"A place without sleep,
Where dreams cannot make you fly"
That is the riddle the girls are being given by the book of Ludmoor in order to find the gem of air. It is located in the center of
Heatherfield, directly above the highest skyscraper.
In order to reach this magical place Will and Hay Lin have to pass through a storm that literally comes down upon them once they've reached the top of the building. Hay Lin
describes it fittingly as if something had spotted them. Both girls get sucked up into the air, through something that looks like a tornado. They have to walk a while through cotton-like clouds
high up in the air until they reach "the dream", how Hay Lin calls it. A strange palace that seems to consist of ice crystals.
If you look at the picture you can see various creatures at its entrance. The question is, if they are frozen, simple pieces of decoration, or if they are like the gargoyles of Kandrakars tower
of Ice or the big guardian that protects this mysterious place.
I was always wondering what this place is meant for. Is it still being used or is it already abandoned? What is or was its purpose? Who lives or lived there? And
does it have any connection to Kandrakar? After all it is a place in the middle of clouds, only accessable through a tornado or some portal that looks like one and the amount of ice and walking ice guardian reminds a lot of the Ice Tower of the fortress.
Thinking that this whole place of wonder was only created for the rather brainless Eternal Guardian? It doesn't seem right... there would be so many interesting mysteries one could place there!
But I digress. Let's get on with it!
The Eternal Guard awaits the girls on the other side of the cloud bridge. Apparently it eats the other ice sculptures in order to become stronger
and bigger. Its icicles send everyone who touches them into slumber. (Maybe an abstract version of the sandman? Will does describe how the clouds beneath her turn
into sand when she falls asleep) The deeper a person falls into a dream, the further they fall through the clouds, down towards Heatherfield.
After Hay Lin manages to remove the air gem from the Eternal Guardian's chest, it disappears "along with its surroundings". That probably means the entire lovely palace of ice,
too.
Anyway I always loved this tiny excursion into the land of a very unfriendly and cold sandman.
What do you think about the place? What else could it be? I just think it has so much potential besides being the simple lair of a beast.