On the uphill path, Salome managed to peek through a few gaps in the foliage at a gray mass, and it became uncomfortably clear to her that it was not clouds she saw.

“We’ll be there soon,” Van said excitedly. Sweat beaded on his forehead, yet there wasn’t a hint of tiredness in his lively eyes. “Just down the slope! Make sure you don’t slip!”

When they finally reached the edge of the forest, Salomes legs trembled from exertion. She stood bent over with her hands resting on her thighs and took a deep breath. Her growing excitement had driven her to go faster and faster through the woods as she imagined what she would find at the foot of the world pillar. Once she had gathered herself somewhat, she straightened up and looked at what lay before her.

The world pillar towered about two hundred paces ahead and filled her entire field of vision. It was so massive that for miles to her left and right there was nothing but grey stone that divided the world into two halves. In awe, Salome’s gaze wandered up the pillar all the way to the clouds, where the storm‑gray masses enveloped the colossal structure like a rock in the surf. She quickly looked back down.

Between the edge of the forest and the grey stone of the pillar lay a vast open area that was almost completely bare and empty. Only low grass grew there, looking as if it had just been grazed by a flock of sheep. Otherwise, there were no trees, bushes, or any other plants. Not even small stones or the like jutted out from the flat ground—everything was perfectly even. And then there was a wooden fence that stretched just behind the edge of the forest around the entire area, as far as Salome could see. It marked the forbidden zone, but it was completely dilapidated and rotten. Everything looked so abandoned, as if no one had been there for ages.

Van climbed over the fence without hesitation and entered the open space.

“Do you think anyone is keeping this place clean?” he asked, looking around. “Or is it normal that nothing grows near a world pillar except grass?” He continued on.

“Wait a minute,” Salome called nervously. “What if someone sees us here?” She dared not step out of the shadow of the trees.

“Does it matter? We’re not doing anything forbidden.” He stopped. “What are you waiting for? Come on, hurry up!”

Salome gave him a sullen look. Of course they were doing something forbidden! Every child knew that one was not allowed to approach the pillars. Moreover, the strange emptiness that filled this place felt anything but comforting to her. It wasn’t the heavy, uncomfortable emptiness that one might feel on open plains, but the cold, dividing sharpness of a boundary. Yet Van didn’t seem to care at all, and when Salome said nothing more, he turned his attention back to the pillar and walked toward it in awe. Salome was left alone behind.

Slowly, she became aware of the dim twilight of the forest. Her nervousness and the many spooky stories of old made her think every few moments that she saw a shadow darting out from behind a tree or heard a branch crack behind her, as if someone—or something—had stepped on it. Her heart began to race. She kept glancing behind her and then at Van, who was moving further and further away.

“Oh, damn it!” she finally hissed and clumsily climbed over the fence. She did not look back and ran straight to the boy.

“So this is what the other side of a world pillar looks like,” Van said. He had his arms crossed and stared thoughtfully at the massive stone wall before him. The dark pillar merged so seamlessly into the meadow that it looked as if it had grown from the ground. Presumably it had, Salome thought—after all, the world pillars had existed since the beginning of time.

Van placed a hand on the stone. Being so close to the pillar, it felt to Salome as if she were standing at the end of the world—a world that existed only up to this wall, and no further.

“Well, we’re here, just as you wanted. And now what?” she asked, unable to stop nervously turning her head and watching the forest’s edge. She felt exposed and terribly uneasy. More than anything, she wished she could leave this place as quickly as possible.

“No idea,” said Van.

“What do you mean, no idea?” Salome looked at him incredulously. “Why did we come here then?”

“I don’t know either. I thought maybe there’d be some clue here, a hint of how to get back. But there’s… well, nothing.” Van didn’t look at her, but continued scrutinizing the rough stone before him.

“Should have known from the start,” Salome muttered, more to herself than to him. She took a deep breath. He was crazy—what had she expected?

“Listen, Van, maybe this is just the wrong spot. Maybe we need to try another part of the pillar?” she said, deciding to play along a little while longer.

Van’s expression brightened. “Good idea. That might actually work.” He looked first to the left and then to the right. “Let’s try going that way.”

So they marched along the pillar, continuously searching the stone wall for any peculiarities, like uneven spots or hidden notches for example. Despite her excitement, Salome was only partially focused on the task, as she couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching her. There was nothing and no one to be seen for miles, but what if someone was hiding over there in the forest? What if the ministry’s pursuers caught her here? She constantly listened for human voices, yet the echo of their footsteps on the hard ground reflected by the pillar was the only sound reaching her ears. After nearly an hour of tense creeping, her nerves were frayed.

“Van, why don’t we take a little break?” she said wearily.

“Yeah… sounds good,” Van replied absent-mindedly. His initial enthusiasm had faded considerably. Salome stepped a few paces aside and sat cross-legged in the grass. She deliberately sat with her back to the forest edge so that she wouldn’t keep nervously glancing over there.

She didn’t know what time it was, but it could be at most noon or early afternoon. After all, they had been on the move since dawn. With a restrained yawn, she opened her backpack and took out a loaf of bread wrapped in paper. She tore off a large piece and handed it to Van.

“Here, eat this. You’re hungry, right?”

“Thanks,” said Van as he accepted it absent-mindedly. His mind was elsewhere.

“Van… I don’t think we’re going to find anything here,” Salome said cautiously. “There’s nothing here. If there were something special to discover, someone surely would have found it already, and then everyone would know about it.”

“But where else am I supposed to search?” Van asked seriously. “Maybe… maybe we’re doing something wrong. In stories, you always have to find a password before the hidden Path opens!”

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He stepped in front of the gray colossus and began theatrically reciting some phrases. At first, they were simple commands like “Open up!” or “Bring me back up!” but when that didn’t work, he switched to childish rhymes and even poems. Eventually, he moved on to meaningless, presumably made‑up words.

“What’s that supposed to accomplish?” Salome sighed. She rested her head on one hand and plucked some blades of grass with the other. “Do you think if you keep this up, a hidden door will open and reveal a staircase? That’s just pointless.”

Van paused in his litany. “You’re probably right,” he said after a while, letting his shoulders drop. “It’s just…”

“What?” asked Salome.

“Forget it, never mind,” said Van. “Then I’ll just look for another way home.” He turned to her and smiled sadly. “Thank you so much for coming with me. I really appreciate it, truly.” He looked up and stared longingly into the clouds. Then he shook his head, as if trying to pull himself together, took a deep breath, and straightened his shoulders. When he looked at Salome again, his usual grin had returned.

“Come on, let’s get out of here.” He held out his hand, and she allowed him to help her up. Then he turned in the direction they had come from. Salome brushed a few blades of grass off her trousers. After a brief hesitation, she approached the world pillar and cautiously placed a hand on the cold stone for the first time. Van was crazy, but he undoubtedly had a flourishing imagination. A place above the clouds? Invisible streams that float through the air? She shook her head. What had happened to him that made him run so stubbornly from reality? And yet, somehow, she could relate. She, too, had once dreamed of fantastic worlds, closing her eyes and wishing herself away to a place far from all the pain, all the rules and boundaries that bound her every step. The hopelessness and sorrow she sometimes felt must have weighed heavily on him as well. But eventually, you get used to the pain. You stand numb in the rain and accepted that you’re insignificant in the course of things and have no influence over injustice. Eventually, you just turn away from the horizon and stop tugging at the chains. If one is reprimanded for every wrong question, is it even worth asking at all?

She looked up at the steep wall, gazing at the clouds as if they were an inverted abyss. How beautiful it would be if Van’s words were true—if there was more. More than this grey, rainy, lost world…

“Oh by the way, Salome, I just remembered—” Van began, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Then things escalated.

From somewhere a deep, penetrating rumble suddenly sounded. It was quiet at first, barely audible, but it made Salome perk up in alarm. Van paused in mid‑sentence and did the same, yet the rumble was like distant thunder, coming from no discernible direction. The ominous sound rapidly grew louder, like a rock avalanche tumbling down a mountainside, dragging more and more stones and rubble along with it. In a very short time, it swelled into a heart‑stopping roar until Salome felt as though her head was about to burst. With a scream, she fell to her knees and pressed her hands over her ears, yet her voice was completely swallowed by the sudden, all‑encompassing noise that came from all directions at once—and, worse still, seemed to emanate from her own body. Hot‑cold waves spread deep within her, surging through her mind and distorting her senses, yet at the same time she perceived the world far more clearly than ever before. Everything moved incredibly slowly, as if time itself had gone off track. There was Van, his face twisted in pain, pressing his hands to his ears and crouching on the ground, just as she had. His eyes were like mirrors of infinity, and the grinding of his clenched teeth was almost palpable. And then, in the midst of that deep, roaring, frozen moment, bottomless darkness enveloped Salome like the darkest night over the brightest day.

Once, as a child, Salome had fainted because she had to stand in one place for too long. She still clearly remembered how she tried to keep completely still and perfectly straight while a tailor took her measurements for new clothes. The next moment she had opened her eyes while lying on a bed, completely confused and disoriented. It was much the same now as she slowly came to herself. Everything was spinning in her head and she felt terribly nauseous. Every heartbeat pumped blood painfully through her temples, making her gasp softly. What had happened? She lay on her stomach, with blades of grass tickling her face. Moaning, she turned onto her back and covered her eyes with an arm. If this racing headache didn’t subside soon, she wouldn’t be able to think clearly for a while. A faint humming filled her ears.

Very slowly, the pain in her head ebbed away and the numbness began to leave her body. Why was she so warm? And how long had she been lying here? She lifted her arm from her face and tried to open her eyelids, but the blindingly bright light brought tears to her eyes. “By the pillars, why is it so bright?” she wondered. She waited a while until she got used to the light flooding through her lids, tried opening her eyes again—and stared into endless, deep blue. She blinked a few times, but she wasn’t imagining things. With every closing and opening of her eyes, the color appeared even clearer and… more real than moments before. Slowly, she sat up, unable to take her eyes off the endless expanse unfolding before her. She had never seen such a beautiful blue. Sitting there with her mouth open, she was lost in the overwhelming sight. Only gradually did she begin to realize what exactly she was marveling at. That infinity high above her head – that was the sky. But why was it blue? What did that mean?

Before she could start puzzling over it, something else entirely drew her attention. The bright light that dazzled her came from a glaring disc that hovered in the west above the horizon. Salome stared at it in astonishment. At least she wanted to, but every time she looked toward the disc—wrapped in white and golden fire—her eyes began to water from the intense brightness, and she had to look away.

Frozen with fright, she looked down at the tips of her boots. Her heart began to race. What was going on here? Where was she? Memories of pain and noise surged up within her. In her mind’s eye, she saw Van staring at her with a distorted face, a silent scream on his lips. What had happened? The world pillar… of course! The stories must have been true after all! Oh, by the pillars, she should never have accompanied Van. How could she have been so foolish?

Salome began to internally curse and berate herself wildly, but then an unusual detail entered her consciousness. She had been looking at it the whole time without really noticing: the grass in which she sat was moving. Very slowly, it swayed back and forth. And not only was the grass behaving strangely, but her hair was also being lightly lifted repeatedly. Her braid must have come undone at some point, and now individual light‑blonde strands danced before her eyes. She noticed that something was tugging at her clothes and seemed to be… enveloping her body…

Completely overwhelmed, she began to perceive more and more of her surroundings. She found herself on a vast, rustling meadow. In the light of the glaring disc, the lush grass appeared incomparably more vibrant and much richer than she could have ever deemed possible. Whatever was enveloping her caused the blades of grass to sway, so that gentle waves rippled over the landscape and the air was filled with a soft rustling. Salome couldn’t think clearly as wonder after wonder unfolded before her. With her eyes wide open, she pushed herself up and stood. Not far from her, the ground simply ceased to exist—she couldn’t describe it any other way.

A vast sea of swirling and undulating clouds spread out at her feet—a roiling mass of the purest substance that stretched to the distant horizon, where it melted and merged with the all‑encompassing sky.

A sea of clouds.

The world pillars jutted out of this sea like a bright forest of ancient stone and cast long shadows on the gleaming white—but they were far from infinite. Upward, they widened in a funnel shape and supported gigantic plateaus—flat islands on which breathtaking landscapes bloomed. Salome saw mountains, forests, grassy plains, and hunchbacked chains of hills; she saw shimmering lakes and rivers that flowed in winding paths like gold‑blue silk and poured noisily over the edge of the plateaus into the abyss. Some pillars ended just above the surging cloud masses, while others seemed broken off or reached far up into the deep blue sky. Countless scraps of cloud floated through the air. Some glided weightlessly just above the ground near Salome, moistening the grass in their path and leaving traces of tiny, shimmering droplets in which the warm light refracted. The glaring brightness, the abundance of colors bursting with life, and all the incredible, impossible impressions that pelted Salome literally took her breath away. Without knowing why, she began to cry. Tears streamed down her cheeks, beacons of color flooding her heart, yet she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the wonders surrounding her.

A soft groan pulled her out of her astonishment. Not far from her, Van lay on the ground, just coming back to himself—she had completely overlooked him. He got up unsteadily and then stopped in surprise as he recognized his surroundings.

“I’m back,” he whispered. He looked at Salome, who stared at him with wet cheeks and trembling lips.

“Welcome to Firmament,” he said with a wink. “Do you believe me now?”