The Traveler walks down a gilded starship corridor toward a porthole and a storm-banded planet, the Astral Travel ticket printed on the back of his black hoodie.

The journey that needs no vehicle still needs a first step.

ASTRALQUEST

Chapter OneBoarding at Dawn

A ticket arrives that nobody remembers buying. From Earth to Sirius. Seat: third eye. Boarding at dawn.

The journey needs no vehicle. Every station on the route is kept by a guardian who gives one teaching, and every station leaves a mark. The marks are what we wear.

Before dawn in a dark city apartment, the Traveler sits on his bed staring at a glowing ticket floating above his palm.

Nobody remembers buying the ticket.

From: Earth. To: Sirius. Seat: Third Eye.

Boarding at dawn.

Close-up of the Traveler's hand holding the Astral Travel ticket: from Earth to Sirius, seat third eye, boarding at dawn.

Everyone gets one, sooner or later. Most people throw it away.

Traveler: Seat… third eye?

Station I
The Archivist, in a black Remember tee, sits by a porthole with a gilded reliquary on her knees and looks up at the Traveler.

The Archivist: First ride?

The Archivist: Don't watch the window. Watch who's watching.

Traveler: Who's watching?

Station One, the Observatory: the golden-helmed Observer sits before a vast window onto desert mesas while the Traveler steps in.

Station IThe Observatory

The Observer: You came to look at the stars. Sit. Watch the one who is watching.

Station II
The Traveler's face reflected in the observatory glass over the desert, the landscape seeming to live inside him.

The Observer: As within…

Traveler: …so without.

Station Two, the Board: the starlit-eyed Elder waits at a golden chessboard floating in space as the Traveler approaches.

Station IIThe Board

The Elder: Sit. You were already playing.

The Traveler moves a gold chess piece on a board of tiny star systems while the Elder watches.

The Elder: Every move is sacred.

The Elder: Even the ones you don't make.

Station III
Station Three, the Loom: the Starseed weaves threads of starlight off the edge of a floating stone while the Traveler watches.

Station IIIThe Loom

The Starseed: Everything you are was woven before you arrived.

A gold thread of starlight wraps the Traveler’s wrist and leads far away to a tiny figure in a red cloak.

The Starseed: Every thread leads somewhere you have already been.

Traveler: Who is that?

The Starseed: Follow it and ask.

Station IV
Station Four, the Engine: the Architect holds a small glowing world between his hands as the Traveler watches.

Station IVThe Engine

The Architect: You thought you were the passenger.

The Architect: You are the ship.

The Zero Point star engine hangs open in a brass chamber, its rings floating apart, above the small figure of the Traveler.

At the zero point, nothing moves.

Everything begins.

The Traveler walks toward a gilded arch in the desert whose dark monolith parts onto light, under a giant ringed planet.

The last station has no name.

Only a door that was always open.

Station VII
At dawn on a canyon edge under a giant ringed planet, a figure in a red cloak and golden helm waits as the Traveler climbs up behind him.

At the end of the route, someone was waiting.

The red-cloaked wanderer turns, golden helm under his arm: he has the Traveler’s own face, older and calm.

The Wanderer: You're late.

The Wanderer: You always are.

All things return.

At sunrise in his apartment, the Traveler sits up holding the punched ticket, a faint light on his forehead; a red cloak lies on the floor.

Boarding at dawn.

Traveler: …I remember.

Five Questers walk across glittering tidal flats at dawn in Astralwear: Remember, Awakened, the Astral Travel hoodie, Origin and Transmission.

Chapter One. End.

The route is open.

In a dark sanctuary, the gilded Infinite engine stands on an altar under a draped red cloak.

Next, chapter 02

Infinite

The engine under the red cloak.

Arrives with Drop 2 · Fri 4 Dec

The Arcana

The cast of the route, numbered like the trumps of a tarot deck. Every guardian steps out of an Astralwear graphic, and every graphic is the mark of a station.

  • The Archivist

    Quester

    Has ridden before, and remembers.

    The mark: Remember

  • The Observer

    Station I, the Observatory

    As within, so without.

    The mark: The Observer

  • The Starseed

    Station III, the Loom

    Woven from the cosmos.

    The mark: Starseed

  • The Architect

    Station IV, the Engine

    Building worlds within.

    The mark: The Architect

Lexicon of the route

Quester
Anyone who keeps the ticket.
The Route
The stations between Earth and the Source. It needs no vehicle.
Station
A place on the route, kept by a guardian who gives one teaching.
The Mark
The sign of a station you passed. You wear it.
Seat: Third Eye
The only seat on the ship.
The Red Cloak
Worn by those who finished the route and came back for someone.
Sacred technology
Instruments that work on the one who uses them.
The Ancient Future
What you were before you forgot, and what you are on the way to.
The Source
Where every thread was spun, and where all things return.