The City on The Edge of Forever

There is a city on the edge of forever...

I saw it once, in a dream. A place exists in the space between two seconds; an impossible realm of infinity, trapped by the bounds of the finite.  Where mountains hang upside down and oceans bleed into the sky. Here, there is a city built entirely of amber. Tucked away in a cavern, up so high, the unseen side of clouds appears as the ground.

I saw dragons bursting forth from the shrouded abyss, as breeching sea-serpents breaking from the surface of the ocean. I saw butterflies the size of basketballs and bigger - painted in a thousand colors, dancing in the wind like a music box ballerina. There were birds, twice the size of man, with flowing tails like ribbon, leaving a dust of diamonds to float down behind them where they fly.

I saw white tigers wearing, around their heads, golden circlets, crested with a single precious gem, set opulently in delicate golden tendrils between the creatures’ eyes. I saw these beautiful cats prowl through the emerald forest, before returning home, suddenly more kitten-like in nature, to sleep on the rug in front of the fire. With whole heart I believed that I had found the birthplace of light; the paradise where gods reside.

In the sky I saw two suns set and light the sky on fire, before dipping below the horizon, where three moons rose to quench the flames in a silver light. I saw comets made of lapis streak the sky, painting ribbons along the horizon. And there, beyond the mountains, beyond the oceans of crystalline aquamarine, hung low in the sky -  a planet. A perfect, endless sphere of onyx and turquoise and purple garnet. So close, its presence in the sky appeared the size of frisbee against the horizon it didn’t quite touch. And there, peaking out two thirds from where it hid behind its planetary mother, was a moon; perhaps an orange in comparison to its frisbee parent. A moon in nature, but nothing like the moon know to you and I. This moon was filled with color; its surface smooth, free of scars and craters left by the constant, merciless battery of asteroids across its unprotected face. Even the stars in the sky shone a thousand times brighter; I saw the galaxies clearly, more clear than anyone had ever seen before. They shone as if the whole existence of these celestial bodies was to never let me be alone in the dark.

I basked in the glory of this world; surely, I thought, I had seen the end of the glory and beauty of this world; surely, nothing in this universe could be any more beautiful!

But this world was not of our universe. The beauty, the glory of this world was not restrained by the finite nature of reality. The cool colors of the night spread across the landscape. The whole world was painted in a silver-blue light. My fixation with the sky lasted long into the hour. And when, finally, I was able to pull my gaze away from the illuminated heavens. I felt my heart stop, the blood run cold - a pressure on my chest as if my lungs were made of stone; the breath caught in my throat. The sight that I beheld in the landscape before me was like nothing that could ever exist in our reality. The daytime world had died at sunset in a burst of flames; and from the midnight ashes had given way into the physical embodiment of dreams.

And in the darkened silver-blue glow, the forest filled with life; exploding in color cast by the neon glow of the bioluminescent dome of the midnight existence.

Intricate designs of blue light suddenly appeared on the ground, symbols lighting up on boulders and stones. Elaborate patterns of purple light climbed up the bark of tree trunks, the leaves suddenly illuminating in bright green. Flowers bloomed in the moonlight; roses and lilies found only in the garden of Nyx, glowing red and white and gold.

Long since the butterflies had gone for the night and feathery moths had taken their place. Beautiful pastel wings now suddenly glowed with pinks and purples and greens and blues. White elephants and golden giraffes roamed across the illuminated landscape, reaching up to nibble on low hanging leaves. Pink dolphins and silver manta rays, and jellyfish and whales and all sorts of magnificent fish swam through the air; floating, jumping, gliding as if sky were ocean.

The white tigers that I saw before, I saw again just now -  prowling through the woods with heads held high, as if they were royalty. The lazy, kitten-like demeanor I had seen before, had vanished. Whereas before, the circlets placed around their heads were nothing more than silly “dress up” props, now they were a statement attesting to their royalty. I had never noticed before, but now I saw the gems placed delicately in golden circlets were different from tiger to tiger; the females had rubies the males had emeralds. The royal creatures held themselves with dignity; and I watched in awe.

I suddenly felt a pang in my heart – pity – for the creatures of the daylight who had given up this nighttime realm as a sacrifice to satisfy the mortal need for sleep.
But all my pangs were forgotten when far off in the distance, my eyes caught a glimpse of amber light. I had to squint to see it clearly: a city. A city made entirely of amber. Just the view I had of the glorious city was enough to pull my thoughts together. The scrambled mess of thoughts that were racing through my mind were replaced by a single desire when I laid eyes on that amber city. A desire that compares to the primal need that drives migration; I must reach that city. I have to go there. I have to. It was a desire of mine that I so fervently wanted, that it physically ached.

The ache was bad enough, simply from the magnitude of my desperation. But it was compounded ten-fold, upon the hopelessness of my horrid realization that my odds of actually finding this amber-built city were less than slim; if existent at all. The city itself was far beyond my reach; beyond the forest, beyond the canyons - much too far for me to travel. Especially when I was so new to whatever glorious world I had found myself in. But this desperate ache to find the amber city still remained, and my mind raced with wild thoughts and plans to reach this place; it felt as if my whole existence depended on it.

Lost in a whirlwind of thoughts that refused to stop or slow, I was unaware that I had company – until I felt a furry head nuzzle my leg. I looked down, where a young white tiger sat contently at my side; his emerald green eyes flickering in the bioluminescent light of the forest.

Although he was no cub, he was clearly young; his size noticeably smaller than that of other males I had seen. Despite his youth and small size, he held himself with an air of dignity; head held high, his fur was well groomed, soft, silky, the whites of it more pristine than freshly fallen snow. But despite all his pride, I knew the young tiger had spirit; I saw the fire of life burning in his eyes.

For a moment, the amber city was forgotten, and I wondered why the tiger was sitting here beside me. And even more so, I wondered why he hadn’t left yet. There was a mischievous glint in his eyes and I thought, perhaps, there was a reason he was here?

Wait… was there…? Did he…? Was he smiling at me?

The royal, white-stripped tiger looked me in the eyes, those beautiful emerald orbs illuminating my soul. We held our gaze, the tiger and I. But slowly, the young, stripped prince pulled his gaze away, turning to face the amber city.
The city… the amber city…

I followed his gaze and looked upon it. Somehow, I found the beauty of the city to be far more glorious when I gazed upon it with a friend at my side. – My companion, this tiger, could I call him a friend? Yes. I felt it in my heart. This tiger here, was a loyal friend. The kind of friend that comes along once, maybe twice in a lifetime.

The tiger looked me in the eyes again, those emerald orbs the only thing that could pull my gaze away from the amber city. As I met the eyes of the young prince, I felt something stir inside me.

He would take me to that amber city. I knew he would. I could feel that he wanted to go to this place just as badly as I did. Together we would reach our dream. We would travel to the amber city together. That impossibly far-away city. The City on the Edge of Forever. We would travel there together.

I can remember the tiger pulling his gaze away again, rising to his feet, nudging me with his head in the direction of the city.

I can remember passing through an open plain, whose fields were laced with seas of golden-weaved wheat. I remember my companion rolling around in the stalks, chasing mice and birds and anything that moved.

I can remember crossing a frozen ocean, my feet, his paws crunching in the freshly fallen snow. I remember how the ocean was frozen all the way through. I remember how clear the ice was; I can remember looking down through the ice and seeing the ocean floor.

I can remember many adventures the tiger and I shared together.

But we never reached that amber city.

It was just a dream, after all.

And we all have to wake up.

But that never stopped us. Because every night, the tiger and I were reunited. And every night our adventure continued. At first I found myself fretting over my dreams. What if we didn’t met again tonight? What if my mind wandered to far, and I was stranded, lost in the ocean of my mind, too far away from that amber city to return. But as time went on, my worry went away. And as time went on, I began to realize that the daylight world I had know as reality for all of my life, was nothing more than a dream. No, the world I came to every night, the world with two suns and three moons, and a planet in the sky, and the lapis comets, the world where my friend was waiting, that was truly reality.

That was home.

omg, laurina, that was really.. how do i describe it..? well, it was super detailed, and there was a poetic feeling to it. gah, it was beautiful. write mooore! <3

Odd... I wasn't think about adding more. But now, suddenly, I feel I should. But at the same time, I'm not 100%sure... Should I? Should I add more?

Should I leave it as is?

Should I add a second chapter? (a Part II persay?)

Should I just add onto the end of it and make it a longer one-shot?

Should I continue it by writing a sequel? (It would be a continuation of this work, albeit, a separate story completely: it would be in a different tone and from p