Stairway to the Moon

"Where do you think you're going?" asked the horse.

"To the moon, obviously," replied the traveller. "Aren't you coming?"

"I think I'll wait here," said the horse.

There are many fables about the Stairway, Ladder, Bridge or what have you that leads to the moon, in Antellonia it is an actual thing. In fact it is many things: there are in total seven ladders to the moon; three bridges and one stairway. There used to be eight complete bridges but the Titans destroyed half of one a very long time ago. The original structures were build by the Earth Dragons long before the time of humans so that they could go visit their aunt, Adain, the dragon who lives in the moon. The bridges are made of moonstone, and travel along with the moon through time and space. Because of this they do not exist entirely in our own dimension, and so are a little hard to find. In the early days of humanity the elves cut a human-sized stairway into the giant steps so that they could visit the moon too.

The Stairway to the Moon is not to be confused with the Starway to the Moon, which was built by the fairies about six thousand years ago. It is made of starlight, and only fairies, magicians, and other magical creatures and walk it. It is also chancey, and not recommended for beginning adventurers.

But whichever route you take to the moon, I think the horse has the right idea: better to stay on the ground.
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This drawing has a tortured history. I sketched it out very quickly in a fit of inspiration, then came back to the sketch and decided I wanted to draw something different. So I erased the whole thing, but then after several failed attempts at a sketch I realized I had wanted to draw this after all, so I was forced to re-draw it entirely from memory. There were some changes between the first and second "drafts", most notably the inclusion on many elements of Vineyard's gate by ~Shahenshah. I really have to give it up to photographers like this: they are so awesome and provide such great inspiration. Everyone should go look at his gallery: he's got lots of great stuff there.

The story behind this is part of the great nebulous mythosphere of Antellonia, my original fantasyland.

Two weeks with Prismacolor pencils on 9"x12" illustration paper. This picture appears on page 88 of my Black Book. Art and related prose © myself, 2007, some rights reserved.
Enjoy.