High Clarity

He crawls onward, etching his fingernails into a coarse, frozen, sand-like surface. This realm is devoid of light entirely, a perpetual vacuum of space absorbing every type of energy, consuming every wave of sound. As if trapped in a chamber of sensory deprivation, his brain emits flashes of intense visions, forgotten faces and misplaced memories. A heightened state of self-awareness carves away rationality with a knife forged in cold fear. Disoriented by the overpowering hallucinations, nerves on the verge of overload, he struggles forward, foot by foot, inch by inch. His throat constricts as subzero air enters with each breath, a decaying air delivering futility to the fibers in his lungs, weakness to the cells in his body. Anticipating the end, he tilts a heavy head, a contorted face, towards the abyss above. His jaw, prepared to unleash an animalistic roar, stands agape, but silent, motionless, attached to a form unable to lift itself up from the granular tundra. A floating ball of luminance materializes out of nowhere and grows in diameter as it bounces closer, its warmth stinging as fiercely as wisps of flame. The omniscient force encircles him and induces a feeling of weightlessness. Just as he begins to levitate, pain makes its grandiose debut, ascending from his hands to his heart, wrenching his insides and tearing them apart. A remote yet familiar voice starts to echo within his skull. Sweating blood, the throbbing in his chest becoming too much to bear, he smiles, numbed by the girl, somewhere far away, screaming his name, in vain.