"Was this place on the map?..." Kino wondered.
"I don't think so," Said Hermes.
Kino and Hermes approached the massive cobblestone wall. There was no one there- no customs office, no guards. Nobody to check papers… nothing. Just a rotten wooden door on corroded iron hinges attached to a cobblestone wall that continued as far as the eye could see.
"Kino…." The motorrad Hermes said. "I don't know if this is a good idea. This looks sketchy."
"Don't worry, Hermes," the traveler responded. "We'll see what lies inside."
After some effort, Kino was able to pull open the door- it creaked as if it had been closed for years. She saw only darkness on the inside.
"Kino…" Hermes said, but Kino ignored him and turned on his headlight as she walked him into the darkness.
It was a corridor. The floor, walls and ceiling were made of the same cobblestone that the wall was made of. After an uncomfortably long time, the traveler arrived at the end of the corridor. There was a bright light, quite unlike the darkness that had enveloped her and the motorrad. Kino saw a remarkable scene: a green field, expanding out into the horizon, seeming infinite. The sun was on the horizon, but she wasn't sure if it was rising or setting. The sky was tinged ochre.
Kino looked around, looking for a sign of life. After all, nobody would wall off a place where nobody lived, right?...
Her eyes landed on a silhouette far away that looked like it could be a town. "Kino… really. I feel like we should get out of here," Hermes said, but she ignored him, proceeding to ride towards the town with him.
The town was decrepit, just like the door outside. It was nothing but a collection of huts connected by unpaved paths, leading to some sort of totem pole in the center. The traveler saw one resident: a man, of advanced age, sitting on his lonesome in the center of the town. She got off the motorrad and walked towards him.
"Excuse me…" she said, and the old man looked up. "I don't understand this place. First, there's a long corridor, then endless fields, then nothing but this old, ruined town… what's the story with this place? Are you the only one living here?"
The old man sat and stared at Kino. After a long while, he said, "this place is wrong. This place should not have been. Don't stay here. You don't want to know what happened here."
After a moment of surprise, Kino asked "Why are you still here, then?"
The old man said nothing. He slowly stood up. He fixed the traveler with his gaze. He said firmly, "You shouldn't be here. Go."
He was unnerving Kino. She stood there, matching his gaze, feeling awkward.
The old man sighed and looked down in exasperation. "I'm sorry. It's too late for you now," and sat down. He started to fade away. Kino stared in confused awe as he became more and more transparent until he was no longer there.
"….We really should leave, Kino," Hermes whispered.
Before Kino could respond, a strange ghostly sound came from behind her. It was like... laughter? But also like howling in pain? Or maybe it was a whisper, or a cry…
Kino turned around in the direction of the unnamable sound, but saw nothing. Just the same plain field, unchanged. The sun was still on the horizon, neither rising nor setting. A single bead of sweat broke out on Kino's forehead. The same exact inscrutable sound, the voice yet not-voice, came from behind her, from the town. She whipped around again, and saw that the town was even more dilapidated than before. It was as if the huts had all aged instantaneously- The wood was rotten, and some of the roofs were falling in. The dirt paths were now grown over. The totem pole in the center had collapsed.
Kino could do nothing but stare in shock. Impossible.
"K-K-Kino…" Hermes whispered."We… should really, really go. Really, really go."
"…Y-yes," Kino muttered, still staring in shock. She got on Hermes and drove as fast as possible along the wall.
Kino missed the door as she sped past. She backed up, but the door was no longer there. The door was, in fact, much farther behind than she thought she saw. Kino again mounted Hermes and sped towards the door, but it was gone when she arrived. The door was, in fact, much farther up along the wall. Nervous and scared, she drove as fast as possible up to the door, but when she got there, it was gone. It appeared to be far behind them.
Kino took off her cap and goggles, throwing them on the ground. She was sweating, her eyes wide with fear and confusion. Nothing made sense. Reality had been broken. She looked around, and then regretted it. The ground rippled like water, and then ruptured, spewing the screams of unnamable creatures. Patches of grass erupted in fire, then grew into huge distorted trees that decayed as they grew, and fell. Shadows were cast on the ground of things that were not there. Elsewhere, buildings and surreal sculptures conjured themselves into existence and crumbled, or burned, or faded. And the sun hung there. The setting/rising sun remained blasphemously still.
Kino collapsed to her knees.
"Kino! Don't pass out! We'll be sitting toads!" Hermes cried. Before she could correct him, Kino passed out.