine will be there waiting for you at the oasis on the other side of this desert.
With renewed vigour I passed by the Gatekeeper and headed towards the doorway, which grew larger and larger as I approached it. Memories began flooding back, of my training and my practice from 2 years before, when I had been at the height of my mission and was preparing to cross this four year desert.
Now with these memories revived as the half-way point arrived, I approached the door. As I stepped up to the plate, I felt a renewed sense of purpose, as my old skills came back to me like instincts and muscle memory from the past.
As I passed through the door, all my years of austerity swept away and a fresh invigorating sense of inspiration washed over me. Life was different on the other side of the doorway. The worst was over and glimpses of the goal was possible already, despite the 2 years that still lay ahead.
It's possible now, I thought.
I can see the goal. Already signs of life are returning to this hibernating hermit that I felt I had become over the past two years, traversing the desert on the way to the moon.
My time is now, somehow I have made it through the doorway at the halfway mark, and victory is within reach. I strode forward and through the door.
On the other side, renewed with a sense of remembrance and vigor, I picked up my charts and plotted my course through, toward the greatest treasure that I had ever seen in my life. I could almost taste it, and as the sun brought clarity, it's light revealed to me glimpses of that pot of gold in the distance, only 2 years away.
As I stepped forward onto the desert sand once more, I knew that with each step I was becoming richer and more empowered, like a man taking his first meal after a long fast and feeling his life return, along with his memory, skill and determination to succeed in achieving the goal of a lifetime.
(Images from pixabay, edited by me)