The Fall

Making my way down was almost more difficult than going up, as with no prior experience in rock climbing, I struggled to keep myself from slipping down the steep incline leading into the valley below. Slow and steady is the name of this game as I search for my next handhold, the fear of falling always at the back of my mind.

Eventually, I reach the clouds that enshroud the valley from the rest of the world. Entering the cool embrace of the cloud bank as I continue my climb down, I become more cautious. My view impaired and the rocky surface I cling to becoming moist with condensation, any lapse in concentration, any small mistake I make could spell my doom. Further and further I descended, with me starting to realize that the valley is much deeper than I had first thought.

With cloud all around me the light of day faded much earlier then I expected forcing me to quickly look for a ledge large enough to spend the night on. After a bit of searing, I come across a place large enough to fit my needs and sit with my back to the mountain.

With the sun now gone from the sky, I take a moment to ponder why the temperature has always stayed just about the same regardless of day or night. Finding it strange, as logic would dictate that the temperature would drop at least a few degrees at night as it does in even in the most moderate of climates back home.

'..Home... *sigh* I wonder how everyone back home is doing? Have they found out about my apparent death? Was my body even there to be found? ..or did it disappear when I was sent here? ..am I just a missing person now or are they burying me and mourning their loss? ...huhhh I hope Colby is doing okay but I think I don't need to worry about him too much as he has always been a resilient, glass half full type of guy..

Coach will be pissed I missed training.. but he will get over it and move on I'm sure.. hmm now that I think about it besides those two and maybe Colby's parents, I don't really have many people that I was close to.. I was just always so busy with stuff I never took the time to make connections with others..

hell, I never even had a love interest that lasted more then a couple of months.. I guess I never really tried too hard as I always felt it wasn't fair to them if I couldn't dedicate the time and effort it takes to maintain that sort of relationship.. Though Colby always said I just haven't found the "one" yet.'

Recalling that conversation with his best friend a rueful smile is seen on his face and a light chuckle escapes his lips as he looks up to the night sky. 'The stars here sure are beautiful at least.. in my old world there was so much light saturation and I hardly ever had a chance to see stars like this.. hmm now that I'm looking at them, these stars seem to be completely different to the ones I know..

I can't find any of the constellations that I'm familiar with... I guess that confirms it then.. I really am in a different world now.' Thinking of the fact that he has left behind everything he has ever known a sad and desolate feeling enshrouds Michael. Sitting there on a ledge, on the side of a mountain and with nothing but his memories of the life now lost to him to keep him company these last thoughts drift through his mind as he falls asleep.

'I have never felt so alone...'

Nightmares of being trapped in a never ending maze of red stone plague his sleep. Waking up after a long, restless night feeling more tired than he did before falling asleep, he struggles to clear his mind of the last vestiges of the dream world.

Reaching up to rub at his crusty bloodshot eyes he looks around and takes in his surroundings, but there is not much to see as the haze engulfing him reminds him of a crappy movie he saw as a kid called "The Mist".

'Let's just hope there are no extradimensional monsters here.'

With that happy thought, he got to his feet and noticed that he felt wet. Looking over himself he sees tiny beads of water on his skin, concluding that it must be condensation from the clouds. Careful not to shake off any water he takes the cleanest section of the rags he has on and rips off a piece.

Using the cloth to diligently sop up all the moisture he can reach before wringing it out above his wide open mouth. Swallowing the few drops of water he managed to collect was a painful experience. Over the last few days since leaving his beloved puddle without having anything to drink, his mouth and throat turned into desert wastelands. His throat so dry that just the movement of swallowing that little bit of moisture felt like it was tearing itself apart.

Slightly regretting his action but also knowing that his body needs all the water it can get, he tucks in the cloth he used into the waist of what once we're a pair of pants. After looking for a place to continue his climb down from the ledge he spent his night on, he lowers himself down till he felt a place for his foot to stand on to take his weight. In this way, Michael starts this new day of struggles. After about twenty minutes of climbing suddenly his breath hitches and his heart seized in his chest.

He has just felt the foot, baring his weight at that moment, slip from its hold. After feeling a split second of weightlessness, and before he had the chance to correct himself, he is falling. His stomach is in his throat and he is scrambling against the rock face desperate to find anything to slow his fall.

He can feel the skin on his fingers and toes tearing in his desperation to not fall to his death before he finally finds a solid handhold able to stop hid downward momentum. Quickly securing himself he takes a moment to catch his breath and calm his pounding heart.

Looking himself over Michael can't help but grimace as he sees the blood running down his arms from his torn-up hands, and judging from the pain he feels, his feet and knees aren't in better condition.

Wearing a solemn look on his face he sends a silent prayer that the bottom of the valley isn't far off as he doesn't know how long his body will hold out in his condition. So now assailed with pain from his injuries on top of his thirst and hunger he slowly and stiffly moves on his journey.

After another four hours of grueling descent, his prayer was answered as he finally broke through the bottom of the cloud bank. What met his eyes caused his heart to swell and tears of joy and relief to fall from his eyes.

There before him was the top of a huge tree with a canopy easily over four hundred feet in circumference and around the edges of the valley down below were what looked to be bushes of some sort.

All this green was dazzling to Michael's eyes as this is the first plant life he has found in all his time here, and to his exhausted, dehydrated brain it was the most beautiful sight he has ever seen. None of that is what brought tears to his eyes though, as a little to his right he zeroed in on the sparkling luster of freshwater falling from a crack in the red stone ten feet up from the valley floor.

His hope renewed, Michael firmed his resolve and continues on his last leg of his journey. The closer he gets to the bottom and clearer he can see what's down there the more his excitement grows. Making out what looks to be berries of some sort on the bushes, which the sight if causes his stomach to sound off seemingly to remind him of its existence.

The next thing he sees makes his face go stone cold, flying down from the lower tree branches and landing on one of the bushes to eat the berries, there.... was a seagull. Spotting his accursed enemy, the bane of his existence, his most wretched foe, he can feel his anger and annoyance start to rise. growling at the memories of his recent defeats at the.. hands?.. wings? ...at the wings of that dammed feathered rat.

'Humphh just you wait rat bird, just you wait... I'll have you roasting over a fire soon enough or my name isn't Michael THE REAPER Richards...' Cackling with a sadistic smile on his face, and still slowly making his way down, he spots something else that catches his eye.

There at the center of the valley is a huge crevice spanning a close to two hundred feet long, around seventy-five feet wide and from the angle that he was looking it seemed to be pretty deep as well. It was out of the middle of this great crack in the floor of the valley that the giant tree was growing from and out of the seventy-five feet width of the crack the trunk of this behemoth took up nearly sixty feet of it.

It took another hour of climbing down before he finally set foot on the bottom of the valley. Collapsing there to the ground he let's his nearly numb body relax completely and he feels his eyes slowly grow heavy.

Waking up sometime later, his whole body stiff and incredibly sore. Off some distance aways he can hear the pitter-patter of falling water and forced himself to get up. Hobbling along as he forcefully pulls his battered and exhausted body to where he can see the falling water.

Beneath the spring, the falling water gathers and forms a shallow pond before flowing out to the crevice and falling over its edge. Standing below, Michael opens his mouth to catch all the falling water he can while the rest washes over his body darkening the pond at his feet with all the dried blood and grime.

Staying like that for several minutes till he gets his fill and his body is no longer a bloody mess. After his thirst is quenched and he is clean for the most part he spends some time cleaning out all his wounds with the clean water.

He wrapped his feet in the remnants of his shirt and his hands with strips torn from his pants, now turned shorts, in an attempt to keep the cuts and scrapes clean as he moves around. Now shirtless and sporting what could be mistaken as short shorts, he looks down at his reflection in the pond. What he could see, despite the ripples made by the falling water, pleased him greatly.

'A strong jaw, a handsome face along with this strikingly red hair (that I'm still getting used to)... yes I can definitely make this work.. I mean if I'm going to be reborn in a new body it might as well be good looking.. ...at least I'm not an uggo.' All'n'all Michael was pretty happy with his new looks. Having already checked for a sizable equipment package when he had to pee, he can say with confidence that once he gets some meat on his bones the women of this new world will find him a force to be reckoned with.

Turning his attention to his grumbling stomach he looks to the berry bushes scattered around the edges of the valley, with most of them near the spring. Seeing the winged rat sitting happily on one of the bushes, and merrily munching on HIS berries, without a care in the world.

Stalking over as quietly as he could manage at the moment, trying to get close enough to grab the pest. He almost succeeds but at the last moment, right before he makes his grab he steps on a sharp marble sized rock.

Gasping in pain and stumbling forward into the bush, all his stealthy efforts go up in smoke. The only thing he manages to accomplish is scaring the bird into cawing angrily at him as he takes to the air. Glaring up at this feathered demon with malice in his eyes, he looked as if he blamed it for all the evils past, present, and future in the world. Seeing him looking at it, the seagull gave one more annoyed caw before flying over to the tree to rest and watch Michael warily.

Snorting as he watched it fly away and thinking, 'That damn bird must have its luck lvl maxed or divine protection or something for things to have happened the way it did, but such things matter not as one day.. one day you pest I will have my revenge.'

Turning away from the bane of his existence and putting his focus on what's in front of him he smiles at the sight of the fat and ripe looking berries. Picking a few and stuffing them into his mouth he relishes the sweet and slightly tart taste. With a shudder of pleasure, he starts picking all the ripe berries he can find completely stripping the bush bare.

Now with a small pile of several dozen barries, he goes about collecting as many small rocks as he can find to entomb his precious barry stash. Hoping to keep his foe from plundering what's his while he is either sleeping or just not around to protect them. He cant keep them on his person because he doesn't really have anything useful to carry them with.

A few minutes later when this task is done and his loot secure he goes to explore his new home for the time being. Walking up to the edge of the crevice he comes to appreciate just how truly massive it really is. Looking down over the edge he can't see the bottom or even the spot where the tree is growing from, all that's down there is darkness. Cracking a smile he yells out, and hearing it echoing back to him, lets out a chuckle.

Deciding to continue his exploration and search for a large rock to send over the edge. Michael walks to some of the other nearby berry bushes looking to see if they are the same kind as the one he ate from. Seeing that they do look the same he is still hesitant to try one. He has only seen the seagull eat from the one bush and while they may look the same it doesn't mean they are. Moving on, he makes a full lap around the valley and comes back to where he started.

Going back to the edge with a big head-sized rock he found, heaving it over and he gets down to his hands and knees waiting for the sound of it hitting the bottom. 2 seconds... 5 seconds... 10... 20.... 30... 60... After two full minutes of waiting to hear something that never comes, Michael stands up with a weird look on his face.

Warily looking down into the depths it is obvious that this giant hole is deeper then he had thought, much deeper. With stray thought over what this implies he takes a large step away from the edge. Looking up into the branches of the tree trying to spot where his nemesis is hiding, he is unable to find it but does spot something interesting. There on one of the lowest hanging branches... is a fruit.

Giving up on looking for the cursed bird and choosing to instead switch his focus to the only fruit he can see hanging from the tree. Finding it odd that a tree this size would only have a single fruit, he inspects it closely. It is certainly the largest tree grown fruit he has ever seen, with it being the size of a watermelon, also of note is the odd shape.

Large and round at the top and tapering to a narrow point at the bottom like a giant strawberry or an inverted raindrop shape. Another detail about this strange fruit is that it almost looks like it as some kind of scale pattern but its hard to tell as it is a good fifty feet away.

Finished looking around he went over to the spring to get a drink of water then headed back to his stash and found a comfy spot to sit down and relax as his body continued to recover from its arduous trek. Like this several days go by with Michael slowly eating from his stash of berries and waiting for the winged terror to return.

When the seagull does come back from doing its seagull things and sees the stripped bush it lets out an angry caw before going to land on another of the berry bushes. Seeing this and waiting for the winged rat to eat one of the berries to make sure he quickly gets up and charges the pest scaring it away. Once that is done he quickly strips it of all the berries he can find to add to his hoard. Rinse and repeat.

The light of the sixth day from when he had finished his climb dawns in what he has come to call tree valley. Between him and the bird almost all the bushes have been stripped. Now faced with the challenge of finding more food for himself his thoughts return to the strange fruit hanging on the tree.

At first, he was curious as to how the fruit had lasted so long with the accursed one flying around, worried it might be poison or toxic in some way. His fears were allayed when he saw the bird go up and try to peck at it but was not able to so much as leave a mark. So with his next meal target locked on Michael went about making a plan to reach it.

From the floor of the valley, the closest branch was a good 20 feet in the air and it was certainly impossible to climb up the trunk. That left just one possibility of reaching his goal, finding a spot where one of the tree branches grows close enough to the side of the valley so he can climb up the rock and reach onto the branch then make his way from there to the fruit. A lot of effort for a single fruit but he is hoping it will be worth it and turns out to be the most delicious thing he has ever tasted.

Putting his plan into action he circles the valley wall looking up to see if there is any place that suits his needs. About three-quarters of the way around the valley, he finds a spot that looks like it will work.

It will take a little bit of a jump to reach the branch so after marking the spot Michael continues his way around to see if there is any better place to make it into the tree. After making a full loop and not finding any better place Michael goes back to the place he marked and starts to climb bringing with him a sharp rock he found to help cut the fruit free.

Remembering the failed attempt to eat the fruit by the rat bird he thought it might be needed. Even if it's not needed to get it free of the branch then he will at least be able to cut it open if he is not able to bite it himself. Working so hard to get the fruit and then not being able to eat it would be quite sad indeed, so in his mind, its always better to have something and not need it than to need it and not have it.

Making his way up he passes the spot where he was closest to the branch as he wants to come down on it from above. With a fall of about thirty feet, he only has one chance and in this situation, it's better to overshoot than undershoot the jump.

Getting in position and trying hard not to look down, he focuses all his attention on the spot of the branch that he is aiming for. With a silent prayer and a deep breath, he hurled himself across the gap between the stone and the tree.

Landing hard with the branch hitting him in the chest he wraps his arms around it as tightly as he can and uses he leftover momentum to swing his legs up and hooks his ankles around the branch as well.

Now hanging upside-down from the branch of the tree Michael works to right himself and after a bit of struggling he sits upright on top of the branch. Not willing yet to try standing on this narrow part he scooches on his butt towards the trunk.

After making it to where the branch thickens substantially, Michael feels comfortable enough to stand and slowly makes his way to the trunk of the giant tree and looking around he spots the fruit. Tracing the branch that the fruit is hanging on back to where it is attached to the trunk, he sees where he needs to get to in order to reach his destination.

Scrambling down one tree branch after another he doesn't have too hard of a time making it to the base of the branch with the fruit. With anticipation building, he walks along until it gets to narrow to stand so he sits down and continues scooching on his butt to reach the fruit.

Hearing the sound of flapping wings as he is making his way across Michael looks up to see his foe on a nearby branch releasing angry cawing sounds and glaring at him as if he has somehow encroached on its territory. Flipping the bird to the bird he then just ignores the wretched creature since he is so close to his goal.

Finally getting right above it he reaches down with both hands to see is he is able to pull the fruit off the tree. Expecting to have to give it a good yank he gets himself ready by clenching his legs around the branch he is sitting on and tightening the muscles in his back, shoulders, and arms.

He takes a deep breath and pulls with all his strength.. And it comes detached in his hands the moment he exerted to the tiniest amount of force. So easily the fruit comes off that he wasn't prepared for the lack of resistance and almost dropped his prize in the deep dark below. Catching himself and adjusting to the surprise he brings the fruit up and getting a good look at it for the first time he is amazed.

A bright blueish green color that reminds him of the shallow waters of a tropical island. The pattern Michael saw before that he thought to be scales turned out to be completely right. Though seeing it up close, "pattern" might not be the best word to describe it, as it is more of a texture than anything. Each scale was about the size of his two thumbs side by side and a ridge down their center rising up about a centimeter creating a bumpy feeling as he ran his hand along the fruit's surface.

On each scale, looking to be etched on its surface, was what looked to be a Japanese ocean wave pattern. Looking closer he could tell that the patterns truly weren't man-made but seemed to be naturally grown into the surface of the fruit.

If all this wasn't mystical enough there seemed to be some kind of liquid layer on the outside of the fruit. Whenever his fingers touched the surface it would ripple like water but when he switched the hand he was holding it with and felt his fingers they were completely dry.

Taking it all in, Michael agrees with himself that this is the most amazing looking fruit he has ever seen. It looks like some kind of sci-fi masterpiece sculpture and if it were not for the situation he was in he wouldn't want to eat it and rather put it on a shelf to display its beauty. Unfortunately, his rumbling stomach sealed its fate as he brought the tip up to bite it. Seeing the human's action, the stupid bird that has been glaring at Michael this whole time goes ballistic. Hopping up and down on the branch it is standing on and cawing as loudly as it could, obviously very displeased that this human would dare eat its treasure.

Looking at the distressed bird brought a smile to his face. Michael gave it a little wave as he brings the narrow tip of the fruit to his mouth and bites down. It feels like biting on a squishy jawbreaker as his teeth are unable to pierce the outer layer of scales.

Even so, he isn't worried and won't be denied as he brings out his sharp rock and pries at the seam of the scales. Even using the sharp rock Michael has to put his whole body weight behind it to finally pierce through the hard outer layer and into the soft flesh inside. Cutting along the seam of the scales he manages to cut off about four inches of the fruit's tip.

This brings the seagull into an even madder frenzy as it leaves its branch and flies at Michael seeking to take back what belongs to it. Seeing it coming and obviously not agreeing with this stupid bird's point of view, he raises his hand to swat it away.

Quickly, as to avoid having the small piece that he worked so hard for get stolen, he bites into the juicy insides of his hard-earned meal. Excited to finally taste the wonderful flavor that is sure to meet his tongue... only to have the next second shatter all his hopes and dreams while his body, for some reason is forced to swallow as if by reflex.

With a blank look on his face and his mind skipping for a second trying to process the sheer scope and magnitude of the... "AHHHH WHAT THE ABSOLUTE FUCK IS THAT TASTE *dry heaving* UGHHK UGHHHHK UGHH ITS STCUK TO MY TONGUE AHH HOW CAN ANYTHING BE SUCH A GOD AWFULLY, ABHORRENT, ABOMINABLE, APPALLING, DISGUSTING, DREADFUL, GHASTLY, HEINOUS, HORRID, NASTY, DETESTABLE, EXECRABLE, LURID, LOATHSOME, OFFENSIVE, RANK, REPULSIVE, RAUNCHY, REVOLTING, SICKLY, UNGODLY, UNHOLY, AND A DOWNRIGHT UNKIND MOLESTATION OF MY MOUTH?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!"

It was at this moment that the great foe chose to strike. While his guard was lowered the detestable flying rat managed a sneak attack, landing a critical strike. Flying in, it struck his ear with a devastating peck which managed to off balance him enough to make him tip over the side of the branch. With his mind still dazed from the taste of the fruit (if you can even call that gilded bag of poop a fruit) he didn't manage to right himself in time and plunged into the abyss below.

'FUCK!!!! YOU!!!!! BIRD!!!!!!!! GOD DAMN IT, I DONT WANT TO DIE TASTING SHIT!!!!' His last thoughts before being lost from sight.