An Explorer's Journal - The Cleft - The Journey Begins

It began as a dream. Desert, blue sky, a shape in the distance. A mass of earth and stone reaching towards the sky in the middle of a flat expanse of hardpan and scrub. A jagged tear in the Earth that whispers of ancient pride and loss. At first, the dreams were just pleasant images, then the feeling that it was a real place. A real place that I needed to find. Something was there. Something was... calling.

As the weeks and months passed, the dreams became more vivid, the call more urgent. I knew where this place was... New Mexico... and I knew its name. The Cleft. With a sense of purpose like I've never felt before, I put my affairs in order and set out to follow where I was being led. It felt like I would never return, but it also felt like I wouldn't need to.

A week after that first step from my door, and I am here. The New Mexico desert I dreamed about. Blue sky, the shape in the distance. I can see now that the shape is an extinct volcano. I jump the fence near a fallen sign, and my journey begins.

On the back of the sign I see a square piece of cloth; rough, primitive, with a drawing of a hand in the center. I reach out to touch the cloth, and as soon as my fingers meet the coarse weave the thumb part of the drawing glows blue. An exuberant sound floats through my head and my fingers tingle. The rational part of my  mind says that I should be frightened, but the rest of it feels a wonderful sense of accomplishment.

Off in the distance to my right, a bright flash of metal catches my eye. Too far away to tell what it is, I figure I have nothing else to do, so I start running towards it. As I get closer, I see that it's an old AirStream trailer... and there is someone sitting outside of it under the awning. As I get closer, I can hear the radio playing and smell burgers cooking on the grill. A man in a Hawaiian shirt and shorts is sitting in a lawn chair reading a book. As I approach, he looks up and speaks to me.

"Hey. Welcome. So, uh, I’m Zandi. I probably know more about why you’re here than you do. Don’t worry about it. You felt drawn here, just like the others. I’m not really here to give you answers, just to give you help and get you started. She’s left a message for you in the Cleft. Listen to it well. Follow her. Find the Journeys and then enter the tree. Oh, and uh, check with me if you need help."

Others have been here? She? Who is She? So many questions... but Zandi doesn't seem to be inclined to offer any more information. My answers are in the Cleft, so the Cleft is where I will start.