Long ago, when the earth was created, the sky goddess had shed her first tears in awe of what she saw. This way the infinity lake was created. Of course this was only a legend. The lake had earned its name because I lied on the edge a high rocky plateau. On all sides it was surrounded by the forest of the high land, except for the one side where the plateau suddenly dropped vertically into the lower lands of the coast, making the water fall with it. On clear and calm days, if you would stand on the other side, the water would lay perfectly still and so making it hard to see where the lake ended and the sky began.
Abruptly Kari splashed through the reflections of the sky above, disturbing the mirror. The lake was very shallow, allowing it to be used as a shortcut when walking from one end of the forest to another. With a pounding heart he came to a halt. Sweat and tears dripped in the troubled water. Kari let his eyes wander over the water, from the cliffs where the water thundered down, up to the sky. What he saw there did not bring his mind to ease, nor did bring his hurting heart to rest. Swinging back and forth between spiraling pain and numbing emptiness, Kari resumed running. Out of the lake into the other part of the forest. The high wet grass struck his already wet legs, leaving only an itchy imprint.
Now and then, he would catch a glimpse of the other world through the foliage above. Blocking out the sun almost completely, the distance between the two worlds was at it’s narrowest point. With only 100 kilometers between their surfaces, the landscape of the other world was clearly visible. Only once in every 37 years, both worlds would pass through each others atmospheres, creating a passageway that lasted 5 days. This was the only time, travel between the worlds was possible, before each proceeded their own revolution around the sun they shared.
Kari ran until his body forced him to slow down, first to walking speed, later to a crawl. Up and up he went, to where trees no longer grew. Until finally his physical pain was victorious over his mental state and he crashed down at the plateau of bare rock, shadowed by a high mountain edge. The shadow of the day had made place for the real darkness of the night. In stead of starlight, thousand artificial lights from the other world glittered above his head. Kari watched them through closed eyes until the cold numbed everything out.
With his back straight as an arrow, Kari sat through the night. Eventually the little lights merged together and the white light of the sun appeared in front of his mental eye. The slowly spreading glow made him open his eyes again. But no sun had risen, for the white light was that of the ship that had launched at the first hour behind the forest, at the large cluster city that was his home.
The ship was part of a large passage of people and goods between the two worlds, carefully planned long in advance. His brother was aboard, heading straight up. Kari toughed him with his inner heat field and as the distance between them grew larger. They promised to meet again when their worlds came round again.
The end.