Raj hurried through the thinly populated city streets. He knew where he wanted to be. He just wasn't sure of the way. He turned the corner and looked up. Things looked familiar. He walked around the side of the building to get a view of the open street. There, taking up more than half the road, was the archaic stone archway, just as he'd seen in the vision.
He pulled himself back behind the building and hid himself up against the wall, shaking his head. This was not good. To dream about it, to see it in your mind, sure, fine. But to see it there in front of you, while awake? That was a problem. He leaned out again, peering around the building. It was still there.
"How..." He took a deep breath to calm himself. There had to be some way of making sense of it. He'd have to get a closer look. Perhaps this was a trick of his mind, a latent image of some sort. He hurried to the archway. The stones, worn with age, stacked tightly without mortar, gave no impression of illusion. Proximity had only further solidified the reality of its presence. Perhaps to touch it would help, he thought.
He pushed hard against one of the stones, catching himself in case he fell through it. The stones were cold to his touch and held firmly against his weight. Either this truly was here, blocking the entire road, or he was simply insane. To confound further his dilemma with reality, as he stared through the stone arches, there was a pathway, made of large, irregularly shaped stones, cut into the small and well-worn cobblestone road. The pathway extended out the back and continued down the street. He was positive these larger stones were not there a moment ago.
He backed away and circled around to the front of the arch to look at the path from another angle. The path had disappeared without a sign of it ever having been there. He took a calming breath. Perhaps this was still part of his previous episode, part of some kind of odd dream.
He doubled back behind the arch and, sure enough, the pathway was still there. This would induce a migraine; he was sure of it. What would happen if he stepped through it? Would it remain when he tried to step on it, or was it like a mirage, always just out of reach?
He took a quick step through to see what would happen. His foot landed firmly on the first stone of the pathway. So this was not an illusion. He laughed to himself. Nor was the enormous stone archway blocking the road. Neither made sense to a rational mind.
It looked like he'd have to make a decision, as trying to prove or disprove the reality of this thing was pointless. He could walk away or walk through. He stared at it, imagining the outcomes of both scenarios. What was the worst that could happen? Well, he could die. There was always that possibility. He could be tortured.
And what was the best possible outcome?
He remembered what had led him to this point, the larger context of the experience, his overwhelming need to find a solution for his son. A moment later he found himself hurrying down the strange and unexplainable path.
-
Rinacht stopped and watched Raj from behind a corner. His employer stood in the middle of the street in front of him. He felt the automatic urge to call out to him but suppressed it. Raj had his hands up in the air as though he were leaning on something. Only there wasn't anything there. He then paced back and forth, circling around as though there were an object in the way. After what appeared to be a moment of deliberation, Raj turned and marched straight down the road.
Rinacht tried to add it up in his head. Raj found something highly unusual on the beach. Now here he was, wandering about the city in the middle of the night, pantomiming in the empty street. The worst had finally come, he feared, as he slipped into the dark and followed quietly behind.
-
Raj rushed down the path of rough-cut rocks, anxious to get to wherever it may lead. He rounded a corner and found a heavy stone wall rising up in front of him. The high wall extended a considerable distance in both directions. To his right, it wound to a large gated entrance. The entrance looked familiar. Then it came to him; this was the old school he'd recognized earlier.
If that were true then would he see a second archway, he wondered? His path turned down an alley beside the school wall. At the end of the alley, the path turned again. He raced down it and turned to follow the back of the wall.
About halfway to the next building, he found what he was looking for. A large white stone archway stretched half way across the road, making it difficult to proceed. He approached quickly, checking behind him to see if there was anyone around. The last thing he wanted was a crowd. Fortunately, the street was empty.
Up close this archway was quite different from the other. The white stone blocks were cut perfectly smooth and perfectly square. The stone emitted a glow like the little figurine he’d found. Cut into the stone on each pillar were two forms, one on each side, one male, one female. He studied their details. They weren't stooped over like the Zo. Neither were they squat and rounded like the Petra nor twisted and stretched like the Bota. They were unusual, to say the least, he thought.
The pathway beyond the arch seemed to be made of the same white stone. Not surprising, it seemed to be playing the same visual trick. When viewed from the side, the path was the same as the one he was on. From through the arch it became white and glowed.
The old school next to Raj sat on a high point in the city. Through the archway, he could see the street drop into the distant expanse of buildings and roads. He traced the glowing line of the path as it wound down into the city. It emerged on the other side and faded behind the green of the forest. Even from a distance he saw its bright glow peek in and out from under the trees as it climbed the mountain range. Finally, it broke beyond the trees and ended abruptly at the base of one of the high peaks.
Just beyond the path he could see a white building. He squinted. He shouldn’t be able to see a building on the side of a mountain several hundred miles away, at night. This was making his head hurt, he thought, as he turned away.
Still, he'd come this far. Was this enough for him to reconsider? No, he supposed. He stepped forward through the archway. As he passed, his vision burned to white. After a disorienting moment of blindness, the flash receded, and he found himself standing on a mountain, below the peak at the end of the path. In front of him was the same white building he had seen from afar.
A bright light overtook him. A moment later he found himself standing in a room with soaring walls of white stone. He assumed he was inside the building he'd just been staring at. There were two sets of stairs on opposite sides of the room. One led up, and the other down.
As soon as he took notice of them, his body shifted. An instant later, he stood in the upper room beyond the stairs. In the center of the new room, he noticed a large basin of water. He moved closer again with just a thought. Below the surface of the water was an assortment of weapons and armor. One long sword was unsheathed, revealing a blinding white blade. Without thinking it, he reached in and took the sword.
A haze of white washed over him. A moment later Raj found himself in an open field. In front of him, a wall of soldiers advanced. He spun around. Another wall of men stood behind him, their eyes fixed on him, with their weapons half raised, waiting. He looked down. Held tightly in his hand was the long sword with the blade of white. His arms, chest, and legs were covered in armor, white glowing armor.
His body twisted unnaturally as it turned of its own accord to face the opposing army. Without issuing the command to his arm, he lifted the sword high into the air. His voice rang out with a horrible cry, and his legs bolted forward. His cry multiplied into a deafening roar by the thousands of men who followed behind him. An echo of that cry sounded from the hordes in front of him as they dashed forward.
He watched helplessly as death approached. His body refused to respond to his panic and flung itself full speed into peril.
His charge was interrupted by a blur of light. It faded and he was back on the street standing under the arch. After a moment of disorientation, he stepped back from under the arch.
"Crazy!" he muttered. "This is
crazy!"
He turned and stumbled away down the street and into the safety of his own city.