The Myth makers Journey

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.

The rain fell hard on the hooded figure walking down a country road, illuminated by lightning and punctuated by claps of thunder. He was soaked through to his very soul, but he did not stop. The mud splattered up to the knees of his jeans, and the water seeped into his heavy boots, but he pressed on. The wind whipped at his shoulders and tried to tear his hood off, but he would not let it.

His name was Royce, and he was determined. He had searched for years in this backwater country, seeking something he knew existed yet had never seen himself. In a past life he had witnessed it with his own eyes, though they were closed at the time, so that could hardly count as legitimate evidence. However, he felt quite sure that it was most certainly real. There was no doubt in his mind: if he did not find this thing soon, all the monsters in Hell would not keep him from searching until his dying day.

There were few things Royce feared more than death; indeed, it was perhaps only Death himself that Royce truly feared. The rest could be dealt with reasonably well by simply enduring them. You couldn't live forever just by trying to avoid pain and suffering; you'd have to be an idiot to think that was at all possible. But when Death came calling? That was different; Death wasn't about pain or sorrow or suffering - Death didn't bring misery with him like some sort of mortal cancer, waiting for those who were unfortunate enough to catch it from him. No, Death brought something else entirely: peace. Not a false sense of security or a light at the end of the tunnel - nothing so soft as that - but an end to striving and fighting and looking to your right and left, wondering if anyone else might be more worthy of this life than you are. An end to all of that incessant questioning and worrying and wondering why because Death would finally be able to answer all those questions once and for all, once and for good...

And even worse than all those things was what came after: Hell itself! All that fire and brimstone and burning flesh; how could anyone ever imagine such a thing? And yet there were some who thought they knew better than everyone else who said it existed - people who claimed they'd been there themselves! Nothing could be further from the truth! If Hell existed then surely no one in their right mind would ever choose to go there; surely no one would put themselves through such torment unless they had somehow been tricked into believing it was really worth it!

Royce stopped abruptly in front of a large tree sitting crookedly in the middle of the road - it looked almost as if it had been struck by lightning at one point but still hadn't fallen over completely - then turned around to look behind him before continuing forward again in what appeared to be a random direction towards nowhere in particular. Royce did not care which direction he went anymore; he just needed to keep going forward until he reached his destination - wherever that happened to be along this wretched road. After all these years of searching alone with nobody but himself for company, Royce had decided long ago that he did not care where exactly he ended up going so long as he got there eventually; anything would do at this point so long as it kept moving him closer towards what he sought while simultaneously moving away from everything else...

He walked on like this for hours until finally reaching another fork in the road which looked just as hopelessly barren as every other bit of road through which he'd traveled over all these years; except now something new sat atop one of the branches of a nearby tree: a sign with an arrow pointing down one path that read "No Man's Land". A mere coincidence? Or perhaps an omen? Either way Royce chose the path without hesitation - nothing could keep him from making progress now - though part of him wondered whether or not maybe this decision wasn't made due entirely to fear rather than merely hope...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

When Royce finally reached No Man's Land (which thankfully took less time than expected), his clothes were caked with thick layers of mud and grime that were peeling off now like dried skin being flaked away by a warm bathtub soak (except not nearly as pleasant). He had been walking for so long that now any movement whatsoever felt agonizingly slow while simultaneously feeling too fast considering how far away from where he started out that felt; how much longer could this last? How much farther did he need to travel before finally reaching his goal? How much longer before finding what little sanity remained within this world was no longer worth whatever price must ultimately be paid?

Royce turned around slowly beneath lowering skies that threatened rain with even greater ferocity than before; however, instead of seeing endless fields stretching out towards distant hills covered with trees silhouetted against darkening skies like always before whenever traveling here during daylight hours (when daylight hours ever managed to make an appearance), No Man's Land looked remarkably different now: its eternally flat horizon line now stood perfectly straight across like unto a great wall erected right before him blocking off any more exploration beyond its borders (except looking more like an actual wall since flat horizons never actually look flat at all). It seemed impossible given how far back into history Royce had traveled here before now (he always knew exactly how long ago because when starting out each journey began on January 1st), but No Man's Land appeared significantly larger than usual today!

As Royce stared dumbfounded at this unexpected sight ahead of him like some sort of revelation bestowed upon mankind by Heaven itself (or rather Hell itself), small cracks began forming along its edge accompanied by ominous rumbling deep inside its center until finally several huge slabs gave way altogether dropping down into darkness below leaving exposed soil revealing nothingness beyond...