The Precipitous Bar, part 3

For part 1, click here.
For part 2, click here.

The splashing stopped.  A new sound rose in its place, a rushing sound Harriet didn't recognize at first.  The water at her feet began to pick up more speed, as if in anticipation.  It didn't take long for Harriet to figure out what the sound was; she hadn't heard the sound of a waterfall from the top in some time, and she wasn't exactly happy to hear it now.  There wasn't much she could do, so she slowed down to make sure she didn't lose her footing.

Vicky followed suit.  She took the opportunity to look over the edge; it was immediately apparent that she wished she hadn't.  She paled visibly and returned to the center of the stream, walking closer to Harriet.

"Grab on to my shirt," Harriet said over her shoulder, "if it'll help you."  Vicky harrumphed at the suggestion, but did not hesitated long before gripping the cloth tightly in her fist.

It wasn't long before she could make out the figure of Evan standing against a bright blue sky.  The water had picked up to the point that Harriet had to place each foot carefully.  She felt Vicky take a few stumbles, but she was strong and managed to keep herself standing through her grip on her teacher.  Harriet called out Evan's name one more time; the dark silhouette turned to face them and waved.

Harriet tried not to stare as she approached, but without somewhere else to look it was proving difficult.  On either side, there only sky, a sky that simply reminded her how high they were.  Looking down only made keeping her footing that much harder, as she tried to think about every step instead of relying on instinct.  Up only held a blank sky and vertigo.  So she locked her eyes on the madly grinning boy down stream.

Long before she caught up, he turned his attention to a strange stone formation next to him.  All Harriet noticed, though, was that he was standing only five feet from the edge of the water, right before it tumbled down to... Well, hopefully, she'd be able to drag him away before she found out where the water ended.

"Evan--" Harriet began as she came within a few strides.

"Before you go," he interrupted, "look.  You're going to want to see this."

Harriet opened her mouth to yell and paused.  She reminded herself she was standing before a waterfall, on some sort of stream that seemed to ascend into the sky, chasing a boy who seemed to stand on edge of the world without a care.  Regardless of the reason, this was not a good place to start yelling.  Instead, she looked down at where Evan was pointing.

Three large, semi-circular stones jutted out of the water, arranged to reveal strange characters carved along the curve.  One of them was well out of the water, but the other two sat below the surface of the almost waist-high water.  Despite the rushing water, the strange characters were still easy to make out.

Wait, waist high, rushing water?  Harriet thought suddenly.  Hold on, why--

"Can you read what it says?"

Harriet looked back up at Evan as she was pulled from her thoughts.  "No," she said in response to his question.   What was she thinking about?  She couldn't place it.  Her thoughts seemed slow, like they were coming through thick syrup.

Evan laughed, gesturing back to the strange statue.  "Just follow along, I'm sure you'll get it."  Before she could say anything, he began to chant in a deep rhythm.

"The climb was steep, the journey was long,
But no matter our pace,
We're late.
But we took the steps, and tried our best,
Is it luck?  Ambition?
Or fate?"

Harriet was beginning to follow along.  She knew he finished the first semicircle, and could almost make out the words on the next row.  It was almost like the words were changing to something more recognizable as Evan continued his strange song.

"The door forbidden, found unbidden,
Can be found for one year, so
Fleeting.
Yet we come so far, for the Precipitous Bar
Patient and Driven.
Needing."

It all made sense.  Before she realized it, Harriet found herself adding her own voice to Evan's.  It wasn't long before Vicky's voice joined as well.

"Our emotions come real, our minds become steel,
The only true strengths are
Choices.
Now we stand before, and call for the door,
With our hearts, our souls and
Voices!"

A huge wave of air and sound pushed suddenly against Harriet, almost destroying her equilibrium.  She closed her for only a moment and adjusted her stance, widening slightly bending more at the knees.  The first boom was quickly followed by another, but they were no longer threatening.  She opened her eyes.

A ring of thick rock, almost like a cave-mouth, hung in the air, some distance in front and above them.  Stairs descended from it, and a strong flow of water poured out.  The stairs and water came to meet the waterfall about ten feet down from the edge on which they stood, the two flows creating a thick downpour into the empty space below.  The stairs continued to ascend through the strange, hanging rock formation, going into... nothing.  And yet the water continued to flow down them, endlessly produced from whatever invisible source fed it.

Harriet gaped; from the gasp behind her, she imagined Vicky was doing the same.  It took a moment to realize that Evan had stepped off the edge into the waterfall.

"Evan!" she cried, grasping for the place where he was just standing.  Her mind was reeling, trying to keep up with a reality that wasn't obeying the rules any more.  She grasped for anything that she could onto, a hand, a rock, a thought...

"Miss Stanford!"

She turned her head as fast as it would respond towards the sound.  Although even that felt sluggish, she managed to do so quickly.  Evan was standing at the mouth of cave, waving once again as if he did not have a concern in the world.  He smiled at her as soon as he knew he had her attention, and then turned around once more, jogging up the steps and through the opening.

She looked back at Vicky, concern and anxiety filling her gaze.  They did not say a word, but Vicky swallowed hard once and nodded.  Turning back to the precipice, taking a deep breath and flattening her arms against her sides, Harriet jumped.

To Be Continued