Pastle: The World of Light

Chapter 2: Encounter

When I woke up, the old man was long gone and the goat was grazing by the roadside chewing down on some fresh grass. I noticed it wasn't morning and I had no idea how long I was asleep, it was still night. Eternal Night. Although I could feel as if the stars glimmered brighter when it was supposed to be morning and dulled into the night, giving a chance for the moon to shine.

Where was the sun? How was this world still functioning and where the hell am I?

My hands started to shake and my heartbeats got faster, thumping out of my chest. I was anxious and scared. I wanted to go back to my room and sleep in my bed. The people I was with, yes, would be still there and I would still hate them but it was far better than this place where everything was so weird and grandly. It gave off an atmosphere of gloom, madness descending, and the world collapsing onto itself like a dead animal breathing his last breath.

The world was to end soon and I could feel this.

A sheet of paper fluttered under the rock kept there as a paperweight. I took the paper and started reading it,

If you want to know more about this world, come to the farm situated above the cliffs upward of the Junction. For directions, ask Marnie in the Cardinal Inn.

Signed, Just an Old Man.

I had an interest to know about this strange world I was in. It would be better to collect information than wander about aimlessly if I wanted a way out of here. I decided to go meet the old man.

I climbed out from the boulder and the descent was far easier than climbing up. A life lesson in that. I called out for the young goat, she kind of started growing on me. A happy little creature, full of ignorance about her surroundings, happy to live. I liked that.

She trotted towards me and I stroked her head and then we set out.

***

We rallied on, the goat ever lively. To cross the road was no easy feat, with giant boulders on both sides and slippery coarse small stones on the ground. The color palette, a mesh of natural tones of brown saturated grey by the evident lack of illumination. One misstep and we could have slipped into the chasm below that gave way to jagged steep cliffs enfolding with a sharp peak rising outwards then dropping down. A curve that peaked then dropped like protruding spikes glued to the mountains itself.

It was easier at first, we followed straight pathways that were emboldened by its frequent use but as we trotted onwards, the boulder grew in size, the initial boulder we had encountered only felt like a prelude to this turn of scenery. The boulders spread out, initially as mere huge stones laying on the side of the mountain trail then fattened into humongous cliffs, three to four times in size. The pathways turned and twisted around the stone walls that now the boulders formed. Eventually craving way towards a cliff that overlooked the valley below. The place where we were right now was called the Jagged Cliffs. It was etched on the wall with squiggly scribbles when we entered the mountain trail.

We may have crossed two or more mountains and still, the moon shone brighter than ever. No sign of setting anytime soon. I had no idea for how long we had hiked. The goat was panting, she was exhausted by this arduous journey. My legs were only sore a bit and there was a lot of breath left in my lungs, I could have easily trekked to the moon and back that was peaking surreptitiously through the mountain ranges.

I decided to take a rest for the goat's sake considering it was still a child. I didn't want her to faint out of exhaustion, not knowing how far Junction still was. I couldn't take this risk. I fed her the milk that I had left and she hurriedly gobbled it up. Instantly lying down for rest. I decided to follow in her footsteps, but first I needed warmth. The night air was chilly and as we climbed higher and higher, the temperature had started to drop drastically. I was ill-fashioned for this climate.