It was time. Time to leave. Time to go to that special place, unknown by everyone else.
As always, the path through the home neighborhood was easily enough navigated. Pass through the schoolyard, under the highway overpass and through the rusted gate at the south end of the abandoned warehouse building. In the overgrown foliage of what had once been a comfortable employee park, locate the broken drinking fountain and squeeze through the tree-wide bushes beyond. There, in a continually shadowed corner, the Guardian awaited.
Pausing, the traveler considered the sulking stone figure. Their first encounter had been frightening. The granite figure had been in much better shape then. Now, however, its gaping maw was growing toothless, and it was missing one ear. Rather than a threatening guard, it was a familiar friend.
With a nod to the stony creature, the traveler slipped around to the narrow fissure it guarded. Cold air caught at the lungs, bringing wracking coughs until the body adjusted. Here began the second, and more dangerous leg of the journey.
There was no light here and precious little good air. The traveler supposed that the only good air that did exist came in from the fissure. The rest was choked with icy particles blown from across the dread landscape.
In the near complete darkness, pierced only by the faint light of distant stars, little could be seen of the land ahead. Only memory served to show the way. Memory from a time that chance had served the traveler well. One faint landmark, a rise in the darkness that might have been a mountain on the horizon, showed the direction. A misstep could mean the loss of way, and thus the loss of everything.
The ground beneath burned at the feet, hostile as always, unwilling to allow passage. Travel was necessarily swift to prevent severe injury and loss of breath. The sting of the ice particles swept across the traveler's face, ignored in favor of concentration. Soon, the expected loss of all contact with the surface was felt with welcome relief.
The third leg of the journey had been the most frightening the first time but now was relaxing. A long fall through a tunnel or shaft of darkness, seemingly without end. Darker than the harsh world above but warm and with sweet air. Only the air brushing past made any sound. The traveler took the opportunity to relax and sleep for a short time.
Awake long before the end of the downward path, the traveler was ready for the soft, however abrupt, end. Landing securely within a mirrored tube, it required every bit of strength to push out the small door located near the bottom. By now, this door was a tight squeeze.
Slipping out of the silver tube, the traveler faced the final leg of the journey. This part was also difficult, more so because of the Change.
A few minutes of stomach wrenching disorientation was an annoying delay. Then more time was wasted stumbling about to adjust to the new shape. The added height and weight always were tough to manage for a while.
Fortunately the room the traveler had entered was abandoned. Some sort of laboratory, it had obviously been unused for many years. Most of the room was exposed to the elements through shattered windows. Advanced equipment was smashed and decaying. Whatever had caused the damage had long ago had all trace erased by the weather. Only shards of glass and rusting metal remained.
Hidden in a battered metal cabinet was a simple set of clothing more suitable for the remainder of the journey, carefully stored each time the traveler returned homeward bound. Dressing took only a moment, as did a change in grooming. The inhabitants of this world were very particular about such things. Disguised as a resident the traveler was able to exit the forsaken building and enter the streets without drawing much notice. Joining with the throngs of pedestrians making their way along the narrow walks was easy. The ordinary clothing that shrouded the traveler detracted from any aesthetic differences from the natives.
Again, memory had to serve to show the path, as the streets of the small city twisted and turned like a tortured snake. Signs suspended above each thoroughfare were useless, the language scripted upon them far to alien to decipher. Unique things marked the way: a brightly painted shop here, a twisted stair there, the scent of succulent cooking there.
Stepping casually down the precisely formed walkway, the traveler was finally at ease enough to let the mind wander. Anticipation of the end of the journey had nothing to do with the serenity of the place, or how all pain seemed to flee in that locale. Instead, the traveler wondered… would HE be there?
The first visit to the special place had been a long time ago, and seemed almost an eternity now. The chance locating of the guardian's rift, the lucky fall into the long well, sheer determination to escape the silver tube, the probable divine intervention that prevented any altercations with very conservative locals, and the fortuitous discovery of the gate had resulted in the locating of the place. The second and third visits had been uneventful, though a pleasure. The fourth visit, however, had been filled with surprise and joy and had changed the traveler's life forever after.
Distracted by wandering thoughts the traveler was suddenly knocked to the ground from an impact with another local. Scowling with disapproval, the middle-aged male helped her back to her feet. Scanning her briefly to make sure she was unharmed, he growled, "Keep your mind on your errand Girl-child. Do not let your fancies lead you to your death!"
Shaken, but unhurt, the traveler thanked the stranger for his concern. "Yes, elder. Thank you, elder," she murmured respectfully, her head lowered properly. A single, stinging blow had been sufficient to teach her how to hold herself properly and address the adults of this area.
Other pedestrians passed, their eyes passing over her in the same disapproving way. Wishing nothing more than to escape their glowers, the traveler hurried on her way, eventually blending back in with proper and unnoticed members of society.
The altercation kept the traveler's mind on her journey. Like the others around her she looked into no-one's eyes or more than glanced at the drab buildings she passed. She waited patiently with the rest at crossing-points. When the swift hover-cars had been brought to a stop, only then did she swiftly pass over the shallow channel that represented the allowed path for the mechanical conveyances.
Moving through the strange regions, while unusual, did not seem at all alien to her. It did not occur to her that she should feel entirely out of place, even when her own body had been radically changed to suit the new region she traveled through. These places were here, so she accepted them.
In the center of the city lived a park filled with growing vegetation and local city animals. The traveler was familiar with such parks back in her own home region, but this was nothing like those green, if cluttered islands of wilderness. This was a true jungle, shy of nightmarish proportion only because the largest carnivore she had yet to encounter was no larger than a hands length. The plants, however, grabbed and clutched at anything that moved. It seemed their aggression was necessary to plant their pollen upon the victim, and to later collect it. The small local animals, though relatively harmless, were very territorial and they seemed to be able to sense that the traveler was different than the rest of the quiet citizens they were more accustomed to. Even as she hurried on the faint pat she was hounded by screeching gliders, hissing scramblers and screaming scuttlers.
The gate could be located in the heart of the unfriendly wood, suspended on two thick iron rods. The metal rings that allowed the gate to move had rusted so that there was only a narrow crack between the two barred doors. The purpose for the gate, outside of the remarkable path it marked for the traveler, was uncertain, as there was no wall for it to provide egress through, only two prick pillars that held it and its iron rods up. The gate itself was without ornamentation.
As she approached the gate the traveler was suddenly halted by a cry of "Girl-child!" Recognizing the authority and advanced age in the voice, she obediently stopped and turned to face the speaker.
The weathered faces of the man and woman glowered at her darkly. It was the man, of course, who had spoken. "Girl-child! What are you doing?"
The traveler was uncertain how to answer. Her previous visits had not involved much conversation with the natives. She had indeed learned early that respect was most important, but none had questioned her presence at the gate before.
Her hesitation was not pleasing to the elders. The female reached out with her long, red arm and slapped the traveler resoundingly across the face. "Answer your Elder!" she shrieked in the unpleasant tone of the enraged.
In her uncertain role as a native, the traveler found the blow stunning and was nearly knocked off of her feet. "Apologies Elders!" she rasped as she tried to steady herself. "I-"
How could she answer? Excuses, lies, these were as alien to her as this confrontation. She had never needed to explain herself before. No one had ever questioned her - well, no one who had ever expected an answer, as these two did.
She stared into their narrowed yellow eyes, nearly hypnotized by the independent movement of the black braids at the sides of their heads. The man clenched his fists, ready to deal out more discipline.
"Forgiveness, honored Elders. I am on an errand for my… uh… House Myre. This is the swiftest path."
Prayer followed her words in the silence that fell next, uncertain as she was to the proper terms and reasons. The couple seemed to consider for a moment, the woman watching the man. The traveler could not predict how his thoughts progressed.
At last he nodded in acceptance. His eyes were still narrowed. The woman found some cue in this and turned to the traveler. "Very well then, but do not pass through here! You know well that this is a forbidden place!"
The sudden forbiddance rocked the traveler as roughly as the stinging blow had a few moments before. Not pass through the gate? Never before go there? Never see Him again? No!
She experienced a momentary vision of white passing her eyes, fleeting and then lost. A surge of despair staggered her back a step. The elderly couple were no more amused with this than they had been with her previous hesitation.
Again the traveler's eyes turned toward the forbidden gate. The small opening beckoned to her. It was inviting to her in a way the natives could never understand. She had to find a way to distract the elders and provide herself with an escape.
Before either of the elderly beings could object, she nodded in acceptance with her eyes lowered. "I accept your wisdom, Elders. I will obey," she said quietly, in the way she had heard numerous young ones murmur before.
"Then get on about your errand," the man commanded.
The traveler turned away, straining to remain in a respectful position. She could feel the eyes of the two on her as step by step she parted with the gate. The path she had chosen turned around a group of bushes and cut her off from the view of the elders.
In a flash she leaped into the bushes and found a vantage point where she could spy up on the gate. The two hovered nearby, as if expecting her to return in moments. The urge was great, but the traveler steeled herself to wait.
Under her hidden stare the two moved around each other, speaking in words too quiet for the traveler to hear. They watched the paths and the gate. They watched the trees. They seemed like they were ready for someone to attack them!
With patience built only from hours of stalking at home, the traveler kept perfectly still. The flaring sun moved across the horizon in its steadfast way. Darkness finally danced itself into the park and drove the bothersome elders away.
The traveler waited even after the two had left. She could not trust that they were entirely gone, in the same way they had not trusted that she had entirely departed. As the night turned completely lightless, she edged out from under the short tree she had taken shelter beneath.
Taking no chances, she raced across the space between herself and the gate. With a gasp she leaped through the narrow opening, her thin clothing catching on one sliver of metal and tearing.
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