My mind feels like it’s at a blank. I don’t know who or where I am, but I’m falling it seems. Falling from the ground upward, ascending...at such a speed. I look down and can almost make out my body somewhere down there, but it is only brief, before it vanishes...just like everything else. The wind blowing down on my eyes is too much to look upward, so really I have no idea where I am going, only that I am falling...falling upward.

It isn’t long before I know where I am. The air has gotten thinner, the wind has calmed down, and it is so cold. I can look up, but there is nothing up there that I can see. My stomach panics as any breathable air has left me long ago. I try to turn around, try to reverse my ascend, an although I have no luck I keep trying, knowing the air wont get any better where I’m heading. My arms and legs very quickly change from a swimming-like motion to a panic of something that can’t be solved. My chest continues to ache as my heart, eyes, and head all feel like they’re about to burst.

This lasted for what felt like a long time, but I would estimate a couple minutes...a couple minutes of suffocation. The moment before it stopped, I could feel lightning strike throughout my brain for a split second, as if my mind had accepted my condition. After that, the suffocation stopped, and although I wasn’t breathing, I felt fine. I think I was still soaring, but as I looked around at the new surrounding, I couldn’t recognize anything, not even a planet nearby. I...thought I was dead...but where am I? This can’t be heaven or hell...this isn’t bliss or torment. I continue to wait.

Time really slows down in situations like this...when there is literally nothing to do. If I could move it would be a little different, unfortunately, that isn’t the case though. There was something in the distance, far away. It wasn’t bright like a star; it looked more like a giant rock, like a meteor. I wasn’t too concerned at first, until I noticed it was heading straight towards me, quickly. I started to panic and tried to move out of the way, but soon, (sooner then before); I gave up and just waited for it to bring more pain into my afterlife. The object was indeed a flying rock, at first it looked like the size of my hand, but as it grew closer I saw and imagined it much larger then myself. I never really did know how far it was from me, or how much larger it would get, until it finally made contact and struck pain throughout my entire body.

Soon after, there was an odd feeling in my throat, almost stopping me from breathing. It soon causes me to cough onto the ground, no doubtingly blood as I soon discover. Once that was over, I had to cover my ears from such a sharp ringing...it helped...a little, and the ringing soon stopped. My throat soon felt better and I...I notice I’m kneeling on the ground somewhere. It was paved, like in the city...and I was between buildings, like a back alley. I push myself from the ground and stumble to my feet, trying to balance myself, as I haven’t experienced gravity in a while. It was dim out, like the sun was just rising, and there was a pain in my back between my shoulders, but it was small enough to ignore. My body and clothes all felt similar, like they were ‘me’ before I hit the meteor...but I don’t remember much before then.

I lead myself forward to get out of this alley and soon find myself on a sidewalk of a road with no traffic. The road was slanted, along with the buildings on its side...on my side at least – the other side was a park-like area. There were a few people with their dogs in the park, and another coming up beside me.

I waved to him and asked, “Hey, do you have a minute?”, but I was completely ignored as he walked pass me.

I decide to let it pass and walk down along the sidewalk, passing the buildings which looked like basic shops and stores. A lot of them were open or opening and the owners looked like perky, happy people. One of the shops I soon come across was called, ‘Yellow Hot Wear’, and was selling clothes, shoes, hats, and so on. The door was held open by a block, so I help myself in and make my way to the front where a girl buying shoes was already being helped. She was soon done with the purchase, and walked out as I approached the desk.

I ask the shop owner, “Hi. Can I ask an odd question?” Wanting to desperately know where I was, I waited patiently for her to answer me...but patience only goes so far.

“Hey! Can you hear me?!” That didn’t seem to affect her either. I started to ring the bell on the desk, but there was something wrong with it – it wasn’t even working! I pressed the top a little lighter thinking it was me, but no, it was the bell.

“Aren’t you supposed to help your customers?—Like in tradition?” Still no response, not even a roll of her eyes, she just continued with the paper work. Of course I give up, being tired and impatient as I was, I walk out. I kneel down against the side of that shop below its window, and place my head on my crossed arms.

This is all so strange. Not that I think of it, it can’t be of any coincidence that both of them ignored me completely. I can’t make out what it is though, I know I’m here...I feel real so I must be! People continue to walk by me, one even running, but they pay no attention...all but one. Another girl...

She said as she walked closer, “Wow, I wonder what his problem is. Looks like the store just fired him or something.” She laughs and continues, “Oh, that’s not f...” She stops dead in her tracks as I lift my head up and stare at her, a little annoyed but more thankful that someone knew I was there.

She looked normal, only for one major feature that was really amazing. She was facing me, but I could make out what looked like dark-grey wings hanging from her back, not much longer then to her elbows. I remember whispering to myself, “No way.”

As she turns around she says to herself loud enough so I could hear, “No, I won’t be the one...just continue sitting there, wait for someone else.”

I had no intention of staying there waiting for someone I wouldn’t know of, so I got up and followed her.

She replies, “I’m sorry, it’s not my specialty, you’re just going to have to wait.”

“Wait for whom? You’re the only one that knows I’m here!”

As she speed-walked away I noticed some of her feathers falling to the ground in front of me.

Almost crashing to her knees, she struggles to pickup her feathers before they’re all blown away. I pick one up and look at it closely. It was really detailed; dark-grey with some white and black spots in there.

The angel grabs it from me. “Don’t touch! They’re not yours you know!”

She gets back up and puts her feathers into a small bag which was tied around her waist and hung on her left hip.

She answers, “I told you it’s not my specialty, and I can’t answer the questions you have lined up.”

But knowing I won’t give up, she continued, “Ok, you’re going to be disappointed at how well I can answer, but I can try.”

That put a smile on my face as I ask her my first and probably most obvious question, “Are you for real?”

She sighs and places her hand on her forehead, probably thinking how to answer this.

She looks back at me and replies, “For now, we can say yes...but not completely. I can’t exactly explain what we are...yes, you too.”

I feel around on my back but find nothing, until my eyes come across something most obvious on my body that sent a hot chill down my spine. I nearly jump in shock as I now notice a horn-like object underneath the skin pointing out from just below my shoulders.

“Oh, that’s right!” I look back at the girl with opened eyes as she continues... “How could I miss something like that?”

“Yes! That’s exactly what I meant!”

At first I thought she may have been serious, but a few seconds pass as she grows a bright face and begins to laugh.

“Ok, calm down, I warned you I’m not good at this, but you insisted. I mean, I was only minding my own business walking along here, and here I find some new guy who demands me to tell him everything in such a short amount of time...”

Her eyes flicker back at me, just noticing I was still there. She stays motionless, watching me while I wait for her to fill me in on the details. The awkward silence was later broken with her smile and response.

It’s as if she was completely ignoring me, but not in a way that made me feel like a ghost, like before. This girl is...strange.

I gave up on asking questions, for now I will try to focus on what she talks about, almost to herself. She doesn’t continue though, at least, I wasn’t able to wait long enough to see what she had to say next. No, instead I was greeted by a twitching in each of my shoulders. It wasn’t so bad at first, I mean; it felt weird, and different...but not painful. Of course, with my luck, it wasn’t long before the pain started to strike from the top of my shoulders, down to the middle of my spine like tiny shards of glass, making their way there and back again. This lasted only a few seconds before my legs gave on me, along with the ability to move below my neck.

I could hear and see, but poorly. The next thing I remember is the echoed voice of the girl, who I was just with,

She picked me up by my arm and leaned me on her back. She carried me up-hill while the scent from her wings eased me through it. They were like some kind of herb–thyme. For what seemed like a dozen minutes, her thyme wings carried me to a building and onto a soft bed. I could hear voices of other people in the building. Something tells me this wasn’t supposed to happen.

My heavy eyes close and put me asleep as the voices continue to chatter on the near background. I dreamt – but it wasn’t a pleasant one. It was a dream which placed me in a room, on a bed, on my chest. Other then my eyes I couldn’t move myself. The room was dark, and someone else was in it. I couldn’t see them, and couldn’t hear them, but I just knew there was someone there...walking around the room. I look to the left, and right, but couldn’t see anything above or beyond the bed. A breeze gently made its way across my spine, but still I could do nothing...so in a cold sweat, I waited.

When my eyes opened for the second, more realistic time – I couldn’t help but feel relieved. Sadly, not my entire dream was false.

I lean my head just enough to see a young boy sitting on a chair watching me. He had deep-black wings, which looked like they could spread across his body length twice.

He added, “My name is Marus.”, and pointed to the wall left of him. “This is my room, but it looks like you’re here temporarily.”

The wall left of him was covered in what looked like math. The entire wall was like a chock-board, parts with symbols I’ve never seen before, and others with words...statements. In fact, every wall was like that – every wall but the one to my right which was only half complete. I turn to Marus in curiosity.

He shakes his head and answers, “I don’t know. It seems with every new theory; five more are made to be discovered. I just hope I can solve it before the last wall runs out...then I’d have to erase it all, and start over in smaller text.”

He laughs out loud. “Don’t worry! I got it all down on paper!”

The door opens, and with a smile on her face as well, the girl I was talking to before walks in, along with someone else. Marus gives me a wave as he gets up and leaves the room. The girl I met before stands by the door, and the guy who she walked in with sits on the chair Marus was in.

He smirks, “Great!”...which goes into a full smile? “...that kind of knowledge can drive a person mad.”

He goes to shake my hand, “I’m Jert, a translator. You’ve already met Sharah, correct?””

I nod and ask, “Not everyone speaks English here?”

“Do you know yet, where ‘here’ is?”

I guess now that I am back to myself and rested, I can actually think of that question.