Red Leaves and the Living Token - By Benjamin David Burrell Page 0,14

That was a problem. He leaned out again, peering around the building. It was still there.

"How...?" He took a deep breath to calm himself. There had to be some way of making sense of it. He'd have to get a closer look. Perhaps it was a trick of his mind, a latent image of some sort. He hurried up to it. The stones, worn with age, stacked tightly without mortar, gave no impression of illusion. Proximity had only further solidified the reality of its presence. Perhaps to touch it would help, he thought.

He pushed hard against one of the stones, catching himself in case he fell through it. The stones were cold to his touch and held firmly against his weight. Either this truly was here blocking the entire road or he was simply, insane. To confound further his dilemma with reality, as he stared through the stone arches, a pathway, made of a large, irregularly shaped rocks stones, was cut into the small and well worn cobble stone road. The pathway extended out the back and continued down the street. He was positive these rocks were not there a moment ago.

He backed away and circled around to the front of the arches to look at the path from another angle. But now the path was gone! Without a sign of it ever having been there. He took a calming breath. Perhaps this was still part of his previous episode, part of some kind of odd dream.

He doubled back behind the arch and sure enough the pathway had returned. This would induce a migraine; he was sure of it. He stepped sideways enough to see around the stone pillar. Now he could see through and around it at the same time. The path was clearly both there and not there! Viewed through the archway it extended down the street and into the city. Viewed from outside, it did not exist.

The illusion was fantastic! His mind began to wander. What would happen if he stepped through it? Would it remain when he tried to step on it, or was it like a mirage, always just out of reach? How good was the illusion, really?

He took a quick step through to see what would happen. His foot landed firmly on the first stone of the pathway. He stepped back, surprised. Apparently he had become comfortable with the idea that this was just a trick of the eye, and a trick of the eye was not something you were supposed to feel under your feet.

So this was not an illusion. He laughed to himself. Nether was the enormous stone archway blocking the road. Nether made sense to a rational mind. It looked like he'd have to make a decision, as trying to prove or disprove the reality of this thing was pointless. He could walk a way or walk through. He stared at it, imagining the out comes of both scenarios. What was the worst that could happen? Well, he could die. There was always that possibility. He could be tortured. Several rather unpleasant scenarios played out in his head. And what was the best possible outcome?

He remembered what had led him to this point, the larger context of the experience, his overwhelming need to find a solution for his son. A moment later he found himself hurrying down the strange and unexplainable path.

-

Rinacht turned the corner and stopped behind the building that Raj had stopped at only moments earlier. His employer was in the middle of the street in front of him. He felt the automatic urge to call out to him but suppressed it. Raj had his hands up in the air as though he were leaning on something. Only there wasn't anything there. He then paced back and forth, circling around as though there were an object in the way. After what appeared to be a moment of deliberation he turned and marched straight down the road.

Rinacht tried to add it up in his head. He found something highly unusual on the beach. Now here he was wandering about the city in the middle of the night, pantomiming in the empty street. The worst had finally come, he feared, as he slipped into the dark and followed quietly behind.

-

Raj rushed down the path rough cut rocks, anxious to get to where ever it may be leading him. He rounded a corner and found a heavy stone wall rising up in front of him. The high wall extended a considerable distance