The Dark and The Light

 Darkness; shapeless and void, it melts the land. Three days have passed. Food is scarce, the terrain is barren. Loneliness looms like a spider on a web. My mind is fragmented, knowing only bits and pieces of my past. Great structures encompass my position, but I know not why. I know not why I am here or how I came but I must go. Go where? The place to go eludes me and I ponder it often. Through any direction, there is nothing. Where there is nothing, there is nowhere to go.

My mouth is dry. I must drink but nowhere is there something to drink. I must drink to live. Then I should go to live. I must go somewhere and that somewhere should be far. I must find food and water to live. Staying here, I cannot live. I begin walking. Walking toward somewhere I do not know. I know not when I must stop. But for now, I must walk.

Four days have passed. Since what, I do not know. My existence in this plane is limited and vague. I do not know if my home is here or in a land far away. I cannot remember. Where there are no memories, there are no facts. If there are no facts, then who am I and what is this place.

Sleep summons me. I must rest but I have no time. I must walk to live. Yet I must sleep to live. My cerebellum is afire. My mind – overloaded. I fall to the ground and lay. For how long, I know not. Birds watch my body as I lay. What now? My systems are fried. There must be a way out. A way home. Where should I go? Where should I walk. I must make a decision. The decision to live or to die. I must walk to live; find the place I am looking for. Only time will find it. Only time will tell.

My time is running out. I must hurry for my time is coming near. I know not why I must hurry, but I must. I rise from the sand like a body from a coffin. Mountains lay west which is where I must go. I am summoned, therefore I walk. The mountains are far but I will arrive; and soon, for my time is running out.

The heat has increased. I am rancid, unable to clean myself. The smell rises but does not bother me. I am walking, faster now. Time is near. Time is upon me. I must hurry. I continue walking.

Five days have passed. Monotanosity dooms me. I still search for the thing I cannot find. Up ahead, maybe, or fifty miles farther; either, I do not care. I must hurry. Night draws near. The mountains loom ahead. I must hurry. The force is pulling me harder. Harder toward the mountains. The thing I seek is there but still I know not what it is. My mind craves the thing, longing for its presence. I begin running. I’m close. I hear birds but see none. I hear water but see none. The mountains are above me. I’ve made it; into the mountains. The thing is near. I can feel it. My mind spins, my eyes flash. The world becomes nothing and nothing becomes the world.

Lightly, I fall to the ground. Sleep melds with me. My head rests. My brain ceases to swell. I am normal and at peace with the world. My mind shuts down. I lay there for an eternity, a lifeless body in the wind. Time passes. Wind blows.

Six days have passed. My mind has risen from the dead. I have no pain now; and my head does not pound. I must continue my search. I am near. I must go. But where? The mountains stand over me. A bird cries. A lone bird flying over a path. My feet start to move and I begin walking. Up the path. Toward an unknown doom that holds my destiny. An image begins forming in my mind. One of peace and happiness. A picture of my former life. My past. I remember…. nothing. The image vanishes in a flash. The thought is gone. I’m alone once again. Alone.

I hear water again. Splashing, over the hills. I rush to see what it is. I get there and find nothing. The water is gone. Something to nothing; how is that possible. I sit on a rock and ponder. Hours pass, wind blows, birds without form sing.

My mind focuses again. The land has changed and is no longer the same. The mountain is flat now. A circle of stones has formed around me. Intricate drawings are etched around me in the dirt. FLASH! A blue flame flashes around me. Teleportation. I appear in a lab somewhere unknown. My mind recognizes this place. My mind is finally at peace. This is the place. I’ve found the place I’m looking for! Carefully, I activate the thing. Blue light forms around me. My mind is at peace. I am home.