I rode my stolen stryder back toward where I thought the canyons might be, searching for the vein of ore we'd found before.
Every so often I'd stop the mechanical juggernaut and force it to blast at the rock outcroppings, dismounting to dig through mounds of rubble looking for the telltale violet glow of pure Element.
It didn't take me long to realize that all my methods of reckoning direction or distance were useless in this place.
By night there was no polestar to follow north. In fact, all the stars were strange to me.
By day their miraculous miniature sun threaded the wheels on its odd, straight track with no regard for east or west.
I was utterly lost again in the garden. I wondered if the girl was pressing on without me, to fight the invader in the other wheel.
If she ever tried to find me in the immensity of that landscape, I saw no sign.