tedium's travels through the zulhaeliyn universe, part one.

i did not think it was possible to feel so alone.1

after my unbelievable encounter with the glowing white mass of energy, i awoke on what seemed like a large island of earth soil, in the middle of a vast green plain. i want to say that it felt like it was all a dream, except that i noticed that this island was careening arbitrarily through space, and seemed to have its own stable atmosphere. being surrounded by so many inexplicable things made it seem like none of it had been a dream at all.2

i dont really know how long i spent wandering around that space-island, but it felt as though the defenition of eternity had been multiplied by an endless surge of eternities, so many that time itself seemed to stand still. at first i was mortified, confused, scared, and hungry. i nearly lost my sanity there on the space-island, but i pulled through. rational thought and logic kicked in and salvaged me from the chaos storm i had placed myself in. i spent many days lying in the middle of the large field, with my arms and legs outstretched, staring into the infinity of the universe, wondering what i could do next. when hunger became too strong to ignore, i rose to my feet and set out to what looked like a jungle to the south.3

a jungle it was indeed, a jungle consisting of some of the strangest plants and trees that i have ever witnessed. each had such a profound complexity that i could never begin to explain them all, but there was flora of all kinds surrounding me, flora that seemed to move and sway to a silent natural rhythm. vines with flowers that lifted and bloomed when i passed them, seeming to whisper to me in tongues that were millions of years old, trees that followed me when my back was turned and then stopped in their tracks when i turned to look, all kinds of rarities i could never hope to describe. despite all of the beauty that surrounded me, i was still overwhelmingly famished, and so i did not stop until i found food. when i finally came to a grove of trees with large, bulbous, phosphorescent fruits, i sat down and ate as many as i could. their flavor was adequate, but it was a bland taste that explained to me that they had once been absolutely delicious, but something had abandoned the trees and had left their fruits to grow bland and tired. regardless of this, they were edible, and so i took my fill and carried more with me. although the space-island was covered in flora, some of which seemed to have a mind of its own, i saw no creatures of the kingdom i belonged to, the animal kingdom. fauna was nowhere in sight, not in the plains, nor the jungle, nor anywhere else i had explored.4

i had seen the vast plains, and had found nothing that signified that i would make it out of the space-island alive. i had been to the strange jungle, all the way through its winding paths under its eccentric canopies, and still had found nothing that could help me escape. i began to lose hope, and panic settled in. what in blazes had that white energy been, and why did it suck me out of the world i was accustomed to, why did it leave me here on a space-island to die!? none of it made any sense to me, it couldn't just end this way. that white energy had destroyed the earth, i saw it happen. was this space-island all that remained of my home planet? was i the only homo sapien left in existence, gliding aimlessly through the dark and lonely void? i knew no answers to these questions. they simply flew through my head in vicious flocks that attacked one another and screamed as they made their way through my thought processes.5

when i returned to the plains from my trek to the dark southern jungle, i looked to the north, and stared uneasily at the vast mountain range that towered before me. it had been the first thing i noticed when i awoke in this place, and it had been the first place i had decided not to go to. but now, i had seen all the other areas, and i had not found a single clue that would help me get off this island. i realized that my only hope was those mountains, no matter how dark and foreboding they appeared to be. somehow i was certain that my answers could be found there.6

i spent days trudging northward towards the base of the mountains, not seeing a single life form on my way there. the grass seemed lonely and sorrowful, not having animals to nourish or trees to share the land with. the air was completely still and nonchalant. it amazed me that this piece of earth soil had an atmosphere all its own and that i was able to breathe. i supposed that the flora of the plains and the jungle supplied me with sufficient oxygen to last for however long i would be staying here. i hoped not for very long.7

i reached the base of the enormous mountain range and looked straight up. the peaks were jagged, crooked and ominous, as though the range had dark secrets that were not meant to be revealed to a lowly human. it gave me a sensation of pure and humble inferiority, realizing that i was the outcome of a planet's trial and error sequence that was now at the mercy of the universe that spawned it. i dismissed these thoughts and continued onward, until i reached the beginning of a long staircase. it consisted of thousands of steps that steadily rose to the doors of a large temple. the stairs seemed to continue leading straight up to the summit of the mountains, behind the temple. but something told me that what i was looking for was within those wooden doors.8

it took me a long while to walk all the way up the enormous staircase, and it gave me time to do some thinking. i had two options; i could either stay here, alone, with nothing to eat but phosphorescent fruits and nothing to drink but water from a small river by the western edge of the plains, or i could enter the vast mountains, and accept whatever fate awaited me therein. either way, there was no turning back now, and i knew that there never would be. reality as i had known it had ceased to be, and had been replaced by this bleak and frightening situation.9

the doors of the temple were nearly three times taller than i, and had two large, rusty rings for doorknobs. the doors were intricately adorned with small drawings that told a story, showing remarkable creatures fighting others, embarking on glorious adventures and saving whole civilizations of beings all over the universe. the positivity of the stories drawn on the wooden doors made me smile, something i felt that i had never done before, in this life. i grabbed the rings and pulled with all my might, making an extremely loud creaking noise that reverberated all through the inside of the temple. slowly the doors opened outwardly, and i stared into a large room with two pillars on either side, and an enormous altar at the far end, covered in hundreds of small candles. i walked inside gingerly, eyeing every shadow and corner, expecting any sort of vile creature to come out and devour me. when a creature did appear, i nearly urinated in my pants from sudden fright.10

"at last, you have arrived."11

i spun around and gasped. there was a hooded being standing in the doorway, a head shorter than me. as it walked slowly into the temple, i walked backwards, away from it. when it was inside, it turned and closed the doors calmly, and removed its hood, revealing a blue head with two pointy ears, and a small horn in the middle. when it turned to look at me i gasped again, for it had three eyes and no nose, and was something i had never even dreamed of seeing before me. but something about its eyes gave me a sensation of wisdom, understanding, and good judgement. so i stood and exhaled deeply, and awaited its next words.12

"i am urkalu. i'm glad you could make it, timewanderer. i have been waiting many years for your arrival." its eyes narrowed as it gave a humble smile, and a slow bow.13

"how is that possible? i do not know who you are...or what you are...or where i am, or how i got here, or how any-"14

urkalu waved his clawed hands in front of his face as he shook his head. he gave a light chuckle that sounded nothing like a human laugh, but was easily distinguished as laughter. "i'm aware of all that, timewanderer. no need to worry. that is why i am here, to explain all of this to you. but you must not fear me. i understand that it must be overwhelming for you to be here, in a place that you can't explain, surrounded by infinite nothing...but be not afraid, young one. you are in good hands now."15

"how can i trust you? how do i know i'm not already dead?"16

"dead? my dear child, you are far from death. you may not be aware, but those fruits you found in the jungle, they are issheivir fruits, ones that completely replenish the energy and health of those who eat them. you are at the peak of your strength and vitality, and you will be that way for a long time. now, are you prepared to listen to what i have to say?"17

i hesitated for a long while, unsure whether or not i could trust this strange creature. something about it seemed warm and kind, but i didn't know if i should go with that instinct. i debated what my alternative was; staying here alone on this space-island, never trusting another lifeform, doomed to a lifetime of total boredom and eventual insanity or suicide. urkalu seemed like my only hope of staying alive and serving some sort of purpose. "yes, urkalu. please continue."18

he motioned with his hand for me to follow him, and he led me up a wide spiral staircase. the entire temple looked as though it had been carved straight out of the mountain rock, like the whole thing was a geniusly crafted sculpture done by hand. "who designed and constructed this temple?" i asked, without really meaning to.19

"i did," urkalu replied distantly, keeping his pace up the stairs. "we are almost there."20

the second floor was dimly lit, and it took my eyes a few minutes to adjust. we were in a long hallway with a high ceiling, with doors all along either wall. in between each door was a small table with a drawer, with a lit candle on top. they provided only enough light to make out the shapes of the doors, the ceiling and far end of the hall were swallowed in shadow. "where do all these doors lead?" i asked. urkalu didn't respond; and as i look back on that event now, i realize that there cannot be an answer to that question. we walked for a long while down the hallway, both lost in thought. the only sound was that of our feet along the ground, and it seemed to bounce and ricochet off the walls all the way up to the ceiling. finally we came to a stop in front of a door that looked identical to every other door, and urkalu reached into his pocket, and pulled out an oversized, purple skeleton key. it seemed to be studded with little diamonds. he pushed the key in the lock, turned it twice and opened the door.21

the "room" was simply a stone platform surrounded entirely by outer space. the doorway and this platform were the only signs of where we had come from. the space-island was nowhere in sight. i was confused and borderline hysterical, but i tried my best to hold myself together and follow this creature, wherever it was planning on taking me. "how is this possible? how am i able to breathe here?"22

urkalu looked at me blankly, apparently tired of my questions. "you are not ready to know such things. but do not be alarmed; in time, you will understand everything. right now, your role is simply to follow me and do as you are told. you must trust my word. no harm will come to you unless you decide to turn away and bring it upon yourself. are you prepared to continue?"23

i had no choice. "yes," i replied weakly.24

urkalu stood in the center of the stone platform and pressed his palms together in front of his chest. then he pushed them upward and separated them, palms facing outward. on either side of him, i saw light reflect off of two invisible spheres, for a split second. each one was around my height of six feet. "what are those?"25

"bah'rilun," urkalu replied. when he saw my confused expression, he said, "vessel."26

he walked into one of the invisible spheres, and floated up and into the universe. i was both extremely afraid to get into my sphere and somehow distantly extremely excited. i walked hesitantly into the invisible ball, and the strangest sensation came over me, i will have difficulty attempting to explain it. i couldn't breathe in there, and at first it scared me, but then i realized that i was still breathing, somehow. it was as if the invisible sphere was breathing for me, absorbing oxygen and everything else my body needed through its surface. it lifted me up and off of the platform, and the door shut by itself, disappearing. the platform became smaller and smaller as urkalu and i floated away.27

the feeling of floating through outer space in urkalu's bah'rilun spheres is both terrifying and amazingly entertaining. i could spin myself around in any direction, but no matter how i moved i seemed to always be trailing behind urkalu's sphere.28

"can you hear me?" urkalu said from inside my mind. "when we are in these we can communicate telepathically. we are almost at your final destination, timewanderer. when we reach it, you will be intercepted by the ones who will tell you everything you wish to know."29

"yes, but who are you? what is my significance in all of this?"30

urkalu did not respond for a long time. "i am simply a messenger. they selected you for this ordeal, and so you were brought here."31

"and where is 'here', as opposed to where i come from?"32

"this is zulhaeliyn, one of two powerful nogi kingdoms. your kind calls them universes. the world you come from, your earth, is 99 billion light years in the future, in the saedra aeon. welcome to the distant past, timewanderer."33

what he was saying to me struck me with such force that i screamed, i screamed for so long that i threw out my voice and coughed blood into the vastness of space, the void's first and probably only taste of human. all the information i had absorbed and the complete sudden reversal of my entire existence threw me into a violent mental hurricane, one that lasted until i had screamed and cried my way into deep sleep. i could not handle what had happened to me. i knew i was not dreaming, it had been going on for too long to be a dream. i slept for a long while as we continued drifting through the universe, and awaited the next barrage of inconcievable data.34