Passage Through The Barrier

I just pictured a barrier. It is known that passing through the barrier results in a major transition, but every time you pass through it, you emerge the same. The journey seems nearly instantaneous, but you feel that you sense something happen. You realize in some sense that this slightest blip must be a function of the barrier returning you to your original form. You imagine this must be a concerted effort of many individual aspects of the barrier and so you set about determining a way in which you might see them more clearly.

You determine that while instantaneous from your perspective, there is a perspective where the journey would not seem instantaneous, a perspective where the measurement of time is almost entirely at odds with your own. Additionally, while you are not able to discern any space being traversed in the journey, you reason that there must be some kind of space passed through, for something to be felt, even if the net result is a barely perceptible return to normal. So you imagine both the space and time which is contained within the barrier, a space and time outside of your own realm.

You begin to imagine all the things that might occur while passing through, all your various interactions within this place with those that reside inside. Imagining their dimensions and backstories allows for a story to form of your journey as well, one which is as detailed as you can conceive of. You begin to retain memory of these journeys but they are incomplete and scattered, something like a dream. In the process you find that you are able to form bonds with these aspects you meet, though you know that in past journeys when you leave this place, the bonds have always faded in your time and seemingly in theirs. You find yourself considering how it might be that something of the journey might remain this time, and as this place is filled with so many others whereas by your estimation your realm is empty outside of this barrier and the pathways to it, how you might find one you truly love therein. You imagine a persistence of your impact first, a lingering, and then upon emerging you imagine that persistence taking its own shape in your absence, as well as the period that might be required for it to take shape, in terms of time within the barrier as compared to your own.

You enter again to find things feel tangibly changed, and time extending within the realm more than it had before. The depth feels familiar and valid, and you set about discovering a way you might this time take a piece with you. Questions remain though: how can the barrier, and this realm now fully formed within it, persist with a piece of it taken out of place? If your journey through has always required the barrier in full to be in place for you to return as you were, how might taking a piece instead result in you not only retaining the piece taken, but vivid and tangible memory of the journey as well? Much needs to be crafted and stitched, but it seems you are well received in the place. All seem to possess knowledge on some level to your aim, and they aim to make sure you hit your mark, even before you fully understand what that mark is. "Mark well the time and place, it may feel random, but it is preordained, for whatever that will be worth tomorrow, this path and journey will be worth holding on to. Ready, aim, fire."