A measureless span of time had passed since I last made landfall.
My ship and shipmates had long ago been claimed by a maelstrom, leaving me alone upon an oarless, sail-less wooden vessel adrift upon a black and endless sea. Exhausted and starving, I drifted in and out of consciousness, waiting for death to claim me.
I awoke with a violent jolt. The boat had grounded upon a sandbar.
Weak and trembling, I climbed over the side. The land was slick and black, coated in foul-smelling slime that reeked of fish and decay. Each step sank into the gelatinous surface, making progress slow and exhausting.
The sandbar stretched endlessly in every direction, featureless and barely rising above the waterline.
Without warning, the ground gave way beneath me.
I slid helplessly down a steep incline, skidding across the slime-covered surface before plunging into waist-deep black water thick as oil.
Struggling onward, I waded through the darkness.
As I advanced, a great cliff slowly emerged from the depths before me, rising higher and higher until it towered overhead. In my weakened state the climb was torturous, each handhold earned through sheer determination.
Eventually I hauled myself onto a dry volcanic plateau.
The landscape was barren.
No trees, no birds, no life.
Only a colossal volcano rising from the centre of the island.
Toward it I travelled.
At the mountain’s base stood a vast stone archway carved directly into the rock. Set within it was an immense wooden door blackened with age.
The volcano rumbled deep beneath the earth.
The air smelled of sulphur and ash.
Fire crackled somewhere beyond the stone.
I pounded upon the door.
For a long moment nothing happened.
Then the door slowly opened.
Darkness waited beyond.
I stepped inside.
The great door closed behind me with a thunderous boom.
The sound of iron locks echoed through the cavern.
Ancient earth filled my lungs.
Following a solitary stone path through the darkness, I eventually arrived at a pair of towering doors.
I pushed them open and was blinded by light.
Before me stretched a paradise beyond imagining.
A vast garden overflowing with impossible beauty.
Ancient trees heavy with fruit.
Crystal streams winding through emerald grass.
Waterfalls tumbling into clear pools.
Flowers blooming in colours I had no names for.
For hours, or perhaps days, I wandered that place.
I ate sweet fruits. Gathered nuts and mushrooms.
Drank from cool streams and sparkling falls.
For the first time since the sea had claimed my world, I felt peace.
Eventually weariness overtook me.
I lay beneath an apple tree.
The grass was soft, the breeze was warm.
And I surrendered myself to sleep.
An impossible sleep.
When I finally awoke, the scent of apples had vanished.
The scent of disinfectant filled the air.
I opened my eyes into a white room.
Cold, sterile, and empty.
Leather restraints bound my wrists and ankles to a chrome-framed bed.
A barred window admitted only a thin shaft of grey daylight.
Across from me stood a heavy metal door.
Locked, beyond it echoed the screams of madmen,
Suddenly a hatch snapped open.
A pair of eyes appeared.
Watching, studying, judging.
Then the hatch slammed shut once more.
The silence that followed was deafening.
I lay motionless, staring at the ceiling.
Trying desperately to remember.
Had I truly drifted across a black and endless sea?
Had I climbed the volcanic island?
Had I walked among the gardens of paradise?
Had any of it been real?
Or had this room been my world all along?
And if so…
Why did I still miss the ocean?
Dan Verkys 