The Road Back
“Easy is the ascent up a tree. But to feel the ground underneath your feet once again, that is the true challenge.”
Once the reward has been granted, once reflections have been made, the hero faces the choice. To remain in the special world or to journey back to the ordinary world, their home. The hero chooses to return home, for it is their home. The hero is irreversibly and permanently changed. The people they knew might not recognize them, might even feel hostile because they are no longer the person who left the ordinary world. But still they go.
The road back home is initiated by the hero, but is opened with a crisis. The forces of antagonism encountered in the ordeal now begin their counteroffensive. That which is not killed comes back stronger. As they step onto the road back, they might be chased. This chase propels the story into a new energy. There may be a major setback from which the hero has to overcome before journeying back. It may risk the entire journey and trap the hero into the special world.
The road back marks the transition, and the energy is permanently elevated.