Gliding through Alien Skies
(Chapter One)
The skies seemed to permanently surrender to the
night as they slowly sank into darkness on an icy fall day about four years ago. The
first snow of the season began to fall. Lightly at first, mixing with rain
and ice – causing the world to come alive in an eerie white as it coated
everything, from automobiles to the skeletal trees, with a transparent
glow. The ice affected a transformation of the trees from living to sculpture,
lighted by the streetlights from the edges of the park they took on a very alien
appearance. As the intricacies of natural design, they were incredibly
expressive and intricate. In the distance, back far the edge of the city was
visible, with it’s bright lights and stark concrete monoliths suffocating the
horizon under a soulless, impersonal glare. Stretching over a mile high, these
monuments of dehumanizing architecture choked the air with billowing smoke, and
bright lights. While far below their peaks and penthouses, the city bustled and
roared with the combustion of vehicles while the pumped-in frantic, screechy
advertisements echoed over the quiet landscape. All of this created a steady
roar, as the nightmarish elements of the city battled ceaselessly with each
other causing complete overload followed by an empty numbness. They gave off a menacing,
malicious enhancing the winds, making them stronger and colder, blocking out the
stars and clouds and making for an ever increasing feeling of claustrophobia
even as
I moved further away from them, toward their outer edges.
I had been walking around the edge of
the bleak and corroded city for hours pondering the schism that had emerged between me and the rest
of the world. As I walked on the cold, slippery streets, it began to become clear that the
consistent feeling nagging at me was both familiar and rather unsettling.
Something
was happening to me once again. Whenever this feeling comes over me, it’s
usually a precursor of something terrible. The premonition was only enhanced
because the strange dreams that had been haunting me for years had suddenly come
back after many years – and now they were almost as strong and persistent as
they’d ever been. Thoughts began to collide into one another, reality and
dreams merged, disorienting the mind. Until you’ve experienced these moments that I have, it’s
impossible to describe with words. The best thing I can think of compare it with
is daydreaming – a kind of walking delusion where time turns
back onto itself, simultaneously going forward and backward, going incredibly
fast in a paradoxical slow motion that allows you to remember each detail. In
this dream, I found myself standing on a ledge, below me, dark waters swirled drowning
dreams. These contained other dreams, which
themselves are mere flashes of inspiration or sublimation – boxes open inside boxes – thoughts
clash. Constantly battling each
other in a war for supremacy they can only win momentarily. It’s like a
clashing wave of pulsing thoughts, carrying me through an incomprehensible
journey. The transient flashes can last seconds, minutes or hours. I think
they have their reasons for attacking me. Even though many years have passed,
their motivations remain obscure in my mind. I can trace their origins, but
cannot explain what is behind them with any coherence.
In this dream, I looked below, there were huge
explosions coming from the waters, growing ever closer to my feet. As the flames grew hotter, and I feared a
retribution, I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and remembered where I was,
and the gentle snow relaxed me, and settled the battles, at least temporarily.
Listening to the ice pellets as they calmly coated the ground, reminded me of
her world, a world that had once held sway over my imagination, now fading into
distant memory.
This was a
completely different world, far quieter and cleaner than the one I had escaped. In my
mind, I could still taste the pure water and smell the clean air - and it’s
almost surreal balance between night and day, where neither ever dominated, only
exchanged relative positions with each other in almost imperceptible cycles. We
could sit for hours and marvel at the subtle transformations between minor hues
without being bored by the planet’s unchanging yet constantly evolving rhythms
and seasons. A blue-green light covered the entire world, making for an eerily
peaceful landscape, almost monochromatic with strangely beautiful hues. There
were large glass buildings, contorted into strange spiraling curves and
seemingly impossible configurations including giant arches that felt like they
would collapse onto themselves. Despite the ice covering the world, it’s
ground was surprisingly soft and gentle. It was a strange sensation, like
walking on a water bed, though sturdier. I think that the ground was in this odd
condition due to the resource pumping machines that towered into the planet’s
skies, twisting their metallic frames in elaborate, repetitive motions,
perfectly synchronized. The trees and other plant-life in her world were also
strange, they had leaves, yet there was no sunlight. Their leaves were a dark blue and covered
by ice, these plants seemed both alive and robotic, given their almost uniformly
triangular shapes and lack of what would ordinarily be considered flaws.
Illuminated from below, they glowed like lasers, reflecting the skies and creating
elaborate shadow systems onto grounds and the sacred water pools. These were
perfectly round areas that broke up the monotony of the landscape, low walls had
been placed around them to indicate their locations and also to prevent the snow
from blowing into drifts and covering them up.
These pools
were apparently used by these beings as conduits to other worlds, communication
devices whose functions and mechanics were apparently incredibly complicated. It’s
very difficult to visualize with words, you could see the water flowing under the thick
ice but it seemed. I saw her stand on them while moving her arms around in slow, circular motions with
her eyes closed. This looked like some kind of ritual dance and apparently was
the means that allowed her to communicate with beings from other worlds.
Standing in these pools also allowed her to
create solid objects with only her arm motions and thoughts. Once she had
completed her dances, a brilliant blast of green light would envelop her,
bathing her in a cleansing, purifying light. It was quite beautiful and deeply
moving to watch this spirit use her powers for good.
The pools were also versatile in that she could
also share her thoughts and read other souls by transporting herself into their
subconscious. I had seen her do this a few times it was slightly disconcerting.
She told me that
only her species could do this, and they were extremely careful not to abuse it,
reserving this power for when they had noble reasons. She communicated that she wanted to come to me to
offer me peace from a life that had been, up to that point, anything but
peaceful. I knew somehow, that when she looked at me, she was looking into me,
and I couldn’t keep anything from her, even if I wanted to. It’s a strange
feeling to have no secrets but, I didn’t feel violated at all
– since even though she could see inside me had she wanted to, she didn’t
– not entirely at least. The lack of others, at least those I could see, made
it much easier to trust her. I did see the occasional figure emerge from the
shadows from a distance, but I didn’t feel threatened by them. The only thing that really terrified me was making a mistake and ruining the
relationship I had built with her and the peacefulness this distant planet
offered me.
> Go to Chapter 2
