Adventure Into The Wilds

I'm up before the sun. What little I brought with me is crammed into one bag to take with me. Anne has her belongings all ready to go as well. She and two others will be accompanying us. The joy of having this following behind me is that they've accrued a little bit of wealth. They were able to get a private flight chartered with the donations and offerings that had been given to them.

We've ensured that the pilot and crew will be quiet about this trip. They are not going to know who I am. I am just any other red fox just going to travel for a while. But this way, we won't be bothered. It's a long flight but a little bit of a nap shortens it. We land with no issues at the Aberdeen International Airport. It's going to be a long drive from there to our destination. We need to head north but first have to swing west.

We stop for a break now and again as we go. The large empty spaces are refreshing. The greenery is a nice change from the waves of brown and red I saw in the desert. It had its wonder about it but the color is just pleasing to my eyes.

Anne sticks to watching out the window until she dozes off now and again. I've been keeping an eye on where we're going. The driver is quiet but is following his GPS directions. The passenger is making sure that we're taken care of. Both of them are members of the church so I'm a little more at ease with them there. Or maybe I need to be more on my toes because it is them.

I don't know anymore. My mind has been fried for who knows how long. There's been too much going on all at once. When there isn't anything to do it feels weird. But the drive is excellent. It's quiet. I get to enjoy the change of scenery.

We swung around to head north once toward our destination. The driver and passenger swapped out when there was a chance to take another break to keep them fresh. Anne and I were able to get out and stretch before we were back on the road again. Hours just seemed to blur together as the rolling hills bobbed up and down.

I tried to keep myself as calm as possible. The excitement was starting to get to me. The hair on the back of my ears started to feel like they were tingling the more I thought about it. This could be it. This could be the place I've been looking for! I would shift and shuffle in my seat trying to contain this nervous energy. The further north we get, the chillier it gets. I'm starting to notice a change in the air as well.

The GPS has up going in the right direction. We follow the road yet something still feels off. The trees start to get dense rather quickly. The sun was already starting to set by the time we hit this line. They blocked out whatever light was left.

I don't remember this being on the map when I first looked at the route. The driver pulls over to the side of the road, "We've lost cell signal. What should we do?" I nod to him unlocking my door. I step out taking in a deep breath of what's around us. The air here is weird. It's crisp like country air but there's something in it.

I sit back in my seat. I buckle back in as I give directions to the driver, "Save your battery. Follow this road. We're still heading in the right direction." He nods reaching over to lock his phone. We pull back onto the road and away we go. It gets eerily dark the further we go. The headlights seemed crippled in this darkness. The driver takes it slow to follow the road.

One more turn and there is a small break in the darkness. The road heads toward it in a straight line. We still go slow but the trees start to lighten up. The sun should have set by now. The orange sky casts a light over these hills that seem unnaturally beautiful.

The road here has never been maintained. It's in a rough state. But it looks like it was never paved or even graveled. It's just two worn-in thin dirt tracks. They don't appear to be made by tires either. They are way too thin. Now that we are in the open, we can pick up speed and move along. It's not long before we come across civilization. There is a small hamlet with multiple houses scattered along this road and outwards from there. They look old but maintained.

The driver pulls over, "Should we find a place to stay for the night and continue in the morning?" I send out a long-range ping to reach out as far as I can see. These houses look as though they were staged. Everything looks pristine or in the perfect place. Yet they looked lived in. One more ping confirms what I saw the first time. "No, we can keep going. There's no one here." It's a ghost town.

If needed we can come back but right now there is nothing here for us. The wheels roll again as we pass the vacant houses. The hamlet disappears behind a hill as we press on. It's another hour as the sun continues to set before we run out of road. The two lines have started to grow back their vegetation. This car wasn't made for the trip we've already made. There is no way that it would be wise to continue with no road.

I have to admit defeat. At least for now, "OK, we'll turn around and head back to the hamlet. We'll commandeer a house for the evening and press on at first light." I get an agreement from the front seat as the car turns to head back. It's one more hour before we're back to the familiar spot. We find a house that can handle all of us and split up for the night. I take one of the bedrooms on the top floor at the advice of the rats with me. Just in case something happens they can stop someone or slow them down enough for me to get out.

I don't think that they understand this place. There's nothing here. No one else is around. If I'm completely honest with myself, I think you have to be someone special to get there. This entire area, from the forest to the hamlet, feels as though it's stuck in time. No one else has seemed to notice this. I'm not hungry. I'm not thirsty. No one else has said anything about meeting their basic needs.

Everything is calm but there is an underlying feeling. Since we went into the forest, the hair on the back of my ears has been tingling. I can't ignore it but I also can't acknowledge it. There's nothing there to tell me what's going on. I have to trust this gut feeling. It tells me we are on the right path even if I can't see the path. Tomorrow we'll head out on that same road and may have to walk the rest of the way.

I don't know if I can sleep. I'm not sure I need to sleep. I've felt well-rested the entire time I've been here. Is that from the time stoppage? Or something else? There's just been this odd underlying flow. I close my eyes and try to let it take me away for a moment.

The more tails I've gained, the more in tune with the world I've become. It almost feels like I can feel the breath of the world and it's changing. Is it my own actions? The actions of mages now that they are open? Maybe it's just this place.

The most unsettling detail I've noticed is how quiet it is. I appreciate silence at night. It allows me to think and decompress. But there is nothing here. I don't hear the wind. I don't hear bugs. There is nothing else here. It's too quiet. It's unsettling.

I spend the night looking out the window in my assigned room. I send out pings now and again. There's nothing there. There's never anything there but it feels like something is there. I wonder if the quiet is creating paranoia.

I lay down. I stand up and move around. I spend my night pacing and trying to do what I can to relax. There's not much that I can do here. Once the sun comes up, the day can begin. Everyone else wakes up from their restful sleep to meet in the living room. We waste no time heading back out to where the road ends. We have to leave the vehicle and continue on foot.

I take the lead to follow this feeling. It takes me in a straight line through the fields that should be overgrown with no one here to care for them. My sense of time just seems to fade away. I can't tell how long we've been walking in one direction. I can feel everyone behind me getting anxious the further we travel. The fears are quelled as we cross one more rolling hill to find our destination.

A castle with tall walls sits alone in the center of the field. It looks as steady as the day it was built. The walls are clean with the absence of ivy and foliage that would typically climb over it. I hear one sigh of relief from one of the rats, "We made it…"

We still have a small trek to go but having it in sight makes it easier. The closer we get, the more outlandish the size of this place becomes. I always knew that castles were large. They were built to be a fortress to protect those inside, typically those of royalty or wealth. The entryway is wide open. The large wooden doors past the outside courtyard swing open with ease. They're perfectly balanced that just one person is needed to operate them.

This place is massive. There are rooms upon rooms everywhere you look. We stick to what looks like the main pathways to try and get our bearings before we go exploring. I send the rats to split off from Anne and me to check a wider area. I take Anne upstairs with me to look for the tapestries I saw. Unless this isn't the place I believe it to be. It has to be. This is way too close to what I had seen before.

I head down one of the side hallways that seem to run parallel to a throne room. This would have been used by staff and anyone in the chamber when they leave. Advisors, attendants, and even royalty. Anne does her best to keep up with me as I'm moving. I can feel it. I'm so close! There's something here!

I turn one more corner to find a chamber that would have been used for private parties. And there they are. The tapestries. They look as though they were made yesterday. And they look as I remember them. They tell the story of the many different foxes that came to this place. Many have a different number of tails. They all bring gifts to the lord of this land but again, they all seem to end poorly.

The library should be around here. That's my goal. That's what I came here for. Anne sticks to the tapestries while I move on. I find the corridor that I remember vividly. The solid door at the end… That's it. I've made it.

The door opens with an echoing creak. It's the only object in the place that seems to have any wear or tear on it. It's just like I remember it. The shelves are lined with pristine-looking books. The further back I go the more tattered they look. Not weathered to time but from use. They've been read over and over again. Collectively, hours have been poured into reading these tomes. I plan on doing the same.