The air was fresh and sweet, with only a slight hint of rain to ruin this
wonderful day. Even then I could smell it to be miles away, and most of the
raindrops would be caught by the dense foliage that extended overhead. All
around me the dense forest continued for untold miles, almost as if the entire
planet was covered underneath its leafy blanket. Off course this was not the
case, but from where I stood no mountain or city could be seen. And aside from
the occasional meadow, I knew the forest to be as dense as here for a very long
way off indeed.
I spread my wings as I stretched, the tips brushing over the foliage and getting
slightly damn from the dew that had not yet evaporated in the early noon sun. I
often went for a walk in the morning, only returning home to my sweet mate hours
later. My whiskers shivered softly as I caught the scent of a small deer hiding
in the low foliage to my right. It needed not fear though, I was not hungry at
all.
Smiling and shaking my head a little at the needless fear of the small creature,
I continued my walk, intend on making my way home. The sun was already past its
highest point, and I was certain Jiffies would have some very interesting plans
for me when I got back. Adding a little speed to my step only caused my body to
react stronger, and I was glad that no-one else was around in the forest. Not
that I would feel ashamed, but it can cause conversations to turn rather
awkward.
Almost without thought I turned a corner to the right in the forest path,
ignoring the left path which led to a large heath. As much as I liked spending
time there, it would need to wait for another day. The path forward too led to a
place I did not want to go right now, an area of the forest I actually did not
know as well as the area behind me. Still I made a mental note to visit it later
on, after all it pays to know one´s home.
Yet as I made my way over the path, a slight change in the air made me slow my
movements. I could not put my paw on it, but the air seemed somehow thicker, in
a way that could not be explained with the location of the sun or the thickness
of the foliage. The plants were no different from those where I had been a
minute ago, with the exception of a small raspberry bush on one edge of the
path.
The air became ever thicker as I made my way to the next crossing in the path,
and had I known then what I know now I would have turned back, even though I do
not know for certain if that would have made any difference. Curiously, despite
the total lack of wind, the branches of the trees around me started to wave.
Slowly at first, the movements increased and expanded from the tips to all but
the thickest parts of the branches.
Again, I now regret my stubbornness. My head was already filled with my mate´s
scent, and I virtually ignored all the signs that something was about to happen,
something that would alter the course of my life like nothing before.
The sounds of the forest seemed to dim, as if I was walking away from the trees.
While at the same time those very trees seemed to grow closer and closer to the
path, up to the point where they almost hid it completely. This was insane, I
had walked on this path many times before. Trees did not grow this fast, was
this some sort of magic?
Suddenly, all the sounds were gone, instead replaced by a raspy whine that
slowly increased in power. It sounded like the death-wail of some small yet
demonical creature, coming from all sides at once. My fur started to stand on
end, this was the kind of sound that haunted people in their dreams, an
outer-wordily noise spawned from the deepest netherworld.
Just as sudden as the sound had started, it stopped, bathing the area in a
deadly aura of silence. Time seemed to stand still while my heart started
beating like a mad drummers drum. I do not know how long I stood there, but I do
know that I was paralysed beyond belief. Eventually I managed to turn around,
strengthened in my resolve by the icy knowledge that something was behind me,
something terrible.
It was Nothing. Not just a lack of substance, but its opposite. A spot in the
very fabric of space that seemed to suck its surrounding into it, its edged
vague as even the very light seemed to desperately struggle against its pull.
My eyes started to hurt, tears running from them caused by the very blackness of
the spot, and I felt something like a cold breeze blowing towards the Nothing.
Again I was struck paralysed, I could not move and only watch as dust began to
seep into the Nothing. Now I could see that it was not completely devoid of
colour. Somehow there was a vague hint of a colour in it, though it seemed to
curl around my vision like some venomous serpent. It was an undescribable
colour, a colour not found on this natural world. It was a colour from Beyond,
without its equal, the exact opposite of colour. The very un-naturalness of it
started to turn my stomach around.
A deep sense of dread became my master, and I was both filled with an extreme
desire to leave this place and the desire to give it all up, to surrender myself
to Oblivion.
The Nothing started to make another sound, and it became obvious to me that the
sound I heart before had merely been the death-throw of the fabric of reality
this abomination had destroyed. While that sound had felt like someone had
pulled a rake trough my nerves, this felt like hellfire and the coldness of hard
vacuum at the same time. It was a sound that came from the innermost fears of
man, a sound that should not be heart on this plane of existence.
Slowly, I was pulled in, my body only barely responding to my commands. I was
helpless as I felt myself close in on the Nothing, the control of my body
returning too late to prevent myself from being sucked in. One single claw on my
foot scraped on the dirt of the forest path in a pathetic effort to prevent
myself from plunging head-first into the darkness, and the last contact I would
have with the world I was born in.
My journey trough the hole, for lack of a better word, was hell. It seemed to
last an eternity and a heartbeat at the same times. I felt like I was falling
and flying up at the same time. My vision was filled with a cascade of colours,
both natural colours and more of the unnatural colours I had seen before.
I screamed, but I could not hear myself.
I shivered, but I could not feel myself.
I could not see my body, only the pandemonium of colours, and I did not know
whether my eyes were open or closed.
Eventually, though I could not register the passage of time, I arrived wherever
the Nothing sent me, and my entire being felt like it was ripped apart by claws
of hellfire as the full essence of existence poured back into my veins.
I retched, hurled on the ground, completely unaware of my surroundings. The pull
was gone, and I could tell without looking that the Nothing had disappeared as
mysteriously as it had appeared.
Trembling, I managed to achieve a semi-upright position, and started to explore
my new surroundings with my eyes. A true nightmare it was, a vast wasteland
where no living thing had ever set foot. It resembled at most a blasted lunar
landscape, with rocks and boulders strewn all where I could look, as if some
cosmic giant had poured them there.
It was dark, no sun, moon or stars shining overhead, yet I appeared to be able
to see. Upon further examination, the air seemed to consist of a single,
unimaginable thick cloud of ash. Where this came from I could not see, all
around me there were only rocks.
Finally I managed to stand up, careful not to slip on my own vomit. Curiously,
it had turned an ashy grey, even though I am certain my breakfast had consisted
of pancakes with sirup and strawberry jam. My fur was likewise changing colour,
the blazing orange and snowy white slowly graying out. Eventually, I would be
grey all over, safe for those spots that were black to begin with.
Scouring the horizon I still could not find any sign of life, former life or
not. There were no landmarks, no mountains, no fissures. So I set out in a
random direction with the strength of hopelessness, certain that I would die
here, and my bones would turn to ash to be blown around in the clouds above me.
Yet, after who knows how much time, my foot bumped into something else than
rock. My claws scratched over something that sounded like it was metal.
Curiously, I bent over to see what it was, and my eyes grew wide in surprise.
Instead of a lump of iron ore as I had expected, it was a rusty cog.
Obviously old, the weathered cog missed several teeth, but it was a sign of
civilization nonetheless.
Whether this was truly a sign of some sort of life, or a cruel joke by whichever
God sent me here in the first place remained to be seen, but in either case
there was no reason to stop.
So I walked, still without direction, but with a clear goal in my mind. To find
whomever made that cog.
(
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