13 Destiny awaits above the horizon
Peleos didn’t say another word before disappearing back into the shadows, leaving Rhine stunned. A letter to his daughter? The man wasn’t making any sense. Rhine almost crumpled it and threw it to the ground, almost opened it and read it, but instead he placed it into his pants pocket. He looked around him one more time, and then looked up ahead and grabbed onto the rock. With a strong pull he lifted his feet off the sand and keeping his body tight against the rock face, he moved up.
The rock was cool against his skin, he moved up without much trouble, focusing his attention on finding the cracks overhead and keeping the tips of his feet balanced on the ones already found. He forced himself to move as quickly as he could while still maintaining control, he knew the longer it took him the harder it would be and the more time he would spend in the heat of the day. He didn’t know how long it would be before the sun rose, but he swore he saw a faint glimmer growing in the horizon and illuminating the night sky.
He decided to take a break as the way became more difficult. Up ahead of him he saw only a small indent in the rock and it was too high to reach. He looked down, not the best idea, and figured he was roughly halfway, but it was impossible to tell with the clouds hiding the top. He could barely see the ground below him in the darkness and the edges of the town to his left. He forced himself to remain calm and focused, told himself to breath calmly and naturally. The mind is a powerful thing, it fan carry you through seemingly impossible obstacles, or it can be your own worst enemy if you let it run wild. He had the strength to continue and make it to the top, he told himself it didn’t matter what would happen if he slipped.
A sliver of sun appeared on the horizon, the air around him would soon be warm and soon after that it would be scorching hot, he had to keep moving. Looking up, he searched for another possible route to take, but there wasn’t one. He knew what he had to do. In a surge of strength he bent down and launched his body up. For a split second he flew upwards with no grip on the rock face. He narrowed his gaze on the crack above, reached his fingertips, and lodged them in with all his might.
For a moment he dangled from one arm. He gritted his teeth, took in a deep breath, and forced his other hand to grab as well. He pulled himself and lifted his foot to grab hold. Breathing heavily, he kept moving.
The higher he went the harder and slicker the rock became. The wind had picked up and the sun had risen fully by the time he came near the clouds. He was just a few movements away, but his body was starting to give out. His fingers were raw and aching, his shoulders burned with exhaustion, and he was losing feeling in his legs.
He paused, his body pressed against the rock. His heart raced against it and his lungs struggled for air. He looked around for a moment at the rolling dunes and the town of Pillar’s Shadow below him. He looked out across the horizon in the direction he’d come from, the distant place where he’d stood for years and watched the mysterious lights dance across the night sky. He was so close to them now, so close to discovering the mystery of this place. The water that ran out of the rock, the clouds, the mysterious lights, the dreams that had haunted him ever since he’d arrived there. He was close to his answers.
The sun grew hotter at his back and the rock more and more difficult to climb, but he pushed on, focusing on what he had to do. Soon he reached the clouds and he realized that there was something strange about them. Other than the fact that they never moved, they made noises, or at least there were noises around them. Hissing noises.
Rhine climbed up into the haze and felt relieved by the touch of cold mist to his body. But the rock was wet, making it even more difficult to climb without slipping. Rhine wondered if that was why the man had fallen out of the clouds, he had slipped from the wet rocks. Moving up another step, Rhine spotted something unusual. There was a hole in the rock face, a perfectly round hole and it looked like… yes the clouds were coming out of it. A spray of cloud came out from the side of the rock and Rhine soon realized there were more.
He wondered how he could be seeing what he was seeing, how it was possible. Maybe it was all a delusion brought on by the fatigue and heat. Maybe his mind was messing with him. Either way, he pressed on, forcing himself to climb the slippery rock through the curtain of cloud. He had to make it through, he had to find out what was up there.
An image jumped into his mind. He saw Penelope, saw Peleos and the strange lights. He saw the top of the Pillar, or was it that? He couldn’t tell anymore. He was too tired and too bent on focusing on the task at hand to pay attention to his daydreams. He was almost there, he had to be, and he could feel it. But how could he press on? His body wailed for him to let go, yelling at him that it couldn’t go on anymore. He had to let go. But he willed his aching and numb body to stay put, to hold on for a few more seconds.
With one more pull he broke free from the clouds. He could see it. He could see the top of the Pillar above him, could see the end of the rock face. He climbed with everything he had left. His fingertips bled and his legs shook. He yelled out as he forced his body up and up. With one final reach of desperation, his hand met open air. He wrapped it around the edge and grunted as he pulled his body up and over the ledge.
He rolled up onto his stomach. Breathing heavily, he felt delirious as he looked around. The sun burned down on his face, making it difficult to see. He rubbed his eyes to clear his vision and to look upon the mystery that had baffled people for years.