Chapter 24: The End of the Beginning

   Twenty minutes later, a scribbled out note lay on a table in the hut, and they were ready to go.

   “Food and clothing won’t be a problem,” said Anonni.  “Unless, neither of you are allergic to cotton, are you?  We have similar plants in Meadous…”

   They shook their heads.

   “Good.  Right, and we’ll need an open space.  The road should do fine.”

   They wandered out of the trees into the road.

   “Punching a hole into the fabric of reality, as you can imagine, takes an awful lot of energy.  Three quarters of all the Interimo energy from the locket will go into this,” Anonni explained.  He rummaged through his rucksack, and produced the large yellow cylinder.

   “You sure you want to do this?” He said suddenly, just before opening the lid.  “There’ll be no turning back.”

   “I’m sure,” Rebecca said.

   “So am I.”

   “Good.”  Anonni opened the lid and orange gas this time poured out.  It formed shapes the moment it hid the ground, and rose up to create an orange archway.  It was transparent to begin with, as they could see the road through it.  But slowly it faded and turned to a light blue.

   “Woah, that’s incredible!” Billy cried, awestruck.  He turned to the other side, to see it looked the same on both sides.

   “I haven’t made the connection yet,” Anonni explained.  “For all intents and purposes, this is just a solid wall.”

   “If it’s going to take in a lot of energy, couldn’t it be dangerous?” Rebecca asked.

   “Perhaps, if done wrongly,” answered Anonni.  “But it should normally be an implosion.”

   Anonni fiddled with the sliders.  As he did so, more orange gas hissed out, and flew into the archway.  Though the arch was solid, the gas seemed to travel through it.

   “This is like when you showed Paul and I your world, isn’t it?” Billy asked.  “Only, we’ll actually travel through it?”

   “Indeed,” said Anonni.  “Now watch �" this is the interesting bit.”

   The blue wall inside the arch slowly began changing into other colours �" orange, green, more blue, and red… Until it revealed a similar landscape to the one Anonni had shown Billy before.  Through the archway they could see hills, some of which were covered in plants; plants which while similar to trees in height, were not very tree-like at all.  Rebecca couldn’t see them well enough to tell what one looked like on its own, but she could see no bark, as the plants were completely green.  The vines and branches seemed to twist among one another, as if the entire forest were one plant.  Even if she was nearer, she doubted she would be able to tell one apart from the other.

   The hills were similar in colour to a typical English hill, covered in grass and heather.  Those seemed very similar to their counterparts in Rebecca’s world.  But the main difference was the sky.  Red!  Not blood-red, but more a shade of pink… Similar to pictures Rebecca had seen of Mars.  How could she get used to a red sky?  She gaped at it, along with Billy, who although had seen it before, was still in awe of how different, yet equally beautiful, it was.  Clouds looked similar and floated along similarly to how they would in their world, though there weren’t many of them, it was a clear sky.  It may also have been Rebecca’s imagination, but the world seemed somewhat… brighter… or clearer, than her own world.  She looked up and shielded her eyes from the sun, which was far larger than the one she was used to.

   “That sun…” she gasped.  “How hot is your world?”

   “It’s not as hot as you’d think,” said Anonni.  “And like your planet, it depends where you are.”

   “Wait, each world has it’s own planet?” Billy asked.  “It’s own solar system?  It’s own Universe?”

   “They do,” Anonni explained.  “Interesting, how we think we know everything about the world when we really know nothing at all.”

   They stood for many more seconds, simply admiring it.  Anonni let them, for he understood this feeling. 

   “I felt the same when I first looked into your world,” he said.  “This is only the third world I’ve set foot in, including my own.”

   “The arch will stay open for roughly another four minutes,” Anonni continued.  “But now it’s opened, it’s not like the energy is being drained �" more, I’ve used up energy to open it, and now the link will slowly die until there’s nothing left.  Only, instead of slowly dying, it cannibalises itself to stay open, until there’s nothing left.  That’s when you get the implosion.”  Neither of them seemed to understand, but Anonni was unsurprised.  Even he didn’t understand the concept completely.

   “Rebecca!?”

   Rebecca spun around.  Standing several meters away from her was Carrie.

   “There you are!” exclaimed Rebecca.  “Where did you go?  We thought you had run away…”

   “I didn’t ‘run away’,” she said, as if she were trying to defend herself.  “I phoned the police.”

   “The police?” Rebecca cried.  “You know they couldn’t do anything!”

   “But then Rebecca, at least it got them aware of the situation, so they could get an ambulance there,” Billy said to her.  “It is maybe thanks to her that Paul is going to live.”

   “Three minutes,” Anonni mentioned, casually.

   “How did you find us?” Rebecca asked.

   “I saw the explosion,” Carrie explained.  “So I ran to the building, and asked this policewoman where you were, and she said you’d run off… I checked your house, and you weren’t there, so I came to look for Paul’s house, and I found you here… standing in front of… what is that?”

   “It’s an archway, into my world,” Anonni said. 

   “Oh, you’re leaving then?  It’s all sorted?  We’re free of it all?” Carrie cried. 

   “You are,” Rebecca said coldly.  “But then, you were never really affected.  You still have parents, a home…”

   “It’s not my fault-”

   “What Rebecca’s saying is, she can’t just pretend it never happened,” Billy said diplomatically.  “And… I can’t either.”

   Carrie’s face was filled with horror when she realised what he meant.  “You’re not… going with him?”

   “Two minutes.”

   “We are going with him,” Rebecca said.  “I’d invite you, but apart from the fact you wouldn’t want to, I think you would just get in the way.”

   Carrie gave a slight gasp at how cold Rebecca was being to her.

   “Rebecca, she doesn’t deserve that,” Billy said.

   “You’ve changed!” Carrie shouted at her. 

   “I’m surprised you haven’t,” Rebecca said.  “We’ve shared a lot of horrors.  But no, you can still return to your comfortable and loving family and I can’t!  It’s not fair!” She couldn’t hold the tears in anymore.

   “I…”

   “Just go!” Rebecca bellowed at her.

   Carrie stood on the spot, staring at Rebecca, mouth open wide in shock.

   “One minute.”

   “Rebecca, please!” Carrie cried.

   “I’m ready to go now,” Rebecca said, brushing away her tears, and successfully holding them in again.

   “I am too,” said Billy.

   “Follow me, then,” said Anonni.  He took one step through the archway, and walked through it.  As he did, it flashed orange, and he disappeared from sight. 

   “Rebecca!” Carrie shouted.  “REBECCA!”

   Rebecca ignored her, and turned to the arch.  She closed her eyes, and walked through the arch.  Another flash of orange light, and then she was gone.

   “Billy!”  Carrie cried, tears flooding down her cheeks.  “Bring her back!!”

   “I’m sorry, Carrie,” he sighed.  He turned, and followed Rebecca and Anonni through the arch.  A third flash of orange, then they had all disappeared.  Seconds afterwards, the arch began to shrink in on itself.

   “No… stop…” Carrie begged, but it made no difference.  The arch shrunk and shrunk, until it became a sphere, suspended in the air.  And then there was nothing.  No way back.  No way of following them.  This adventure was over, but the next one had only just begun.

Reviews

[Riding the Rainbow]

awesome chapter!! Is this the end or are you going to write other chapters??

[Mathew Nicolson]

This is indeed the end. I had actually planned out a whole trilogy but it's been so long since I wrote anything in this world that I'm not sure I could return to it. I'm very glad you enjoyed it, though - and thanks for staying until the end! :D