Prelude to Oblivion

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say.

I am here to tell you that I believe you can. Well, some of us can. It’s all a bit complicated, and I am still sorting through the details. The “details”?? Hmmm… maybe the answer is in the details. What are the details, I wondered? And then I realized I can’t remember… ANYTHING. Not only are details fuzzy, but everything is fuzzy.

And bright.

And painfully loud.

Fuzzy.

And bright…

And loud.

I stumbled forward slightly, raising my hand over my eyes, then continued forward movement.

Where am I? Who am I?

The lights got even brighter, and I squinted to see in front of me.

Then everything went black.

***

Now let me tell you!! When I “woke up”, I almost fainted again straightaway. What did I see? Well, there are no descriptions that would suffice. There are actually no words in any known existence, that can speak of such things that my eyes beheld.

It was ‘beautiful’ to say it plainly, however, the particular beauty cannot be fully described. Even the life forms were ‘beautiful’. I mean, they were also what you and I might describe as ‘weird’ or ‘odd’ or ‘strange’, but they were the most beautiful life forms, that I had ever seen.

Let me back up a bit here. At first, I was terrified. The moment I opened my eyes, I saw that fuzzy brightness, then I heard from somewhere: “Breathe”, and as I did, my eyes adjusted, and as they did, I realized that I was surround by hundreds of little people, er, the inhabitants of the land (I think that’s what they call themselves). They weren’t small people. This wasn’t munchkin land. But they appeared little from my vantage point, looking up from where I had fainted.

I wasn’t afraid of ‘them’ exactly, for I felt this warmth, and a sense of comfort from their presence. Almost like, a feeling of ‘home’, but the inhabitants of this strange land, were also quite strange in appearance.

To be fair, I only saw one of them in my direct line of vision, and the many, many, many others were all cloaked in long flowing hooded robes at a bit of a distance. With their hoods covering the majority of their features, I might add. I think they didn’t want to alarm me, so they stood at a distance from myself and the one who made contact with me, (though I am certain they could have pounced at any moment, if I had been an invader), still they kept themselves hidden, with the exception of the one.

I do not want to betray the identity of the one, but I will say that they are very ‘changeable’.

No, not shapeshifters, if that’s what you are thinking. However, by definition, since they have the ability to ‘shift’, they are in fact a species of shapeshifters. (I can’t be certain, but it is a working theory.)

They stood very still.

It was the eyes that I was most focused on. They were deep, deep, Indigo with a charcoal gray ring around the Iris. The shape… there was something different about the shape and the depth… I seemed to get lost in a bit of a trance, and then I ‘heard’ them. They were asking me from where I had departed and where I had meant to go.

I stared at them.

All of them.

With their long flowing robes. The hoods still covering their facial features.

It was only now that I noticed, they wore different colored robes. The ones in white stood in the inner circle. Then there were several surrounding them in robes of black. At least seven rows deep. I continued to stare at them, trying to decipher where I was. As I stared forward, the inhabitants suddenly parted to clear a path. They did this in unison, almost as if it were rehearsed.

Walking towards me now was an inhabitant wearing a red robe.

The lighting changed now. It became dimmer. Not dark by any means, but dimmer, and then all of the other inhabitants were no longer in view. It was like they disappeared.

Where did they go? I wondered.

“Do not fear,” the voice said, “they have gone to make preparations.”

I hadn’t spoken my thoughts out loud. How did…? How is…? I was now unsure of my own questions. Uncertain about my thoughts.

“I will tell you what you need to know,” said the voice. “We do not wish to harm you.”

I did not move. Or speak. Or think.

Time seemed to be moving slower.

“In fact,” the voice continued, “I believe that we can help each other, but first, you must remember from where you came, and more importantly, you must decide where you are going.”

“Is that a riddle?” I asked out loud.

In the very moment that I spoke; there was proximately a shrill sound in the sky and the clouds moved furiously. The inhabitants suddenly appeared again.

“You do not need to speak to be heard,” said the voice kindly, “for we understand all.”

But you speak, I thought to myself.

“Yes, we do speak, at times,” quantified the voice, but a further explanation was not offered.

I closed my eyes. I think I remembered something as I did so. I couldn’t make it out clearly. There was something written on a paper. I tried to focus on the words, but I could not make out what it said. Then the memory began to slip away. It was then that I heard in my mind, a brief lovely laughter and the phrase, ‘when in Rome’ came into my awareness…

“Ahhh,” the voice said with a smile, “you are from the place that you call Earth.”

Earth.

That word tumbled around in my mind. Earth.

Earth.

I opened my eyes now.

***