Desolation

Art:Nona Limmen

"I have been and still am a seeker, but I have ceased to question stars and books; I have begun to listen to the teaching my blood whispers to me."

-Demian | Hermann Hesse

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Desolation. That's the first word that had since popped into my mind when I woke up here. How long it has been since then, I know not. What is this place, I wonder, or rather, where? Am I even alive? I pinch myself to check if it's all but a lucid dream. All I realize is that my skin is absolutely numb. That is when I begin to register the cold and the never-ending snow quietly shining pink under this crimson crescent moon. My mind feels completely blank – a thousand questions incessantly knocking at the periphery of my conscious. Honestly? I do not care because strangely enough, this place – this quiet ambiguous ethereal landscape fills me with a sense of tranquility that I have never felt in my life before. A quality of peace that can only be described as otherworldly, much like this place itself. That brings me to vaguely wonder if this is even Earth. Once again, I realize I do not know, but it's lovely.

Not far from my geographical position is a tall tree in my straight line of vision – no leaves, and almost no branches. It is a hypnotic sight and I will try my best to explain how. Imagine this – the tree has none but two antler-like branches framing at its centre the magickal crimson crescent moon which in turn looks like it is peeping down at me.

I have just realized right now that I have begun to walk towards it. My feet are bare but it does not register the cold. My feet – they keep moving on their own accord, one step after another towards the naked tree in order to reach that crescent moon – like a siren's call that has put me under its hypnotic spell. I understand but I have lost the ability to question my actions. Absolute madness. As I keep walking, I realize something after a while: the more I walk, the more it keeps eluding me. By this point it has happened so many times that I cannot discard it as an optical trick any longer. Maybe I have lost my mind. Maybe I am simply dreaming. Maybe I somehow did get stuck on this nameless unearthly landscape. None of that matters right now: I simply need to reach the moon.