I awoke to find myself still sleeping. The landscape around me was strange; changing. The rolling hills were not static; they were actually rolling. Colours changed in a kaleidoscopic miasma of vibrancy.
How did I get here? Am I trapped? I knew I was sleeping, or so I thought I was. If I was in fact sleeping and this is a lucid dream, how do I escape? I tried to awaken, telling myself that this was a dream but nothing I did seemed to work.
Since I was here, I thought I would take the opportunity to explore my new surroundings. The scene was breathtaking, so many different colours all swirling into one another. Hills forming and then disappearing, before reappearing elsewhere. Trees that swayed even thought there was no wind present.
There was an arid feel to this place, but it was overly hot. I was comfortable, not even breaking a sweat as I kept walking in this strange new land. I hadn’t yet come across any life, not even insects. I saw no source or light yet I could see very clearly. This place seems to emit its own light somehow, a glow that is indiscernible as to where its source is. Never had I seen such a place before. Why was I here?
After walking for what felt like hours, I heard a very faint noise. I strained and tried to make out what it was. It sounded like chanting, and I could barely make out a low drum beat. So there is life here. I picked up the pace, traversing the difficult – ever changing – terrain, to see whether I could see the source of this chanting. Almost an hour later, the source of my mystery started to come into view.
There was a village ahead, and people surrounding a bonfire dancing and chanting. Do I approach these strangers? Are they friendly or hostile? What was my alternative? If I was going to be trapped here in this strange dream, I might as well make new friends.
I shouted towards the tribe, waiving my hands frantically and I quickened my pace even more. The drums and chanting ceased. The tribes people all turned to see what the source of the noise was. As I approached the village, one of the tribes’ people, the leader I guessed, approached me cautiously. He stopped mere inches of my face and said something in a language I couldn’t understand. The ‘Chief’ raised his right hand and said something else. Before long, I was surrounded by all the members of the tribe. This didn’t look good at all.
A couple of the tribes’ people grabbed my arms and a third one pointed a spear to my back. The Chief motioned me to walk towards one of the huts and slowly we made our way. I didn’t know what to do, as we approached our destination, an elderly woman stepped out. She looked me up and down, looked at the Chief and then back to me. She closed her eyes and looked as if she was going into some kind of a trance; minutes past and then it hit me like someone swatting my head with a tree branch. I felt as if someone was inside my head, poking around in the deepest parts of my mind. I was frozen, unable to move or make a sound. The old woman was inside my head; I felt violated. There wasn’t much I could do, up to this point I wasn’t even sure whether all this was real or not.
The old woman groaned, well, her physical self groaned anyway, as she was probing further. It seemed like she was trying to determine what my intentions were and who I was. To the tribe, I was alien; I dressed strangely, I looked different, I talked differently. As far as they knew, I meant them harm and they wanted to ensure that they were prepared to deal with whatever I was “Plotting”.
As the old lady kept digging, I felt a wave of serenity wash over me. My eyes felt heavy and no matter how hard I tried, I could not keep them open. The surrounding landscape, the Tribe, the huts, and the scenery started to swirl in my ever blurring vision. The colours started to blend into one another, forming a whirlpool of new colours I had never before seen. Once my eyes closed, the scene continued, making me questions whether I was actually seeing it with my physical eyes or my minds eye.
An opening started to open up in the miasma of the color swirl and a light shone through. As I tried to focus my vision onto the light I felt myself being tugged towards it. I looked around to see whether there was anything I could grab a hold of, but there wasn’t anything. I floated towards the light, panic swelling up in my gut, and just before I started to lose it, I heard an angelic voice resonating from everywhere and nowhere.
“Do not be afraid, you are going to go on a journey with me. Ease your troubled mind and do not fight the current.”
What? I managed to yelp as I couldn’t say much more even if I tried.
“You do not have to speak physically; I can hear your thoughts.” The angelic voice was calming. I felt like a moth to a flame, no matter what my entire being was telling me, I neither had the power or will to stop myself.
I watched with mixed emotions of horror and intrigue as I got closer to the light; and as I got closer I kept thinking to myself;
Am I dead? Did the old lady kill me and I’m now moving on to Heaven?
Just as that thought entered my mind, I flew through the light and fell hard to the ground; knocking the wind out of me.
“Welcome. I’ve been expecting you.” The voice was no longer angelic but normal, and it came from a normal looking young woman.
“Where am I, who are you?” Panic was now visibly showing on my face. The woman noticed this and took my right hand into hers while giving me a look of concern.
“There’s no need to worry, you’re here for a reason which will be made clear soon.”
…to be continued…
The Big Void 