Topic: In the Valley Below

Glenn Douglas · Date: 2016-02-18 15:32 EST

People don?t believe you can really travel to the end of the world. It's a metaphor, an abstract, nebulous idea used to convey a point. But the truth is, the world does have an end. A place where it stops being and something else picks up instead. Most don't know it when they see it and so they keep walking until they find their way back, but if you've got a sharp eye and an open mind you might be able to spot the difference. The end of the world isn't like what you'd expect. There's no fire and brimstone. At first glance it looks pretty normal?dull, even. That's how it tricks you and spits you back out.

You see, people weren't meant to find their way there. It's meant for something else, something stronger and something smarter. Definitely not a man like me or you. But I've been there once or twice and I can assure you it's real.

The end of the world is a physical place. Walk to it, know what you're looking for and you'll eventually find it. It's not that hard.

Glenn Douglas · Date: 2016-02-18 15:34 EST

From the journal of Glenn Douglas

Today I walked a while from the Hemlock farmstead and found myself at the edge of a ravine. I stared down into the dark crags of the world and wondered what it would be like if humanity lived down there instead of up here in the light of that hot, hot sun. I wondered what dark, twisted things we'd be if we were forced to meet out such an existence. I'm glad that fate dealt us a better hand in that regard, though as I recall the gangs that traveled through York and Cossol I wonder if we're really as lucky as we think.

I thought I saw something moving down there in the bottom of that dark place, but I think it was just the shadows playing tricks on my eyes. They do that at night. I sometimes lie awake in my cot and wonder if the darkness outside is really just an absence of something or the presence of something different and unexplainable. I once mentioned this to Mister Hemlock and he said I read too much and that such thoughts were meant for smarter, greater men than myself and that I should focus on the crops and animals and less about such big ideas.

I reckon he's right.

Glenn Douglas · Date: 2016-02-18 15:34 EST

Shadows crept in from the edges of his vision and has he sat there in the dim, flickering light of his lantern he wondered if these were the monsters his father had used to scare him straight as a boy, or if his mind was just playing tricks on him again. There was no telling reality from what was fake, if indeed anything he saw was fake at all. Glenn Douglas scratched at his chin, fingers prickled by the short fine hairs that had begun to sprout on his otherwise soft face. His skin was reddened from a long day in the sun. Times were getting colder and though the air felt good, those clear skies still burnt him to a crisp. It wasn't long before the clouds would start rolling in though, and maybe then he'd find some respite before deciding he hated cold as much as he hated heat. He was a young man full of bitterness and anger and would never stop finding something in the world to be mad about.

There was a rasp on his door.

"Lights out, Douglas. Got an early start in the mornin', get some rest."

Glenn grimaced and lifted the cover of the lantern and blew it out. Then he fell back into his cot made of straw and closed his eyes.

He could still see the shadows there, creeping in on the edge of his sight.