If you asked me if I believed in a world that wasn't the one I came from, I would've said such things doesn't make sense scientifically. Being a man of rationality, I had little to no belief in other worlds. Now? Well, I'm walking through one. This realm was so strange...so alien. I don't know if words would be good enough to describe this, would it be good enough even if it was? I don't believe so as it goes against everything that I was taught and maybe that's why I'm here.

The scenery changes often as I'm walking as if I'm walking through the lives of others, places they've been, places they've seen, and have yet been to. Some are strange, some are amazingly beautiful and breathtaking, and others are...questionable. I'm not clear why they were shown to me as I'm walking. However, these places...I sense something is wrong. Like this ever growing sickness that's getting strong over time. Blighted, as I would like to say.

I feel this pain in my heart, this sickness in my stomach and I feel scared of it. This feeling was the same when I thought about the woman who betrayed me. Who destroyed me on the inside then nearly killed me. This scar ran deep, like someone twisting a knife into my very being. This ever encroaching feeling in my soul...makes me feel dead on the inside but it's the only way I can describe how I feel when I look at these worlds. I don't know what's in them but it's like they're being slowly corrupted.

It was then that I stopped walking for a moment. I began to think back to how I ended up in this place. An explosion at the heart of my own world due to a universal threat destroyed it after I helped seven others defeat it. Then there was darkness and when I came to, I was in this place. That same feeling poured out of that...thing we had been fighting. It seemed...sad, angry, and vengeful. Like a kid lashing out because they felt threatened. It came to me then. 

"How did I remember that?"

It was the only thing that was on my mind. I suddenly wanted to know what actually happened to my body? I pinched myself to see if I could feel pain. I did and yes, it did hurt. So I knew I was still alive but my senses were horribly dulled. The only thing I could even rely on was my sight. Other than the rumbling of rocks earlier, there was still no other sound. Nothing. I wanted to be scared, I wanted to have a normal reaction other than this calmness but nothing else showed but that. My thoughts, was still calm even though I felt empty.

While I sat there wondering if I would ever have a panic attack to the situation I was in, the girl who was on my back who I had forgotten about, had tapped me on the back of the head. It snapped me out of my thoughts and I turned to look at her. However, she didn't say a word and pointed to the tower that was still sorta far away but not as far as it used to be. It seemed, if I could put time to it, I could make it there within another two hours. I couldn't get tired. I don't know if that was even a possible thing here.

I just nodded and didn't speak. After all, I was pretty sure no sounds would come out. While I could hear myself, I doubt anything else could. Not that anything was normal but the only thing with a hint of intelligence in this strange place was the girl on my back and she wasn't going to talk to me. Her demands were pretty clear, just reach the tower. I didn't argue, why should I? If she had answers, it was logical to listen to her and be on my way. I wasn't going to get them anywhere else it seemed like.

So on I walked, and walked, and walked. The scenery changed often. To that of snowy fields, blistering deserts, underwater trenches, and rolling hills and grasslands. I couldn't feel anything walking through them. No temperature, no lack of air, no wind brushing against my form. Nothing. However, nothing lived where I was walking through. Nothing was there, nothing tangible at least. There wasn't anything to impede my progress even when walking through these elements.

"It's like I'm constantly walking through shadows of worlds before there was any life to speak of. Maybe I'm not allowed to see what I haven't experienced yet or maybe this is something I will experience in my future. It's hard to say now." I say speaking to myself in my head. Its weird to me that in order to keep myself normal is to talk to myself, as if I have to rationalize everything I see even though this is an affront to science in every which way you try to slice it.

Although no time passed by, I was keeping it in my head. In order to keep my focus, I began to count. I was up to four hours in this world, from the time I got in here to the moment I was on this rocky path walking. It would take, well approximately, another hour from where I was standing to get where the girl behind me wanted me to go. I wasn't going to lie to myself, even though I couldn't feel the emotion of nervousness, my thoughts couldn't articulate how I would react getting to this grand tower I see and one I was growing closer to.

Surprisingly enough, my thoughts weren't as empty as I thought they would be. This world is almost devoid of any stimuli to speak of other than sight. Anything I touched felt like there was nothing there, anything I try to hear was met with silence, there was no taste even when I was walking through that underwater trench even though I knew it should be heavily salty, and lastly there wasn't any smell either even when I was walking through those beautiful rolling hills and fields. The flowers that were there, didn't have any sort of smell.

It was like I was walking through a world comprised of nothing but air, and not even that because I couldn't feel that as well. Darkness, at least as I know it, didn't have any sort of tangibility despite this world being made up of it yet the tower on the other side of this vast world was filled with nothing but light. The only other thing I could see and the only other stimuli I could react to even if it was by sight alone. This girl that was on my back, I couldn't feel her but I know she was there because she was solid, hard to explain really.

I was now on hour five, and I was in the final stretch of rocks that led up to the tower. The rocks themselves became less bumpy and more smooth and even. They all were now more closer together than far apart. I didn't have to use any energy to jump to distant rocks even though I wasn't using any energy at all. Who knows? Maybe this is all in my mind? Kinda hoped that would be the case but I wasn't sure if I'd even liked that as an answer. 

The rocks were now a smooth path as I walked to the gate. Tall, ivory gates. Regal and expertly crafted if I say so myself. Now I stand at the gate. The girl, who had been quite comatose this entire time began to animate. She lifted up her hand and I could see a symbol on the back of it despite her pale features, the mark was quite dark which was quite a contrast. Looked more like a tattoo but I could see what seemed to be free flowing energy moving through the mark on the back of her hand.

I was mesmerized by it, the way the energy moved and twisted...it looked a lot like the cosmic energies of space that had no rhyme or reason just free to move however it wanted. This energy now flowed out of her hand into a series of locks on the gate. The locks had writing on them, writing I could understand. It read: Life, Death, Knowledge, Time, Light, Darkness, and lastly Chaos. The locks weren't actual locks as I knew them, they were carvings of beings I've never met before. When her energy flowed into them, they animated.

They had different colored eyes and what I assumed to being their unique energy signature flowing around them. The carvings used their energy to flow into the center of the gate then there was a loud unlocking sound. I wasn't ready for it and I was startled by the sudden noise. It didn't stop there, however, everything I had been devoid of suddenly snapped back to me. My senses, my feelings, and my thoughts. I gasped a breath of air as my heart gave the biggest lurch I ever felt as if it was ready to jump out of my chest.

I felt weak, really weak as if my body didn't want to keep standing. I felt how tired I was, how hungry I was, how thirsty I seemed to be and there was this constant ringing in my ears as if there was a constant noise playing at a frequency that was barely audible for me to hear but my body to feel. I collapsed but something caught me. In my last moments of consciousness, she stood there holding me. Much taller than I was now. She had a more full body but she was still naked but I was in her arms and she was holding me close. 

[center][i]"You made it here. 

Do not worry, child. 

Until you're strong again.

I will take care of you.  

So don't fret none.

I will explain everything. 

But sleep now, rest now.

When you awake again.

You'll be stronger than ever."[/i][/center]

She spoke with such power in her voice even though it was the softest I've ever heard. I got a better look at her face here. She had very long amethyst colored hair just like her eyes which covered her more sensitive areas but didn't cover her eyes. She was stronger than she looked and my body lost all sense of struggle and just laid limp in her arms. She began walking toward the tower which was only a short distance away. However, I couldn't stay awake and I fell asleep when she was only halfway there.

She had smiled, the sky was back to the way it was, there was a warm feeling in the air. That of life and love. The energy in the air felt as if I was lucid dreaming. A wayward feeling. I was unconscious but I could feel it in my soul. She disappeared within that tower with me in tow, now I had completely blacked out from everything around me. I was uncertain where she was taking me but I feel as if I could trust her. She didn't mean me any harm yet so for now, I will leave everything in her hands. Me? I will rest. It was a long journey.

I have much to reflect on but...this wasn't so bad. It could've been worse, I know it could've been but it wasn't and the most important thing I was still alive so there was time to get some closure to where I am, what my purpose for being here, and what's my purpose when I finally get out. I had a feeling I was going to take on a responsibility I couldn't imagine I'd take but one that was made for me in mind. Never in my life had I been so sure about anything and little did I know, how right I was going to be.

For now, however, I will leave that for future me. The me right now will stay in slumber for however long I needed and how keen she was on letting nothing disturb me. Good, I'm going to need time process what I had been through if I could even rationalize such a thing...