A Lesser Heaven
. . .
You keep trudging through the desolate snow.
The only thing you can see is infinite expanse of snowy rolling hills and permanently hibernating trees.
The chilling winds bring non-stop shivers down your body.
Your puny heart tries its absolute best to supply yourself blood against the never-ending cold.
But beat after beat, it only slowly gets defeated the chill.
It can only pump for so long.
The footprints and tracks of others litter the landscape.
You become disappointed when they lead you to dead ends.
As you continue aimlessly wandering the dreaded landscape, you become weary as the fog gets closer.
Suddenly, your legs stumble into something hard.
You flinch and back up away from the foreign object, frightened for life.
Just as you do, the fog clears up marginally in inhumane speeds.
How fitting for your situation. . .
You get back up relieved, yet still in despair.
Despite temptations, you have to keep on going.
You continue to trek the fields.
Every dozens steps you take, the sense of something watching you strengthens.
In the midst of your anxiousness.
You pause.
No settlements.
No living things.
No lights of settlements in sight.
It begs one question.
Where. . . are you?
Upon hills and hills of snow, where is everyone. . .?
Where is civilization?
Where is life?
Where is your family, friends?
Are you going to rot here for eternity?
How must you even manage to trap yourself in such predicament?
You don't even...
remember?
. . .anymore?
The winds delivering emerging hypothermia stop.
What remains is the beating of your struggling heart and the noise of you dragging your feet.
Anything could sneak up behind you in this very moment.
The thought makes you grow paranoid.
You shiver even more as if the increasing hypothermia wasn't enough.
You look around your surroundings, including to your left.
You notice something bright.
It captures your attention like a baited fish.
As you examine the origin of the light closer.
You see it.
In the middle of a wasteland of boreal forests and snow, just behind a chain of mountains. . .
You couldn't believe your eyes.
You sprint as fast as humanly possible towards the peculiar city.
Your hope grows back exponentially higher by the milliseconds.
However, your eyes realize something else.
The settlement's distance doesn't seem to change from your perspective.
No matter how fast or long you do, the distance of the city doesn't seem to change at all.
It- it's an illusion?
You try to ignore the fact, although that only seems to grow the lingering sensation stronger.
Eventually, it hits you.
You stop running.
Your vision gets wavier.
The fog obstructs the entire city.
The lights diminish. . .
You fully refocus again.
You make out yourself to be in a dark forest.
The sound of leaves being crunched is emitted in all directions.
"Ah. . . Shit."
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Author: Irri
Images(s) and Audio:
- First image by u/Visual_Currency_8697 on r/LiminalSpace.
- Second image originally taken from Level 362 on the Backrooms Freewriting Wiki; actual image source unknown.
- Third image originally taken by u/Bomb_Atomicali on r/LiminalSpace; edited by Irri.
- Fourth image by projectNRDdraws on Deviant Art; edited by Irri
- Audio from YouTube video "Heartbeat sound" by YouTube channel "Justsoundfx".
The rest of the images' sources are unknown
This tale is a part of Alway's First Tale contest; this page may be moved back to the author's respective sandbox if needed after the contest ends.