Years turn into decades, into centuries, and even into millennia on occasion, until another Mark of the Other One blossoms. Like a geyser made of the flow it takes on the shape of a massive flower, blotting out the sun, driving away the night, appearing in the minds of all those who witness it firsthand, far away or even in the dreams of all living minds. It demands all must witness.

An excerpt from the diary of Pia...

          ANDREW

Three tens since the Mark of the Other One blossomed.

"Trees! So many damned roots and rocks to trip over. I am sick of this place!" Jess was on her behind, on the ground, and whining.

"I want to go back! Now! I want paved roads and heated rooms. I want a toilet, a bath! And food that does not run right through me! I want civilisation, not this seventh circle of hell. Even that ruined village was better than this. This is all trees! It's all the same." She pounded the mossy ground with her fists.

Jess was sobbing now. "I can't. I cannot do this. Someone burn this place down. All of it looks the same."

"Come on. Get up. You can do it. All of us can. We will do it. Together." Sarah grabbed Jess and dragged her upright.

Andrew disagreed, but he was not about to voice his thoughts. He suspected he would be the only one thrilled at the thought of what the next day might bring. Each morning had brought wonderful and unfamiliar sights. He could agree that the gateway village and the hidden valley had been repetitive. Filled mostly with tall pine-like trees, with leathery leaves instead of prickly needles. Moss and simple rock littered the forest floor. All green and grey.

Coming out of the valley, the group of eleven had found themselves on top of a hill. The hills and mountains spread in majestic splendour around them, and an endless forest lie ahead. The stones here varied in colour and texture, and shiny crystals embedded in the rocks glistened in the sun. White peaks towered behind them as they surveyed the landscape ahead of them.

The forest downhill was dark green at first, not too different from the valley they had emerged from. Then the colours of autumn showed themselves. Yellow and red leaves became more frequent among the greenery the further south you looked, and some had withered into brown crisps already. Somewhere in the distance, you could see blue and purple, even further something white was poking through the greens and yellows.

Thoughts of what truly lay ahead of them did not cross Andrew's mind. Only when they descended into the forest the following morning did his heart stutter a little. They had seen nothing to show anything other than wilderness lie ahead of them. No hints of civilisation or human. But the sights down here were as impressive, and he quickly discarded his worries.

Andrew stared in awe at the enormous moss-covered boulders. Roots that rivalled the rocks in size and width had shattered some boulders. The flora here was more varied and he could see bushes, smaller plants and flowers besides the countless trees.

Straight and lean trees, stocky trees with bumps and character, small leaves, needles, oblong leaves, even perfect spheres for leaves. All of them a different hue from each other. Red tree trunks, light brown; you could go on forever.

Every day they reached somewhere new. The sights and surroundings kept Andrew in awe. Had the old world been like this too, or had he been too blind to see all of this beauty? Or had the repetitive sights of the hidden valley made such a difference?

The wonderful sights of this unknown world kept Andrew's thoughts off what had happened. Off the exhaustion and being able to wash yourself. Most of the time.

"Ow!" Eric's grunt caught Andrew's attention. He was shaking his left arm.

"You all right?" Lenna asked.

"Nothing new there. Don't bother." Eric said in a tired voice.

"It is his own fault for getting hurt. He doesn't deserve the attention." Sarah said, and an awkward silence settled.

"But we had to try." Lenna said after a little while.

"And look where that got us." Jess hissed.

"Stop it!" Sten growled. "We've discussed this enough."

"And you get to decide that, do you?" Jess said with a raised voice.

"We have better things to worry about." Sten merely shrugged.

"We have to worry about those things because of what we did. What Andrew and Eric did! You know I am right. Look where it got us. Three fried and useless left arms and us trudging through the wilderness towards our deaths." Jess threw another tantrum. She seemed to do so at every opportunity.

"Oh, so now you remember me." Robert mumbled next to Andrew.

"My arm is fine." Eric said coolly. "We all are. It's nothing that won't heal."

"We are not fine!" Jess' shouts sounded across the forest. "This is not fine! Marching god knows where! No shelter, barely any food, dirty! Marching on and on."

"If you can shout like that, you can manage a few more steps." Mai hissed.

"I don't recall you being worried about using the gateway." Robert glared at Jess.

"Stop fighting! It's getting us nowhere." Sten said in a loud voice. "You're wasting energy."

"Energy! We wasted our chance to go back! We may have wasted our one chance to get our lives back."

"There could be other gateways. The brat said so!" Robert lashed out.

"We committed suicide by leaving the village! We will die out here. You had to go poking around with powers you do not even have the slightest clue..." Jess had stopped in her tracks, and her voice was only growing louder.

But Robert did not hold himself back, either. "It is not magic! It does not exist! As if you had a clue, Jess? You were just as eager to leave as we were."

An audible pop sounded in Andrew's ears as something orange burst forth from Robert's gesturing hands and several tree trunks nearby exploded. While everyone was running away from the falling trees and the shower of splinters, Andrew could feel a veil fall across the world.

He casually stepped to the side to avoid a falling tree. The branches gently brushed against his armour and layers of clothes.

For the briefest of moments, Andrew saw his unfamiliar reflection look him in the eye and shake his head again.

With another audible crackle, the world rushed back to fill the void. He was on all fours, his heart racing. What was he doing? Trees exploded right next to him. Almost fell on him! He could have died! I do not want to die. Fear took hold of him, and he could not move. He fought back a few tears as he looked around in bewilderment.

The small embers inside them were smouldering. Robert was ablaze.

Damn it! Stop that, Andrew thought.

They had been faint at first, but the illusions had returned. He had hoped that it had come from the gateway and the uncanny village. But a day or two after leaving the village, the veil and odd thoughts returned stronger than before. In addition, the occasional flashes of a man looking at him refused to go away. Andrew tried his best to look normal and climbed over the fallen trees to join the others. He closed his eyes for a moment and a starry sky threatened to swallow him.

"God damn it." Andrew swore involuntarily.

"Show me your arm! Your left arm, Robert, now!" Sten was furious.

"There's nothing! I swear!" Robert shouted.

"Damn it, Sten! It's just an imprint. It does nothing. Let the man keep his clothes intact. It has to be burn scars." Eric had stepped between Sten and Robert.

"You might look fine, but you and Andrew have been far from it ever since." Sten almost sputtered, his composure was slipping.

"There's nothing! Look!" Robert had opened his sleeve. There was undeniable panic in his voice.

"This is why we do not waste energy on pointless quarrelling." Sten intoned.

"Oh what! You could tell?" Sarah immediately retorted.

"And you can?" Sten growled and stepped towards Sarah. She flinched backwards. "The little princess may tell us fairy tales..." Sten made a grimace and turned his attention towards Andrew. "You all right?"

"That three nearly fell on me." He stammered. His heart was still racing, and it was hard to stay in contact with reality. Sten kept staring at Andrew.

"You're not the only one." Kauri mumbled next to Andrew.

"Your arms too." Sten barked. "Show me." His gaze jumped from Andrew to Eric.

"Come on! It does nothing." Eric groaned.

"And what exactly are you able to tell from seeing those?" Sarah asked.

Andrew did not waste time. While Sten was not hostile towards him, he did not like the man. It was the way he kept staring at him. His rather strict face did not help, as if the man was constantly glowering.

Andrew pulled back his sleeve and looked at the grey imprint reaching all the way from his palm to the elbow. It had been growing longer and longer, and now small leaves had sprouted on the vine imprint. On Andrew's palm, the flower and crescent kept getting darker and clearer to see. For a good three days, his and Eric's arms had been useless. Robert had gotten off lucky.

"They've grown bigger, that's for sure." Eric said dryly.

"You!" Sten barked as he turned to Becca. "What are those? Don't hide and don't shake your head like that. What are those? Explain what happened on the gateway! You said something was trying to get in!"

"You're scaring her, Sten." Lenna positioned the girl behind her.

"Watch your temper." Sarah's voice was an icy growl.

"There will be scarier things than me ahead of us. She needs to open her mouth before there is real trouble! She can sense the world. But she needs to speak."

"So now you care about her gift."

"You know it has interested me for a while now, Sarah. You constantly turn me away. What are those?" Sten grabbed Andrew's arm and yanked it forward.

"Why should we talk to you after your stunt on the gateway?" Sarah hissed.

"They are keys!" Becca squeaked.

"What for?" Sten looked the slightest relieved.

"I don't know." The girl mumbled. Andrew pulled his arm out of Sten's grip.

"What happened on the gateway?" Sten asked.

Becca mumbled something barely audible.

"Speak!" Sten snapped.

"You are scaring her!"

"She is the only one here who can give us any information, no matter how delusional it is. She needs to carry her own weight!" Sten huffed.

"She is a child!" Sarah shouted.

"She is here. There's nothing we can do about it. She needs to speak up before something worse happens. She needs to pull her head out of those fairy tales and into the present!" This time Sten's voice sounded almost sorrowful. But the sharpness was still there.

Andrew cast a glance at Robert, who was staring at his hands. Sten said nothing else, but held his gaze on Becca. The girl was looking at her feet.

"I do not know what happened. There was this cold thing. It went everywhere and I don't know what happened. I know things. But I don't get to choose what I know or what it all means. It is almost like a story."

"You will know in time. I am sure." Lenna put a hand on Becca's shoulder. "It might take time to get used to your gift."

"Sounds more like a curse." Sten said loudly.

No one had called to move on, but Sten took one last look at the shattered trees and carried on. The others followed without a word, and everyone was throwing a look or two in the general direction of Robert. Only Eric patted Robert on the back and pulled him along.

Andrew's attention, however, was caught by the destruction. Still casting looks at the mess behind them, he slowly followed, last in line.

The blaze that Robert unleashed had died out quickly, yet something lingered. Tendrils of the blaze had seeped into the trees and the ground where Robert had stood. Faint pieces of yarn hovered in the air and following those, he found Robert.

That was Robert. Right there ahead of him. The man's gaze following the ground. Occasionally he looked around as if asking for help.