Astral Flow

Chapter 10

That night Ryder couldn't sleep well, though honestly who could?

It was still an odd feeling for him, sleeping in this world, resting in a body that didn't truly belong to him.

Up until this point he'd only gotten by resting for 2 to 4 hours at any given point. Yet the eeriness of it mixing with this rush of emotions made it hard to properly rest.

It already felt odd enough inhabiting an avatar custom made to you for therapeutic reasons but this... this was different.

To him it felt like being a parasite in someone else's mind, feeling their body smothering you as if they were nothing more than some cheap costume.

He felt especially sick as he thought about the body he was in... no it wasn't actually his body after all.

Once his mind finally did drift off properly the odd dreams would snap him back awake.

Dreams, visions of unrecognizable places and events, things that just could not make any form of sense to him.

He saw worlds burning, being destroyed by their own greed and pride as they massacred one another.

Universes colliding and turning into new realities, ones that shouldn't exist.

Felt the terror of watching a loved one die over and over again, being unable to do anything.

All of it rushing by in the blink of an eye, overloading his mind with each new scene that would form in front of him.

It made no sense, it was like watching sped up clips from a show out of order.

There was no rhyme or reason, only unending chaos that burned its visuals into his mind.

Then there was silence, everything came to a stop.

It was as if someone or something had plucked the confusion and overwhelming chaos right out of his mind as a new visual came into view.

A long grassy plain stretched out as far as the eye can see, the grass rolling with the soft breeze.

Clear blue skies hung overhead, not a cloud to be seen... nor any birds.

Nothing could be heard aside from the wind.

Ryder couldn't stop feeling like he was being watched though, as if someone had been standing behind him this entire time.

Slowly turning around he saw a breathtaking sight.

Standing before him was a tree larger than even the tallest skyscraper in the world.

He couldn't recognize what kind it was, it didn't look like any he'd ever seen before.

Its bark was a dark grayish brown, looking oddly resilient and tough.

The branches that seemed to cover the sky held dark greenish blue leaves that seemed to float gracefully to the ground every so often.

Ryder could see bits of teal on the branches as well, all grouped up in certain spots... fruit perhaps?

Lastly, starting from the ground and going up only about a quarter of the way was a tree hollow formed in it.

What was this tree and where was it? There was no clear indication that there was anything else around it at all, not even a single landmark.

Then he noticed it, the person who'd been staring at him this entire time.

It was a kid, no older than 10 at most... they were wearing an oversized green hoodie that almost looked like a tunic with brown pants and black sneakers.