It was a challenge for me. A process where we try to overcome something. To step out of our own comfort zone. Nowadays, we live in a society where everyone has created their own personal comfort zone, surrounded themselves with a circle of friends, family and work, and few are willing, or better said, able to take, from time to time, a completely crazy and insane step, and I emphasize those words - a crazy and insane step, in a completely different direction. Simply to rush into something that will bring us discomfort, the need to overcome ourselves, maybe even a little risk, danger. And since my life was stagnant, I decided to take on such a challenge. I chose, from the endless possibilities that fantasy offers, this: I love HighCastlte because it is a true, mystical place for all people of my nation. Its energy and atmosphere are completely unique. It is amazing when you imagine that in those places where you can walk, our kings and queens really walked centuries ago. This feeling alone gives everything a touch of mysticism. I decided to spend the night at HighCastle. From evening until dawn. You could say, from dusk to dawn. It would be nice in the summer, but I decided to spend a winter night like this. It was December 22, 2023. Noel and Christmas time were already visible everywhere. Prague was decorated with thousands of lights, solemnly announcing that Christmas Eve would soon be here. I had dinner at a restaurant in Nusle and headed up to HighCastle. Darkness was already starting to fall and a frosty night awaited me at HighCastle, in which I wanted to explore my feelings, think about my own life and overcome myself. Only after dawn, with the first light, did I intend to go towards the early metro and go home. I didn't know what awaited me, I didn't know if I could stand it and that's what is called a challenge. I got to HighCastle through the lower gate, from the river Vltava, walked through it and sat down by the Rotunda. I spent about an hour there, stepping back and forth and watching the occasional groups of people walking through Vyšehrad. As time went on, the groups gradually diminished. People were hurrying home. I walked around HighCastle, sorting out my thoughts, and just before midnight I stopped in front of a small house with a small park in front of it, about two hundred meters from the entrance gate. From the entrance gate that leads to the metro. In the park I discovered a statue of a deer. I jokingly got to know it, talked to it, asked it questions, and it "sort of" answered me. I strolled here and there so that I wouldn't be cold, but I was slowly starting to get tired. HighCastle was already quiet and deserted.
It was probably around midnight, so I cleared the snow off the stone bollard in front of the small house and sat down on it. I was just wandering in my thoughts, enjoying the atmosphere and silence of the night, when a big, strong, bald guy staggered towards me from the HIghCastle entrance gate. And he was heading towards me right away. And quite aggressively. There was no doubt that he was after me and there was no doubt that he was lager lout. He looked drunk as skunk.
He came up to me and drunkenly addressed me: "What are you doing here, peeping tom?" "That is none of your business," I said politely. "You're sitting here in front of Landa's house!" he explained to me.
It seemed to me that he was completely in a mess. Really plastic. I didn't want to provoke him, so I calmly said: "Does Landa live here?" I pointed to the house behind me: "I guess it's unlikely," I doubted, and then added: "But even if it is, I don't care. HighCastle is a place for all Bohemians and everyone has the right to sit down here, relax, and perhaps sort out their thoughts. And that's exactly what I'm doing right now!"
The drunk didn't take my answer, instead he approached to the dangerous distance. He was probably some Landa fan looking for a conflict: "Get out or I'll headbutt you!" And after these threatening words he shortened the distance between our eyes to about ten centimeters. That was serious. In these situations you have to keep your distance. It's very easy for an attacker to hit you from such a distance. You don't stand a chance. The aggressor knows this very well and is counting on it. So I did the only sensible thing. With three quick steps I took to the right, thus regaining safe space and said: "There's a police station a kilometer away," and I pointed in the direction of the HighCastle gate: "I'll call them..."
That threw the aggressor off a bit. He mumbled something and staggered to the other sidewalk. There he sent me another threat and then walked away. I took a breath. Quite a tense situation. It wasn't even one a. m. and I had already had my first interesting experience. It got my adrenaline pumping a bit, but it didn't disrupt my plan to complete the set challenge. I moved from the street to the benches of a small park, wrapped myself in my coat because the winter was really starting to get hellish, and waited for dawn.
The thermometer on my cell phone showed six degrees below zero. It was a beautiful, quiet, freezing night. Every now and then a group of people would walk down the street in front of me. Sometimes two, sometimes five or more. Most of them walked in silence, others were high on alcohol and chatted each other, pushing each other or drunkenly hanging around, but no one stopped.
They all walked through the street and headed towards the gate, which for them became a pass from the magic that HighCastle abounds in. They were swallowed up by the nighttime Prague and I was alone again.
And suddenly it happened. Maybe I fell asleep or was lost in my thoughts, maybe the cold had already overcome me and I had fallen unconscious, it's hard to say, but suddenly a beautiful girl stood above me, holding a drink in her hand from which magical smoke was coming out, and she said: "I brought you something so you don't freeze here."
Intuitively I reached for the drink. It warmed me nicely in my hands. I sniffed it: "That's a mulled wine..." I said. She said nothing, just watched me, and the lights of love and youth shone in her eyes.
I took a sip and a wonderful feeling of spiced, warm wine spread through my body. And suddenly it all seemed beautifully magical to me. Even the drink seemed magical to me. And all this was supported by her answer, because I asked who she is, and she said: "Maybe a fairy from HighCastle, who doesn't want you to freeze here." She smiled at me and sat down on the bench next to me.
Maybe it was the wine, maybe it was just my joy at the presence of some being, I don't know, but it was as if I had fallen into another dimension. I really began to believe that she was a mythical being from HighCastle who had come to save me. Love and goodness emanated from her.
We started talking. Kind of in general, mysterious ways. She dodged answers and pulled me on a magical wave of harmony somewhere I didn't know if I wanted to go, but the power of her eyes didn't really give me a choice. It seemed to me that she had bewitched me with that wine. She didn't just give me a mulled wine. She gave me a magic love potion that made me fall in love with her. Do you believe in love at first sight? Things like that happen too...
Our mysterious night conversation took place in a magical intoxication, until I asked: "And what is your real name?" She hesitated for a moment and then said: "Rozalia." I came to life: "That's a great name for a fairy, but..." "But, what?" "But you probably won't be a fairy. I just thought of something." "And what did you think of?" she said, her voice stretching like a honeyed spell. It had a ringing sound to it and I started to get lost in it. I was starting to believe she was a fairy again, but then I looked at the mug of mulled wine I was holding in my hand. It was still slightly warm and warming me. There was something written on the mug in English. Some advertisement or something. I smiled. A fairy from HighCastle wouldn't bring me mulled wine in a mug with an advertisement. And suddenly it all came to me. I sighed and said: "The name Rozalia is not common. I only know one Bohemian woman named Rozalia."
She looked at me in surprise and held her breath. It was obvious how important what I was going to say was to her. And I was taking my time. I didn't want to throw away the magic, the possibility that she was a fairy. A HighCastle diva who saves pilgrims from freezing to death. In the end, I had to face the harsh truth: "You're Rozalia Landa, aren't you? Landa's daughter. And you live in this house, because Landa actually lives there. That's what the guy who wanted to break my head here actually said. And I read something about you in gutter press. I just didn't know what you looked like."
The flames of love in her eyes went out. She became sad: "Yeah, that's right..." she whispered apologetically. "I like Landa, she has good songs. She tries to wake up the sleeping folks, so that we realize that we are nation. That our beautiful country is worth it," I said quietly.
"Hmmmm," she hummed, but it was clear that my words pleased her a little. Sadness fell on me. So no fairy. The HighCastle miracle did not happen. "Dad's not home. They're gone. Everyone. I'm alone there today..." she pointed her head at the small house. "Aren't you afraid there?" "Sometimes yes, but I've gotten used to it. I was born here..." she said lovingly.
"So who are you, we already know, but I didn't introduce myself, I'm Peter M. Check," and then perhaps to show my importance and live up to the famous Lando, I added: "Writer." "I know," she whispered mysteriously. "How come? You know me?" "I've read something by you." "And what?" "That fantasy..."
"Artefact of Might?" She nodded. "And did you like it?" "It's a nice story, but I'd like to read your new one, about love." "Which one?" "The one we're writing together right now..." she said mysteriously. "What do you mean?" I asked, surprised.
Instead of an answer, however, something else happened. It seemed to me that the earth trembled, that the night sky had broken open and was falling on us, I felt like we were sitting on a portal to another dimension, that had catapulted us outside of time and space. Somewhere into another reality. We had run out of words. We didn't need them anymore. I wanted to caress her beautiful face, but I didn't dare.
And then suddenly she put her hand on my knee. It was getting hot. I was raised to think that the man should make the first move. I guess times are different now. I looked at her and she smiled. And her eyes lit up with the love and desire that had been there since I first saw her.
Although I thought that the atmosphere of the fairy who would save me from freezing had fallen, the opposite was true. The barrier was broken and I recognized the magical power of the night HighCastle. How powerful a spell it can have on two people who have never met each other in person. How it can draw two hearts together. I squeezed her small hand. She did not flinch.
She tilted her head towards the small house: "Let's go inside. It's warmer there than outside." I nodded and then there really was no need for any more words...
And here my story ends for you, dear reader. It's a nice ending. I actually wrote it to inspire you. It's not out of the question, if your life is stagnant or if you feel too tied down in your comfort zone, to do something crazy. Set yourself a challenge and try to complete it. Yes, it has its risks and pitfalls. Do you remember the drunk who looked me in the eye from ten centimeters and threatened to give me a headbutt? That could have happened and instead of a beautiful ending, I could have ended up in the hospital with stitches. It didn't happen. Quite the opposite. In the end, I was rewarded for my perseverance and courage.
Try to set your own challenges and when you overcome them, you may also be rewarded. At least with the good feeling that you managed it. This story really happened to me. And if you don't believe me, ask Rozalia Landa. As you well know, she lives in the HighCastle.
🌹💖💖💖💖💖💖🌹
AUTHOR'S AFTERWORD:
But that wasn't the END. I loved Rozalia Landa, my FAIRY from HighCastle, so much and so madly that, based on the truth of what I was experiencing, I created and developed a tale that I WROTE for MYSELF and FOR HER💘!
It was not originally written primarily for publication. Whoever reads it will understand WHY! It is full of love and things that are not intended for other people's ears. Finally, I came to the conclusion that it was so inspiring that I should present it to society, perhaps so that there would be more Light on earth.
So I wrote a book that had to wait a year for publication.
This happened for many reasons.
Now you have the opportunity to read this book - written for me and for her🌹.
Honestly - when I was preparing it for publication - after only a year (!) - I found it incredible some of the passages that really happened, and the added ones, created only by my imagination, seemed more real to me. More from this world.
Not even a year has passed and reality (the truth) is already getting lost in the fog of a beautiful love story. And for me, only that remains.
And that's good. You have the opportunity to experience it with me.
