The Descent

She fell, at first slowly, with the uncertainty that the fall might be just some slight turbulence, a wavering of thought. The gentle downward movement barely perceptible amongst the beautiful landscape she found herself admiring. Far across space, stretching to infinity, to the darkness that is nothingness the viewer beheld a fantastic display, marvelous in its expanse and intensity. Hibiscus flowers scattered randomly, sometimes forming clusters and others sparsely intermingling with the most radiant of daffodils, settled on an imaginary cosmic floor, lay amongst the reddest of tulips petals and brilliant daisies. And between the gaps of the floral spectacle, tiny specs of light shone through, stars in their thousands, far away watching silent from every plane of the universe.

And it was through this that she found herself descending, now with slightly more speed until suddenly she was through this luscious layer, descending into another. As she did so, the landscape changed. A gentle cool breeze on her face now made her aware of the voluminous, puffy white clouds moving around her, their cotton-like surfaces intersecting her trajectory as she continued to descend, imparting their clean crisp smell and cool dampness to her sensations. As she exhaled, a plume of white smoked billowed forth from her lips, creating tiny magical vertices in the misty light.

And then the clouds thinned, scattered and at once were gone as her journey took her into a cosy sunset, sunbeams streaming into view and with them the warm lazy wind of a Summer's evening. She gazed as dandelion seeds floated calmly around her, their movement slow yet with seemingly random movement as if an imaginary current were tugging them here and there with gentle persuasion. She floated and contemplated the sight that her eyes took in.

She was falling faster now, and this view soon disappeared. A new landscape came and went, and each one successively shorter though she enjoyed each as much as the previous one. A wintery air with snowflakes falling all around, succeeded by the smell of an eternal ocean whose shores in the distance enjoyed the breaking of tall, roaring waves with their brilliant foam spreading across the pristine white sand afar, then the smell of freshly baked pastries whiffs of which passing to and fro awaiting to be inhaled.

One by one, they came and went until in their haste, the scenes became a blur, a torrent of sensation yet all sharing the peace and tranquility they instilled in her. And when it seemed that she could finally go no faster, she stopped, down.