The key to understanding

Previously

…I didn’t need to open the window. I didn’t need to step outside. The key in my pouch pulsed, a silent command. The Figure’s words replayed in my mind: "The gateway is not always a place. Sometimes, it is a choice." I closed my eyes, the key a warm presence against my hip. I focused on the shimmering echo, on the feeling of being pulled, gently but irresistibly, towards something unknown. I didn’t know what lay on the other side, but I knew, with a certainty that settled deep in my soul, that it was where I was meant to be. The choice was made. The key was in hand. And with a final, silent farewell to the world I knew, I stepped into the unknown.