The seemingly immense mountains of sand moved in a motion that seemed to mimic the waves churning in the sea, moving large amounts of the pearl-like grains of sand, like gears that were arranged to interact with each other perfectly fitting together, causing a unique sound that reminded me of marbles colliding and hitting each other creating a small echo loud enough for me to hear but not too loud to cause any discomfort to my hearing.
It was night but I could see through the endless darkness thanks to the star-like lights that hung like Christmas lights suspended in the beautiful night sky that showed a reddish illumination even as the other stars hanging in the air had a variety of colors that came and went in different colorful shades that illuminated the surroundings, the only one that managed to predominate above the others was the red light that seemed to be the only one that had an effect on the immense tide of sand, unlike the more yellowish light of the fireflies the stars reflected a pinkish tone around the pearly sand which was nothing more than the fruit of the influence that the reddish stars had on the space around us.
The stars seemed to be too close to us although it could have been an illusion generated by the vast amount of lights that rose above the first ones that did not seem to be much higher than the great hills of sand, the space between the stars and us seemed to be somewhat strange and curious as if I could touch them if I managed to rise high enough.
Although it was true, I was making a mistake, I shouldn't compare something like my home, something I already knew very well like my planet with an unknown environment like this, but shouldn't the stars work the same way everywhere?
Again I'm making another mistake, I'm comparing the lights in the sky to stars, they look so much alike that was my first impression but I have no idea what kind of ecosystem this is, could it be that I've gone back outside on the surface of the planet somehow?
But then why was it already dark, it had just been a couple of hours since we arrived and it didn't look like the sun was about to set any time soon, when I ran out of the ship I had arrived in although I didn't pay too much attention to it the starlight looked quite bright.
Or maybe I could have gone even deeper than before and now I was seeing a completely new space that resembled or tried to copy that of a night sky, but if so, where I was was in a huge space that did not seem to have any kind of limit as if it were a different planet, it was even more immense than the surface of the planet I had arrived first.
And if…
I paused to finish the sentence in my head, what if I am no longer on that strange plasticine planet. My thoughts whirling around like a tornado of ideas turned my thoughts into a jumble of doubts and theories that seemed to go nowhere as they spun in any direction causing me even more anguish and worry than I already had.
Where the hell am I?
I had walked through that weird door and was now somewhere in a location as mysterious and unknown as our immediate future.
One thing was certain though, right now you were at the mercy of whatever our beloved guide wanted to do with us.
I knew I should not trust in such a hasty manner in beings that were not even human beings, but did I have any other choice, not that I could have done anything else but cooperate so as not to die at the hands of those feathered fireflies.
Now I was even more lost than before, could I return to the ship, it seemed that I was lost since I had descended through that hole that led me to the cave full of those strange animals.
No, I was already lost even before I fell down the hole, I think I had been lost since I had fallen down that ravine that was not there before I fell and crashed with that cylindrical rock.
Anyway, would I have been able to get out of there, the way things are it seems that after the ceiling started to become liquid the first time I saw it, I wouldn't have been able to get out by simply climbing back up where I fell.
There were people who walked on that strange liquid ceiling as if they were stepping on a solid if so I think I would not have been able to get out at the top, as if it was a lid obstructing my way to the top, it's true those vines too.
The vines that hung over the hole we had fallen through, the hole that had gone from being a void to be cautious of to one that moved like a river and in turn acted as a ceiling.
Yes, the vines could have been attached to that roof that should have become solid like what happened with the ravine. No, if they would have to be attached to something solid to be able to hold otherwise they could not….
But what if… what if just like with the sand the vines had ignored it, had ignored the need to have something to hold on to, ignoring the presence of something physical like when the sand didn't react when I tried to exert force on it.
I don't remember feeling like I touched something like a liquid ceiling when I fell down that hole and I don't think those vines were even there at first, I could swear to it but I don't remember it very well so I'm not entirely sure.
Well for now they haven't shown any intention of harming us at least not yet, or true on second thought except for wanting to lead us through a place where there is no one around who can hear my screams.
However if they had not been there maybe I would never have been able to get out of that cave, maybe coming here following my little guide is a good thing, I think it is better that they are not human beings, maybe I am thinking about it too much because I am a human being, maybe they do not have malicious intentions, we could receive help from them but if not what are their intentions with us then, why they had shown that initial curiosity for us before.
This is starting to get more and more confusing and making my head hurt in the process.
My attention shifted to behind me as an uproarious sound began to echo through the surroundings.
It was a sound I had heard before entering the empty arched doorway. It was wings flapping, the same sound I had heard when the feathered animals had passed by us, illuminating the path that had begun to build at that moment.
As I looked back I saw the thousands of luminescent creatures from before arriving, passing through a door of the same type as the one I had used at the beginning to cross and reach this area of countless pearls.
Well, I don't know how good this is, I thought seeing the thousands of winged creatures that kept crossing through the door, as if there was no limit to their number.
And just now I noticed the door. I had already assumed that the door was some kind of portal but I still found it disturbing that the door was empty in the middle of nowhere and that more and more of those strange animals kept appearing from it but well that was not uncommon here.
No, it's my fault for comparing it to the normality I'm used to, thinking about it I went to the other end of the door trying to see a bit of how that portal worked.
But when I went to the other side of the empty door I didn't see anything extraordinary besides seeing the little animals appearing out of nowhere in the middle of the middle of the arched doorway that appeared to be empty, flying forward like an endless swarm.
This continued for a couple of minutes more until the swarm completely left the doorway standing in the middle of nowhere. I moved closer to see the door in more detail, I didn't expect to see anything specific but I thought there might be something else carved into the quartz blocks that formed the door although I wasn't able to see anything else besides the smooth blocks of stone that didn't appear to have any imperfections besides the visible separation they had when they were joined together to form the door.
And suddenly a creature shot out from the side of the door I was watching, not being able to dodge it, its small body hit me squarely and unlike what I thought of what an animal of its size could do, its small blow that might seem insignificant at first glance, made me lose my balance and I was unable to avoid it, I managed to recover quickly enough to stand up, despite the initial blow that seemed as strong as a tractor running over me, I was able to easily recover from my initial state of shock.
It was more than recovering, feeling it now, I felt full of energy as if my physical capabilities suddenly increased.
Looking in the direction of the creature, I realized that apparently the collision had not been an accident. I denied the thought but realized that the blow might have been intentional, noticing that the creature seemed to notice my sudden change in energy as it looked at me as if it was waiting for me to do something.
Really, you really have a thing about falling, I didn't expect you to have so little stamina that you could be easily knocked down by an animal the size of a mouse.
Shut up, I expressed something confused still to my companion who was looking at me incredulously, quickly looking cautiously at the creature that was still watching me I headed towards where the red-haired woman was.
And …what was that, it's not that you look especially strong but I didn't expect that something like that could get you so easily.
Shut up, if you want next time we could exchange places, I'm just saying to know if you can be knocked down by a firefly or if you're strong enough not to be knocked unconscious by the blow like me.
A lot of arrogance from the guy who almost got knocked out by a lizard, and I can see your mood is back.
Let's continue
The same intrusive thought from earlier came back to my mind, the same feeling that the idea I had thought of was not mine but the instruction of someone outside, came back to me as soon as I heard my voice say it in my head.
Our guide continued to fly forward but this time the rest of the creatures did not wait for us to follow with them, flying off at great speed like the great swarm they were. Soon I lost sight of them until I was no longer able to discern their light in the darkness.
But our guide stayed patiently behind with us, moving at a much slower pace than he could go, but he kept moving forward even though we were still somewhat surprised by the sudden change of events, flapping his wings as he moved through the air with agility as he continued on his way, alerting us so we followed him closely.
We continued for a while through a flat path that separated in what seemed to be in the middle of the different zones of rising waves of sand around, similar to a path that wanted to reach a secret place, a path to which the waves did not approach them leaving a quite remarkable space, as if they wanted to leave enough space to let us pass without discomfort and also….
The latter was more of a feeling I had from my intuition, but it was as if I wanted to be able to see it, it was a feeling I had not had.
It was arrogant of me to think that that path was made exclusively for me but I had never had a feeling like that, although this was more a feeling than something I believed fervently so I decided to stop thinking about it and think towards the near future, walking I wanted to start thinking about where the path would take us, but I could not stop thinking that that path had been created so that I could see it.
So, are you going to tell me, what happened back there?
Back there?
You know, when you stumbled through the door and stood there like a scared mouse not knowing what to do for half an hour.
What? It didn't take me long to get back on my feet, I don't know what you're talking about, I just tripped and fell, you know, I seem to be very clumsy, don't I?
Like that?
Yeah, I guess, or are you going to say that a strong feeling of trust has been planted in you towards me.
What are you hiding?
What am I supposed to be hiding if you were with me almost all the way here.
That's right "almost", then you're going to tell me why you were so scared, if we're going to make a truce, I'd rather know if any death threats were made to us or anything of that sort.
No, it wasn't a death threat, but if you weren't there, there's no point in my telling you, because that would be my problem and mine alone.
Be where, and how do you know I wasn't there, you weren't with me the whole time to know, and I'd like to know if something dangerous is going on.
Yes, but because of your initial reaction, I can only guess that you didn't go to the same place as me.
And well you're going to say it aren't you, our little alliance should focus on improving trust between us, don't you think?
Well, not that it will do any good but if you must know I was in some….
Before I continued with my story, I watched as two familiar lights quickly approached our direction.