Traveler sighs, a soft green pulse of light emanating from under his cloak instead of any noise. The call has grown too strong, that errant reverberation in his core that forces him to use his curse and continue searching for...something. He wasn''t sure which of the reasons were real anymore.
He stands and look around the singular room he keeps. Filled with a myriad of items from his eons roaming the Realms and beyond, it resembled a shallow but widely traveled museum of sorts. He reaches out a four fingered hand, pulses of pale green chasing themselves down the thin clear fibers of his body, and picks up a glass jar. Sitting within it is a small chunk of clear crystal. One end is black, as if containing a shadow within. The other is cracked and breaking apart, brittle as the structure of the crystal fails and falls apart.
A failed experiment. Once the darkness found an imperfection, it was impossible to remove from the flesh. Too much light causes the body to break down before it did anything to the plague itself.
He sits the jar back down, and steps out the door. As he exits, a dull roar of constant sound suddenly assaults him from the swarm of peoples that follow him in his wanderings. There are always those looking to take advantage of his wanderings to pillage the resources of the unsuspecting people where he went. Locusts, too ravenous to sustain even themselves in the long term. He pointedly ignores them as he turns back toward the exterior of his abode. The exterior of the building is a blockish cube of once dull grey color, now covered in a canvas of paints and strips of cloth, applied by the group that follows him since he settled here 5 cycles back.
The camp become town falls silent around him, rippling out from his location as he turns reaches up and grabs ahold of the of a mote of Shine that only he could see and pulled. The dull tearing sound as the building tore itself free of this reality and shrank into a miniature in his hand sets off a dull roar in the now still crowd around him before the first shouts went out.
"It is time! Traveler is on the move!"
The shout is repeated, twisted into hundreds of languages as it ripples out across the town. He walks around the clearing that surrounds him, the space that the inhabitants have learned to leave clear of where he settles, getting one last good view. Opening a Way tended to be destructive to the surrounding environment. Already there is a crowd gathering, a multitude of people from the Realms, many hefting weapons and preparing themselves.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
This place was beautiful one. More so before he had came. The atmosphere here had no starlight to react with directly, and you could look directly out into the Void. Or rather, into the massive stareater that this world spun around while it shed a dull purple light down on this realm. He had hoped to shed this swarm of fleas when they had all gotten sick when they first arrived here. The energy the stareater bathed this realm in had a sickening effect on many. Unfortunately, too many had survived. Maybe the next realm would have better luck.
Traveler stopped as the inert Way came into view. It certainly looked like it might have a better chance. A burnt black smoke seems to leak from twisted hole that only he seemed to able to see. Smelling of alchemy, the smell taints the surrounding area, sticking to everything and reminding him of the darkness that plagued his people.
He reaches up towards the twist in space, and as he does, a mote of light drifts out from his clear fingertips through the air towards the twist, seeming to accelerate and and be drawn into the knot of energy in the air. The pale green glow ignites something within, growing until it is visible even to the crowd that has gathered around him. It burns at the air itself, revealing a massive, odd tunnel beyond.
Clad in an odd grey shaped stone, there were the obvious seams of it having been made and fit into place, but it was of a texture unlike any natural stone. Formed into large geometric shapes that reinforced the door, the material continued inward, cladding the tunnel that the door framed. At the end, the green embers generated by his light continued to push the tunnel forward following a path that even its user does not understand, carving through the soft spots of the universe.
Traveler follows behind it, walking at a steady pace, the sound of his footsteps, and the growing clamor from behind him, echo back and forth down the tunnel. At least this smooth tunnel makes travel easy. Some of the Ways are closer to crawling through a cave, difficult and slow to traverse. This one remains straight and smooth, the continued burning from the end eventually vanishing, replaced by a warm, humid breeze, carrying the same acrid stench of burnt....something. Hints of wood smoke, but mostly the same smell that reminded him of the work of alchemists.
Eventually the end of the Way comes into sight. It appears to be night on this world, although flashing lights from something out of sight illuminate the scene. A dark grey pavement covers the ground, the same as what covers the inside of this Way. Glass panes just a few feet away allow vision into the front of what appears to be a shop, dark and mostly empty.
Traveler steps out of the Way and looks around. This Way has opened into the middle of a city of some size, at night. In the distance he can hear the sounds of waves on a shoreline and the dull roar of what sounds like a motor of some kind. He sighs, and steps to the side, turning towards the sounds of the shore and walking away. He did not want to see what comes next.