The Antelope's Journey

35. Will the portal open again?

Francina could not get any sleep. She was very anxious. Everything was going fine to this point. She had used the rest of the potion, there was no telling if the portal was even going to open the next night. She laid awake on her bed all night thinking thoroughly of her next step if the portal would not open.

If I cannot send Kali off to finish the journey, then we’ll all be stuck here for eternity. Maybe, until the next set of gamers come by. And who knows if they are ever going to succeed? I have failed, they could all fail too! I don’t want to be stuck here for the rest of my life!

The thoughts were becoming overwhelming. She had to find ways to distract herself.

“Should I go to that mother-of-mine woman? Maybe, try to bond and build our relationships?” she got out of bed and went looking for her mother.

Mrs. Peterson was fast asleep. She wouldn’t budge or wake up even with Francina shaking her out of sleep.

“This is pointless…” Francina sighed to herself. “And exactly what am I doing here? I’m not a kid anymore. I can’t wake her up just because I can’t sleep. And besides, I have never been that kind of child growing up.”

She found a blanket nearby. She took it and covered her mother. She also adjusted the pillow under her mother’s head. “And why would she sleep on the couch?”

Now Francina went up to the psychic who was sitting at the nearby table. “You’re still at it?”

“Yeah,” the psychic responded. He settled into conversation with Francina. “Sometimes, these things take time. Especially, when the individual suppresses trauma and avoids thinking of situations that cause them so much pain.”

“You think that is what he is doing?”

“That’s definitely what he is doing.”

……….

Kali also laid awake. His thoughts were also plaguing him, and keeping him from sleeping. Kali needed sleep, he needed to rest if he was to do good on his quest. The same quest that everyone selfishly rested upon him. The thought of this responsibility weighed on him. He had thousands of lives on his shoulders. In fact, it all terrified him.

How am I even going to go about it? I keep thinking about it and I keep trying to come up with strategies, but there’s not much I can do, since I don’t even know what is ahead.

Intuition. Francina told me to follow my intuition…but my intuition has never been reliable. At this point, all I can come up with is to go with the flow. I’ll see it all when I get there.

……….

“Huh! There, he’s finally doing it!” the psychic pointed at the ball. It had been excruciating hours for the psychic to sit there taking in all that, otherwise, useless information. It was sad that he couldn’t just take a break and come back when his client was finally opening up. This was because there was no notification of such instances. If he had left the seat, he would’ve likely missed what was important.

However, finally, his work had paid off. He did wonder if he should wake Mrs. Peterson, but since Francina was also around, the psychic figured that it was best to let the woman rest.

“All of you are here?” that was Kali. He had brought himself out of bed since, he, too, could not sleep. He gathered at the table to see what Francina and the psychic were ogling at that intensely.

In the magic ball, they all saw a bunch of grown men and women, who all seemed like tycoons. They were dressed in fancy fabrics and all around them was furniture only tycoons could afford. These tycoons were reviewing what seemed like the end stage of the game.

“Is that part of the game?”

“Yes, my boy. That is where you’re headed. You’ll cross through those streams before getting to the treasure… Totem, you call it? And I must warn you, all the previous land-man standers fell for the bewitching siren of the streams. Those waters are very evil. The spirits are, particularly asking to tell you that the only voice you should listen to is the voice inside of you. Don’t fall for any tricks. We’re all rooting for you.” The psychic continued, “I heard this one’s father fell off at the stream. He signed her soul to this company. He wrapped her up in a basket, put her in a basket and sent her off.”

It was the psychic’s job to unfold and decipher situations and put reason to everything. He continued to unravel to story to Kali in ways he thought Kali would understand, “That man trusted the streams and abandoned the mission. He must have thought that he was not going to make it and so, sending his daughter out there affirmed her a good life and growth. He sold her off because there was no other way to release her. People cannot generally leave this place unless the totem has been retrieved. But, because a lot of people get stuck here, they then sell off their loved ones who are outside, hoping that they might be the hope.”

Francina was so curious, she had been staring at the ball trying to make sense of what she was seeing, “Hey, why are they watching that?”

“You see these guys? They are the creators of this game. They have been trapped here for a long, long time. Thousands of years have passed and they are still here. By the looks of it they also want out of here. Every generation of gamers come and lose, and we all don’t get to leave from here.” The psychic then answered the question, “So, they’ve been trying to find ways to warn players so the obstacles would be easier. That might be why they are reviewing the game.”

“Can’t they just change the game? Manipulate it, somehow?”

“Oh, no. They lost control over everything a long time ago. They are now just like us, trapped and holding onto hope. The only advantage they have, though, is that they have access to the outside world. It all started with a petty quarrel between brothers and…”