Shaking with fright I held myself tightly, closing my eyes as I breathed deeply, finally feeling sweet air grace my lungs, however its usual fresh flavor was still tainted by the horrid taste of metal still lingering on my tongue.

  For a while I sat there, slowly rocking back and forth to calm my mind that had gone half wild, with the jump started neurons still buzzing in manic patterns, until finally after a couple minutes or so, I stopped shaking and felt stable enough to do anything more complex than breathing.

  Roving my eyes over the landscape as I got to my feet, I searched for anything of note, however my surroundings consisted only of a small lake that from what I could tell seemed more like a puddle, alongside nearby trees and a related undergrowth that ran further than my eyes could see.

  Scanning my body next, I was utterly shocked. In a unique mix of intrigue and horror, I watched the many holes running throughout my body closing up at a visible rate, to the point that after a little over a minute, deep wounds that in some places had scratched upon bone had healed almost completely. Bringing my hands up to inspect, I flipped them over back to palm, looking for any sign of the wounds inflicted by the unnaturally sharp shards, however all that had remained were the trails of blood left behind, I even exerted pressure over the areas I remembered the holes to be, yet the skin there felt like it had a day prior, before the creature.

  Shaking my head at the oddness of the entire ordeal, I wondered if I had truly gone mad or if my mind had simply conjured this whole thing up in some sort of twisted dream, in which pain was apparently also simulated. Deciding to ignore those current thoughts, I returned to surveying my surroundings, attempting to find any sort of life other than the plants, however I came up empty. The world itself seemed…strange, odd even, the air wasn’t filled with the cries of birds high up in the trees, nor did I hear the incessant buzzing of insects crawling amongst the stalks of grass. Now that I thought about it, even the wind seemed non existent, it was as if the world hadn’t been properly rendered. The thought sent a shiver up my spine, causing a wave of unease to circulate throughout my mind.

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  On edge, I chose to make my way over to the small lake that I had seen previously. Swiveling my head repeatedly as if something were about to leap at me from the bushes.

  I slowly dropped to my knees, giving one last look around before placing my head into the water and taking a couple gulps to banish the horrid feeling still lingering in my throat. I came up for air rubbing my hands over my eyes and face trying in a useless attempt to cleanse myself of the blood and the entire experience, pulling my hands slowly down my face before letting them drop to my sides I gave a good look at myself in the water, heaving a deep sigh at the long line of red that ran down my forehead and led directly around my mouth. From the view, it was obvious that the efforts of scrubbing had come up fruitless. I let out a practically silent curse, staring into the deep azure before sending out a globule of a mix of spit and blood into the face staring back at me.

  The globule, to my surprise, instead of simply sending ripples throughout the water, I bore witness to a fizzing and bubbling reaction at the point of contact. Stumbling back, alarmed, I fell right on my ass as the water began to change, in a violent expression the water began to churn and broil, in seconds forming little waves that died on impact with the shore. The event only lasted a few moments, and at this point did little to surprise me.

  Getting myself back up, I again scanned around me, no change, then turned back to the water. This time as I looked upon it, I did not see the same azure blue, but instead, in a small area around where the spit had landed there was a view of… a city? I peered into the lake, watching as men and women all dressed in modern clothes walked by, from the angle it appeared that I was staring up from the angle of a puddle.

  “Thank you Lord!” I shrieked, scabbling to reach through the conjured portal, hope finally replacing the dread inside of my heart as I attempted to reach through into the real world. Only for.

  “Nooooooo!”