It was dark outside and the only light I could see was the moon and the occasional street lamp. There was not much to see that I already hadn't, the stars weren't bright because of the light of
Admirabilis and I could see Orion but the rest of the stars just looked randomly dotted around. The town was muted, there was the sounds from Laspers (the main part of Admirabilis), cars, and people who were up this late and walking around. This time of year the sun went down a lot earlier so it has been twilight for hours and that dictates how active it is out, so not much was happening. There was the occasional person on their porch but the weather was not the warmest, it was probably not too far from the coldest. Most were in their homes cleaning or just hanging out.
I never really have seen the border, ever. But still I was scared cause I had no idea what to expect. And, since it was really boring, I thought of what it may be as I walked. Is it 100 feet tall but no doors? Barbed wired fence that was electrified? Did it have turrets that people who tried to escape or enter would get shot down? What if it was a 500 mile drop that had lava at the bottom? Phil? No, I wasn't worried phil would be there at the border, he was next to me walking. I hadn't even noticed him with the anxiety that was flooding my brain. When I finally noticed him I jumped and stopped.
"Oh, I didn't want to scare you," he said, "or bother you so I decided to just walk with you. What are doing?"
"Well," how do I explain this? "I am leaving" nailed it. Now he won't ask any more questions.
"Why? It is wonderful here!" he said. Oh, no. I would have never thought he needed more information. (I hope you hear the sarcasm)
"The new law. People are mostly for it and the jamkers are not the nicest. So, to be safe, I am leaving before they make me." I thought the conversion was done because there was a pause so I started walking.
"Can I come with?" he said when I was a good couple yards away. I stopped. "You are the only friend I have made in the months I have been here. And you don't seem to be such as a loner as you try ad lead." I didn't know what to say. "Please? My brother can take care of my house and all I would need it about 30 minutes."
"Sure?" I said because I wasn't that sure. He hasn't made me really mad or shrugged me off like the rest of this town. Just as I said that he jumped excitedly and ran to, what I assume was his house and some minutes later he came running out with a suitcase and a back pack.
"I am ready!" he said as he ran up to me.
"Well, we better get going. I don't know where we are going or how we are going to get there so let's keep going. We walked a long time. I realized how center of the town we lived.
The Wall was more or less a fence. Like the grumpy old man next door didn't want anyone in his yard but still have money left in the bank. It was a brick wall, no footholds, then there were flat stones on the top that were a cream colour. It was about 8 feet tall, way taller than me, and there was no way we could climb it.
"So," Phil said. "What do we do?" I looked around. There was a perfectly placed ladder on the wall that we could climb.
"I think we can use that." I said and pointed towards it. We climbed up and saw the outside. "never thought it would look like this." it looked very deserted near the wall with sand and very dead looking plants. The father you looked the more plant life there was. Tells you what we did to the landscape. We jumped off the wall. It was a wasteland for a mile.
"can, " phil gasped, "can we stop? My legs wanna stop." I looked around, we were still in the desert, and the sun was so just barely coming up. From the things I know about deserts they are dry, warm during the day and cool by night, and that where is nothing really to give you shade. I looked around and saw a whole illness the ground.
"can you walk to there?" I asked. he nodded. It was a little cave type thing there. Little small but we could still fit in it with small room left. I grabbed the tarp I brought and set it in and over the cave. We settled in just fine. But for some reason I couldn't sleep. I heard movement from Phil's side.
"don't hurt me for asking but why can't you use magic?" he asked. I didn't know how to answer. How was I to answer a question I have been asking for years. "it is cause you can't or don't want to?"
"I was told at a very young age I had potential and I have never shown it since." I stopped. What am I doing? I barely know anything about him yet I was going to tell him something about myself. I know that is what you normally do when you start a friendship with someone but I had no intentions to stick with this guy for long. Moment he finds something I am gone.
"could it be lack of emotions?" phil said. Oh geesh, now he is like a therapist. If he says 'how does e that make you feel?' then I am done.
"No it is not that! My family loves me!"
"but do you?" we sat in silence. "okay, well night." he snapped his fingers and I felt tired. He was making me stay wake! Damn it! My mum used to do that whenever she needed to talk to me. I tried to get more comfortable but I couldn't move. My mum would also use this when she wanted to talk to me. I just accepted that I couldn't move and relaxed. Then I felt myself roll over to face phil. I just wanted to sleep now so I just relaxed.
I looked around, but there was nothing there. Just blackness. Well. There was something's like in the distance there were black mountains and the sky was a gradient from, the bottom to the top, white to black. I saw that the ground was covered in fog. I was on this floating land mass a mile or more above it all. Even the island was black. It wasn't scary but it just had an eerie feel to it. There were what sounded like whispers that flew through the the air. It could have been wind but it sounded like voices. One that was prevalent said "it will all burn. It will be all destroyed." and it just repeated over and over again. I then heard another saying "Dan." it first sounded like a calling like 'come over here' than anything else then the more it repeated it sounded like a cry for help. Then I was shaking.
I woke up with phil frantically shaking me and yelling "Dan!" and "wake up!" I opened my eyes and phil look frantic. when he saw me wake he said "oh thank god!" and hugged me. Something happened that I don't know about.
"what happened?" I ask and phil pulled away embarrassed.
"You were whispering things and shaking violently. I am sorry to wake you up." he said sheepishly.
"I was having a weird dream so thank you for getting me out of it." I got up and went outside our little cave to see if there was anything interesting. it was bright outside. Nothing really changed much besides that fact from the last time I saw it. No footprints or animal tracks to explain my dream.
"if their anything out there?"
"nope. Not that I can see but let's hope it isn't illegal to go past the walls. Let's keep walking." we got our stuff together and walked. We still had less than a mile to walk to get out of this desert and it's heat. Then there was about half a mile after that of the different landscapes crashing then the forest where we should be safe.
"how long till we are out of this heat?" phil complained.
"if you don't keep up it will be longer! Let's go!" he was like a good twenty feet behind me. He looked almost like a dog, tongue sticking out, on all fours, and somehow still excited even though it is exhausted. It was actually funny to watch.
When we finally got out of the desert phil, for the first time, ran past me and starting drinking from a pool. "you just had water in your bottle. Why did you the river?" I asked, I didn't know what the answer was going to be.
"I see them do that in movies." he answered looking back at me with a smile.
From the time we walked we learned more about each other. He told me everything about himself while I listened. I am a loner type where I am okay with being with my thoughts and not talking for hours. Phil seemed to be about the same but still talked on occasions. We had many great conversations.
The meadow type of land was a nice change to the desert. It was easier to walk in and it was just pretty. The sun was going down so I said "We should probably rest for the night. I think I packed a tent." I wrestled with the tent till it actually worked and you could actually get inside it.
Phil had managed to get a campfire going (ya know, magic reasons) and I sat down next to the fire with phil somewhat across from me. I looked at the fire "I feel like there is another reason you left." he said. I didn't say anything and there was silence. I wasn't going to tell him, yet.