A path on the tree led to the high gate in the east and beyond it; at the cliff near Bayshore, which was the last island of the Ananta in the west. It was said that the same path was the course of Shavsh, son of Yos. Perhaps, the reason behind him being a Beyond lay in his speed of traveling.
Well, he once said to Yos that if he is a shadow then Yos should be the star, much brighter than fire in order to be sensed by the blind eyes.
'You mean I should slow down and go much deeper into this world,' replied Yos. He did not have any wrinkles but the muscles and veins: more like an athlete, and much younger than his son. He put his hand on Shavsh's shoulder, and added, 'I accept your choice, Son. But why do you want it this way?'
Shavsh turned back, saying, 'We do coexist then we should not be simultaneous. That's my condition to work. Otherwise, I will stay The Nightmare and Hopeless altogether to balance the world of humans. But I cannot give everything that I will promise, nor watch everything without a great burden. Besides, I hate to stay woken in the daytime if I work as a nightmare. So father, let me find someone for you as a replacement. Until then, I guess you know whose company will make the most of you and the Ananta. Please be the guy to take hopelessness. I will make you work light, but you must stay alive until we meet again. And I hope you keep watching me over my thousand laps in a single step. But I won't cross the gate and fathom the inexplorable land of the lower sphere. We will go there together once we are free. After all, you will need my strength to shake the gate inward-out...'
It was true that there could be numerous possibilities to get to the colony of the eerie trees and the path on them. Yet on the side to the Bayshore, as the enthralling wooden road went on and on, the thin it was that became gradually wider as it met sandy rocks beneath the flying gate of the Ananta.
Og called the region beside the Ananta a baneful domain. He said, 'I can only perceive enormous trees with yellow lights on them at some distance beneath as if they were hollow, and someone is living inside them. At the lowest there, well, I cannot say if it was the lowest, but there the matter is no solid but strange. I guess, the mist overhead concealed them well enough to not be savvied thoroughly. Yet, it is just a matter of time, before I will overcome it. Eventually, I will lose the sense of fear. Because what can a curious guy can hold if he is scared of death? While I am curious as well as a traveler. I must not defy this self-proclaimed title. Besides, I am strong...'
'Indeed, you need an acquaintance, my little friend,' said Shavsh. 'Mind me not, but a lone traveler means he will die without spreading his tale. I learn it from history...'
'Then I am not a part of the history, old man,' said Og, as the surrounding became chilled. 'You better mind your words in my name. I am Olgaron, the bearer of Virgule. You must not meddle in my notion...' and as the thunder stroke, he disappeared, giving the shaking vibe to Shavsh, who stayed unmoved, even by the gesture.
The guy who never budged over vital matter was now a stone face, with no other than sweat on him. He wiped it from the forehead as he came to his sense, and then he manifested a kind smile, and added, 'He sure has some guts.' And with another thunder stroke and his sweat was about to drip from his chin, he flashed out of his hut and saw the boy under the moon.
He said, 'You claim to be Beyond for a moment as I lost that title, but now I understand where I am...and where you are. I thought only one can attain a title for his savageness. I am not wrong about it, but I was not right either. We are both of the same realm, but different places of the Beyond. Anyways, please travel with me to find two empty spots. Because I too want to know what is behind the doors. I can no longer wait for my father to take me there because he is dead from the entity from such a cold place. I want to find the shadow my grandparents described. I want to...'
'A traveler never takes revenge,' said Olgaron. 'I do not like revenge thing. Because of that reason, I exist in the same body. I am Og, and I am Olgaron. However, I have five more faces I care very deeply. I want to free all of them without any vengeance. Because they can do what I cannot! They must stay unhurt!' He kept his face in the shadow, and went ahead in the dark in front of him, adding, 'Therewithal, I agree upon your request until I find my way in this hopeless quest.' He looked back at him with a smile that was telling him to ask no more but get going.
Shavsh showed the same stretching on his face, and they took the usual course of the Nightmare: first, when they crossed the forest downhill to the house of old man Shavsh, they reached the valleys. One after another gap between the hills and mountains, they walked leisurely along the riverside since the crescent moon was lifting itself from their back to the head. They said no words but watched the birds, lions, giant snakes lurking to devour the alligators in the river, and many indiscernible predictors. They saw an enormous shadow walking in a cave of one of the mountains, and on the top of it, the violet eyes of a masked lady looked at them and faded away.
But they did not seem curious until a moment came when they found the clouds were acting strangely like they were stopped to cover the glimpse of a lady sitting on them. However, they saw her gigantic figure as a flying shadow in the mist, and then they minded it not and slipped to the farm side of a green village where cows, horses, and dogs were lying on the grass, while sheep were on the hills with pigs and chicken. There were no trees nearby but at extremity to the west. The fields were clear. The crops were fenced, and on the top of the stables and each tower-houses of the village, there was a candle. However, the entire place was hushed. No wind, no bird chirping, neither horse galloping, nor crying of the children., as if everyone was at peace and sleeping.
'Why is this village so silent, old man?' asked Og. 'Do not they fear any thief?'
Shavsh laughed as they continued walking, and said, 'This village has no connection to the outer states, save to my place...to be sure, I am the only visitor so far in a century, and they know me as I always halt at dawn to fill my water supply. All the same, people here know that they cannot be robbed...'
'But what if...'
'Well, there is no question in taking their treasure if you care about your life. If you noticed a beast just behind the hill, he is the villager who can shape-shift into a mesomorph man around 5ft in the day, but with dusk, he is given duty by my master to take care of the growing things in nature of the last land in the east. If you look at the sky, a tiny bird and a gigantic lady, they too are on guard in this Gyrate land, but her master is Girisha. Well, these all crops go to the golden man of the mansion lies far beyond the Ananta in the south. He is the main king and the owner of the current Ananta that I loathed a lot. But anyways, these people shared some percentages of the farmed food with the old celestial Olamdiar when he was alive to protect my people. Even nowadays to the devotes of the old god. Nevertheless, there is one dictator in the name of the Gyrate, who does not know about it. Girisha! I want him dead. This much I hate him. Well, once he was the royal guard of the Uttain and was working on the field of my father's brother, Maruta. He destroyed that fertile land when he was possessed by power and greed. It is a quite long story though. I will tell it someday when I overcome this hatred. Now please let's get going unheard. Because there is a lot to see...'
And he meant it.
They walked to the forest. And the watching eyes were fading as they left the border of the village. Once they enter the dark jungle, they saw no difference in comparison to the past one, but there the things were much more difficult to perceive, except for the stony path that they were following. Those stones were kindled with the cold fire, gleaming like azure light with white dots.
The mist camouflaged the sky, and the sound was still missing from the world. However, there was the smell of the wet sand. Perhaps, there was drizzling before they stepped in, thought Og. And he was wrong as Shavsh said, 'Rain has never touched the ground. The trees here are like thirsty men. They drink it all and left the dust running wild to find the drops. The mist we are watching is the dusty typhoon, but much slower than what we are going to see after a few hours.'
Og narrowed his eyes, but Shavsh told his companion to stop not until they see the concrete road and a board mentioning the name of the city called Nepern.
And they reached there in no time: though, in the forest road, they took the archway, and then on the grass, they trudged till the only two things remained were bare ground and twinkling sky. Little further, there were farms in the countryside, and stables and a church with the union cemetery guarded by a lady in a white dress. The entire place was alike a guest house with no fence but flower boundaries and the avenue road: they passed by it to the other side where the darkness thrived until they saw a light pole beside a tree, and then after a few meters another pine tree and the same fashion reiterated till they met the first house that was ruined. There were lots of tree trunks and wells on it as if the place was forsaken.
'It would be good if we go much more swiftly,' said Shavsh, with a bit worried voice. 'This city behind is as silent as the noise of the city head. It is modern and has vehicles and disco bars. The people there hardly sleep at night, or at day. I wonder what makes them much merry and vile to their health. But yeah, they have unique music and culture, though I am not very curious about it. Besides, there are beautiful girls to make friends with if you are seeking one...'
Og laughed, and added, 'I am a kid old man...'
'Then I am the king of the time...'
Og looked up with sharp eyes, and Shavsh continued, 'You can fool anyone in the world, but not the Nightmare and Hopelessness. I have learned a little about you. I can tell that you once lived in the city, then traveled to the forests and villages...am I right?'
'It would be better if we keep our memories unshared,' replied Og with pride. 'I do not want any influence from anything. Even if it means losing the way! But I am sure we can travel much more swiftly than this. Because I do not like the disturbing noise too. I was not able to stand it in day time!'
Shavsh twitched his head down with a smirk and then up to the street. For him, the time was frozen as they walk, while Og was a prodigy: he was teleporting himself nimbly that seemed like he could control time too. However, for the people, they never existed. Even though they spoke, there were merely whispers, and people considered it as the wind spoke to them in a language they could not understand. Yet, it was not the case for a crow that was following them.
Shavsh found it peculiar as he halted for a moment, but Og told him to overlook the guardian bird of his family.
The old man did not question it, and they walked further and further; to the city to the countryside; to the forest to the abandoned areas; to more cities, and to other states and countries, but Og did not understand why they were just walking and doing nothing.
They saw wildlife, eerie humans, and bizarre civilization in remote countries and villages, and cities. They explored the dying people and birth at midnight. They beheld treasure in the water and the underground tunnels that they walked. They discerned temples, mosques, churches, forts, mansions, and ladders to the island in the sky: a few of them, they saw vanished in the clouds. They went through the storm, snow, downpour, and even the thunder region where electricity was existing along with the gypsies: they became one of them, and chat with them about the next country-fare: mostly, hidden lies about war and violence. All the same, they met wise people in decent attire of humans who were looking at the sky for discoveries about stars and galaxies. They met researchers, and the wind of the words, and then, in the middle of the Ananta, they stopped when the waterfall was on their road beneath the aurora. That was where they took their first stop, and Og asked, 'What is the meaning of this much walking in a short time? I do not understand your point.'
'Well, you will see it tomorrow morning, if you have the strength to go on another march at dawn,' said Shavsh, taking the turn from the first eastern river. 'I cannot do it, so I will listen to them in my sleep.'
'But I do not understand what your exact work is?'
'My work... it is just to look after the timid people by giving them some push in notion in order to retrieve the best for the world. But I do not go to the north or south. Because I am not the only guy who is doing this job. I have two more companions, and we all report everything to Girisha, and secretly to Ruward who is nowadays at Täru. We are about to reach there...'
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