Diseased Jottings From A Random Mind

A World in Flux

It was the edge of the world. They had journeyed from the civilised lands at the centre of the world, across the grass-filled plains that were filled with nomad tribes, and then out into wild lands beyond. The light of the Red Moon had faded then vanished, leaving only Father Sun to watch them from above. And even he had dimmed and disappeared as the sky changed from blue to an infinite grey.

Finally, thirteen months after they had set off, Issarius the scholar had noticed something strange ahead of them. Where once the horizon had never seemed to come any closer, now it appeared strangely broken. Huma the warrior, famed for her keen eyes, stared into the distance then declared, "I can see islands, but they are floating in the sky. It is as if they have fallen from the world and are sailing towards the gods."

As they continued on their way, the horizon drew closer. it was as if the sky and land and sea had merged into one. The fabric of the universe rippled and changed, throwing up strange lands and unfamiliar buildings. Silhouettes of creatures rose from the chaotic flux of creation, raised their limbs to grasp at the islands of order, and then fall back to dissolve. Huma and Issarius watched this cycle of birth and destruction for an unknown age, unable to tear their eyes away from the spectacle.

Finally, Huma spoke. "And what do we do now?"

Issarius sat down upon a rock, having brushed the moss from it, and consulted a scroll that he had brought from the library in the great metropolis that he called home. "The sage Melus said that with our thoughts we make the world. Order may be imposed on chaos, but only by those whose will is strong enough to overcome it. I propose an experiment."

With that, Issarius stood up and walked towards the point at which order gave way to chaos. Huma reached out to him. "Are you mad, brother?" But Issarius ignored her and stepped out into the void. As his feet touched the void, it solidified beneath him and formed stepping stones. Issarius continued to walk further and further into the void, then turned back to face Huma.

"Huma!" he called out. "Melus spoke the truth! Come! Join me!"

Huma looked towards Issarius and shook her head. She was a warrior, forever suspicious and wary of all around her. She knew that she did not have the same faith in logic and mind that Issarius had. If she was to walk into the void, she might walk ten steps; a hundred; a thousand. But eventually she would doubt herself, and then the void would rise up and claim her, dragging her down only to be reborn countless times.

"No brother!" she called back. "But I shall wait here for you until you return!"

"If I return!"

"You shall!"

Issarius shrugged and raised his hand in farewell. Then he turned his back on Huma and the world, and set forth into the endless flux of chaos.