Falling

As the ground neared, the inevitability of impact loomed large, and Archie braced for a collision that might end his journey as a physician before he even began. As this unknown world welcomes him, he is going to fall flat like a slime.

The image of his nagging grandfather, his late parents and his sibling passed through his mind like an old movie projector. His past flashes before his eyes as he positions himself with all his limbs towards the floor, bracing for impact.

In the maelstrom of fear and adrenaline, the ground hurtled towards Archie at an unforgiving speed. His mind raced for any solution to avoid this impending doom. It was then that a fragment of a dream flashed before his eyes—a vivid memory of a flashback incident where a boy lifted up his hands to command the air itself to heed his call.

With nothing to lose and about to die, Archie mirrored the boy in his dream and stretched his arms out before him, palms facing the ground. He focused everything on that single image and willed with all his heart to pray that wind would come forth from his hands, to swirl and gather beneath him, to cushion his fall.

As Archie was falling, part of him wanted to scream like a girl, but the other part of him was grasping the intangible thread of his dream and wishing it were a reality. Not quite like how he imagined it, Archie did not fall to the floor but hovered over the earth, inches away from impact.

A cushion of wind gently caresses against his skin, acting as a forcefield and protecting him from gravity. project a gush of wind. Since his hands were sticking out anyway, he might as well just give it a try and imagine the wind flowing through his body and out of it to create a cushion of wind.

The act itself, though Archie was grateful for it, definitely perplexed him. "What was it?" he thought. "Was it magic? Or was it an imagination?" he pondered harder. He was so immersed that he forgot to land on the ground. Archie was still in a horizontal position, looking at the world around him. He slowly lowered himself to the ground and stood up.

As Archie stood, his feet finally planted on the strange new ground, standing at the precipice of a floating mountain. The view in front of him astounded him, with more mountains floating everywhere around him. A whisper cut through the silence of the awe-inspiring landscape. "Elysium," it said, soft and ethereal.

Archie was startled by the soft whisper. He spun around abruptly and his eyes scanned the vibrant, magical surroundings. "What?!" he exclaimed. But his response turned out to be more for himself than for the unseen whisperer. His word hung in the air, a tantalizing echo that seemed both foreign and familiar.

Archie shook his head, both hands rubbed his eyes and then slapped his cheeks a couple of times. Then he pinched himself to make sure he had all his senses. He opened his eyes again to see that he was still there. He was trying to dispel the disorientation of his arrival. The stress of the fall and the shock of arriving in this new realm left his thoughts blank, thinking that it was playing tricks on him.

Archie took his first step after landing on the ground. He was cautious for he was afraid of any uncertainty that might happen. He couldn't shake the feeling that the whisper was more than a figment of his imagination. It felt like his guardian angel could suddenly speak to him.

'This new world must be magical, or I would not be alive,' he thought. He wondered if he could summon the wind again. He stretched his hand and imagined an air projectile out of his hand, but nothing happened; he tried once more, this time stretching both hands to summon the power of wind, but nothing again.

'What in the world is going on?' He pondered, scratching his head in perplexity.

As the initial shock wore off, curiosity began to take over Archie's mind. 'Elysium', he thought. He wondered if he could meet any locals so that he could gauge his situation. His heart pounded with a mixture of fear, excitement, and a burgeoning sense of adventure. Then suddenly, his stomach growled.

'Oh boy! This could be troublesome.' Archie was hungry from the fall and rummaged his backpack, which he had nearly forgotten. He looked down and saw that he was still in his skates. He removed his skates, folded them and tied them to the side of his backpack. Then he rummaged through his bag, took out a Chinese bun, and drank some water. He only has a liter of water and six buns. These six buns could not last him a day. He needed to find food.

Just as Archie was about to sink his teeth into the soft, fluffy, doughy exterior of the bun, a sudden gush of wind blew around him, carrying with it an eerie whisper: "Poison.". The voice was unmistakable this time. Although it was soft, it was clear and ominous, leaving no room for doubt that it was indeed real and not a figment of his imagination.

Startled, Archie's eyes widen in alarm, and the bun halts midway into his mouth. He stared at it and hesitated at the warning echoing in his mind. 'Better be safe than sorry', he thought as his hands slowly pulled apart the bun that he had just bitten into with suspense. To his horror, instead of the expected pork or red bean filling, a strange purple goo oozed out, glistening unnaturally in the light of this new realm.

The sight of the poison bun sent shivers down his spine—a mixture of fear and disbelief. 'Did grandpa try to poison me?' He thought immediately. The whisper had saved him from ingesting what seemed to be poison, disguising himself as a comfort guide, a guardian angel. However, he realized the unknown was terrifying; the only thing he understood at this point was that he wasn't alone and that there was some unseen entity or force watching over him. So far, it wasn't bringing him harm, but it was still terrifying and bewildering.

With the tainted bun discarded, Archie took the remaining five buns and tore them apart. As he suspected, the buns were all poisonous. He then took his bottle of water and prayed that it wasn't poison. Thankfully, his water was safe to consume. He drank them and sighed at his fortune. Landing in this new realm would be fraught with challenges and dangers that he had yet to comprehend and most likely illogical, or maybe magical, sure.

In a moment of instinctive reverence, Archie decided to bow deeply as a sign of gratitude for the mysterious and disembodied wisp of a whisper. Then he whispered, "Thank you for your warning and guidance."

No sooner had the words left his mouth, the surrounding atmosphere had shifted dramatically. Another gust of wind, far stronger and more forceful than before, whipped around him. It was no breeze but a tempest that seemed to materialize out of nowhere.