Although he now seemed somehow outside of time, Helios eventually turned his attention to the areas beyond the pillars. As far as he could see to both his left and right, there were other sets of pillars extending far into the distance. They appeared to be evenly spaced along two parallel lines. One line had been behind him some distance away. The other was near him and included the pillars he had been looking between.

It was now clear to him that this was a vast hall of some sort, yet he could not see where it ended or where it began. He did however examine the pillars near him in detail. They were smooth and black, yet translucent like space. Moving points of light were suspended within. They appeared like great constellations of stars and were displayed in a supernaturally dimensional way within the pillars. If you moved slightly to the left or right, you could observe different conjunctions and new constellations, which were only apparent from certain angles.

The pillars seemed to be an extremely clear type of crystal. Indeed the sides could be touched and they felt smoother than polished marble. They were cool to the touch and showed no visible flaws whatsoever. Another unusual aspect was that although the material seemed crystal-like in some regards, it had no effect on the light from the tiny stars in the way of diffraction or prism-like effects. In all visible ways, these tiny lights appeared as brilliant stars suspended in space.

Directly to either side of the pillars, no visible edge of a wall was to be seen; yet there appeared to be some kind of barrier. The scenes that were visible between the pillars did not appear to continue beyond the pillars to the left and right when observed from the hall side. However as Helios moved slightly into the space between the pillars it seemed to go on into the distant horizon, both to the left and right. The pillars were a gateway to some other time and place.

 

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