[hider=The Treasure Which All Men Seek]Sir William III of Revain, Knight of the Burning Blossom, bravely came to the Cave of Yearning in search of that treasure which all men seek, and he had found it. 

Awakened from the sweetest of dreams, William opened his eyes with a sleepy, but pleasant flutter. Despite his aged years, and the experience of many battles, he did not feel the slightest stir of aching in his muscles and joints. Instead, his bare body was met by the softest of silk, and the most comfortable of blankets. The blanket was of red fur with a white striped pattern. He knew not the name of whatever animal it must have come from, but the touch was smooth, and more gentle than the brush of a loving mother's kiss to the head of her beloved child.

As his awareness grew, William made out his surroundings. He rested upon a round bed fit not just for a king, but an emperor. Five or more could sleep here on this wonderful place of rest. Beyond where he lay, he could see the rocky walls of the cave itself. He expected them to be rough, coarse, and in stark contrast to the exotic silks and fur. They were not what he expected. Rather, they were ornate, as though purposefully chiseled into patterns that did not seem possible. Not only that, the walls were not gray, or dark, but clear as spring water.

Then, the walls shifted in color. He glanced around and saw glowing crystals; some red, some blue, but it was not as simple as that, as they too transformed their hues. When he looked back to the walls, he found himself transported. It was as if he were no longer in a cave, but a house of elegant marble, pleasurable silks, and sensuous scents that comforted his senses.

William turned his head to the sound of creaking, and found a door opening. In came three women. The first had hair of midnight, and eyes like the deepest ocean. Her lips were red, and curved slightly upward in a way that made her gaze come alight with passionate delight. He knew this gaze. Knew her face. Her name was on his lips, but the second woman came to his side.

This woman had hair of the fairest kind, long, smooth, and bright like the rising dawn. Her skin was pale as freshly fallen snow, and the blush on her cheeks enchanting. Those eyes, like emeralds they shined, treasures of their own, staring back into his with a glimmer of her warm smile. She was an angel, or a goddess perhaps, William thought. 

And then those thoughts were broken, by the loveliest of songs. So came the third, with her cinnamon curls, and comely, wholesome grace. She radiated the hearth, and the warmth of home, brimming with innocence and her voice carried softly like the steady murmur of a stream in a summer-lit glade.

He knew them. Their names, and their faces. The sounds of their voices, and the memories of the past. Three he had known. Three he had lost. William knew sadness in the heaviness of his breast, but that sorrow soon lifted with each note of that heavenly tune. 

"Rest, dearest William." She with the midnight hair spoke. With an effortless hand she slid the dark silk that barely covered her form down the smooth flesh of her shoulder. 

Just looking at her sent profound pangs of desire shivering through William's entire body. He stirred, and pulled her into bed, bringing her laughing, giddily, into his arms for a kiss.

"And what about me?" Emerald eyes stared into his, not with envy, or jealousy, but paired with a pleasant, and playful pout.

Her laughter filled the air melodically as he drew her in too, embracing with a hearty kiss. "I could never forget you," he said, "Never, in all my life."

The third woman continued to sing, smiling joyfully, and sharing meaningful looks with William as the time passed, and passed, ceaselessly. She sang of joy and good tidings. She sang of tragedies and fallen loves. Most of all she sang of eternity.

Not at all, and not once during her singing did William ever glance to the bedside mirror to see what there was to see. Not his growing beard, or his faded, paling flesh. Nor could he see the devious shine of malevolent eyes behind the purity of most pleasing masks. 

"I have come for the treasure which all men seek," William said, with endless pleasure on his lips.

"And I have found it." The true William croaked, beyond the mirror, with a lilt of despair.

[/hider]