Chapter 38:

One Step of the Way

A Place between There and Now


The following two days were probably the most physically demanding of my life. I hiked over the mountain ridge which, however, dropped after a few hours and disappeared into the fog again. I hadn't noticed it before, but the fog had a faint ash smell which was not strong but always present. It took me a few hours to get used to it again, but when I finally got over it, the next complication arose. Another branch of the river stretched out in front of me, but what had previously been a stream now stretched out over an estimated 10 metres. The water poured into the valley in massive quantities and the spray shot up from the stones lying in the water. The fog was much thicker and visibly wetter, it was like sailing on the sea during a storm, at least that's what I thought, I had never seen the sea myself.

I walked downstream a bit to see if I could find some stones to clamber over but quickly turned back. I decided to go up instead, hoping to be close to the spring so I could easily bypass the river. If that didn't work, I would also have the great advantage of being able to find a place in the river more easily outside the fog, without the obstructed view. But what I found instead when I stepped out of the mist astonished me as much as it fascinated me.

In front of me was an accurate replica of the Lyre Bridge which connected the two enemy cities of Lyria and Verdon in Raiders of the Abyss. But a few things didn't fit, it wasn't the bridge, it was perfect, it was almost too perfect. It looked identical to the bridge found in the game, including two airborne angel statues on either side of the bridge. They did not touch the ground and were not suspended from anything. Not only that, but it was also partly in the stone of the mountain, almost as if someone had simply pushed it into the terrain with the toolbox in creator mode.

I walked slowly across the bridge to make sure it wouldn't collapse, and even though it didn't, something else very strange happened. For a moment, as I stepped over the middle beam of the bridge, it completely disappeared from my view. She was back before I could react, but I went back and tried to recap what I had just noticed. Just as I was about to give up, I found the point. I held my head still and raised my hand, it was clearly visible, but the bridge had disappeared. I was floating in the air, I could feel the wood under my feet but I couldn't see it.

I thought back to the warehouse, the door I could reach through and the lights that could blind a person, I was sure it would happen again. But nothing happened. I wasn't lying on the floor like last time with no memory of how I got there.

I continued walking, I didn't know what this meant, even though looking back it was so clear. It was soon evening, and I followed the tip of my future self and held my throat one more time. But this time I didn't give myself time to think about it, I just did it.

- booting #024

- repeat

One bloody and, some would say, gruesome death later, I woke up the next morning. The shadow was right once again, I froze all over and regretted not going further away from the river, the humid air made the temperature even more unbearable.

However, when I stood up after buttoning my jacket, I was offered a magnificent view. I was on the other mountain and got my first glimpse of what was waiting for me. Only a few hundred metres above me, the dry rock of the mountain turned to the deep white of the snow that covered it. As beautiful as this sight was, my enthusiasm about having to walk through the snow was limited. But that didn't stop me. I took a drink from the river, even though I wasn't thirsty, and kept walking. When I set my first foot in the snow, it was already early noon. It was only a few hundred metres to here and yet it took me ages and I was sure that the way would not get any easier from here on. The white surface of the snow reflected the light of the sun high above me directly into my eyes. No matter where I looked, it blinded me.

I walked through the snow for another half day when I saw a structure further up. I couldn't see anything clearly, in my eyes it was just a big concrete block. But I was sure that was my destination. So, I would need half a day less than I had announced, I thought to myself. I had arrived at my destination, or so I thought.

I heard a loud noise and the ground shook under my feet. Only a few moments later I saw how the white I had been walking through for hours first enclosed me piece by piece and then buried me.

Who would have thought that avalanches would really be so dangerous? I slowly felt my body getting colder and colder, and yet my skin felt like it was on fire. I wanted to dig myself free, but I couldn't move. I began not to feel my skin and then whole parts of my body. First my feet, then my hands, then my legs, and then my arms.

- booting #025

- repeat

I can't remember anything after that, it was like falling asleep. You never know exactly when you fell asleep, you just did at some point.