Welcome to the Enlightened Kingdom on the Island of Sunshine

This is what it said, in plain English and so short and sweet. "welcome to the Enlightened Kingdom on the island of Sunshine".

I read it again, then again and thought, who on this Earth wouldn't want this promise delivered to them instantly. I tried and couldn't think of anyone so I decided that I was not going to be one either and caught myself red handed longing for this welcome notice to be so so true. True and right at hand it turned out. This is the craziest thing, and makes no sense really, however I try to rationalize my reality, I read the above and decided that it was true. Somehow I had just been welcomed to the Enlightened Kingdom on the island of Sunshine.

My first instinct was to thank, um...well to set the picture better, this message came to me on a website. enlightenedkingdom.org and that was the initial mystery. Who would I thank for being welcomed to such a place? Not only who, but what would I say, how could I repay such an incredible act of generosity. To be welcomed to the Enlightened Kingdom on the island of Sunshine seemed no small gift. I mean, even if it didn't mean I would be "enlightened" just the idea of being around the "enlightened" would have to be good right? I always believed and watched first hand how people that surrounded them selves with the best usually got the best themselves etc. I fought that first instinct however.

I decided to think about the sudden promise, to pose as a sceptical mind and question the possibility, and then the sincerity of the proposed assumption. I decided that the only way was to really ask myself that question. Could there be a place such as this? An Enlightened Kingdom on the Island of Sunshine? I remember reading many a tale of the beginning of some great quest or mighty endeavor. The blue metal envelope or the strange compass. The appearance of an odd wizard or passionate supernatural. All at once the various protagonists would find them selves drawn into a whirlwind of change and adventure. When I actually thought about the Enlightened Kingdom on the Island of Sunshine I couldn't help but see grand cliffs stretching up for as far as the eye can see and beyond, the sun shining across a hidden plateau above me.

With that clarity of vision, I heard a strange sound, the wall behind my large LCD monitor started to change color. Actually, it started becoming colorless really. I sat there and watched as the entire wall in front of me vanished.


Looking around I see the thin rope and branch bridge stretching out across the vast chasm. Truly then, it was an island, just not in the traditional sense. Not surrounded by water, unless that was much further below beyond what could be seen above the thick could cover. The bridge swayed to the constant thunderous wind, a twister seemed to be constantly wrapped around the island in front of me. Huge beyond description I could see the bridge moving in a rhythm that seemed very steady despite the buffeting wind.

I realized that the only way off this precarious ledge was to walk down to the bridge, cross over, and then climb up. I carefully stepped as sure footed as I could, going from the carpeted home office I was used to and wearing my keen slip overs with simple cotton socks as my foot wear, I stepped out, now very carefully down the steep and crumbling ledge that unfolded in front of me.

I remember turning to the side as I stepped over the wooden desk with my lap top, and my desk top, the technology of my existence now seemed so fragile and quaint, I turned ahead again and felt the cold air whip accross my back and head sending shivers up my spine, and suddenly came back to the ledge, the walkway incredibly unstable and narrow, the distance below it unknowable, and the bridge much further away than I had initially thought. This of course also meant that the island before me, with high cliffs up further than I could see, casting a shadow on me and all around me in the midst of a clear bright blue sky, was also much larger than I had originally believed. I knew the sunshine was indeed pouring it's golden rays into the aweing island before me. I was unsure for a second or two, if I should even try to make it to the bridge, and fortunatly I remembered that I had just walked through the wall of my home office and found myself on this ledge. I turned as quickly as I could, and started to leap back through the wall as that thought came clear, only to see the opening , um..doing something I cant really explain at the moment, and then vanish, or close, or twist all of it's opening into a little turning kalidiscope of light and then vanish in a flash.