The Reincarnated King (ManxManxMan)

Chapter Twenty: A Normal Door - Part Two

~Chapter Twenty: A Normal Door~

Whatever compulsion I had to investigate the space beyond the colorful doorway disappears the moment I actually step inside when I suddenly realize that I cannot see. The doorway was bright, but what actually lays beyond is so bright and full of color that there is nothing to see but sheer, impossible light. It is like standing on the sun, unable to be burned but having no protection over my eyes to keep myself from being totally blinded.

Without any conscious input from me, my eyes close, too overwhelmed by the light, and even if I wanted to, I doubt I would be able to make them open. It is simply too bright, and my body knows this. That does not save me from feeling like the brief glimpse of endless light has seared its way into my skull or burned my eyes, nor does it stop the light from still shining through my eyelids, too bright and too present to be shut out by thin layers of skin.

I try to take a step back to go out the way I came in, but my back hits something as solid as the ground I am standing on instead of open air. At first, I think I just miscalculated my step, but when I reach back, my heart starts to race, and I can feel my palms start to sweat, because there is no doorframe.

It's a solid, unbroken wall.

Gone is the doorway through the cliff that led me here, and in its place, there is a wall that does not give beneath my fingers like the weird, almost-fluid door had. There is nothing but solidity behind me, and when I try to slide my hands along the wall, there is nothing different to my right or left either.

It is just a wall.

My breath catches, and for a moment, I struggle to swallow around the lump in my throat. However, I quickly try to smother the panic welling in my chest because I am clumsy enough without adding panic into the mix. The last thing I need to do is freak out and lose my sense of location.

Biting my lip and trying to ignore the tingling that is starting to spread across my skin, which I hope is just from my anxiety and does not have something to do with whatever this place is, I try to crouch down to see if there might be an opening lower in the wall, and then I reach above my head when I find nothing below. At no time do I turn to face the solid wall, though, out of fear that I will lose my place and forget which direction I am supposed to be facing, even though I am also afraid I already have.

"M-monkeys," I curse softly when I find nothing at all. Or, at least, I think I curse, because I know my mouth moves, and I feel the vibration in my chest, but I hear nothing, and it is at this moment that I also realize that I cannot even hear myself breathing.

There is so much light, but there is no sound.

And then it is almost like gravity has decided to enact some sort of cruel joke upon me because I crash onto the ground with a suddenness that is more jarring than the actual landing, causing me to yelp in surprise. Not that I can actually hear myself yelp, though that may just be due to the abrupt ringing in my ears.

Nothing about this makes sense, I mentally bemoan, rolling onto my side. Shortly thereafter, the ground seems to basically sprout grass beneath my fingers, and then it is tickling my face and neck. The earth - dirt, which digs into my fingernails - shakes lightly a couple of times like small earthquakes before settling, and then there is a rock digging into my cheek.

I pay it no more than passing notice, however, since it feels like every bone in my body has been smashed and then quickly put back together. With glue. And not even superglue - it is that weak stuff we used in arts and crafts back in elementary school.

Everything hurts...

Everything except my eyes, that is, even if it takes me a moment to realize this and an even longer moment to realize why.