Epilogue
Penelope. He thought of her name and suddenly thought also about his trek across the desert dunes. The mysterious lights in the distance, he had a name for them. He remembered a story from when he was young; a story about a man who was forced to travel to mystical places and fight monsters and overcome obstacles. He’d called the lights Sirens. They were like the sirens in the story, always beckoning whoever passed by to wonder. Always drawing people to their death as they tried to cross the dunes. He couldn’t remember the name of the story then, but thinking about Penelope, he remembered.
For a moment Rhine thought there was nothing up there. He looked around and saw only flat rock. He wondered if it had all been a trick, some kind of mind game that was thrown out by the Pillar. He should never have come. The Pillar was cursed. He should have ran and taken his chances with the rolling dunes. He thought of the man who’d died climbing the Pillar, thought of all the others who must have died also. Thought of Peleos and the legs he’d lost. No, Peleos had said he’d reached the top. Rhine shook his head, thought the man must have been going crazy. He’d also told Rhine to deliver a letter to his daughter. Nonsense.
He reached into his pocket. The letter was still there, crumpled and folded over again.
Rhine stood and walked across the plateau that was roughly two hundred feet across. It took him a while to actually realize where he was. It was impossibly quiet up there, even the wind had stopped. When he reached the other side, he looked out. The clouds below him covered most of the view, but he could see the distant dunes.
Rhine explored every inch of the top. He couldn’t believe there was nothing up there but rock. He sat down near the middle, deciding to wait for the lights to come. Slowly and painfully the hours ticked by. Rhine hadn’t brought a shirt and his bare skin screamed out from the burning sun above. Rhine stood every now and then to stretch his legs and to make time go faster.
As he walked across again, he shielded his eyes from the burning sun that was starting to set. As he took another step, his body suddenly dropped. He felt the ground below him give way and he stumbled down. His body rolled over. He’d entered complete darkness somehow. Breathing heavily, he looked around. He was in a tunnel, a small and perfectly round tunnel that bore itself into the rock and spiraled down ahead of him.
Where am I? Rhine thought, his heart pounding. He felt around in the darkness, felt cold and smooth rock beneath his hands. The air was damp and thick. Turning back, there was no light, no sign of where he’d come from. He moved down, walking slowly, not wanting to step and fall again. His eyes slowly adapted. He could see that the tunnel was growing larger. He thought the sun was playing tricks on his mind, wondered how he could possibly be seeing what he thought he was seeing. He wondered where the tunnel led to.
He followed along, curiosity getting the better of him. As he passed around another corner, he froze as he heard something. They were footsteps and they were coming closer. Rhine wonder what to do. Should he say something? What would he say? Maybe the person was coming to kill him? Maybe he shouldn’t be there. As the sounds came closer, he stood unsure. He should see who it is, after all that’s why he came right? For answers. And turning and running wouldn’t get him any.
Being down there had caused him to lose track of time. A loud rumble shook the entire tunnel, causing Rhine to stumble. He wondered what was happening, then suddenly knew. The sun had set, it was the sounds of the lights. The person approaching would have to wait, Rhine turned around and bolted up as fast as he could. The rumblings grew louder and louder, making it difficult to keep his balance.
When he reached the top he saw a blinding light. Whatever he’d fallen through was gone now. He ran up and stood at the top of the Pillar, his jaw dropped. He stared at the mysterious lights. The lights he’d looked upon since he was young. Only now he saw them from up close. There were three of them surrounding him, lights shining. He’d seen them before in his dreams, still couldn’t tell what they were but they were massive. They all landed on the Pillar and Rhine could barely move.
He stumbled as he ran over to the edge, not wanting to be so close to them. They were loud and rumbled the ground at his feet. He’d never seen anything like them before. Something so big that flew in out of the sky. Lights blinked all around him as the noises persisted.
In an instant, the sounds went away, the lights rose up from the ground, and they rocketed up into the night sky. Rhine watched as they streaked up and disappeared in a flash. There was nothing above but the normal night sky and stars.
Rhine didn’t understand what was happening, didn’t understand what the lights were even though he’d seen them close up. He looked around him on the plateau and saw… it couldn’t be. He saw someone he recognized instantly. It was the woman from his dreams. The one with the short dark hair and skin that was paler than any he’d ever seen before. She looked at him, seemed to spot him at the same time Rhine spotted her.
They stood across from each other for some time, neither of them knowing what to do next. Rhine decided to move towards her and as he did, he saw another light appear in the night sky. It started off small, but grew larger and larger. It was heading towards them. It was one of the mysterious lights.
This was wrong. No, this was wrong. The lights come and they go, they’d never returned or at least Rhine had never seen them return. Both he and the woman stared as the light came and rumbled the ground as it landed right between them.
To their astonishment, part of the thing opened and led up to a doorway. It was dark in there, Rhine couldn’t see what was inside. He looked over at the woman and she looked back at him. She didn’t seem to know what the thing was either, for she looked just as shocked as him. Strangely, the woman walked towards the opening and, for reasons Rhine couldn’t explain, he did the same. His desire for answers, his curiosity, shadowed any fear or doubt. He had to know.
They came face to face and still they said nothing. Rhine walked alongside her up a hard ramp to the doorway.
Rhine stepped through the door that closed behind them, and his life changed again in an instant.
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