And so Eble’s journey continued. He and Fred plodded on for three weeks or more, though time seemed… different in the forest. It was as if some spell permeated their surroundings, and they were feeling its effects.
He saw many faeries, and met several scouts from the nearby Elf kingdom of Nestria. He had just been dozing off when he heard the shuffles of footsteps, and Fred cantering nervously. He awoke and looked about to find human bandits Standing all around! Fortunately, the Elves had chosen this moment to attack. With one fell volley they shot down all of the ruffians, and then approached Eble. His size had saved him! The Elves told him that if he had been a bit larger, he would have likely taken one of those arrows himself! But they had mistaken him for a gnome. Their kingdom was on good terms with the surrounding gnomish communities, and they took special care not to shoot their friends! Elves have no quarrel with halflings, and so they had let him pass in peace. That episode had taught Eble to always sleep off the path.
Something inside of Eble changed in those few weeks. He began to see in himself a sliver of the brave fierceness told of in the old stories. He had always aspired to the valour of countless heroes of song and myth, but he had never dreamed that one day he would have an journey of his own, let alone become an adventurer!
But he mustn’t get ahead of himself. He was only three weeks in, after all! It would take a much more than that to earn his bootstraps.
Twenty-five days after the start of his journey, Eble came to the edge of the forest. The path opened out into flat, rolling plains. The sunset gave everything a vibrant red hue. “Well!” Eble thought to himself with a triumphant smile. “I’ve done it! One stage of my journey, at least, has come to it’s close. But I mustn’t be hasty… Oh, I’ll sleep in the forest one more night! It’s getting onto dark, anyhow.”
He found a spot some distance from the path, in a clearing beneath the trees. A tall, yawning arch stood opposite him. It was made of gold, and gems were inlaid all upon it. Elvish runes curved across its’ length, but Eble could not read them.
Eble was surprised he had not spotted this from the trail. But why would it be here, in such an out-of-the-way place?
Oh, well. A question for another, less weary day. Eble needed rest now. He would study the gate tomorrow.
He tethered Fred to a tree, and gathered sticks for the fire. Only when he had it comfortably burning did he lay down to rest.
. . .
Eble awoke, and in an instant knew that he was dreaming.
It was still dark- the full moon watched over the forest silently from above, casting it’s hollow rays upon the trees. The stars twinkled thoughtfully, and Eble could see some of his favorite constellations. Fred lay by his tree, sound asleep.
Everything felt slightly… wrong. Blurry. Off-colour. Eble realized that there was a faint green glow illuminating his surroundings. It could only be coming from behind him.
He turned and looked at the arch. It was the same as it had been the night before, but now there was a strange, misty liquid glowing green in the gate. It seemed like the peaceful waters of a sacred pool turned on their side. He looked on at this in fear and wonder, frightened but still a little bit curious. He stood and walked slowly to the arch and extended his index finger. He wanted to touch the green fluid, but hesitated.
“Is this a good idea?” Eble thought to himself skeptically. Most people did not typically go around touching strange, potentially magical green substances… But Eble was not most people.
He placed his finger in the green liquid. It felt like a thick, pure goo. He slowly put his whole hand into the substance. Although it looked and felt like goo, inside it was like a bath of pure radiance on his skin, a beautiful, foggy green light that flowed around his hand gracefully. He felt whole in the substance, and suddenly he yearned to enter it entirely.
Eble looked back at Fred, and his own sleeping body. They would both miss him, Eble thought sadly. For he was certain now that this was a portal, a gateway to somewhere else. Where it led he did not know, but he knew it must lead somewhere. Yes, Fred might miss him. Then again, it was just a dream, after all.
Eble allowed himself to sink into the light.
It was like wading through the ocean, yet Eble’s body did not strain or ache. He floated through the green, gel-like radiance, and his hair swam in it. He began to feel woozy and weak, and suddenly the cares of the world felt… lessened. His mind lulled lazily as he floated on in the forgotten corridor.
The tunnel continued on for a long time, and showed no signs of stopping. The hall was made of pale stone, and seemed worn by many years. Runes were carved into the walls, telling a single narrative that Eble could not understand. The halfling came to lose his sense of time. How long had he been here? Hours? Days???
Eble perked up when gradually he noticed the faint outline of a woman appearing ahead in the light. He could not see far ahead or behind in the fog, and she stayed just on the border of his clear sight, walking backwards confidently. As he watched, the outline turned and began walking away into the mist. She seemed able to defy the liquid light that Eble struggled through.
“Hello?” Eble tried to say through the thickness. His voice made no sound.
After a few moments, the woman’s form faded altogether again into the fog. Eble was alone.
But wait? What was that?
Ahead Eble saw that the tunnel opened out into darkness, pure and pitch black. The corridor was at its’ end. Eble fought his way through the sluggish light until he stood right before the dark opening. He saw no hint of light, or what might lie ahead in the dark.
Eble turned again to the way he had come. He could go back… Yet something told him that the tunnel would not lead him back to his body once more. He must either enter this darkness, or become lost in this eternal corridor forever.
Eble made his choice and dove into the blackness. As soon as his arms left the light, his body felt normal again. It no longer felt slow and heavy as it had been in the liquid radiance, and his mind was no longer clumsy and stupid. He fell out onto his hands and knees, his eyes closed. Although he would not notice it now, Eble would later remember the feel of grass beneath his palms.
Eble looked up. Before him lay Fred and his own sleeping body, in the same positions as when Eble had left. But their surroundings had changed. A cool breeze wafted in the air. The trees were enormous, nearly three times as wide around as they had been before. Many glowing faeries chased fireflies in the air above, where moonlight glowed on the trees’ leaves. Eble could hear the bubbling of a stream somewhere in the distance, and flowers grew all around their clearing in a ring.
Eble supposed this should shock him, but after all… He was dreaming.
He supposed it was time to wake up. Although it was a lovely dream, it could not last forever. He walked slowly back to his sleeping body and laid down in it. He knew no more.
. . .
Eble woke up, and immediately thought of his dream.
Ah, what a wondrous dream it had been! He remembered little of it, save a feeling of mystery and magic. A mourning came into his heart at this thought, that the dream was over. Later he would forget it; it would sink unremembered into the depths of his subconscious, only to resurface on tired nights under full moons.
But how strange. Still Eble felt like he was floating, floating on warm clouds in the sky, serene and untouched. And he smelled flowers! Warm, lovely scents wafting on the gentle Fall breeze. He smelled roses, and lilies, and lilacs, and tulips! Certainly he had not been here before…
“Had not been here before?” What did that mean?
Eble opened his eyes, and his breath stopped.
The huge trees that Eble had seen in the forest before seemed but young saplings compared to the enormous specimens before him. Their trunks were wider than any Eble had ever seen- wider than seemed possible! Flowers of every shade ringed the clearing, wafting in a perfectly cool sigh of air. Lush green grass grew all around him. Faeries flew in the air, drinking dew off of the tips of trees and laughing happily with one another. But these faeries were unlike their counterparts in the… real world? They were larger, and they glowed vibrant colours unlike the mundane faeries of Eble’s world.
But where was he? That was the question. This place seemed resonant with the simple clearing in which he had rested last night, but it was somehow more. It was as if the real world had the potential to be beautiful, yet only here could it really be so.
But Eble could not dally! He must get a move on- he had to find a way back to his world- he had to find The Tales of Twil. That was when he realized what was missing. The arch. Where it had stood no trace now remained, as if it had never existed. “How are we to return home?” Eble asked Fred aloud in a panic.
But as he fretted, Eble realized that there was a tiny piece of himself that didn’t want to go. Even if he could find a way back, did he want to leave? The magnificence of this place was unmatched by even the most beautiful forests of his world, and after all beauty is what Eble sought. He was a Bard, after all. Yes, if he could stay here but a while, what he could learn-
For Eble knew where he was, of course. He had known since he had stirred to consciousness. He was in Faerie. The land of the wild fey and the beautiful elves. The world that he had read of at the library so long ago in Brunwich. The world of the beautiful and the deadly.
Eble stood while he pondered the terrifying yet wonderful implications of his displacement. His fire was gone, so he needn’t worry about that. He packed up his bedroll and untied Fred. Eble did know one thing for certain- it was time to continue his adventure in this ripe new land!
