I awoke slowly, with an odd lightness to my body. Certainly not how I would expect to feel after Kaleb fell down the stairs like that. 'I trust you'?Bah! Clearly that was a mistake! Last time I let that bastard do anything for me.

I open my eyes, and see a face mere inches from mine. A man with scleras as dark as midnight, and a swirling galaxy for pupils.

"GHAH!" I shout and scramble back on my hands. for the barest moment the shock of it prompted me to attempt to move my legs again. And my knee bends. it has been 12 years since I lost the feeling in my legs, and I just bent my leg. I stair at it in shock, briefly forgetting about the odd man and where I am. I touch my leg, and *feel* the touch.

Only after confirming the sensation does my mind start to take in the scene around me. The first thing that I notice is the odd scratchy smoothness of fresh cut grass beneath me, and I move my feet through it. I *kick* off my shoes, something I never thought that I would be able to do again, and lean forward to pull off my socks. I slowly move my feet around the grass once more, marveling in the smooth scratchy tickling as my feet *feel* for the first time in 12 years!

"Where am I? How can I move my feet?" I say up to the man. and as I look at him I take his full measure. He has moved to stand at a large and beautiful rock that looks like it has veins of quartz running throughout. It would seem he has been watching me gather my bearings, as he is looking me directly in the eye as soon as I look up to him.

"I am Osimanthius' ' He says, in a voice as smooth as honey, but with a rumble like a rock slide. " It is a little difficult to explain precisely where this place is. You can move your feet because it was your body that was damaged, and not your soul. This place is the domain of the soul, and no physical ailments will accompany you here. Wait a bit longer, and I will try to explain more once Kaleb has awoken as well."

I stare blankly at him. The domain of the soul? What does that even mean? I think this guy must be some whacko with the craziest contacts i've ever seen, because he's making no sense at all. He turns to walk away from me, and I thrust my hand out to stop him. "Hey! What the hell does any of that even mean? You're making no sense! Don't just walk away from me!" I yell, and he keeps walking away with no indication that he's even heard me. This man must be a real piece of work. saying all that crazy shit and just walking away.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

I look back at my feet, my legs. and marvel again at them. Something is very wrong here, I have some actual muscle to them as well, not just the skin and bone my legs were before. Determination grips me, and I know that I need to try and stand again. After so long... I need to know what it is like to stand again. to walk. I gather my feet close to me, manage to get one under me and kneel on one knee. I grip the other and push off. I can stand!

I fell. Ok, maybe too soon to stand directly then. I make my way over to the massive rock that Ossy-what's-his-face was leaning against, and slowly make my way to my feet. I'm standing. I can't seem to take a deep breath, all the air rushing out of me as soon as I breathe in. I'm so high up in the air once again. Leaning against the rock as I am, I can see for so long. an endless grassy plane that fades to mist some ways out. There is silence aside from the rifling of grass beneath me, and the sound of my own labored and excited breathing.

I finally gather myself, and take a deep breath. If this is a dream, it is not the only time I've dreamt it. This will be the thousandth time I've dreamed of being able to walk again, but it feels so real. I've never had a dream that felt like this.

I slowly take a single step forward. Uncoordinated as I am. All the weight shifts to my left leg as I lift my right, and I take a step forward. And repeat again, sliding my hands along the rock to maintain my balance. With slow, deliberate movements, I make my way around the rock to where that ossy-dude walked off to.

As I made my way around the odd rock, I knew that this had to be a dream. I think they call this lucid dreaming, where you are aware of what is happening and know it is a dream in the moment. I've never had one before, and just had to look around and take it all in. I honestly would have expected more action in a dream. A fantastic beast chasing me, or a crazy situation. As is, all I saw was an empty field with medium cut grass, and an odd mist that seemed to appear about 25 meters away. A dense wall of fog that just lingered right there, and didn't seem to move at all. Definitely a dream.

When I finally got to the other side, and could see that man again, he was standing over someone laying in the grass. His hands held out in front of him at waist height, palms facing down. As I watched, I saw what looked like fairy glitter and mist go from his hands to whoever was laying there. I couldn't get a good look from the distance, but it kind of looked like a younger version of Kaleb. Apparently my subconscious knew that I wanted to punt the idiot for falling down the stairs like he did. Before I could walk over and act on the impuls, the mist and glitter coming out of the guy's hand seemed to swirl around Kaleb, and start to sink into the ground around him. It didn't really make any sense, but when do dreams ever make sense.

The rock that I was leaning against thrummed and startled me. I jumped, and nearly fell from the intrusion. Then it did it again, and again. Like the heartbeat of some massive animal, it came to life. I could feel it pulse beneath my hands, and felt it all the way through to my bones. The stone... the veins in it were moving. It looked like that same glitter and mist were swirling through it, like an iridescent fish swimming across the surface of the rock.

The pulsing slowly faded away, and when I looked back Mr. galaxy eyes was helping Kaleb get to his feet. I saw and heard him ask some of the same questions I had, just without the panic I had displayed. When he looked around, his eyes quickly locked onto mine and he quickly came over to me.