I don't know who I'm talking to.

I don't know how you're hearing this - perhaps you're reading my memories, or perhaps you are listening to me now. Perhaps, even, you're tracking me. I don't know. But I do know that if I don't talk to someone, I'll go mad. Maybe I'm already going mad, talking to people who don't exist. Well, you exist - don't you?

I suppose I should tell you who I am. My name is Ernest. I'm an explorer. A wanderer. I am trying to know everything. And knowledge I gain, I don't want to go to waste. So I'm going to tell you about it. I hope you do good things with it.

I have a lot I could tell you. Would you believe me? Would you believe me if I told you the gods existed - and I had met one? Would you believe me if I told you I was friends with the general of a hidden city? Would you believe me if I told you that the world is so much bigger than a village, or a city?

I guess you'll have to. You're stuck with me now.

A mask landed next to me as I walked this morning. 

You know them, the shimmery masks all the rich people wear. Well, perhaps you don't. I couldn't know. Either way, I have to say, it was absolutely beautiful. I've seen masks before - there was one time when there was a huge ball and all of the masks ended up on the Adeluna City black marker - but never anything like this. I was automatically worried.

You see, from my experience, anything that just shows up out of nowhere is a trick, or cursed, or something similarly evil. Especially if it's pretty. People are exceedingly gullible when it comes to pretty things. I have to admit, even I am rather gullible when it comes to pretty things (I'll talk about some of my "cursed" items later).

I picked up the mask. Even if it was cursed, it was pretty, and I could probably get some money for it at the next town. There was a note attached to the back. I wish I could read it. It appears to be a letter of some kind - there's what looks like a greeting at the top, and a sign off at the bottom. I can't tell, though. For all I know, it could be in another language. In case you can't tell, I can't read in any of them.

So, here I am, walking through the middle of a forest with a masquerade mask in my backpack. It's kind of tempting to put it on. Most people would be saying, "What harm can it do?"

A lot. Trust me, a lot.

The sky was breaking today.

I swear, that's exactly what it looked like. Bits of crystal sky were falling everywhere. I picked a few up and looked at them, but they disappeared. They were gone in a plume of glowing dust. I kept the dust. I figure I might as well.

I'm thinking of asking Angela what's going on. She probably knows. She knows almost everything. I suppose you don't know who Angela is. Well, you probably do. No one ever calls her Angela, though. She has some long fancy title. Anyway, she's the goddess of earth. And she knows. Whatever is happening, she probably has a hand in it.

I've been collecting sky dust as I go along. It's quite pretty. I've kept from playing with it as I go, though. It might be hazardous. Almost everything might be hazardous.

Keep an eye out for the sky breaking. Don't stand right under it.

Today, I saw a rabbit.

I bet you're thinking "big deal." And you're kind of right. I see rabbits regularly. Even white ones, like this one. But I've never seen a rabbit sing. It was enchanting - literally. Before I knew what I was doing, I was following it. I don't know how long it led me, but judging by the sun, it was much longer than it felt. 

We stopped at a strange lake. It glimmered in shades of blue and purple, and seemed to be a window to somewhere else. I went to look at it, and before I knew it, I was walking on the surface. It felt as hard as a polished floor. I stood there, watching the lake, and my mother appeared. 

You wouldn't believe me if you knew what had happened. She has been dead for four years. But there she was, clear as day, in the middle of this strange solid lake. And that was when whatever controlled this place made its mistake. Because it thought it had me. So it brought my uncle out, too.

That brought me back to myself. I could hear his voice, warning me against listening to the strange, tempting songs. He told me many times that if something seemed to good to be true, it was. And suddenly, I was in control of myself again.

I ran. I ran into the thick trees, and hid among them until my mind was clear again. I rested my head against the tree trunk and cried. I was so miserable. It is strange, how something like this could break me.

When I thought I was ready, I got to my feet and went back to the lake. The rabbit was gone, and so were the people, but the mysterious place was still there. I suppose, had I gone over to it again, my family would have come back. But I didn't want that. Even thought I miss them, I couldn't have stayed at that lake forever. I was afraid of it. It was not… right.

I tried to go to the villages, but there were spells up all around them, and I'd had enough magic for one day. That strange rabbit. I'm going to sleep high up in a tree tonight, where he can't reach me. I'm never going back to that lake. Never again.