Key

Rill returned today, covered in gore. I'm not sure how she got here without being noticed and arrested. She looks like a person again. But I know better now. She started talking like no time had passed, directing her question at Narl.

"The way is long. We have not the legs to traverse the path in time. We must prepare, obtain the items to cross the boundary."

"The wilderness will not suffice," Narl responded immediately, "An-Drew-Gee would not survive. The city is locked, the other realms held shut, we have no making speed."

Rill smiled unsettlingly, her teeth stained dark red.

"The inciter is bound, the path unguarded. We may open the gate and wander through. The apocalypse. The world of world's end."

Narl furrowed his brow.

"The ritual we do not have, the gate unguarded but locked eternal. We lack the key. The path is inert without the blood to wash it clean, the hate to grant us entry."

Rill smiled wider still, her mouth stretching unnaturally.

"But we have the key, I made it," She stretched her arms wide, flakes of dried blood drifting to the ground, "The drums beat louder, they had no quarrel and now they do, the gates can be pushed open. The path clear for us."

Narl's eyes widened slightly.

"You have been in future thought. The hardest part passed. When shall we have the doors be crossed, the smoke inhaled?"

"We need still the bindings and the fork. We must make quick our voyage, we begin now.

They turned to me for the first time since Rill walked in, bloodshot eyes boring into me.

"Come An-Drew-Gee," Narl began.

"We have places to seek, and little hours to spend" Rill finished.

I doubt this is going to be pleasant.

~Ji