Thomas Moore's Quest for the Jhfkt68 Key

I remember it was a cool, crisp spring morning. I was walking to work as usual, and that's when it happened. I saw the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen in my entire life. The sky, the clouds, they all started to glow with light. And then, just as suddenly as the light appeared, it vanished.

"Odd," I muttered to myself. Though I wasn't quite sure how odd this was. In this city, nothing interesting ever happens. When you live in a place like this, you're used to seeing weird things. But something about this glowed in my mind for days afterwards. That's when I decided it would be a good idea to go back home early today and do some research on the internet about what I saw.

I get home, open up my laptop, and start searching for anything related to sudden changes in the color of the sky. The first few pages didn't yield any results; it seems that over the years people have realized that reporting strange things is a waste of time. But then I came across an article about unusual changes in the color of the sky being observed in various places around the world over the past week or so by astronomers. They were all probably just sunspots or some other astronomical anomaly. But something told me I had witnessed something special that day...

"Excuse me, young man."

A voice behind me startled me out of my reverie and made me jump up from my chair. An old lady stood there on my doorstep. She looked ancient - her skin weathered and wrinkled, her eyes clouded with age - but she had an air of regalness about her that seemed to radiate power and presence despite her physical frailty; she must've been quite beautiful in her youth, by the look of those high cheekbones and that straight nose, but now those were simply signs of her obvious wealth, as they were unmarred by any wrinkles or blemishes of age. Her gray hair fell down loosely almost all the way down to her waist and was tied into two braids at either side of her head; these were adorned with flowers, giving off an effeminate air which contrasted sharply with her harsh facial features and deep voice. She wore a long green dress which ended right above her ankles; she was barefoot despite the cold weather outside.

She held out a hand towards me as if expecting something: "May I come in? We have much to discuss."

I quickly gathered myself together for a moment before inviting her inside: "Of course! Please!"

I offered her a seat and poured her some tea while she waited patiently for me to finish making my own cup as well; she then began talking before I even had time to sit down again: "So you've been wondering about what happened that day?"

"Yes," I responded cautiously; after all, who was this woman? Wasn't it rather strange that she knew where I lived?

[Supposedly not...]

She smiled calmly: "I assume you know nothing about magic?"

[Well... No.]

"Then allow me to introduce myself properly: my name is Minerva."

[Minerva...] "Well met."

As if responding to my thoughts; Minerva raised her arms above her head giving off an impression of royalty: "King Minos' daughter! King Aegeus' wife! Queen Pasiphae's mother!"

[My God...] She continued: "And also your grand-aunt three times removed because your great-great-great-grandfather William married his cousin Mary! So many titles... Which one shall we use?"

[Oh no...] Can this get any stranger?

"You see Thomas," Minerva continued after taking a sip from her tea: "There are many worlds out there besides our own."

[Worlds?] This sounded somewhat familiar... Wasn't there was something like this in Star Trek...? Or was it Stargate...? Or maybe Doctor Who...? It didn't really matter which show it was though; if someone said they could travel between dimensions then... Well... Anyone would think they were crazy wouldn't they?

[I guess...] "So then you're..."

Minerva nodded: "A traveller from another world yes."

[Wow...] Nothing else came to mind at that moment so I just sat there dumbfounded trying to wrap my head around what she had just said earlier. That's when Minerva got up from her seat and walked over towards one of the bookshelves on the wall opposite from where I sat before opening a book which apparently contained notes or some other form of personal journal written inside; she skimmed through it for a few moments before announcing: "As you can see Thomas, our worlds are connected somehow." She closed the book and walked over towards me before handing me back my research paper on changes in colors observed in various locations throughout our solar system over the past week; when we both looked at them side by side we noticed something peculiar: each location where strange changes in color had been reported also contained strange markings within its vicinity as well - triangles etched into rocks here and there throughout various deserts around the globe... Even some markings etched into trees within forests surrounding mountains and hillsides across Europe! Could these markings be similar to those found on Earth...? Are they something special...? Is there some deeper meaning behind them...? Or are they simply random scribbles etched into rock or trees? We may never know... After all... These markings could be from anywhere... Anywhere at all.... Perhaps even beyond our understanding.... *END*