4 The world beyond the tunnel

I opened my eyes to be greeted by the ray of sunlight illuminating the cave. The blackness on the other side was actually a tunnel. I knew that I couldn't make it out of that situation by climbing up the sheer walls of sand, so, I had to brave the tunnel and face whatever creature lurking in there.

I slowly entered the tunnel. It was wide enough for three people to walk abreast. It was about three meters in height. I was alert as I cautiously put one leg in front of the other. I could barely see what's in front as the tunnel was dimly lit by the light of the sun that illuminated the cave behind me. I walked about ten meters and I heard the sound of running water in the distant. I quickened my pace. I met the dead-end in the tunnel, but the sound of the water was roaring even more fiercely.

The dead-end was a plain sand wall. I slowly walked to it and tried touching it, but I was shocked as my hand bypassed the wall as if it was just an optical illusion. What happened after was beyond my wildest dreams. I was sucked into the illusionary wall. I was in complete darkness for about five minutes, it felt as if I was rushing through a dark tunnel.

There was a sudden bright light which caused me to close my eyes. I opened my eyes only to find myself in a completely different world. I was facing a deep canyon, and a mighty waterfall cascaded down the rocks, falling in a dark pool below. The surrounding area was some kind of a forest. I beheld all this beauty standing on a rock about fifty meters away from the waterfall. The sun was in the zenith. I looked around thinking I might find a tear in space, but there was nothing.

Being out of the desert was great, but I felt hopeless as I was lost without any slight sense of direction. I looked at my wristwatch. I was astounded to see it was working just fine, the time was moving normally. The time on the watch was half-past twelve in the afternoon. The compass was somehow working properly as well. I started walking Easterly using the waterfall as my reference point.

I walked in the dim forest due to obstruction of the sunlight by the trees. This was worse than the desert due to the variety of predators that usually reside in forests. I had nothing to defend myself with. As I slowly progressed through the forest, I realized that there was something amiss with the forest. I looked around uneasily as I walked. The forest was too quiet, not even a birdsong could be heard.

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