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Description
To tell the truth, I don't know why I followed the man. Maybe I was just curious to see why he was chasing the officer. Maybe I wanted to help him catch up. It doesn't matter, though, because I did follow him. And as we climbed that ancient, giant tree, there was nothing else but the chase. So we climbed higher and higher. For days, for minutes, who knows? Nevertheless, we climbed that great tree, climbing it like a giant's spiral staircase. Always he called back to me, 'Not long now Inlé, we'll get him. We'll get him.' And we thought we would. Even the oldest tree in the world must have its crown, and we must eventually reach it.

After a time, we came to a point where the branches began to thin enough to be held in the hand, where the trunk was thin enough to almost reach all the way around with both hands. I looked up and saw the man stop for a moment and look up also. 'Strange,' said he, 'it looks as though our friend has disappeared.' I expected that we would begin our descent then, but the man began to climb once more. 'Come on, Inlé, let's say we've been on top of the world,' he called. And so we climbed up, up, up. Soon I reached the top, and looked for the man. And as I looked up, I saw Worlds' End, that terrible sixty-foot drop from everything into nothing more. And I saw him standing on the ground down there, looking up to me, waving me on as if to say, 'Come on now, we must almost be there.'

So I jumped up off the top of the tree, up to the bottom of Worlds' End, into the twilight above the tree. And as I was in the air, I found I was held firm between the two worlds, spinning, looking at both worlds. I saw the whole of my world. Every forest, river, mountain, and sea, every land revealed to me. And more I saw, for though I was much too far away, such was the magic of Worlds' End that I could see everything. Every town, every child, the birth of a young fawn, all the beauty of the world I was leaving was unveiled before my eyes. And I spun around to see Worlds' End, cold, foreboding, forbidding. It looked like every challenge I had ever before failed. Harsh, and destroying, ready to crush me if I set foot there. I shied away from it, then, but stopped when I again saw the man. He was looking up to me, still beckoning with his hand, silently calling out for me to follow. And so, with one last look back at the world I had come to think of as my own, I followed him, fell into Worlds' End.

Stepping down onto the crystalline, ephemeral ground of Worlds' End, I looked over to the man and saw him looking still up to the world we had just left. I looked again and saw a jewel of unsurpassable beauty, a jewel that was not of cold stone, but of warm, ever-changing life. As we watched, the world continued, for days, for seconds, the passage of time dead to us except in its beauty.

After aeons, or moments, or no time at all--who can say?--we finally looked away from the world and turned to follow the path on which we had landed. Each step we took led us further along an inconstant, unsteady path. We went ever forward, the path turning itself for us, the world changing unceasingly, its metamorphosing, fluid terrain swirling around us as if we saw all the world but each other through a kaleidoscope. A rainbow became a wave became an egg became a giant became a top became a pail became a lemon became a naiad became a deer became a rainbow. The world was insanity in form. So insanity, being the rule, became sanity, and all things that made sense were insane. In this place, this Worlds' End, this beginning and end of worlds great and small, we learned everything that was nothing.

Every natural law that governs every natural event in every world was revealed to us. We could see why we were bound to the ground through gravity, but what's more, we saw how we were bound and how the rule was made and how it could be avoided or ignored. We saw how waves of light moved and learned that their form was as controllable as that of soft clay with another law in place. We learned what a graflon was and why it was so dangerous to the worlds it was exposed to.

We walked on and on in this ephemeral world, this world beyond time because it was time. And, at times, we would reach places of relative calm in the chaos around us and, looking up, would see another jewel, perfectly cut in its imperfect light, each jewel more beautiful than the last, none so wonderful as the first. We marveled at the differences one from the other, were awed by the similarities. We saw their forms as only a creator can see a thing. We were master jewelers observing the jewelry of the universe. And, in knowing how these things were made, were even more amazed by the complex simplicity that was each world.

Who could make such things? I wondered. What power could create such perfection? Ever had I been the skeptic, the agnostic, the one denying the presence of any supernatural being. Ever was I the one who said that all things could be explained through scientific law. Little did I suspect that the most supernatural phenomena of all was that these natural laws could, indeed, explain all things. It was not that, despite the presence of a supernatural entity, natural law controlled our existence. It was because of said supernatural entity that natural law existed at all. The worlds were like games, with each person being a player and each natural law being a rule of play. Even if the players are not aware of the game's creator, he still must exist for the game to exist. And so did I epiphanize God.

We walked on, conversing as we saw fit to, exclaiming at the beauties around us. For, though some things we saw were terrible to behold; were repulsive or hideous, we found that there is a beauty in all things, even in those things misshapen. And the winding path eventually straightened itself out and the world of Worlds' End that surrounded us moved back into the distance and we again walked only in the twilight.

Off ahead, on the horizon, we saw a light. Dim, it was, but steady, and as we approached it, it began to take form. We approached a door, glowing with the light of countless fireflies that lived within its crystalline confines. Around the door was a small field with objects scattered across it. Objects of every sort from every world. We walked into that field and looked in admiration at each item, wondering at its trip to this place, wondering at who carried it here, and when, and why it had been left. Then we approached the door, and understood.

I AM THE DOOR TO ALL WORLDS, it read. YOU WHO FIND YOURSELVES IN THIS PLACE, THE WORLDS' END, WILL FIND YOURSELVES HERE AT THE END OF YOUR TRAVELS. STAY HERE FOR ALL THE TIME YOUR HEART MAY DESIRE, IT IS NO TIME AT ALL. BUT WHEN YOU WISH TO RETURN TO THE WORLD WHERE YOU BELONG, CAST OFF THOSE ITEMS YOU HAVE TAKEN DURING YOUR TRAVELS AND DON YOURSELVES IN THE GARB FOUND IN THE CHEST BESIDE ME. THE WORLD YOU RETURN TO WILL BE YOUR OWN, THOUGH IT MAY NOT BE AS YOU REMEMBER IT. TIME DOES NOT PASS IN THE WORLDS' END, BUT PASSING BETWEEN WORLDS AND WORLDS' END CAUSES TIME TO PASS STRANGELY. PASS THROUGH AND LIVE ANEW.

So we disrobed, discarding all that we had into the field and dressed ourselves in the pale clothing provided. They were light and translucent, like dreams borne to the point of waking. They covered us completely, monk's robes sized to our exact proportions. And so, as priests of some unknown religion, we returned to face the Door.

Here we stood, facing it for what was eternity held within moments. Then, the man turned to me, 'Lead on, Inlé. Up to now, I have seen everything first, now it is your turn to do so.' He gestured and I took hold of the doorknob, twisted, and pushed it in. The Door gave way easily, and was replaced by a white, endless light shining back at us. It was the light of a thousand suns, so bright that it blinded instantly. Yet it did not in the least harm my eyes. My resolution faltered then, and I nearly turned back. He put his hand on my shoulder then, and I, resolve steadied, stepped through the Door into nothing.

Into everything...

Description
To tell the truth, I don't know why I followed the man. Maybe I was just curious to see why he was chasing the officer. Maybe I wanted to help him catch up. It doesn't matter, though, because I did follow him. And as we climbed that ancient, giant tree, there was nothing else but the chase. So we climbed higher and higher. For days, for minutes, who knows? Nevertheless, we climbed that great tree, climbing it like a giant's spiral staircase. Always he called back to me, 'Not long now Inlé, we'll get him. We'll get him.' And we thought we would. Even the oldest tree in the world must have its crown, and we must eventually reach it.

After a time, we came to a point where the branches began to thin enough to be held in the hand, where the trunk was thin enough to almost reach all the way around with both hands. I looked up and saw the man stop for a moment and look up also. 'Strange,' said he, 'it looks as though our friend has disappeared.' I expected that we would begin our descent then, but the man began to climb once more. 'Come on, Inlé, let's say we've been on top of the world,' he called. And so we climbed up, up, up. Soon I reached the top, and looked for the man. And as I looked up, I saw Worlds' End, that terrible sixty-foot drop from everything into nothing more. And I saw him standing on the ground down there, looking up to me, waving me on as if to say, 'Come on now, we must almost be there.'

So I jumped up off the top of the tree, up to the bottom of Worlds' End, into the twilight above the tree. And as I was in the air, I found I was held firm between the two worlds, spinning, looking at both worlds. I saw the whole of my world. Every forest, river, mountain, and sea, every land revealed to me. And more I saw, for though I was much too far away, such was the magic of Worlds' End that I could see everything. Every town, every child, the birth of a young fawn, all the beauty of the world I was leaving was unveiled before my eyes. And I spun around to see Worlds' End, cold, foreboding, forbidding. It looked like every challenge I had ever before failed. Harsh, and destroying, ready to crush me if I set foot there. I shied away from it, then, but stopped when I again saw the man. He was looking up to me, still beckoning with his hand, silently calling out for me to follow. And so, with one last look back at the world I had come to think of as my own, I followed him, fell into Worlds' End.

Stepping down onto the crystalline, ephemeral ground of Worlds' End, I looked over to the man and saw him looking still up to the world we had just left. I looked again and saw a jewel of unsurpassable beauty, a jewel that was not of cold stone, but of warm, ever-changing life. As we watched, the world continued, for days, for seconds, the passage of time dead to us except in its beauty.

After aeons, or moments, or no time at all--who can say?--we finally looked away from the world and turned to follow the path on which we had landed. Each step we took led us further along an inconstant, unsteady path. We went ever forward, the path turning itself for us, the world changing unceasingly, its metamorphosing, fluid terrain swirling around us as if we saw all the world but each other through a kaleidoscope. A rainbow became a wave became an egg became a giant became a top became a pail became a lemon became a naiad became a deer became a rainbow. The world was insanity in form. So insanity, being the rule, became sanity, and all things that made sense were insane. In this place, this Worlds' End, this beginning and end of worlds great and small, we learned everything that was nothing.

Every natural law that governs every natural event in every world was revealed to us. We could see why we were bound to the ground through gravity, but what's more, we saw how we were bound and how the rule was made and how it could be avoided or ignored. We saw how waves of light moved and learned that their form was as controllable as that of soft clay with another law in place. We learned what a graflon was and why it was so dangerous to the worlds it was exposed to.

We walked on and on in this ephemeral world, this world beyond time because it was time. And, at times, we would reach places of relative calm in the chaos around us and, looking up, would see another jewel, perfectly cut in its imperfect light, each jewel more beautiful than the last, none so wonderful as the first. We marveled at the differences one from the other, were awed by the similarities. We saw their forms as only a creator can see a thing. We were master jewelers observing the jewelry of the universe. And, in knowing how these things were made, were even more amazed by the complex simplicity that was each world.

Who could make such things? I wondered. What power could create such perfection? Ever had I been the skeptic, the agnostic, the one denying the presence of any supernatural being. Ever was I the one who said that all things could be explained through scientific law. Little did I suspect that the most supernatural phenomena of all was that these natural laws could, indeed, explain all things. It was not that, despite the presence of a supernatural entity, natural law controlled our existence. It was because of said supernatural entity that natural law existed at all. The worlds were like games, with each person being a player and each natural law being a rule of play. Even if the players are not aware of the game's creator, he still must exist for the game to exist. And so did I epiphanize God.

We walked on, conversing as we saw fit to, exclaiming at the beauties around us. For, though some things we saw were terrible to behold; were repulsive or hideous, we found that there is a beauty in all things, even in those things misshapen. And the winding path eventually straightened itself out and the world of Worlds' End that surrounded us moved back into the distance and we again walked only in the twilight.

Off ahead, on the horizon, we saw a light. Dim, it was, but steady, and as we approached it, it began to take form. We approached a door, glowing with the light of countless fireflies that lived within its crystalline confines. Around the door was a small field with objects scattered across it. Objects of every sort from every world. We walked into that field and looked in admiration at each item, wondering at its trip to this place, wondering at who carried it here, and when, and why it had been left. Then we approached the door, and understood.

I AM THE DOOR TO ALL WORLDS, it read. YOU WHO FIND YOURSELVES IN THIS PLACE, THE WORLDS' END, WILL FIND YOURSELVES HERE AT THE END OF YOUR TRAVELS. STAY HERE FOR ALL THE TIME YOUR HEART MAY DESIRE, IT IS NO TIME AT ALL. BUT WHEN YOU WISH TO RETURN TO THE WORLD WHERE YOU BELONG, CAST OFF THOSE ITEMS YOU HAVE TAKEN DURING YOUR TRAVELS AND DON YOURSELVES IN THE GARB FOUND IN THE CHEST BESIDE ME. THE WORLD YOU RETURN TO WILL BE YOUR OWN, THOUGH IT MAY NOT BE AS YOU REMEMBER IT. TIME DOES NOT PASS IN THE WORLDS' END, BUT PASSING BETWEEN WORLDS AND WORLDS' END CAUSES TIME TO PASS STRANGELY. PASS THROUGH AND LIVE ANEW.

So we disrobed, discarding all that we had into the field and dressed ourselves in the pale clothing provided. They were light and translucent, like dreams borne to the point of waking. They covered us completely, monk's robes sized to our exact proportions. And so, as priests of some unknown religion, we returned to face the Door.

Here we stood, facing it for what was eternity held within moments. Then, the man turned to me, 'Lead on, Inlé. Up to now, I have seen everything first, now it is your turn to do so.' He gestured and I took hold of the doorknob, twisted, and pushed it in. The Door gave way easily, and was replaced by a white, endless light shining back at us. It was the light of a thousand suns, so bright that it blinded instantly. Yet it did not in the least harm my eyes. My resolution faltered then, and I nearly turned back. He put his hand on my shoulder then, and I, resolve steadied, stepped through the Door into nothing.

Into everything...