The Dawn Road

The dawn road.  That's what people called it.  And those who traveled it always came back the way they started.  And reported…well…nothing. 

Scientists, explorers, religious zealots. They threw their best tools and disciplines at it. Trying to uncover its origin or its end.  What it was made of.  What its purpose was.  Were there animals there?  Other people?  People of all walks of life made what effort they could to find something, anything. And all of them came back with nothing. 

The many failures to deliver anything at all didn’t temper curiosity. Even the simplest among us is curious.  And despite what others might say, curiosity will always cause us to want to see for ourselves.  Liem was curious.  Today would be the day that he took a turn down the dawn road.  To see for himself, what nothing looked like.

The dawn road had been around for decades, and many of the highest scholars which had done their best to unravel the mystery, were now quite bored with it.  To cope with their failures, they started to dismiss it as a fool's errand.  Any further serious attempt to discover anything within it had been laughed off as a punch line.  It was by this revelation that the Dawn Road had become an amusement piece to the commoner.  

Many took to the dawn road as a bit of brag.  Something you had walk down it, just to say that you did.  Some stayed on the road a couple hours, a day's hike.  Others made more of an event, a week away from whatever grind they normally took too.  Others took to it like an endurance challenge and traveled as far as they could down the road, until they thought they couldn’t go any further, then suffered their way back the way they came.

Some came back with smiles, little bits of joy.  Astonished that they had seen so much in actually seeing nothing.  Others, the more scientific types, came back intrigued and perplexed by the notion that they didn’t really discover anything except that there is a place where there is nothing to discover.  And then there were the masochistic ones, who came back near death, proud that they had pushed to their limits, but still somewhat disappointed that they weren’t the ones to find anything, if even just the end, to prove all the others wrong.  Occasionally, but only occasionally, an adventurer failed to come back.

Liem would be one of those.

Liem came up with the plan several years ago and took to endurance training. Taking advantage of what free time he had to go on long hikes over the most treacherous terrain he could get to.  When he couldn’t get away, he would exercise the muscles he could in his small little shop.  He tried doing things more intensely.  Moving faster from place to place, and carrying more than he should, each time he carried something.  He even took to carrying things around that didn’t need to be carried around.  He would haul loads of stone with him from his home to his shop, just to haul them back again. 

He bought support and encouragement from his peers by stating he was going to try and break the record for longest time on the road.  Expectations came with that, but what is life without expectations?  And this one was at least a change from the ones he had come to shoulder. The ones he had grown tired of and intended to leave behind.  He would indeed break the record for longest time on the road, but he wouldn’t come back to have it acknowledged. But they didn’t need to know that.  It was an easy enough lie to tell in order to keep people from asking any questions that might lead him to betray his truth.

Due to the notoriety he had gained during his training, when the day came, he was able to secure a carriage ride from his village to the threshold of the road.  He did this to conserve whatever ounce of energy he could.  Though there was no plan to return as was expected, for his own sake, he wanted to travel as far as he could.  For his own sense of accomplishment and maybe, just maybe, to discover something, even if he wouldn’t be able to get credit for it.  It would be the last thing he did, and he would do it for himself.

The carriage stopped at the peak of the first hill, outside the village.  the sun not yet up, the road was nowhere to be seen.  As he stepped out, the driver of the carriage did not move from his spot.  He simply held the reins, keeping the horses at rest, and without so much as turning his head, spoke plainly “May Maratha be with you Liem.”

Liem stepped firmly onto the ground, turned and looked at the driver, then turned his head to the east and said nothing.  

With a gentle “yah”, the carriage turned and headed down the hill back to the village.

Liem wanted to say, “Thank you.” But as the words formed in his mind a knot formed in his throat, as he feared this would be the last conversation he would have.  And he couldn’t bring himself to have it.

Alone at the top of the hill, the sun began to peak on the horizon.  Any moment now the Dawn Road would appear.  Liem had seen its appearance many times but never took to the road.  So, this morning, as it materialized into view, a new sense of anticipation warmed Liem from the morning chill.

As the slight glow of the rising sun became the slightest sliver of the sun itself, one of its rays stretched from the horizon towards the hill where Liem stood.  At first, the single ray jetted out like a spike but slowly began to broaden as it approached the hilltop.  Though it had a light of its own, it didn’t illuminate anything around it.  The sky it traveled through remained dusky. The light of the road preceded the sun's light as it stretched down from the sky and finally came to rest mere feet from where Liem was standing.  He would only have minutes to start down the road before it disappeared, but he didn’t rush towards it.  He paused for a moment to really give weight to the decision he was making.

As he stood there, a pair of travelers returned from their journey.  They had smiles from ear to ear which seemed to shine a light all their own.  They looked up at Liem and laughed.

“You won’t believe it, good sir, but there is nothing down this road.”  and they laughed again, because they knew their report was a bit of a joke.

“How long?”  Liem asked, at once surprised he was able to speak and it occurred to him that these two gentlemen, who he had never seen, would be the last people he would speak to.

“Just a couple days.”  

“Just had to see it for ourselves.”

“And no danger?”  Liem knew the answer.  In the decades of its existence, there were no reports of any dangerous things.

“Just as they say, nothing to be afraid of, so long as you're safe with the person you travel with.”  His once radiant smile dimmed a little as he looked Liem over, realized he was alone, but further, seemed to ascertain what Liem was trying to hide.  That he didn’t intend on coming back.

“Thank you.”  He managed to get the words out this time.  The last words he would speak to anybody.

The two other travelers moved past Liem with a now somber nod and waited until they were out of earshot to resume their conversation.

Liem took one last deep breath, looked down the road that stepped deliberately towards it, no hesitation to be found.  He had spent the past couple years, not just training himself physically, but mentally, and spiritually as well.  He had covered all of his doubts, reasons and hopes.  One of the rules he committed to was that he wouldn’t start, unless he was 100 percent sure he could finish.  And so, it was with that in mind that he started with confidence. A few short steps from where he had been standing and with one fateful step onto the road and almost instantly any site of the world behind was hidden.  He stopped and looked behind him and the road stretched in that direction as endlessly as it had the other.  He thought to take a step back in the direction he came to be sure he could return, but then he remembered, he was all in on not coming back, so it really didn’t matter if he could.  For a moment he pondered as if there was something else he should do before he just started walking.  Then he shrugged and started walking.

The road was strangely beautiful.  There was truly nothing to look at.  It was like walking on light with only a slight change in intensity to distinguish between the road itself and the light which was around it, which he presumed to be the sun itself.  But no shades of other objects or even points to draw one's gaze.  Just light upon light.

So much light should be blinding but it wasn’t.  Nor was it hot.  But it was warming, not in its temperature but in how it made Liem feel.  It was a welcoming road and an easy path.  No ups or downs, no difficult terrain and the steps themselves seemed unencumbered by gravity. If you could imagine an easy walk being any easier this was.  And there was no sound, not even the movement of his steps could be perceived.  Each passing step became easier than the first and the air became lighter.  Not thinner as one might experience in the mountains, but easier to breathe. He felt like he would be able to walk forever. 

And it was like this for several hours, until the hours became days, and the days became weeks.  Liem waltzed down the road and only stopped, not to rest because he never felt he needed to, but just to remind himself that he could.  He would just stop, smile at the thought of it all, then start walking again.

Then, on a whim, he started to run.  He wanted to try and make it difficult, just to try and make sense of why the endurance walkers came back so beaten.  He ran right up to the point of the fastest he had ever run before, and at the moment realized he could run faster.  So he did.  Increasing the pace with each step.  He never ran short of breath and his legs didn’t seem to fatigue. It occurred to Liem that there was no limit to how fast he could go. He ran faster and faster until he decided he didn’t want to any more then he stopped.  He looked down the road, nothing changed.  Still as endless as ever.  Then he looked back.  The same.  

Then he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Then he took another deep breath, slowere, more deliberate and deeper.  The darkness provided by his eyelids lasted only a moment before his mind filled the space, and it filled it with the memory of the dream.  The dream that started him down this road.  The dream that called him to it.

His mind filled with the image of the road.  Though his eyes were closed, he saw the road as plain as day.  Everything about the road was as he saw it except for one thing. Himself.

In his dream, the light of the road enveloped him, causing him to glow with the same light.  While still remaining distinct he also felt as though he were one with it.  And from the dream came the whisper.  Liem was never able to recollect what was said, and even wondered if in the dream, anything discernable was said, but it was a voice, of this much he was sure.  That was ultimately why he came, to find out what the voice was saying.

Despite the fact there wasn’t a single report of any voices on the road, Liem was strangely convinced that he would find something different.

He slowly opened his eyes and let the dream of the road fade, and the actual road returned Liem took in another deep breath as his dream met his reality and the silence of the road was broken.

“Forward”

It was the same voice as in his dreams but now crystal clear.

He obeyed with reckless trust.  He moved forward as commanded by this trust for he no longer walked on the road but hovered over it.  He controlled his movement with his will.  It was like nothing he had ever experienced before nor had anybody else. At first, he hovered, floating in a forward direction over the road, his head upright and focused.  As he moved nothing much changed.  Nothing new.  Then he leaned into it, literally leaning forward, slowly assuming a horizontal position, arching his head back to keep his sight before him.  He trusted enough to continue, but not enough to at least keep his eyes forward.

Now in a flying position, Liem pondered in which manner he could start to accelerate.  It just felt like the right thing to do.  While he was walking, running was the intuitive next step.  But flying?  How does a man fly faster without wings for propulsion?  Should he swim?  If so, which stroke?  These questions were rapid and quickly answered as he began accelerating as desired without any purposeful change in movement.

At first, he put his hands up to prepare to catch himself should he crash to the ground, but he realized by revelation that it wasn’t possible.  He could move as fast as he could imagine, and he aimed to just keep accelerating.

Time and distance from his start were irrelevant now.

“Forward” he repeated the command to himself just to remind himself of his purpose.  Faster, and faster still, with no end in sight.  The soft yellow light accelerating around him and the road itself seemed to wrap itself around him.  Then he seemed to finally outpace the light as it fell behind him and the road was no more.  With the absence of the light and the road as reference he no longer perceived any motion at all and he simply floated there, in the nothing that no one else had seen.

Liem was curious to see what nothing looked like, and he found it.  Yet somehow, he knew the “nothing” he discovered was different than what others saw.  He was different.

He closed his eyes and again recalled the dream and the image of the road again appeared in his mind, and again he heard the indistinguishable whisper.

Just as before, he slowly opened his eyes, took in the darkness and listened.

“Hail! Traveler to the road, and master of the dream”

“Hello” Liem answered humbly.

“The light needs a bearer, and the road needs a guide.”

There was no question, but Liem knew it was a question.

“I will do what is asked” He bowed his head though there was no figure to bow his head to, only dark.

“Lift your head and receive the light.”

Liem did as commanded.  He slowly lifted his head and as he did, he could see a shadow in the dark, handing towards him a staff.  As he took hold of it lit up, slowly but deliberately and the shadow figure instantly disappeared.  Liem simultaneously found himself on top of the mountain where his journey began, now holding a staff of light, the Dawn Road not stretched out before him.  To him it seemed the same time of day as when he left.  He quickly turned to peer down the path up the hill and as he knew they would be the travelers he met coming off the road were still making their way back toward the village.

He turned back to the road.  Clutching his staff he stepped onto it again, knowing it would be different.  And it was.  The road, once plain, now resembled more of a traditional road.  A path winding through trees, brokered by grass, creeping over hills and dipping through valleys.  He could see that it led somewhere, and that there was something to find.  And he knew his job was to find it, and lead others to it.