The path between the start of the trail and the GZ will bring you past four lights. On this path, every light tells its own story…
Light one
The light dropped below the horizon, just as it did every day for previous millennia and will be doing for the coming millennia. The male looked over the grass field, seeing others of the herd slowly eating from the grass. This morning there were two more in the herd, taken away by the hunters hiding in the trees. One of them wasn’t more than two darknesses old. More eggs will hatch over a few darknesses, the herd will grow. Another light in the sky, it moves faster than the light on the horizon, it moves to the ground. Before it was fully dark the herd was taken out. The hunters were taken out. The trees were taken out. The eggs were taken out.
The era of the dinosaurs had come to the end.
Light two
The child looked at the mother. They both heard the humming sound of the engines. Normally it were many more, this time just a few. The plane was not for them, it flew too high over their city. It was still early enough in the morning that she could stay with her daughter a little bit longer. Telling her that she didn’t have to worry, that it would all be fine at the end. Once it was over her husband would come back and the three of them would hopefully go back to their old house and their life would be normal again. It was nearly time to go, she hugged her child one more time before the light bleached their shadows against the wall.
The mother and daughter were two of the 80 000 people killed at the explosion of the atomic bomb above Hiroshima.
Light three
It’s hard to see the difference. There is one which is safe to go by, but all the others are not good. It’s hard to see the difference. Some of the not good ones are not the right colour. Some of the not good ones are flashing. Once you mistake a bad one you cannot see the safe one anymore and you will be going in circles around it. You cannot escape it, because you know that you are flying in the right direction. But how does it come then that you keep having to correct? The light should not move like that, it should stay in the distance. But it does, so you have to keep flying until you run out of energy and collapse on the ground.
Moths orient themselves by the light of the moon. Artificial lights confuse them and they will keep circling around them.
Light four
It could be the end, but she was brave. She trusted her friends. It was all tested before. They have done it step by step, a little longer every time. One day she will see her wife again, maybe this time. Oxygen mask on, sensors against her forehead. Then the zap on her chest to start the process, by stopping it. The chronometer would start. Not the slow “tick tock” of a metronome, but the soothing fast-paced “tickticktickticktick”. She can’t count it, it goes too fast for that. She needs to concentrate on it to prevent herself from panicking. She knows what will happen. She nearly saw it last time. Her vision starts to blur, concentrate on the sound. The sound gets quieter, concentrate. Her peripheral vision turns dark, only in the center is it still light. Pain in the chest, her lungs start pulling in air again, the light in the center dissolves again, her vision starts to come back. The sadness fills her as she realise that she again didn’t see her wife. In a week time she will try again, she has to. It’s the only way to see her one more time.
People with a near-death experience often report seeing lights, tunnels and meeting deceased family members.
When you have passed the last light, GZ will be near.