Moving forward again, Eric said.  “Is he already in the cathedral?”

“I don’t know for sure.  But I am sure he’s nearby.  You need to be very careful.”

“Believe me, I intend to be.”

“Good.”

“But can I really hope to beat something as bad as that?”

“There’s always hope.  And I’ve realized something since I got away from Altrusk.”

“What’s that?”

“I’ve realized there’s a thread of order in the universe, a thread that connects us all, and one that’s way too intricate to be there by accident.  We’re not alone.  And I really don’t think you’re here just to die.”

“I sure hope not.”

“Do more than just hope, Eric.  Believe.  I need you to look back on all that’s happened today.  Every detail.  You have to realize that there’s more to all this than a bunch of creepy ghosts and a wonky dream.  There’s a reason you’re here today and not two days ago.  I’m part of that reason.  That cat was part of that reason.  The foggy man is also part of that reason.  I think it’s the same reason you’re the person who had the dream and not some Olympic athlete or super-genius.”

“Thanks, Isabelle.  You’re right.  I have to believe I’m not just here to die.”

“Don’t forget it.  Not even if it all seems lost.”

“I won’t.  I promise.”

“Good.”

Eric approached the top of the hill.  He felt so tired.  It was as if he’d just hauled himself up the side of an enormous mountain.

“You helped me escape from Altrusk, Eric.”

“It was you who helped me escape.”

“But I’d still be there if I hadn’t met you.  You saved me.  And I can never repay you for that.  I…”  She trailed off, the words lost before they crossed her lips.

“I know.  And I promise you, I won’t go down without giving everything I have.”

“You’d better not.”

“I swear.”

“Good.”

Eric reached the crest of the hill and surveyed the land before him.

“You’ve seen it…”

“It’s…”

“Apocalyptically terrifying.”

That was about as perfectly as he could have ever described it.  Before him lay what looked like a lifeless crater at least four miles across.  At the very center was the cathedral.  He’d expected some kind of grand architecture, towering spires, a gothic monolith, perhaps.  Instead, it was nothing more than an enormous hole in the ground.

“This is where I let you go,” said Isabelle.  “Don’t forget what I said.”

Eric was staring into the black abyss at the center of the barren crater with his mouth agape.  Now, at Isabelle’s words, he drew himself up.  She was right.  He didn’t come all this way to die.  “Thank you,” he said.

“You’re welcome.”

He took a deep breath.

“Bye,” said Isabelle.

And then Eric stood all alone.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Eric made his way down the slope of the crater.  No plants grew here.  The earth lay crushed beneath his feet, the soil barren.  It was no explosion that formed this crater, nor any falling celestial object.  The earth had not been forced into this shape in an instant, but instead over billions of years.  The weight of two worlds pushed down on him, literally driving him against the ground so that every step was a labor.  Even the air here felt heavy.

Inside that hole at the crater’s center was the point where the two worlds met.  A singularity, the denizens of the fissure had called it.  This was what happened where worlds collided.  He could actually feel the pressure against his skin.

No creatures roamed the crater and Eric did not blame them for keeping their distance.  It was uncomfortable here.  His ears felt as if they were about to pop.  He couldn’t quite catch his breath.

There was also no sign of the foggy man.  Not since he came across the carcass of the floppy-eared cat had he seen any evidence of the mysterious figure shrouded in nothingness.  He hadn’t left any more traps.

It didn’t make sense.  The foggy man had almost a full-day’s head-start.  He clearly had nothing to fear from the creatures in the fissure.  Why, then, had he not simply come straight here to the cathedral?  Why go to all the trouble of leaving those golems?  Why reveal himself the way he did at the church?  And why go to all the trouble of ambushing him at the factory, only to toss him back out onto the path?

What was his plan?

Feeling as if he suddenly weighed as much as a full-grown horse, Eric made his way slowly across the rocky floor of the crater to the stadium-sized hole at its center.  Even as he approached the rim of that mysterious abyss, he expected something more.  Surely a structure of some sort stood waiting for him inside the hole.  Or perhaps he would find that the hole itself was a cathedral, with an ornate stairwell winding downward among marble columns and gorgeous glass lamps.  But as he peered over the edge, he found nothing but shadows and gloom.

Even Father Billy’s dilapidated old church was more of a cathedral than this.  How did the word “cathedral” ever even come to mind with this place?  To Eric, it seemed like the exact opposite of a cathedral.  It was as if he were gazing into one of the deepest and darkest pits of hell.

Several sets of wooden steps led down to a walkway that circled the rim of the hole and gave access to two questionable-looking staircases that descended along the inner walls on opposite sides.

Eric walked carefully down the steps, half-expecting to fall under the burden of the crater’s strange gravity.  He crept gingerly to the aging railing and peered down into the darkness below.

It was like a bottomless pit.  Even with the sun still shining overhead, the light only reached into the hole a short distance.  The rest was utter blackness.

There was such a wrongness about this place that Eric had to steel himself against the urge to turn and run away.  Surely whatever madness the dream would plunge him into would not be nearly as bad as whatever awaited him down there.

That heaviness was even stronger here.  He could feel it crushing down on him as he peered down, threatening to push him into the abyss.

He had no idea where he was going to find the courage for this.

“Frightful, isn’t it?”

Eric jumped and turned.  There, standing at the railing only a few feet away, peering down into the same blackness, was the foggy man.

But he wasn’t foggy now.

He was just a man.

Eric was certain there was no one here when he approached.  There was literally nowhere to hide.

“You.”

“Me,” the stranger admitted.  Without his mysterious shroud of invisible fog, there wasn’t much about him that was even remotely frightening.  He wasn’t very big.  In fact, he was rather scrawny in his dark jeans and black tee shirt.  And he was barely more than a child, at most only twenty-one, with tousled black hair falling over a round and youthful face.

He turned away from Eric and strolled along the railing, still staring down into the darkness below them.  “Fascinating.  I’ve been to a lot of strange places, but this is definitely the most intense.  Can you feel it?”

Eric remained silent.  He didn’t have to ask what he was talking about.  He could feel it.  There was a strange energy about this place.  It was more than just the heaviness.  He couldn’t quite describe it.

“It’s terrifying, isn’t it?”

Still, Eric did not reply.  But he did agree.  This place was terrifying.

The young stranger stopped walking and placed both hands on the rail.  “What could be down there?”

That was the question of the day, wasn’t it?  What was hidden at the bottom of this hole?  What could possibly be worth all this trouble?  Eric wondered that himself.  He also wondered if the answer was remotely worth the very likely mortal cost of finding out.

“There’s more than one fissure leading away from here, you know.  Another one stretches out over Lake Superior.  Another into Canada.  At least two run west from here.  There are other singularities, too, each with its own fissures snaking off it.  There are places like this all over the world.  But only this fissure is so well-defined that you can use it to travel all the way to its singularity.”