Dimension seal 1

“Okay, all set,” came the voice from D’s left hand.
D nodded.
With the exception of a smattering of bloody mud and a fistful of ashes
giving off a thin wisp of smoke, the outlandish materials had disappeared.
Who would’ve believed all of that could be consumed by a little mouth no
bigger than the tip of a pinky finger?
Without a sound, D sailed up onto his mount.

Giving his cyborg horse a pained glance for just the merest instant, he
lashed it hard.
But, in this eternally sealed dimension, what was the point of this dash
on horseback?

“Where’s it been fused?” he asked, training his piercing gaze straight
ahead. The wind rang in his ears.
“Three hundred yards from here. It’ll start warping back around any
time now, so you’d better watch yourself,” the left fist said teasingly.
And what did it mean by that? The dimension was onto them.
Watch. See how the stands of trees lining the road, the bushes, even the
sky and the road itself twist like a veritable mirage, dissolving like paints in
water and surging after D as he gallops by?

It was a wondrous sight, as the gale raised by this gorgeous youth
melted the world and pulled it after him.
“One hundred and fifty to go,” the voice said with pleasure. “One
twenty . . . One hundred . . . Almost there.”

D’s pupils reflected only the landscape before him. No fear, no anger,
no sorrow there. It seemed he was always that way. Increasing his speed
even more, the moans of the wind became a maddened scream.
“Fifty . . . Thirty . . . Ten . . . Now!”
With this word, the whole melted and the crumbled universe touched
D’s back and reversed direction. It was as if the dimension had been turned
inside out.

6 - 2