Fiction

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The amber glow behind him signaled the end of another day in what seemed like a millennium of days. His desperate escape into the Mevorkian Forest began long ago; now he was no longer certain he wanted to survive. His life was just putting one foot in front of the other. Though wanting to stop and go no further, he trudged on.

Through the dense forest he saw it. A deep sigh escaped from his lips.

Inside. Haven’t been inside in so long….

As he pushed open the ragged door, a pinpoint beam of light struck his pupil. Turning in the direction it came from, Elckor’s intense gaze searched for its source. It was gone. Seeing nothing, he shook his head to clear the white particles of light that hung in his vision.

Must be the elevation…

The inside of the rustic, dust-laden cabin had only twilight for illumination; the far corners were but shadows. Near the door, sat a primitive chair made of sticks and tree branches; no cushion, but it would do. He dropped his pack and walking stick, falling into the chair with one exhausted, fluid motion.

Before his head hit the back of the chair, already half asleep, he felt the beam of light again through his eyelids. Startled, he sat stick straight, grabbing the first thing he could reach, and hurling it at the corner from where the light emanated. His walking stick crashed into a crude table, toppling it. The book atop it landed open on the floor. Dust flew into the air and danced in the beam of light.

Bending forward, he tried to stand but his knees crumbled, dropping him to the rough wooden floor. He crawled forward and stretched toward the light coming from the book. As his hand crossed the beam of light, it pierced through his palm, coming out the back side as if a dagger had sliced it through.

His hand blurred, wavered like heat sweltering off hot sand, and stretched out as if being pulled by the beam. It moved up his arm and into his body, flooding every cell. His scream penetrated the night as he fought the force pulling him from the cabin into the book, as if being stretched through a pinhole. His cries echoed and then faded to silence like a boulder dropped into the fathoms of the sea.

Where am I?

Velvet, soft and lush, surrounded him as the sound of water reverberated in his ears. He could see nothing except a diffuse, dim red glow. Twisting and turning, he tried to get his bearings; he was entirely encompassed by persistent, nurturing warmth and a pulsing that he could not name.

Am I?

The piercing light returned, abruptly interrupting the warmth. He felt a shuddering just before he was once again ripped through the pinhole; squeezed through as every particle disengaged and split into separate matter. His screams were silent.

He was overcome by weightlessness and nothingness; a vast void so deep it held no form and all consciousness or control was lost. Stillness, wrapped in silence, encased in ebony so thick it seemed to erase the universe. All was lost; annihilated.

No further...

Then, the tiniest of sounds leaked into the void. Like the resonance of air moving around inside closed lips; humming, a song set in motion, reverberated and danced off the disparate particles. The mesmerizing song built to ripples, and then waves of sound that swelled to a crescendo, calling the particles together.

An eternal hand embraced them and pressed them through a red, jagged chasm inside in one palm; passing it back and forth again and again to the other identical palm, powerfully shaping it to give it substance - everlasting, free and pure.

It hung in the atmosphere as the Maker admired its beauty from all sides. Joyous laughter filled the heavens and emanated over the vast expanse. Seconds later, a brilliant pulse of light ejected Elckor back into the ancient cabin. He lay as dead, face down on the rough wooden floor.

Am I?

The book throbbed; a feather light brush of air passed over his body. It raised his hair as it swirled across his skin, and throbbed through his frame. Picking up momentum, it became a whirlwind as it spun in motion. It levitated him upright until he was standing on his own. In one last explosion of energy, pure oxygen filled his lungs and his eyes opened.

Alive!

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