‘’A New World’’

I feel strange. Like I'm floating.

…Although instead of floating, I’m falling…

'Aaaaaahhhhh!' I shout as I fall downwards, to God knows where… This pit feels endless. I can’t see my world any longer. It’s like I’m being thrown into another dimension. Blue and white lights spiral beautifully as I keep on dropping. What are these things? I try to touch them out of curiosity, but I fail to reach them. The moment I try to touch them, they widen, deconstruct and reconstructs again, keeping me out of reach. It’s like they have a will on their own. I look downwards, and see an aurora colored light. I fall straight through the light as I close my eyes. And when I open them again...

I see a big mass of land, great, giant plains, a ruthless desert-like area, finished with a great waterfall dropping from the high mountains. There are many other things that dot the landscape, like cities, towns, farms, and a huge city in the middle of the lands. If I should describe this view in one word: magical. Only I have far bigger concerns than the stunning view... 'Aaaaahhhhhhh!!! Help meeee!' I keep on plummeting at high speed. I don’t scream at anything in particular, but my panic is taking over my logic. I'll hit the ground in no time at this rate. 'Dammit, dammit, noooo!' I'm about to hit the ground, but when I'm at least a few meters from the ground, I come to an abrupt standstill. I float above a small puddle. 'I-I thought I was going to die...,' I saw relieved. And then I fall at least a meter from the ground, face first in the small, shallow puddle. My clothes are wet, my mouth full of filthy water, and my lungs are sore from screaming. I don't stand up. There are a lot of questions I want to ask, but the biggest one is...

'Where am I...?' I put myself seated, and look around a few times. I'm in the middle of a forest. I quickly look inside the large pond again. All I can see is the reflection of the sky. I keep on staring, but nothing comes back, so I stand up and move away. I shouldn’t be wasting my time now. 'I've got to find civilization...they might have a way back.' First thing, I need to leave this forest. After that, I should head to the grand city I saw in the middle of the land. There’s definitely civilization there. ‘I’ll pee myself if it turns out to be a ghost city…’ I’m surprised I’m thinking so collected for the situation that I’m in.

Even in this place, I'm having struggles getting out. 'Dammit, I should've played more in the forest as a kid.' I might've gotten used to this then. No point regretting it now. I force my way through thick branches and leaves. I'm lucky I didn't see an animal nearby. No human can beat a wild animal...well with a few exceptions, and I'm certainly not one of them. ‘I’m sidetracking.’ After struggling for a way out, I finally get out of this tiny forest that stood on this cliff. Only then I notice the beautiful landscape I missed in my fall. The plains in the middle, the mountains to the right, and a huge city on the left. 'Ah...there is the city...' At least I've got my goal set. I see a few little villages and farms around the city. The plains are a bit blueish green, like in the fairy tales I was told as a child, and the almost perfect brown-colored mountains, with their summits going through the clouds. Beautiful blue, sparkling rivers and an enormous waterfall falling down those mountains. Somewhere along the lines I see a desert-like area. Gallant schools of birds are flying through the sky, heading to the mountains. 'At least the birds are the same as in my world...' This place sure is beautiful. Like no evil exists on these lands, and only the purity of God rules over the world. I would never be able to see such a landscape in my world. 'Let's get going!' I take a deep breath, and start my journey.

I take my time as I happily walk through the plains. ‘It sure is peaceful.’ Too bad I can't find this in Edelweiss. Most of the plains are populated by farmers, villages or other human things. We already removed almost every forest in our vicinity, and now we have to resort to trading, which isn't Edelweiss' specialty. 'That's because they're all warmongers...' I pick a flower...a rose. 'You guys even grow here?' I begin talking to nature. That doesn't make me paranoid...right?

………………………..

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After walking for a long while, I notice some dark clouds shrouding this land. 'Geh, a storm...' Even in this beautiful land, you get storms. 'You can't stop the weather can you...?' It's no reason to find this place less pretty. Besides, without a lot of rain, nature wouldn’t be able to maintain its beauty. 'I'd better pick up the pace! I don’t want to get soaked after all!' I start jogging, trying to stay clear from the weather.

…………………………

The clouds cover pretty much nearly half of the land, but for some reason, there is no storm. Only a dark and gloomy atmosphere. ‘I’d better hurry.’ I feel danger coming from those clouds. Something nostalgic, yet something dangerous. Something warm, yet so cold. It feels…connected to home for some reason. ‘What are those clouds…?’ No use pondering over it right now, because I have no idea what will happen when I get close to them.

At some point the clouds stopped moving. Even as I stand still, it like something is pushing it back. ‘What kind of magic is that…?’ That shouldn’t be possible, but this is a strange world, so I shouldn’t be surprised if giant mantises appeared. ‘That would be creepy…stop scaring yourself, Brandr!’ I shiver at the thought. I walked for hours now. I can see a village nearby. ‘I hope I can get shelter or something…or food…’ My stomach rumbles at the thought. Dammit, this is frustrating.’ I keep on walking.

………………………………………

At this point, I‘m practically dragging my feet. The village doesn’t feel like it’s gotten any closer. I’m sure I was walking in the right direction. I feel weak, my mind is blank and my stomach is empty. Am I going to die in an unknown world? Will God’s hand take me to heaven from here? I try to move, but my body doesn’t listen. I fall to the ground. My consciousness drifts away quietly.

‘So here you end, with so much to repent…’

‘No…I can’t give up here…’

‘Will you cling to that rope?

If you do, you will lose all hope.’

‘Who am I even talking to?’

'I am you, and you are me,

We’ve been together for eternity.’

‘No…I won’t… Just get out my head…’

I stand up once more and keep on walking. That was genuinely weird. This world is already making me crazy. ‘What am I talking about? I’m sure this is just a dream. I probably fell asleep, didn’t I?’ I pinch myself, only to feel the pain. My surroundings stay the same. I try pinching harder, hoping for any reaction to wake me from this far too realistic feeling nightmare I am dreaming. To no avail… ‘Damn, there goes my hope…’ I should keep on moving. ‘I am really resilient, am I not?’ I expected myself to be freaking out more about everything that’s happening to me. ‘Maybe I am realizing that panicking isn’t going to help me…’

I near the village. I can almost see it, but I forgot about the dark clouds. They have well gone over me. I sit on a rock so I can rest a bit. ‘What was that about?’ Such near-death moments should be at the end of an adventure, not at the very beginning. I am young, and experiences like that are not good for my healthcare. ‘At least I made it out…’ I pick myself up, and turn around, only to find a person. I could never be luckier. I should call out to him. Maybe he’s has some food on him. ‘Aah, you over the-! Before I finish my sentence, he turns around, and I can see his hideous face……Is that even a face? He looks like a monster, and I just noticed his body is mostly rotten flesh. A walking skeleton. ‘U-Undead?!’ I scream. I don’t think I have ever been this frightened in my entire life. The creature looks like a skeleton, but most of his flesh looks like a black gooey mass, and it’s just hanging on the black bones like rotten flesh. It is even wearing a chain mail harness and pants. It looks at me, and a screeching voice escapes his ‘’mouth’’. He holds a sword, which he raises high up in the sky. I have a bad feeling about this. I’m defenseless against it. It looks utterly creepy, and even a little disgusting, but my eyes stay fixated on the undead man. I need to run, but I just don’t have any energy in me. My stomach rumbles at a bad moment, and the monster charges at me. I have no energy at all, but I have to fight it. It swings a bit amateurish at me, so I can dodge it easily, but I still fall to the ground. ‘I’m hungry…’ It turns around, and charges once again. I close my eyes. I don’t want to see it kill me, but before it strikes me, I hear an explosion. I quickly open my eyes and see the monster crumble apart in front of me. It flails around on the ground, convulses, and disappears in the ground like a black goo. It looks disgusting, so I turn away from it. I look around, and see an old man come near me. I instinctively crawl a bit back. Is he planning on killing me as well?

‘------.‘ It speaks to me, but I can’t understand him. A deafening noise, like a scary static. It even leaves a slight whistling noise in my ears.

‘What did you say? Who are you?’ The old man looks shocked at me, like I’m speaking some foreign language.

‘---------. -------, ------.’ His speaking is painful. My head is throbbing at every noise that comes out of his mouth. How could someone’s ‘’speech’’ be so painful? It is genuinely unbearable, like someone is smashing nails in every part of your brain, while they are stabbing me in the ears with daggers. ‘-----------. --------------------’ His voice makes me pass out before I even realize it…

What did I do to deserve this…?