Bailey stood alone in an infinite lake. The crystal clear water lapped at his ankles. Ripples extending outwards from his interference disturbed its otherwise pristine reflection of a sapphire sky sparsely dotted with wispy clouds.
The horizon extended before him, adinfinitum[1]. He spun in a circle, bewildered, only to be met with flat planes of ankle deep water resting on an obsidian surface in all directions.
Where the hell am I?
The last thing I remember...
...
Bailey had just bought a double scoop of vanilla ice cream. It was a hot day, and it started to melt as soon as it was in his hands. The sunlight bounced off the burning pavement, attacking his senses while he stood at a crosswalk. The automated voice repeated its instruction for Bailey to "Wait. Wait." incessantly.
Across the road, Bailey noticed two children laughing and pushing each other around. He smiled, remembering his own youth, playing in the sun and laughing with his friends.
They had all left him now. Bailey was stuck in this town, working a dead end job. His only consolation in life was ice cream and nostalgia.
Bailey's ice cream was dripping onto his hands, making them sticky. The crosswalk light changed to green, and the children on the other side of the road immediately ran across.
A truck on the road was approaching too fast and tried to slam its brakes. Time seemed to slow to a crawl. The screeching truck drew Bailey's attention away from his ice cream and he saw it barreling towards the children in the middle of the road. It was going to hit them!
Bailey dropped his vanilla cone and acted without thinking. He ran forwards and pushed the children out of the way.
Then there was nothing...
...
So this is death... I thought heaven would be less empty.
Or maybe this is hell. Torture by boredom.
Bailey sat in the water, not caring if his clothes got wet. He put his head in his hands and realised the vanilla ice cream was still sticky on the back of his palm. He shrugged and licked it off, then splashed around.
At least the water here is nice and cool. Sucks that it's too shallow to swim, though.
I really hope those kids are okay. Probably scarred them for life...
At least they have a life.
Bailey disturbed the peaceful waters for a bit longer, ruminating on his actions. Then he lay on his back, letting the water tickle the sides of his face as he watched the clouds roll by. He amused himself by trying to find clouds that looked like animals or objects. One cloud looked a little bit like a rabbit.
Eventually, Bailey fell asleep like this - half submerged in the still waters with nothing but still air surrounding him.
After a short time, Bailey awoke. Nothing had changed. He sat up and shivered, regretting letting his clothes get so wet. Bailey took stock of his surroundings, hoping something might have changed, but the distinct lack of anything interesting at all was ever present.
Not much different than my life back home, I guess.
Bailey looked to the sky and reflexively shielded his eyes before realising there was no need to.
Weird that there's no sun, but it's so bright here.
Bailey felt at this moment that if a speck of dust came across his vision, he would notice it instantly just for the pure difference in the landscape.
Suddenly, a great shadow fell upon him. Something was blocking out the sourceless light. Bailey looked towards the sky, searching for the cause of the shadow, but it was as empty and bright as ever.
He looked down at his feet, double checking that he wasn't seeing things.
Yep, still there.
Bailey cast his gaze back at the sky once more, scratching at his temple. He was just in time to see a gargantuan fish materialising from thin air, swimming through the empty space above him as if it were water.
"What the fuck?" Bailey whispered to himself.
A second, identical fish appeared at the same level, opposite the first. The two fish swam gently in opposite directions, far above Bailey's head. He was craning his neck to watch their scales reflect the light when he began to feel a slight tugging sensation, deep in his core.
It was the feeling Bailey always got when he was happily going about his day and suddenly realised he'd forgotten something very important. A feeling of dread, that built over time until he was able to address it, to rectify the problem.
It was the same feeling, deep in his gut, when he saw the truck going to hit those two kids.
The giant flying fish swam on and dematerialised the same way they had appeared, as if they were only there to put on a show for Bailey. The tugging sensation became stronger and stronger still until it was a physical pull.
The feeling turned from a pull to a yank. Some unseen force started to drag Bailey in a seemingly random direction from where he stood.
"Hey!" Bailey called out, flailing his arms and trying to keep his feet under him, "Stop it!"
The invisible tether replied by lifting him into the air and exerting greater force upon Bailey's floating body.
"Put me down!" Bailey said.
Bailey's protestations were in vain, so he began to scream (bravely).
At this point, Bailey was flung through the air without ceremony. He hurtled above the calm water at such a velocity that he fainted.
...
I can't see.
Wait...
Visions flashed behind Bailey's eyes. He saw them without seeing:
Stars. An experiment. Pale skin. Concentric rings. Chanting. Gravestones.
A man, grinning with expectation, standing over a corpse. Scarred hands. Red eyes filled with hubris.
Death.
Failure. Anger. A fight. An escape. Desperation.
Rebirth.
...
Bailey woke in a cold sweat. He rubbed the crusty sleep from his eyes and sat upright in his bed.
This isn't my bed.
The blankets were patchwork, sewn together by hand using scraps of cloth. A warm glow provided a stark contrast to the harshness of the strange light in the infinite pond. It illuminated the room so that Bailey could make out a second bed on the other side with a similar patchwork blanket, the sheets tossed aside as if someone had only recently woken up and left the room.
The walls were made out of stucco[2] and framed with large wooden posts. Bailey rubbed the blanket between his hands, feeling the genuine wool. He tossed it away and saw he was wearing a woolen tunic and pants that also seemed to be hand sewn.
These aren't my clothes...
Outside the window, Bailey saw he was situated on the second floor of this building. An expanse of yellow fields extended below him. At the far end of the fields was a forest so thick with trees that the morning light didn't dare enter it.
There was a field with a few common farm animals; cows and sheep mingling while chewing on grass. A rooster strutted outside a coop and crowed. If Bailey wasn't already awake, that would've done it.
This isn't my home.
Was it all a dream? The lake, the flying fish, those kids on the road?
No... It felt too real...
Something weird is happening.
Bailey got up and noticed a simple wooden chest with polished metal fittings by the door. He crouched down to inspect its contents and was shocked to find a stranger's reflection staring back at him!
The reflection was muddled by the inferior quality of the metal, certainly, and Bailey was very tired. There was no mistaking, however, the sharp jawline that turned when Bailey tilted his head, or the piercing grey eyes that widened in astonishment.
That's not me!
[1] A Latin phrase meaning to infinity, forever, without limit.
[2] A cement/plaster like substance widely used for thousands of years.