Vertigo

The lights flickered in the wind, or was it a power outage...must be a power outage, we're out of the age of candles! I feel a strong wind brushing against my body, I feel naked. I feel down and realize that I have clothes on. I can't be naked! I look at my hands and see the blood. I black out.
I wake up to voices:
"We can't save him!, the teeth went in too deep, the bleeding won't stop!"

"Wake up Francis!, you're having another nightmare!"
"God, it was horrible... there was blood---"
"Shhhh...," Gabriel put his hand over my mouth "go back to sleep."

The fire was smoldering, Gabriel was gone. There was a note:
"Dear Francis, I have prior engagements to attend to, my apologies that I can't stick with you. I have feelings that a great and adventurous journey lay before your feet. Be fearless and persistant.
Sincerly, Gabriel"

I felt a tear run down my face, I was afraid to continue without him. The words "fearless" and "persistant" echoed through my concious mind. I gritted my teeth and clenched my fist. I didn't know which way to go. I looked down where I slept and saw a bag.
"Where did that bag come from?" I said to myself.
I picked up the bag and inspected its contents. A few minutes later I was finished.I found a compass,some matches,and a stone with a symbol carved into it. I put all the things except for the compass into the bag. I proceeded to head west. West is always a good place to go, in this country, the further west you go the less primitive it becomes. The most technologically advanced points of this country are at the horizontal antipodes.

I spotted some shanties that were deserted. I decided to stay in one for the night; though the Sun was up, it can be tricky sometimes.

I didn't dream. I was soaked. At first I thought I was back on the circus train, but it had rained while I slumbered, and the shanty was not really prepared for Summer rain. I love the smell of Summer rain, it is one of favorite scents.. no it is my favorite scent. I picked up my bag and began to walk again. The sun hadn't risen yet, I figured I could get a few hours of walking in half-darkness.

Soon the soft sloshing of the sand became crunchy, as if I were stepping on shards of glass. I stopped and dropped my pack on the ground and took out a match. I lit it on the side of my unkempt face.

Swarms. There were swarms of these hopping insects. I suspected that they were crickets. There must of been at least a thousand of them, with more coming. What were they running from? Was this a bad omen? Then the angry wind blew it out.

The terrain was relatively flat, with an occaisional hill, this was very comforting to me. Then, as the Sun came up, the region became hilly. The Sun was bright as I have ever seen it, it scorched the energy out of me, and I found a nice place to sit down. My knees made a pop sound as I squatted down on the warm desert sand, which surprisingly soothed me. I jumped up in terror. Something poked me, I thought it might of been a friar-snake, which are popular in the desert. I looked at the ground, which was slightly indented- and I saw a glass bottle. Curiosity took hold of my body and I picked it up. The cork was slightly rotted, it disentegrated within the grasp of my dry hands. There was a message.

I carefully unraveled the weathered paper, for fear of damaging it.
"What could the message be?" I asked myself.
I stared at the message for a second, and the gibberish became understandable.
"To whom finds this message:
Your journey, if you do not know yet, will be strenuous. But you must proceed!
There will be 3 obstacles in this great adventure of yours.
You will travel to a land where the waters run deep.
Seek a palace in the north - there you will find something out of the ordinary. Do not be afraid!
Good luck and never trust Mosh-dwellers."

At the bottom of the letter, there was a giant symbol that looked like a large "7" with a curved downward line and a horizontal line through the center. This symbol seemed familiar to me. I dropped my pouch and pulled out the stone with the strange carving in it.

The symbols matched each other. I pulled out my compass, and went in the direction I was instructed.

Not so long later, I came across a land bridge. The plateau I was walking upon converged into a small stream of terrain. I walked a little towards the right, to see what was holding it up. I became totally puzzled. "How!?" I asked myself. The Sun was falling like an apple into a bucket of hot wax. As soon as the apple submerged in the hot, watery substance, the wax completely solidified. Then the fire began to move closer to the wax, loosening the hardened liquid slowly.

Then I heard the scream. It was an ear-splitting scream. More powerful than that of the bearded lady of previous times. I knelt and covered my ears. My head felt as if it was going to burst. I yelled as loud as I could. The wax loosened some more, sending the Sun down at a quicker pace. I looked back behind me --- nothing. I turned back to the front and there it was.

Four legs, the shade of midnight, and glowing spots. I was scared out of my wits. It began to scream, and I lost my regained stance. I fell to the ground, yelling as hard as I could. I looked to the horizon, the Sun was almost at its resting place. I felt my body jolt, as if I tapped into a source of power. I stood up - my ears ringing. I began to run. No, running is too slow to describe it. I don't know why I was running across this plateau, or why I was worried about the Sun going down, and me being on the side I was just on.

As soon as I reached the other plane, I remember thinking about how great it feels to overcome vertigo. Then I passed out.