[Nano novel] Chapter one: Taliesin's adventure. (not sure about that title yet)

Eleven months earlier:

A dark-haired boy sat alone on top of a low hill.  Behind him were the low brick buildings of a college campus.  The campus itself, which was not large, was surrounded by tall trees, which stood guard against the winds that tended to gust in the mornings and evenings. 

The sun was setting, and he sat and stared at the splash of vibrant color against the darkening sky.  More trees, pines and oaks and birches all mixed together, were densely growing together a few hundred yards from his small hill, so their tops intruded in silhouette along the line of his vision.  He was facing a soccer field, which also doubled as a baseball field and a football field, depending on which of the school's small teams needed to use it.

This hill was one of his favorite places, because it was quiet at certain times of the day.  When the field was in use, he went to the other side of campus and sat in the library by one of the big windows that overlooked more trees.

Today, the field had been quiet all day.  It was a holiday, and nearly every student was gone - either out with friends or home with their families.  His family was too far away, too distant in many senses, to go home to on a short weekend.  He would rather stay where he knew he belonged.

It had been difficult to find a place for himself here, at the beginning.  He was lonely and out of place for weeks before he fell into the simple yet busy rhythm of the small college.  He excelled in a few classes, which helped solidify his belonging.  He had no close friends, and stayed in a dorm room by himself.  His roommate had only made it through the first week of classes before he dropped out, which was secretly what he had been hoping for.  A room alone, silence if he wanted it, time and space to think - that was all he needed.

Occasionally, he would go for a walk in the woods alone, although the students were generally discouraged from doing that.  Being as far north as they were, the woods went on for miles in each direction, and the road to campus was the only road around that was much traveled by the inhabitants of the small college town and the college itself.  There were no signs or fences in the woods to mark how far you had gone, or to point the way back.  Walking in the woods in the evening was considered as foolish as diving in front of a train.

He was not afraid, however.  He had always had an extremely accurate, innate sense of direction.  He always knew where he was, and how to get to any other place around.  He could carry maps in his head and picture, with photographic clarity, the landmarks associated with each place he had been or intended to go.  Already, he had been out for a walk in the woods in the evening more than a dozen times in the past month.  As long as the wind was not bitterly cold, and his homework wasn't piling up, he took at least a hour long walk back under the mysterious and lonely trees.

The sunset was still glowing brightly, but something flickered off to his right, just at the corner of his vision.  He turned his head to look, and at first did not believe his eyes.  He blinked a few times and looked again.  It was still there, almost impossibly so.  A perfectly clear rainbow was coming down out of the cloudless evening sky, arcing gracefully past the campus buildings, and looked as if it came to rest about a tenth of a mile into the woods on the north side of the college proper. 

For a moment, he hesitated, but the rainbow (incongruous and beautiful) was calling to him.  I must find its end, he found himself thinking with determination.  He got up and strode silently toward the wall of trees, feeling strangely elated.  What will I find?

As he neared the wood, which was indeed almost like a wall - there was carefully mowed lawn, then tall mature trees, just like that - he glanced behind him to see if anyone was watching.  It was merely a reflex, and he usually did it each time, but he felt self-conscious, almost as if someone was watching him.  He hesitated again, one arm having just swung forward a bit in anticipation of his next step.  The light changed then, the sun having gone down further into the deep black night that crept slowly over the horizon.  Determined once more, he entered the woods.  He put a hand in his pocket to check for his flashlight and compass, and finding them there like always, he shook off the vague uneasiness and walked instead in the direction of the rainbow's end.

After several minutes of crunching across leaves and branches, he found a faint trail that he sometimes had used before.  It curved across his path and headed north, so he followed it for a while.  Every so often, he stopped and looked up, making sure he was still oriented toward the rainbow.  It still showed itself, not fading as the sun did, which made it even more unusual.  If he had had enough time to ponder it, he might have been spooked by its strange persistence.  More time passed, and he was having trouble seeing in the dim light.  His eyes had adjusted to it, but the day's light was still leaving, and soon he would need to use his flashlight.  He found himself wondering whether the rainbow would look any different with the beam of a flashlight shining through it.

He stopped to check the rainbow again, and to his disappointment it did finally seem to be fading from sight.  He pulled out the flashlight and jogged forward, hurrying to find it.  Low branches snapped his hair and face lightly as he passed, stinging the skin.  He came suddenly upon a small clearing, a bare place in a ring of trees.  Soft grass grew, but no leaves lay on it.  No branches or acorns or even pine cones disturbed it.  He stopped walking and simply stood on the edge of the grassy circle, unsure of what to do next.  Going back was probably the best idea, but he felt himself to be in the middle of some sort of small adventure, and decided to try a little longer before giving up.

Once again he looked up, and was immediately disoriented.  He was seeing the sky through a prism of soft light, and after blinking violently several times, he realized that he had arrived at the end of the rainbow.  The circle of grass was bathed in nearly transparent color, and he hadn't even noticed it until he was looking for it. 

Slowly, hesitantly, he stepped onto the grass.  Nothing notable happened except that the air felt slightly less chilly.  There was no wind, but there had not been any that day anyway.  He held out his hands in front of him, and was amused to see that the color seemed like it was overlaid on his skin.  It was like a cut glass ornament refracting the light and shining it onto some other object.  He moved his hands around and the colors changed.  Now unafraid, he walked further into the rainbow's circle.  The air grew even less chilly, almost approaching warmth.  His foot hit some hidden object in the grass, and he stooped to pick it up.  It was a round, smooth stone, and it was warm to the touch.  He turned it over in his hands, appreciating the feeling of smoothness, and it suddenly grew hot and became the same colors as the rainbow.  Before he had a chance to drop it or react at all, the light around him grew a hundred times brighter and he faded out of consciousness, falling to the ground in a haze of color.