Spinning in every direction at insane speeds Rayleigh to his surprise was still alive but had no time to think.
He had no perception of time and was surrounded by darkness.
Dark, the kind you get when you are deep underground away from any light.
The darkness, nausea and fear he felt soon disappeared when the realization set in…
He couldn't breathe.
Gasping for air, but nothing filled his lungs. His lungs starting to squeeze, and his face started to get heavy and swell.
With what little movement he can manage he flails with no purpose but to grasp at something for air.
Running out of air Rayleigh had accepted it.
Knowing this was probably it for him, he accepted his fate and just thought to himself
"Damn, right when I made my resolve to change".
"What a fucked up day…".
Rayleigh then blacked out…
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Drop.. Drop.. Drop..
Coughing, choking on water that had gone into Rayleigh's mouth from somewhere above.
Wheezing now from choking on the water, Rayleigh's eyes slowly push open.
Again, blinded by light slipping through what looked like curtains to Rayleigh, he was given a moment of relaxation.
"Fuck another early morning"
"That was one hell of a dream"
Trying to sit up Rayleigh was once again filled with fear, soon after accompanied by pain. Pain shoots all through his back causing Rayleigh to scream out in pain. Tears fill his eyes, and he falls back down. Finally, fully awake Rayleigh's whole body is pulsating with pain.
Moving just his head tensing his body to hold in the pain he looks around trying to find some clue as to where he is at.
Slowly looking around he determines quickly he is planted in the middle of a large bush unlike any he had ever seen.
Instead of leaves he was surrounded by long wavy almost cotton like strands that are soft on his body.
He plops his head back down to ease the pain and sits there looking up once again at the sun peeking through the cracks in the bushes.
Reminded of all those days sitting on the school roof looking up dreaming of worlds beyond his imagination to escape reality. He sat there, and sat there and just kept considering the single idea that...
"What if I am not on Earth anymore?"
A sort of excitement and fear came with this statement.
It was all Rayleigh had ever dreamed of day after day. However, no matter how cool things may look, the injuries were more than enough to cause fear.
Unable to come to terms with all that had happened and unable to move more than an inch, Rayleigh just closed his eyes and dozed off to sleep.
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Rayleigh again wakes up but this time naturally, opening his eyes to the sound of birds chirping in the background.
"Well shit I'm still here" Rayleigh said joking to himself to try to get rid of the uneasiness he felt.
This time, even though Rayleigh is sore he was determined to roll out of the sizable bush.
He leans his body to one side, using the momentum to roll out the other way.
Stick after stick poke into his body, tensing his body from the pain he kept rolling, finally breaking out of the side of the bush.
Letting out his breath from holding in the pains, he was once again staring up at the sky with his arms spread out to the side.
At this point one thing was for certain in his mind.
This place is not earth.
Trees that shoot up higher than office buildings, with leaves bigger than himself. Grass that is crimson red that curls up like a loose spring, waving in the wind. Flowers that are as black as night flowing water like a faucet endlessly. Everything around him was nothing like anything he had ever seen before and was safe to say no one else had either.
Rayleigh rolls over to his stomach, and crawls over to the nearest tree propping himself up leaning back on it.
Not too far away was a small pond filled up from the black flower.
Immediately Rayleigh is filled with thirst he had forgotten because of the pain and without a second thought, started to crawl over to the pond ahead.
Left, Right.
Left, Right.
Inch by inch he crawled over, faster and faster the closer he got the more the dehydration set in.
The cramps he felt in his side, the dryness of his mouth, and the taste of iron.
Nearly halfway he had basically forgotten about his pain and was only focused on water.
Water. Water. Water. The thought persisted in his mind.
*Rustling in the bush*
He froze instantly.
Fear, something he had been experiencing repeatedly overcame him again.
He was almost close enough to touch the bush next to him and this amplified his fear tenfold.
Unable to even turn his head he sits there, holding his breath.
The rustling continues…
Closer,
Closer,
Closer,
and then…
Stops.
Gaining some courage, he turns slowly still not having breathed at all and finally sees it...
It was huge...
Something he hadn't considered being in the middle of a forest in another world.
What stood there next to him made a chill run all throughout his body.