I was born in a small village, inhabited by a few people, surrounded by a chain of mountains blocking the exit from the valley.
Ever since I was born, I was a curious girl. At a very young age, I already had explored the entire village and the forest. I would be amazed at the flowers infesting the tall grass at the southeast, the ducks swimming in the lake at the west, the abandoned houses at the north and the scattered large rocks that formed large natural sculptures in the northeast.
But the place wasn't big enough for me. As I looked at the clouds hovering over the large mountains that surrounded every direction, I always wanted to go beyond them and explore the new places. However, the path, not only was too steep but was also too dangerous to climb.
I tried asking everyone in the village what was past the mountains.
"I believe it's just endless mountains after it, dear", answered my single mother.
"My aunt said there are monsters past the mountains, she tells me stories about the devourer of children and how it goes after disobedient children. The mountains are there to protect us", responded my best friend, clearly terrified from his aunt's stories.
"Yes, there are likely monsters, such as carnivore plants, human-eating oxen and children-devouring humanoids", terrified me even more the village merchant and most ambitious inhabitant, who then proceeded to talk about amazing things that could be on the other side with a gleam in his eye, "but there may also have flying horses, house-sized birds, and trees the size of the mountains past them. There may also have a lot of gold, and jewels, and even magical artifacts".
"Were you there?", I asked curiously.
His expression changed to a sigh: "no, I wasn't".
I began walking away disappointed with the lack of answers when the merchant called from the distance: "wait, I heard there was someone in the village who went beyond".
I immediately turned around and asked excitedly: "Who? Who?"
"I don't know", shrugged the man, "all I know is that he lives separated from the village, somewhere hidden. I don't know where exactly".
I began searching where that man could be. I searched in the flower field, which is such a nice place for someone to live in, but even looking everywhere I couldn't find him. Then I searched the lake, but couldn't find anything and there was no sign of an underwater house. Then I searched the abandoned houses, I looked at every house carefully, even looking for secret passages or whatever house could be hidden among the trees, yet no results. Finally, I searched around the scattered rocks, it would be a pretty good place for a man to hide, but despite asking my friend to overturn the rocks, I couldn't find him.
The search lasted days, weeks, but I couldn't find anything indicating that man's presence. Where could he be? Did I search it right? Maybe there's something indeed underwater? Or a house I haven't found? Or maybe a really heavy rock we haven't overturned?
I sat on the only stone in the south part of the valley and hugged my legs as I watched the flock of birds flying around the walls of the mountains. I envied them for being able to fly and explore whatever was beyond that giant wall.
I watched one of the birds fly to a path I don't remember taking before. As I walked through it, I noticed strange plants growing on the rocky floor. The path led to a dead-end and I only could watch the bird fly past the mountain, but I could also see something like a wooden window ten feet above me on the wall.
It was pretty hard, but it was possible to climb through the side of the wall containing small holes that could be used to grip on.
The window door was unlocked and as I opened, I spotted one single room containing one sleeping bag, one rusty shelf, one large chest and scattered objects, mostly seemingly useless.
When I opened the chest, there was something that seemed like a blanket, but it wasn't the usual blanket, and it seemed...colorful.
"What are you doing here?", shouted an old man from the wooden window.
"What is this?", I asked him about the colored blanket thing.
"Nothing", he bluntly said.
"Are you...are you the one who went beyond?"
"What?"
"The one who traveled past the mountains?"
The man stood silent but then began to push me towards the exit. I had so many questions, but he kept cutting me off whenever I asked about something.
As I stared at the ground from the window, I realized I couldn't climb down. The old man seemed pretty unhappy bringing me down. It didn't help he tripped halfway and we fell. As he pushed me away, I couldn't help but ask:
"What is beyond the mountains?"
He stopped for a while, then answered: "you won't want to know what's beyond"
"Are there monsters?", I asked worriedly.
"No, it's worse", he answered seriously, "don't get too curious about it"
And with that, all my desire to explore the world beyond the mountains was shattered. I have smelled the flowers in the flower field less, I have seen the ducks swimming in the lake less, I restricted myself to just look the abandoned houses from the distance and only once in a month I would sit at the rocks near the rock sculptures. I lost my will to tour through the valley. I have become timider, more recluse in my home.
On the other hand, I gained experience and I became more caring. While I stayed home, I watched my mother bake cupcakes. She would send me to deliver them to everyone in the village and I happily did, but I felt like I was missing someone.
I asked her to prepare one extra cupcake. I'd walk every day to that same wall with the wooden window and I'd leave the cupcake on the ground, yet the next day I would see it on the same place or scattered around being taken by the ants. Still, I didn't give up.
One day I saw the old man off from his lair. He was just sitting in a rock while carefully examining his weird plants. I silently greeted him, handed the cupcake and began to walk away when he called from the distance:
"Wait"
I turned around, waiting patiently what he had to say:
"It should be pretty obvious I don't want cupcakes or anything from anyone here", he expressed, "why do you insist? Why are you taking the effort?"
"I care about everyone in this village", I answered.
"Why would you care about me?"
"You must have suffered a lot outside the valley", I expressed before continuing to walk away.
"Wait", the man stopped me again, "I know what you want and I only gave half the truth. Show up tomorrow at the same time and I'll tell you the whole truth"
The next day, I found the old man awaiting my arrival on the same rock. I was surprised to see the same blanket I found in the chest. It was big enough to cover the entire path and touch the wall from both sides while it had an oval shape with one side ending with a big hole. I could see the colored stripes ranging from dark red, red, dark orange, yellow-orange, yellow, green, dark green, cyan, light blue, blue, indigo, and violet before returning to the dark red stripe. I also spotted a large rip present on the other side of the balloon.
"You cook very well", complimented the man.
"It was my mom", I answered.
"You wanted to know what was this, right?", the old man pointed to the oval blanket, before I could confirm, he continued: "that's a hot air balloon. It's supposed to be filled with air, which is then heated with a torch to be made lighter and hence fluctuate. There's supposed to be a chest attached to this side where you can stay in and fluctuate with it"
"By fluctuate you mean to fly?", I asked curiously.
"Yes, like the birds. Higher than the birds", the man responded, I could see he was smiling. He added: "enough to travel beyond the mountains"
"My mother says beyond the mountains there are only more mountains"
"It's pretty natural for her to think that. She was probably a curious girl just like you, but as she never got answers, she assumed there was nothing beyond the mountains. She sees this village as the center of her world, and everything beyond is just monotonous"
"My friend's aunt says there are monsters outside"
They're afraid of the unsure, hence why they associate the unsure with danger. It's partly genuine fear and partly something they tell themselves to feel better staying where they are"
"The merchant says we will find flying horses, house-sized birds, and mountain-sized trees...and also a lot of wealth beyond"
"Woah, calm down! It doesn't get that unreal. There are magnificent things beyond the mountains, and a lot of natural wealth, not restricted to gold. It'll take days to tell you about everything even succinctly, but I won't mind, it seems better than do nothing every day"
The man stretched and got up from the sitting rock, before saying: "I need to rest now, but we can continue tomorrow"
The old traveler was indeed patient. He made sure to tell everything by groups while also making sure to amaze me on anything.
First, he told me about the plants. He told me about carnivore plants, giant flowers, flowers that glow in the night while telling their general characteristics.
Next, he told me about not only the wide lakes but also the flowing rivers that on their way flowered life around before dumping into the ocean that covered the entire world.
Following that, he talked about the animals, taking a good two full weeks to tell about the insects, the sea life, the wide variety of mammals, reptiles, and birds. I mainly liked when he talked about birds because of their ability and live everywhere around the world.
He described beaches, waterfalls, mountains ten times the size I'm used to seeing, grand canyons, Vulcans, acid lakes, meteor sites.
Eventually, he started talking about other communities, their cultures, the shape of their houses, things even the local merchant couldn't dream of. I learned there was a global human society around the world divided into countries, each with its tradition. Soon I fell in love when talking about the other communities.
They had their history, about their victories, development, achievements. But it soon started to get dark.
There were wars, there were famines, there were plagues, there were genocides, there were tortures, there was fear, there was despair, there was depression, there was hopelessness.
The old man no longer smiled when he talked about that, instead, his voice got lower, his face got darker. I felt the area around me lose its light and the monsters my friend's aunt used to describe coming in form. I felt the urge to run back home and hide.
My friend's aunt wasn't completely wrong, but monsters aren't the clawed or horned creatures the villagers describe. They aren't external, they're inside the society, inside the neighborhood, inside the family, inside yourself. When he told me outside was worse than how the aunt described, he meant it was worse people harm each other.
That was what happened after all: the old man, with the hot air balloon, fled from the misery. He started this village to rebuild a better society, even if it meant isolating us from the outside world. He then isolated himself, to protect us from his pain.
That is until I pushed him enough.
Time didn't rest. While I grew up and learned new abilities with my mother, the old man became weaker until he could no longer supply himself. I took care of him and I remember when he told me:
"You look sad...like, you used to be more adventurous"
I stood quiet, then he continued: "you shouldn't be scared about the outside. There are people just like you there. I don't want you to hide here just because I scared you. Yeah, there are pretty scary things outside, but you learn to take it afterward"
Later he told me: "you can stay here and not worry about the outside, or you can travel outside and feel what freedom is. It is your choice, I won't be here to judge you anyway"
A few days later he died of old age. I brought home the large chest containing the ripped hot air balloon.
I have since then married my childhood friend, had a son and became a seamstress. Just like me, my son had the spirit of an adventurer. Whenever I could, I would bring him to play around the flower field, feed the ducks at the lake, explore the abandoned houses and jump around the rocks. Still, couldn't prevent him from one day asking:
"What is on the other side of the mountains?"
"I don't know", I lied, "it shouldn't matter much"
The boy walked away depressed and I felt guilty about it, but I knew he would overcome.
One day I opened the large chest and, determined to give him an answer, I sewed the rip in the top half of the blanket thing. It took me long nights to get it as tight as possible and probably cost me a lot of wool. Afterward, I would need to make a huge basket and I didn't have anything to make it. However, to my relief, I could get the merchant to agree on getting fiber. He got me another woman who, alongside my mother, helped me make the basket.
My husband also got invested, asked for help and soon the whole village was involved. We had finished the basket, the merchant got four strong ropes that connected the basket to the balloon, my husband installed the torch and the other men were a massive help to get the air inside the balloon.
The day my son completed 10, the entire village was reunited around the full hot air balloon, standing bigger in width and height than any other house. I was standing inside the basket with my husband and my son.
There was standing the merchant, who told us to bring him the wealth we find outside while I giggled. There was standing my husband's aunt, who told him to be careful and beat the monsters up. There was standing my mother, who finally told me how I have grown up and how proud she is of me.
When the balloon took off, I waved to them one last time before it headed towards the south and flew past the mountains. To my surprise, a flock of birds was following us during our journey.
I could see multiple mountains covered with trees.
I could see large fields of tall grass and multiple colors taking over them. I could see countless deers and bunnies walking through these fields.
I could see large lakes flooding other fields and there I could see white spots swimming on it.
I could see the river flowing from west to east to the ocean, while on the way coloring its sides with trees and blooming flowers.
I could see multiple white spots over the ocean that seemed like paper boats.
I could see countless houses showing up on the shore as a big city unveiled. There I could see people of all kinds walking here and there over the endless streets cutting the city.
I didn't care how long it would take the explore the rest of the world, I would have the entire time to do.
One day I would sit in the grass while watching the fireworks from New Year's eve with my grandchildren. They would ask where I come from and I would say I came from a village in a valley who never saw the world beyond it. I would then say I freed myself from the cage and learned to fly.
