Glitter Bridge

Pink mushrooms, thick and plump, the size of wallabies. Justice grins as she lets her hand glide over the smooth, shiny surface of the mushroom heads. They seem to emit a soft glow wherever her fingers trail, releasing sparkly, fluorescent residue on her skin. She marvels at the effect of the strange plantation.

The flamingo skies shimmer down at her, and she walks through a forest littered with giant pink mushrooms. She wonders what they taste like. Cotton Candy? Strawberry watermelon? She can’t quite put a finger on the scent.

In the distance, Justice sees a spark of golden light, signaling the end of the forest. While the beauty of pink has kept her intrigued for long, she cannot bother with questioning the flavors of the world for too long. Not when another adventure awaits.

Not when every step leaves a darkness behind.

Placing her hands on two giant, bulbous leaves of a jade green color, Justice pushes past the last bit of forest. Her eyes take a second to adjust to the new lighting, sensitive from the cool, pink tones of her previous location. The sky is a gentle gold now, full of creamy, beige clouds and shimmering cyan stars. There are 7 suns, all aligned in an arc spanning from her left to her right.

Justice gazes below the arc of flaming gas and finds a bridge made of diamonds. It glitters and glows and catches every twinkle of every star, reflecting it back in a kaleidoscope of luminescence. It beckons to her, calling and calling and begging for Justice to cross its magnificence.

Without a glance backwards, Justice lets her heart lead her forward. To follow what’s been truly calling to her all along.

The arc of suns begins to set, slowly curving into the horizon, and casting a gentle, topaz glow on the left of Justice’s face. She continues to walk the strait of diamonds, even as the 7 suns are replaced with 7 rocky mirrors of their own light. The sky is bathed in the moons’ crisp light, and the bridge catches it in an entirely new manner, glowing cobalts and sapphires.

The path never ends, yet Justice keeps looking; Keeps looking forward.

For there is nothing behind her but emptiness now, her memories are enough to recall the land’s beauty. Her memories, sweet and short, serve a good purpose to Justice. There is no need to return to the pink mushroom forests, or the falls of honey and milk, or the fields of amethyst grass.

Beyond her, she knows her destination lies. Justice’s legs don’t tire, not when she has been searching for something so fervently, for so long.

She is close. The bridge was her way of knowing that. The way it gleamed beneath the several suns, like a sign that she was so, so close. Justice can feel the pull of the object, even from the miles of shining stones that she’s traversed for days. She cannot recall how many times she’s watched the suns and moons rotate around her, changing the way the bridge glowed.

She could recall, however, that she knew this bridge. She knew to expect it, the minute she saw a coin of light in that forest. She followed the bridge’s calling like it was second nature, as if she had followed this trail ever since she was a child. Walked it over and over and over, looking for something that she didn’t know of. Something so important, so beautiful, that she would abandon the glorious creations around her time and time again just to find it.

But for the first time, the bridge does not lead to amethyst fields. The bridge does not come to an end at a clearing of lavender shrubs, like it has since she made it to this land. It does not lead to the amethyst fields, that lead to the falls of honey and milk, that leads to pink mushroom forest. Instead, the bridge ends at a palette of silver stone.

Unfamiliar and foreign.

The 7 moons have not rotated in a while, and the sky is covered in a navy blanket.

Justice’s eyes well up with salty water as she follows the stone palettes to a cave, engraved with specks of white fire.

The magnetic pull of the object she desires is so strong, she’s moved to emotions she has never before experienced. Justice cries for the first time in a long time.

She walks into the cave, her pace increasing with anticipation. Her heart swells with a new sensation, of finally fulfilling her fate.

Deeper into the cave, she finds the walls begin to illuminate.

Closer. She’s getting closer.

Justice’s blood thrums wildly in her ears, rushing throughout her system with fervor.

The cave narrows as she accelerates, like her existence is converging into this one object.

She reaches her hand out towards the bright light that paints this cave, to the point she’s lived towards for many eternities.

It’s dark.

Everything is dark. The cave is gone. The light is gone.

It’s cold and dark and ugly and she can’t see anything, but-

Justice hears. Justice hears the sounds of a woman talking, sobbing, crying. And then the sounds of two younger girls, sobbing along. Why do they weep?

Why can’t she see them? She thinks she hears her name being called.

Justice opens her eyes, and finds blades of amethyst grass in her hands. She’s in a purple meadow, and the sky is a soft peach color. It’s beautiful.

In the distance, she hears the running of water. A waterfall, perhaps?

She ponders for a second, where she was before this field. The answer seems to lie ahead. It beckons to her, and she’s pulled to her feet.