ARTIFACT (Part 6)

-A serialized story-

1. The Window

Click. Door opening. Light, at first timidly, and then ever more boldly, penetrated the interior of the cabin, blinding me to the threshold of pain.

Tanlys was no longer holding her hand over my mouth. Strange. I could say with certainty that a second ago her hand had been there. A dreadful absence and loneliness took hold of the cabin. I didn’t have to turn around to see that Tanlys was no longer there. Unease filled my mind, watching me from within in the ominous silence, stripped bare by not knowing what to do next.

In front of me was a narrow hallway, revealing a solitary window at its end. Stepping into the hallway, my balance began to seriously deteriorate. Every step felt like a struggle against space itself. Legs heavy as if loaded with a pile of weights. Movements that demanded effort. Too many emotions and thoughts in my head. Countless questions. But one stood out. Where is Tanlys?

Somehow reaching the window, I discovered that I could not see what was on the other side. Darkness. On both sides it had a handle used to open it. I pulled the right one, not thinking too much about whether that was the correct solution. The window opened, revealing a grassy courtyard dotted with plants and flowers that glowed in the darkness which steadily reigned everywhere around. I did not like that the night was the one currently standing guard. Tanlys had made it clear that I did not want to be awake and progressing through Sumtra when the Blazing Sphere went to rest. A choice, undoubtedly, I did not have. Or I did not see it. Stepping onto the grassy surface, I finally felt relief from regaining control over my balance.

I surveyed the surroundings. I could not see the boundaries of the courtyard. Hidden by darkness, they mysteriously concealed themselves beyond the reach of sight. Essentially, the visible area consisted of some ten meters in every accessible direction from the window. I tried not to step on the plants and flowers, which greeted me wearily, sunk in sleep. One flower of bright purple color caught my attention. I am quite certain flowers like these do not grow on Earth. Cube-shaped, soft to the touch like a sponge, solid on the inside. It looked more like some kind of fruit, but the petals proudly showing off at the top gave it the definition of a flower. I did not want to pick it, instead stroking it and saying something that surprised even me.

“Tanlys, if you’re somewhere out there, give me a sign, help me. Anything.”

Silence answered me. What had not crossed my mind struck me like a fist. I looked up and saw that darkness covered the upper part of the space around me as well. I was indoors. Had stars appeared above, I would have believed I was beneath an open sky. That means only one thing. If I could enter here, surely I could leave as well. To continue onward. It would have been much easier if I knew where. Yet obstacles had not stopped me so far. No reason for them to start now. Besides, I had a clear goal of what I wanted, and it did not matter to me how much time it took or in what way I would achieve it.

I decided to walk in a straight line forward from the window and see how luck would serve me. As I walked, I realized that my body was emitting light. There was no other explanation. With no visible light source, that had to be the answer. After several long, cautious, timid minutes, about ten meters away from me I noticed a bag lying on a wooden bench without a backrest. Could it be...? My father told me... No way, it’s too unbelievable...

2. The Bag

There was a sheet of paper inside the bag. Taking it into my hands, I became quite certain that this was the same bag my father had already had the opportunity to encounter during one expedition.

Letters written by an invisible hand began to fill the paper. “Greetings, Traveler! I see that it is clear to you that this is no ordinary moment. We must be rational when it comes to the consumption of time. You are standing at the crossroads of Parallel Realities. From now on, absolutely everything you do signifies entering one of the realities. That does not mean you cannot leave one reality and later enter it again. Remember, everything you do, every movement you make, means an inexhaustible source of possibilities. The number of combinations is close to infinite. For example: you sit on this wooden bench. The space changes. Here and now what you see is happening. In fact, sit on the bench and you will see. But wait a little. Before I allow you a few questions, I would mention a few more things. Yes, I am the same paper from the same bag your father once had the opportunity to encounter. Yes, you will meet Tanlys again, before the end of this level. She will lead you into a new one and force you to forget everything about her. It has to be that way. You will understand why later. Don’t rack your brain over it now. Ask me whatever you want.”

I needed several moments to recover from the shock and the information I had just received. “Will I ever see my father and Mathise again? And how will I know whether they are the ones from my reality or some other one?”

“Oh, you won’t. Not here. That much I can reveal. Whether and where you will meet them I leave for you to discover. And a lot depends on whether you survive this mountain. It is very difficult. I will reveal one secret to you. Only two people have survived Sumtra. One of them is at the very top, known as the Enlightened One by the dragons. The other person is Tanlys.”

“But why does Tanlys still remain here then?”

“Because she chose so. And she swore that she would live to see another person succeed. That is why she helps everyone, as much as it is within her power. I could tell you her history, which is very long, but there is no point. You will forget her anyway. One more question. The density of the air here does not allow me a longer appearance.”

“Who are you?”

“My name is The Finder’s Greatest Virtue Composed of Binding Thinking Tissues, put into action in such a way as to form a bag and a sheet of paper. I know, it is confusing. I will reveal one more secret to you. There are three such bags in the entire Universe. Only I have the ability to change places, to move. I do not know the locations of the other two. I was never interested, and it is unnecessary information, considering that in our lifetimes we certainly will not see them, neither you nor I. Farewell, traveler. Good luck. And remember, every movement - another reality.”

The paper began to dematerialize before my eyes. In an instant or two it was as if it had never existed.

Since I had absolute freedom and immeasurable possibilities, I decided to be creative and unpredictable regarding my movements. No matter how much accumulated fatigue tormented me, I decided to ignore both the bag and the bench. Instead of resting, I continued walking further in a straight line, looking from the position of the window.

The thought that there were parallel realities whose number was close to infinite shocked me considerably. I believed in the idea of parallel realities. I had simply never had the opportunity to face them. I considered myself an intelligent man. But here, in this strange place, intelligence did not play much of a role. My guiding star would be intuition. And it was telling me that I was close to a discovery waiting for me, arms spread wide, ready for an embrace.

I do not know how long I walked. Subjectively, it felt like several hours. Objectively, in this moment, it was beyond the reach of understanding. The first morning colors began greeting the world around them when in the distance I saw a large structure, which by my humble observation resembled a large building, as Earthlings liked to describe a place where a massive number of people lived and resided. There was no doubt. That would be my destination.

I ran. My intuition told me that I had to enter the building before dawn and the complete rise of the Blazing Sphere.

The building had multiple entrances. From number 1a to number 18b. I did not want to calculate how many entrances that was. What I wanted was to choose an entrance at random, in order to reduce my uncertainty to a minimum.

The choice fell on number 7a. The door was unlocked. Entering inside, I felt relief. I had managed to reach the interior before the morning assumed its full color.

Bare walls and empty hallways. I must have entered the most boring possible entrance where literally nothing happens. That was truly how it seemed. I had already passed at least thirty hallways and always returned to the beginning. This must be some kind of labyrinth. I was convinced that I had tried every possible variation, every turn left or right. I was ready to give up and return to the bench and the bag when, unprepared, one hand grabbed me around the waist, another over my mouth. A muffled scream, caused by fear, disturbed the silence of the hallway.

Tanlys, finally. I had already become seriously worried that I would never see her again, regardless of the assurances that she would appear sooner or later here. I am truly glad that she did. I raised my hands and signaled that everything was fine and that I would remain silent. The grip loosened, allowing me to turn around and greet her.

I was met by a wide smile and a wink. Happy to see her, I rushed into her embrace. There was something truly comforting in that outpouring of tenderness.

T: “Sorry, I couldn’t be with you until now on this level”

O: “No problem at all, you can see I managed” I said, putting on the most natural smile that a nervous, tired, and somewhat frightened Virteleonian can offer.

T: “You are soon reaching the fourth level. Unfortunately, this is where we part ways. It is not impossible that we will meet again someday and somewhere. But you will have no idea who I am. Unlike me, who will know everything. Maybe, just maybe, I will shatter the illusion and tell you in that state everything we experienced in this short adventure. The condition for something like that to happen is, of course, that you return healthy from the summit.”

O: “I am ready. I want to finish what I came for as soon as possible.”

T: “All right, then follow me. If we happen to get separated, this is your path to the fourth level. Seven turns right, then four times left, two times right, and five times left followed by one final right. After that, just straight ahead.”

O: “Let’s go Tanlys, the longer I wait the worse I feel. And like a coward.”

T: “Why a coward? That does not describe you in even the slightest measure.”

O: “I am a coward because I am delaying.” - I said quickly, urging Tanlys to move.

We did not get lost. It helped that we held hands. Finally, we reached a door that stood open. From within emanated a misty structure, marking the end of the third level and the beginning of the fourth.

Tanlys looked at me with a sad but determined gaze.

T: “This is where the road ends. Good luck, Ortol. I want you to succeed, truly. You have grown dear to my heart.” - she said, opening her arms for an embrace.

Having exchanged affection, the time came for a final farewell, when a perfectly logical question occurred to me.

O: “Let me ask you one question. I was at the crossroads of parallel realities. I chose to enter entrance 7a. If I had chosen another one, would we still have met?”

T: “Of course we would. Only the reality would have been different. In one of them we would even be outside, in the open, searching for holes in the ground. Upon finding the right one, we would have found the passage to level four in that reality as well.”

O: “Farewell Tanlys. Do what you must. Force me to forget.”

With both hands Tanlys made a circle in the air and pointed them at me. A powerful wave of air burst from her hands, throwing me through the misty doorway into level four.

Words began to haunt my mind. First slowly and then more and more, shaping a somewhat terrifying phrase.

Graveyard of Parallelisms.

-End of Part 6-