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Chapter 16:

Something had changed, had decreased, had gone wrong. His shelter seemed to become a trap and a feeling had reappeared, which he hadn't been confronted with since he came here – fear. He was afraid, his surrounding was threatening him and above all he had no idea how to react to it.

The sea – still calm just minutes ago – was rough, high waves crushing to the shore. Clouds had appeared, covering the sun and outing a dim, gray, depressing light on the whole scenery. He was cold, which caused him to shiver – another sensation he hadn't been forced to cope with since he arrived at this strange place.

He no longer felt safe at this place, but – and he hadn't even cared about it so far – he had no idea how to escape this place. Something, some force unknown to him, had brought him here

and he had no control about it after all.

He frantically thought about a reason for all this happening. What had caused this? What had he done? Had he done anything after all? He just couldn't believe this was a natural process, that this was supposed to happen. He had really hoped he would be able to keep this place, but obviously somebody had decided that it was time to take it away from him.

All of a sudden the surrounding changed once again and this time he gasped in surprise... and in fear. The first time this had happened, it had occurred absolutely natural to him, but this time he felt confused and dizzy. And there was something else he was feeling, that definitely didn't belong here – pain.

He was back in the forest he had been when he first became aware of his surrounding, but he was barely able to believe it was the very same place. It was dark, cold and damp around here now and he was barely able to breathe. The trees seemed to tower above him dangerously and the branches hanging in the way seemed like claws reaching out for him. An angry wind was audible, making his feeling of being cold even worse. The pleasant sounds – and the simple silence he had enjoyed when being here for the first time had vanished.

The level of pain however had increased and combined with his inability to breathe properly, it caused him even more fear. He wanted to get away from this place, run to a sheltered surrounding, but he couldn't escape. Whatever force had put him here in first place, now wanted him to leave. But he wasn't willing to.

He tried to shut out the coldness, the pain and the fear. Tried to breathe in deeply and closed his eyes, hoping to find a way to get away from the forest again – to another warmer and friendlier place. But his situation didn't get any better. The sound of the wind seemed to rush in his ears and the branches really seemed to pull him into a certain direction now.

He quickly opened his eyes, but what he was confronted with then, was far worse than imagining the branches grabbing for him. The surrounding had slightly changed once again. He was still in the forest, but at the edge of it now, covered in spinous, dead thicket, which was cutting his legs. But the far worse thing was the sight right in front of him.

It was a cliff, a very steep cliff and the rushing wind was moving towards and over it. He could see nothing – not in the distance and not down the cliff. It was pitch black down there. With horror he realized that he had no support after all – he couldn't hold on to anything. He knew he would fall, he would fall down the cliff and then he would die. But as much as he struggled he couldn't step backwards, he couldn't get away.

He closed his eyes once again – hoping beyond any hope that it would work this time, that his imagination would carry him away from this place, save him and make him feel comfortable again. Thinking about it – it was a stupid thing to do. He knew he should better try to run, get through the thicket and back into the forest away from the cliff.

But this wasn't a normal place and the normal laws of physics and biology didn't work around here. It was a dreamworld – a shelter made out of memory and wishes and the only way he was able to think of that was probably able to save him was to dream.

But he was unfocused. Something was blocking his thoughts, making it unable for him to concentrate. He cursed silently and tried hard to keep his thoughts in line, but it wouldn't work. Somewhere in the back of his mind there was a mumbling, unpleasant sound. A sound he didn't want to listen to, but he couldn't make it go away. It was causing him pain and he didn't want that.

He didn't even bother to what it had to say – it was simply trying to get his attention and kept him from what he needed to do. It was annoying and he really would have loved to yell at it, but it was pointless. This thing was just some imagination in his mind – there was nobody there to yell at.

He reopened his eyes, but his situation hadn't improved. He still found himself standing at that damn cliff and the wind had moved him even closer to its edge. He realized he wouldn't get away. He would fall no matter what he would do, he would fall down into this pitch darkness and there was absolutely nothing he could do for his protection – just wait and see.

All of a sudden the voice seemed to get clear – just for a second – and he believed he could hear it call him, call his name. But it probably was just some form of panic. He struggled again, tried to move into a position he would be out of the wind that was pushing him forward but it wasn't working.

He didn't even realize it for the first few seconds, but he had lost the ground under his feet. It was a strange sensation, for it felt like floating for a few seconds and he already began to hope that gravity was another thing that wasn't fully working at this strange place. But in the next split second he was forced to realize he was wrong – he was falling.

He wished to scream, tried to, but no sound was coming from his mouth – something was blocking his airways making it impossible to say a single thing, not even allowing him to breathe. He tried again and again but nothing was happening, he just didn't seem to get this thing – whatever it was – out of his throat.

Actually it wasn't of much use anyway. He would be dead in a few seconds, his body would collide with the ground that seemed miles and miles down from the cliff and he would be dead in an instant. Actually he should be hoping to fall unconscious from lack of oxygen before it happened. It would be less painful then.

Once again he believed the voice was calling out for him, saying something else he couldn't understand, but of course he was wrong. His mind was playing a few last soothing tricks on him to make the impact easier for him. He tried to scream for one last time – his lungs feeling like they were on fire from the pointless effort he had put them through.

And then darkness engulfed him.