Eritopia

Cycles of Time

They had been walking for hours when Bear asked Van when they would reach the Outside.

'You are already in it,' was the answer.

Bear looked around. They had left the densest part of the Forest behind. Above was open sky, there was more grass underfoot, and a brisk wind blew through the trees.

'It's a bit like the Inside,' he concluded.

'It will become very different,' Van told him. 'We are only at the edge.'

Calypso was stripping leaves off a bush with deft fingers and stuffing them in his mouth. Then he vanished into the middle of a copse.

'Be careful, there could be enemies around,' Van barked to the monkey, now hidden in a muddle of shrubs and low trees. He came out with an apple in each hand, one of which he passed to Bear. He held the other out to Anya.

'I can get you one too, Van,' he said. Van shook his head. 

They walked on a while, and before long emerged onto the edge of a wide plain. The trees melted away and the sky dominated the scene. Beneath their feet the the grass thickened.

Bear stood still. He could see for miles, right across the shallow grasslands. Yet one thing drew his attention, dominating the skyline to the east.

'What's that?' he asked Van, pointing across.

Van followed his gaze. 'That is the Crystal Mountain, highest point of Steepling Ridge.'

Bear gazed in awe at the far peak, its summit disappearing into the clouds.

Meanwhile Calypso had found another isolated tree to investigate. Anya had finished the apple, and was now cropping the grass at her feet. Van approached Bear. 'That is where we are heading,' he said. 'In the shadow of that mountain lies a City.'

'What's a City?' asked Bear, still staring into the distance.

'It is where men live,' replied the fox.

'Like the Elders?'

'Definitely not.' Van gave a nervous bark. Then his voice edged with seriousness. 'I think it is time to tell you why we are going there. The truth is, a Cycle will soon be coming to an end.'

'Of course it is,' Bear said. 'That's why we have the Occasions.'

'Not the yearly Cycle,' Van said, 'although you are right, that is ending too. But the Great Cycle, which is a cycle of many Occasions and even more years.'

Calypso appeared on Anya's back, mouth full of leaves. 'These are a bit tough, but at least they're better than pine needles,' he mumbled.

'Shush,' the deer said. 'Van is explaining something.'

'Sorry. Sorry for speaking.'

'Please you two, this is important. Van says a Cycle is coming to an end.'

'Not the year's Cycle,' Anya reiterated, as Calypso opened his mouth to speak, 'but the Great Cycle.'

'I know that, all the monkeys know it, it's one of our legends. As I recall, time consists of many cycles. There's a cycle of hours, of a day, a cycle of the season. Then there's the year, the cycle of generations, and then there is a bigger one, containing all the others, the Great Cycle.'

Bear looked at him as he chattered. He had always thought monkeys tiresome, frivolous individuals. Acquaintance with this one hadn't changed his opinion.

Calypso continued. 'And one day the Great Cycle will come to an end.'

They all turned to Van, expecting reassurance or elaboration.

'Indeed. And that is why we are here.'

'To save the world,' Calypso began, and he jumped off Anya's back and charged off in mock celebration.

Bear looked at him as he zipped around. 'To save the world?'

'It isn't a question of saving the world,' Van said, 'but of continuing the Cycle. No one knows what will happen at the end of the present Cycle. The wolf may have a part to play in that.'

'Not-Bear?'

Calypso slunk back. 'Is he actually a wolf?' He had never seen the creature. Now there was all this talk of him saving the world. Couldn't a monkey do that?

'I still don't understand,' Bear said. 'Why must the Cycle stop? Can't it go on without us?'

'It is more complicated than that,' said Van.

He didn't know how much to tell them. He didn't want to scare them. He still didn't know which, if any of them, might be the catalyst. The Elders believed it was the wolf, but after generations of preparation they could leave nothing to chance.

'As a Great Cycle comes to an end, the world begins to change. A tree might disappear, or even a mountain. I have heard of this happening already.'

Bear thought of his friends back home. Of Fogfash, and the other bears in his clan. Of Ellie the otter who lived in the river at the bottom of his field.

'At such times, other elements can enter our world. Legendary creatures and strange forces, not always working for the good,' Van continued.

Anya shivered. 'Perhaps we should go back? She too thought of her relatives, of her grand-deer on the pastures of the Inside. Shouldn't she be with them at a time like this?

'No,' said Van, and the others fell silent. 'There is no point in going back, you can only help by going forward.'

'We may never see our families again,' Anya lamented.

Bear wished, not for the first time, to be back on the Inside, preparing for the coming of the Chilling.

'This is awful,' he said, and sat down on the grass.

'It's not that bad.' Calypso went over to him and squeezed his arm. 'Like Van says, we can pull through.'

'I'm certain we can,' said Anya. 'Haven't we done well so far?'

'Bear, this isn't the first time a Great Cycle has ended,' Van said.

'It isn't?'

Calypso squeezed Bear's arm a bit tighter. 'There have been lots of them, haven't there, Van?'

'Several,' corrected the fox, 'and each time the world has continued. Are we not evidence for that?'

Bear didn't find that reassuring, but he forced the negative thoughts from his mind. 'I'm all right now,' he said, got up and patted the monkey on the head.

'Good,' said Van.

'That's good,' said Anya.

'Great,' said Calypso, and they moved on.