Prologue
Falling.
I remember waking up with some extreme vertigo. My head was spinning. I looked up, and it was pitch black; down, darkness. There was no light anywhere; I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face. Luckily, I still felt my backpack over my shoulders, but it was empty. I was worried. Where was I, and how did I get here? Then I hit something at full speed, and blacked out.
When I woke up again, I was on some sort of island. I felt water lapping at my feet and sand in between my toes. As my vision slowly came back, all I could do was gaze in awe at the beautiful place I had landed in. Sandy isles as far as the eye could see, all sitting delicately atop a vast sea of crystal blue.
As I sat on the island, I began to ponder what had happened between the darkness and now. I guessed that I must have been falling too fast to see any light, and I hit the surface of the water? Maybe. But how would I have survived the fall? Hitting water at that speed would have killed me instantly! Or, it would have in MY world. Which brought me back to the main problem. Where was I? I knew that sitting here wouldn't help much, so I decided to search the island for clues.
The island was just as gorgeous as the sea. Palm trees covered the surface of the isle, with a beach around the outside. I probably searched the island for an hour, but I didn't have any way to tell what time it was. The sun was high in the sky, so I figured it was probably around noon. I spotted some red-spotted mushrooms around the centre of the island. I had no idea if they were edible, but I picked one off the ground and put it in my backpack for later. The one thing I did notice while I explored, however, was how this place seemed deserted. I hadn't seen any living creature since I ended up here! But, I shoved the thought to the edge of my mind, and assured myself I'd find someone soon.
As I circled the isle, I saw a sandbar under the surface of the water. It seemed to bridge to another island. I had already explored this isle completely and found only the mushrooms, so I decided to try and walk across the sand. I waded into the water. Along the sandbar it was up about to my waist. The water was warm and inviting. I was beginning to like this place, even though I seemed to be the only one here. I happily waded through the water as the sun set behind me.
To be continued...
