Brave Story - Miyuki Miyabe [381]
The Wayfinder placed a thin hand like a withered branch of a tree on Wataru’s shoulder. “Little child of man who must live in the real world. I shall not meet you again. May your journey through the rest of your life be as fortunate as your journey through Vision.”
Wataru nodded. “Wayfinder, I have a request.”
The old man’s eyebrows twitched.
“What could you possibly want at this end of ends?”
Wataru took off his firewyrm bracelet and handed it to him. “I want you…to take this back for me. Take it back to the people who will know what it means—this will tell them that I have finished my journey successfully and returned to the real world.”
Wayfinder Lau made such a sour face that Wataru suddenly became worried. “Did…I ask too much?”
“It is not a difficult request, boy. But I think there is no need. Your traveling companions should already know of your safe return by now.”
“Still, if you would. Please, give it to them.”
Wataru bowed. Wayfinder Lau stood motionless.
Then Wataru heard a sigh from above his head. “Very well, very well. I shall take the armband. I suppose it can’t hurt.”
Wataru’s heart skipped.
“Mmm?” Wayfinder Lau suddenly looked up toward the sky. “Ah, we’ll get quite a good view from here, I should think.”
Wataru followed Wayfinder Lau’s gaze upward.
High up in the void above them, a glimmering white curtain of light flowed elegantly across the sky. Its radiance was breathtaking, like an aurora of pure light that grew and grew until it filled Wataru’s eyes. Its gentle curves softly ebbed through the air, like the fingers of a mother upon an infant’s head.
“The new Barrier of Light,” Wayfinder Lau said quietly.
The shining curtain swept the sky with a fresh radiance, drawing farther and farther away as it headed for its destination where it would remain for the next one thousand years.
“Halnera is finished. And you saw it happen.”
Wataru nodded and reached out to grab Wayfinder Lau’s hand. He held it firmly, saying nothing.
Then he turned and looked up at the Porta Nectere.
Without a sound, the great white gates slid open. After Wataru passed over the threshold, they would not open for another decade. When they did swing open again, another Traveler would enter Vision. For Wataru, his journey was over.
“Wataru,” Wayfinder Lau called out. “In time, you will forget Vision. You will forget this extraordinary adventure. But the truth shall remain within you.”
“The truth…”
Everything I’ve learned on my journey. I get to keep all that.
“You will have your truth, but only when you leave,” Wayfinder Lau said sternly. He then stepped aside, opening the path for Wataru. “Go home now, Traveler. You must live out your life as a child of the real world.”
Wataru walked forward step by irreversible step. The gates were open, welcoming him.
What was waiting for him back home? What would he feel back in the real world? How would he live back in his old life?
However I want to.
When he first came here, Wataru was alone. Now I’m not. Everyone’s with me. Mitsuru, and Kutz; Meena, and Kee Keema too. And the Goddess in all her beauty…
In the National Observatory at Lourdes, Dr. Baksan stood quietly atop his wooden boots and looked out the window. Romy stood by his side.
“Doctor,” she called to him.
“I know what you would say. But now, you should be quiet.” And, he thought to himself, you should be observing this, my wayward students. All of you!
“It’s disappearing, isn’t it?”
The old scholar did not respond. Together, the two stared at the sky in silence.
After a time, he turned to his young student. “The Porta Nectere will be closing now,” he said, punctuating his declaration with a sudden, violent sneeze.
Romy quickly reached out, grabbing the old scholar by his collar so he wouldn’t topple off his boots and fall straight out the window.
The Spectacle Machine circus troupe had set up its great tent just outside the town of Gasara. But there was no performance. The