(Picture accredited to Stormlight)
The rock of the chasm seemed like red dust that would crumble if you touched it. In reality, it wouldn't. It was cold and hard to the touch. There was a soft glow that all gateways seemed to have; just light enough to see but far enough from the worlds it was attached to that it had an emptiness to the darkness. The air was thin so I knew I wasn't near a portal. I wasn't ready to leave yet, I hadn't found what I was looking for in this world. This dark place seemed to bring me comfort and clarity. I knew it would close soon, but I couldn't leave yet.
There were only a few of us with the gift to pass through from one world to the other. Most didn't know or believe in "other worlds". The few that did often found comfort in gateways; deep crevices in the ground that were actually fractures that opened the space between worlds. I guess it just calls out to us, we all find a gateway eventually and in the gateway, we find the portal. It's not what you think... It doesn't glow in a blue oval, it's not a door you open or even something that's visible. It's a shift in the air, like slowly wading out into water until completely submerged. You can feel it tug at you, almost seductively, filling your mind with a curiosity you can't ignore. To us, "the few", it was home.
I had come here to find someone, another of "the few". It wasn't of great importance like stopping the world from ending. The only urgency I had was the gateways collapse. When a gateway closes, you can become trapped. Sometimes they never open again. I just needed to find them before that happened. And as I was here, I could feel the walls tremble.
New gateways were wide and had a freshness to them. The older the gateway, the closer the walls were, the weight of the world's pushing on them. The air became more stale and thin. This was an old gateway. You could hear the walls groan under the exceeding pressure. Small bits of rock would tumble down the sides as it becoming closer to collapse.
I could feel panic in my stomach, I was barely keeping it at bay. What if I couldn't find him? What if he was trapped here and it never opened again? What if I got trapped here? My thoughts were disrupted by a large junk of rock falling. It crashed against the rocks and smashed into the ground leaving dust to fly in all directions. I had never been so close to a collapse. It grew darker and I couldn't fight the panic anymore. I had to run.
I tripped over nearly everything, scrapping my hands and knees. I could feel the sting and the moist blood raising to the surface. Forget that now, I can worry about it later. I had to find him. I couldn't leave the gateway without him. The few watched out for one another.
I continued to run as rocks of all sizes came cascading down the walls. I heard shouting. Had I been doing that since I began running? I couldn't remember. I just wanted to get out alive. I could feel the air thickening, the portal was close. I hadn't found him yet.
Before I could make the decision to turn around, I saw him standing only a few yards away. I could reach him, we could leave. I had done what I came to do and we would both be ok. The light from the worlds above shine down in a flash of blues and whites, as if being shown through a magnifying glass. It was beautiful. I ran toward him. Only before I actually reached him, I slammed full force into the portal. The pressure had grown and it was much thicker than normal. The collapse must have condensed it. I didnt know. I reached out to grab him but before I could reach him I was gone. I swear I saw him smile.
I woke in my bed. Dark and cold air tickled my hot skin. And just like that, it was all gone. No gateways, no portals, no him, no few. Just my one world and me.
Happy Steeming!
