And Eternity Read Online Free PDF

been spared. That is my guilt.” That was only part of it; she had let this happen to Gaea’s mortal daughter! How could she ever make up for that? She dreaded the inevitable time when she would have to tell Gaea.
    Orlene gazed at her and did not speak.
    They left the Tree together. Gaea was off on another mission; they did not see her.
    There was an access to the Void at the edge of Purgatory, the one used by Clotho when she went to fetch more thread. They followed the road, and then the path, through a dense forest. The trees become so large and close that they shaded the path, making it seem to be dusk. Their gnarled trunks seemed to assume grotesque faces, the sinister recesses staring out at the trespassers. Even Jolie, who had become familiar with Purgatory and other aspects of the Afterlife, found herself becoming apprehensive. How was it affecting Orlene?
    The great trees encroached further, their roots clutching at the path like twisted talons. A trunk blocked the path ahead: they had to squeeze around it, only to encounter another in the way. Soon they were lost in the maze of dark columns, unable to see far in any direction or to discern a coherent path. Jolie was not at all sure she could find her way out naturally: fortunately she could always revert to her home drop of blood, heedless of the route between. If that became necessary, she would clasp Orlene by the hand and bring her along.
    The trees became gradually different. It wasn’t just a matter of species, but of realm; their trunks were assuming surfaces and colors not seen in nature, such as tinted glass or bluish steel. Their foliage became geometrical, each leaf fashioned as if by compass and straightedge into circle, oval, hexagon or square. Light came through, reflecting from mirror surfaces and refracting through transparencies. This was now a fairyland forest, with bright rays splaying out from many nexuses, splendid in an unsettling way.
    The path became clear again-but it diverged. One fork progressed into a region of disintegrating trees, some even floating upside down, their colors inverted, too, with green roots and brown leaves. The other fork wound toward some kind of mountain. Perhaps both paths went there, for both were devious, but would they rejoin?
    The two women looked at each other. “I’m afraid my expertise was left at the edge of the forest,” Jolie said. “I have never been into this region before. I have no idea how to proceed.”
    “I see that one path is better used than the other,” Orlene said. “Would that be significant?”
    Jolie hadn’t noticed. The new ghost was recovering her mental acuity! “Clotho, the youngest Aspect of Fate, comes here monthly to renew her supply of Thread, as I understand it. She must use one path, and that one has become worn.”
    “Does Clotho go to see Nox?”
    “I don’t think so.”
    “Then maybe the other one is ours.”
    Jolie shrugged. She had no better logic.
    They took the path less traveled. It made its way toward the mountain, which rose up monstrously as they approached. The peak was lost in cloud, and the base seemed to delve down below the ground, as if it were no natural configuration, but an alien object set within the scene.
    “There is something strange about this landscape,” Orlene remarked.
    Jolie laughed. “You are just noticing? This is the fringe of the Void, where the laws of reality start breaking down!”
    “Apart from that,” Orlene said. “So far we have seen odd trees, but now, I don’t know.”
    Jolie had to agree. The oddness was shifting from quantitative to qualitative, as it were; the trees were obvious, but now there was something subtle. “It seems to relate to the mountain.”
    When they reached the base of the mountain they had another clue: it was indeed set into the terrain. There was a gap a handsbreadth wide between the land and the slope of the mountain, and this was maintained below. The gap extended as far and deep as they could