among our gathering were various high keepers, all well rehearsed and willing in heart but unprepared for the distance laid out before us. no single one of us had been this far before. the closest we had ventured until now were in images visited only in dusty dreams and fragmented memories handed down from those who had searched before us.

then, in the distant past, the view had been of great contrast to its current mutation. where once there were harmonious figures, an air of gentle sighs, delicate curves in soft hues, cascading to imbue, there now appeared a skyline of sharp oblique edges, harsh, drained of colour, but urgent, imposing and intense.

our potential had laid dormant and passive in our reasoning for too long. our backs were bruised but not broken. now we held newly sharpened cares, our aims clear and spiralling into tomorrow's elsewheres.