A Demon's Tale

Chapter Two

- Beyond Reality -

As I was riding through town with the wind blowing in my face, it was hard not to think of all the times he had been there bicycling next to me. I could picture it so clearly still. Memories from the places where we had used to be came back as I was passing them by. Beautiful places that held so many dear memories, of times shared with my dearest friend, times so precious, so invaluable, but also of times now belonging to the past, and places now passed...

The air was mild and the sun's rays warmed upon my blue hoodie. It was nice to be outside. I had forgotten just how nice it could be, and the peace of mind it could bring, and for the first time in a very long time, it seemed I now had a good reason for it.

I had followed the cycle path that went around the center. It would have been faster to just go straight through the town, but I wanted to avoid people as much as possible and it was also a nicer view along the way. Eventually, I got to a part of the town that I wasn't that familiar with. It was getting more and more remote. From small suburbs to even more rural areas.

Now the road I was traveling on was not in the best condition and seemed to not really be one prioritized for maintenance. Thorn bushes, branches, and brush were sticking out along the way reaching out over the side of the road. It had taken me out far from the nearest community of houses and more and more pine trees replaced the scenery along the way. The asphalt road was becoming narrower, eaten up each side by vegetation, continuing to crumble into an even smaller road uphill until there was just no more road ahead.

A dead end with just a rusty guard rail preventing one from driving off into the valley of pine trees ahead. To the right, was an opening. It seemed I arrived at the trail that led into the forest where the lady supposedly lived.

I stopped by the road and examined the trail ahead a bit suspiciously. It started off as a narrow gravel road that further on had been embraced by nature. The trees peacefully surrounded it in a wondrous way telling that the path of the civilized man and the organized domain of human construct ended here, and the path of the wild and free-spirited nature began.

I stood still and contemplated whether this was the right way. According to the map, this was supposed to be it, and without much else to go by and with no other road to follow, this was logically the only path that it could have been. I then noticed that I had a flat tire, explaining why the last hill had felt so heavy. It had probably punctured from running over a thorn. The path ahead looked too rocky and bumpy to continue by bike ride anyway, so I dumped it in the ditch to continue by foot.

Deeper in, the trail was almost completely overgrown and the thought of someone actually living here seemed very unlikely. I followed the trail very far and for every step I felt my doubts surmount my hope to a point where it seemed impossible for someone to be living this far into the forest. Eventually, I came to what I thought was a dead-end, but then, beyond the branches, just as I was about to turn away, I spotted a small gate that stood open.

I stopped in my step.

A half broken gate with only one wicket which had lost grip with one of its hinges was resting with the edge of its underside on a rock. I just stood there and looked at it. Despite the unlikeliness, there was still a sign of human presence. This small detail had in the last moment disproved my growing conviction that there was nothing to be found here and that all of this was just me chasing a fantasy.

But once again that strange sensation that the book had given me reappeared, that what made me question the extents of possibility, the limits of reality, challenging everything I had come to believe to be real and my ability to accept it to be wrong, forcing me to doubt the doubts that had almost convinced me to turn around, and now instead, forcing me -to proceed.