I found myself in a light forest, standing in a small clearing. There was a lovely smell of flowers and nature. I was a bit confused at first, but sort of just accepted that I was here. Then there was a noise. It sounded like a madman laughing, deep within the forest. I tried to see where it was coming from and started moving towards the trees. All of a sudden, a creature jumped out, straight at me. It was some sort of small gnome or something. Only about three feet tall and with a thin, bony body. Its skin was pale, almost white, and sort of shining a little. And it had wings on its back. I jumped back as it came at me, and stood there, only a few feet away. It was looking at me with large, deep blue, mad eyes, and a grin on its face. It was laughing madly at me. Then it jumped forward, as if to attack me. I dodged it, but it lunged at me again. I started running into the forest, as I heard another grin from the other side of the clearing. As I ran, I heard more of the creatures joining what had now become a hunt through this beautiful forest. I didn’t understand a thing of what was happening, and frankly I didn’t have time to. I ran as fast as I could, and I could hear the creatures falling behind, still laughing madly.
After what felt like half an hour, I fell to my hands and knees in the forest moss. I could no longer hear the creatures at all. As I was trying to catch my breath, I noticed something in the grass a bit away. It looked like some sort of metal. I crawled over to take a closer look, and found a sharp, shining sword laying there. I picked it up and looked at it. I wondered what a sword, this beautiful, was doing here, in this forest. Before I had a chance to give it any further thought I heard a loud grin from the treetops, and as I looked up, another one of the creatures jumped down towards me. I only just rolled out of its way, and stumbled to my feet, still gripping the sword. The creature jumped at me, still laughing, and claws first. I swung the sword and cleaved the creature in half, stopping the grinning. But I didn’t get time to gather my thoughts before another one lunged at me from behind. I turned around, swinging the sword with all my strength, but this time I struck metal. This creature was wielding a sword as well. I swung again and again, but it kept blocking my attacks, grinning all the time. We fought back and forth for a good few minutes before I finally managed to drive my blade through its pale, bony body. Once again, I was alone. But not for long. I could hear more of the creatures creeping nearer, laughing insanely. I started running again. I ran and ran for, God knows, how long, before suddenly exiting the forest. Out of the forest there was only about twenty yards of grass, before the ground just ended. I ran to the very edge and looked down at nothing. The light blue sky just continued around the ground, and beneath it. I backed away from the edge, scared and confused. I heard another grin, and only just dodged the creature jumping towards me. It continued over the edge, still laughing. I could hear the crazy laugh for a while, as the creature fell. It didn’t sound like it landed, but at least it didn’t seem to be able to fly either, making me wonder what the wings were for.
I looked along the edge, to see if it ever ended, but it seemed to go on, in a small bend, until it disappeared behind the forest, far away. I looked back at the trees and heard more laughter. I didn’t wait to see how many of them were coming, I just started running, along the edge, as fast as my legs would carry me. I ran for hours, only stopping when one of the creatures jumped me from the forest, and I had to fight it off. There was barely any time to rest at any given time. I was constantly tired, but never grew hungry, or needed to sleep.
It continued like this for what felt like days, even though the sun never went down. Actually, the sun never went anywhere. It seemed to be stuck in the same place, at all times. I was about to lose hope of ever finding out what was going on, when I saw something laying in the grass further ahead. It looked like a small person or something, but it didn’t move. As I got close, I realized that it was one of the creatures. Dead. I had killed it. I was certain that this was one of the creatures I had killed on my path. At first, I was confused, and didn’t understand. Then it dawned on me that I had made a full circle. This whole area was one large, round, floating island.
There were no creatures to be seen around here. Live ones anyways. So, I sad in the grass, trying to understand this for a while. Then I decided to explore the forest further. I got up and started running straight into the forest. It wasn’t long before the creatures were on every side of me, and I had to fight them more often. They seemed to be spawning somewhere in the forest. I couldn’t tell where though. I had lost all sense of time at this point, but I kept running and fighting, running and fighting, running and fighting. Until I reached a large clearing. A perfect circle with no trees, and a person standing in the middle. I couldn’t hear the creatures at all here, and my confusion was greater than ever. I lifted the sword and ran towards the person. Didn’t feel like trusting them. When I was about halfway, I heard a voice. Maybe in my head, maybe from the forest. I wasn’t sure. It was like the sound was everywhere. A single word: ‘stop’. So I did. I didn’t mean to, but I did. Then I dropped the sword and fell to my knees. It took me a while to be able to speak, I was so exhausted, and my mouth dry. When I finally could speak, I only asked a simple enough questing:
“Where am I?”, my voice trembling a little.
“You are in the forest”, the voice answered calmly. I didn’t laugh. I tried again.
“Who are you? What is this place?”. My voice was regaining its strength. The person in the clearing turned to me and spoke in the softest voice.
“I am Me, and this place is my creation, like everything else”. She didn’t exactly clear things up this time either.
“You are going to have to explain that a little clearer. I have no clue what you are talking about. How do I get out of here?”. She calmly looked at me with her beautiful eyes.
“I have many names. I am Me, and I am You. I am everybody, and nobody. I am the father and the mother. I am the creator and the destroyer. I bring life and I take life away. I am God”.
What followed was five seconds of awkward silence. Then she continued.
“This forest has many names as well. Some call it Jannah. Others Valhalla. Some call it Heaven, but I have heard you refer to it as Paradise. The eternal Garden of Eden”.
I was about to speak again, but she raised her hand, and I stayed silent, as she spoke again.
“To answer your last question, there is only one way to leave Paradise. But is that truly what you want?”.
I didn’t think twice about it, before answering.
“Yes, please, if this is Paradise, I defiantly don’t want it. I want out!”.
She was silent for a few seconds. I thought I saw compassion, or even pity in her eyes.
“So be it. You will have you wish”. She disappeared. Gone into thin air, leaving me in the forest.
I got up and was about to yell something angry about her promising to let me out, but before I spoke a word, the sky fell dark. For the first time since I got here, it was dark. I looked at the sky, confused. Then I heard a sound from the forest and looked towards it. But the forest was no longer light and beautiful. It had gone dark as well. The trees seemed older and worn by time. There were black shadows in the forest now. I only just realized that even with the large trees, the light forest had no shadows at all. Now it was so dark I could barely see between the trees. Even the grass and moss had turned dark, like it was withering in the night. I started to feel hungry, as a laugh came from the forest. It was a new laugh though. The creatures in the light forest had a high pitch, fast, crazy laugh. Whatever resided in this darkness had a deep, slow, and controlled laugh. I took a good hold of my sword and waited for the creature to come out. And it did. And it was not small and white. What came out of the forest now was about eight feet tall, muscular, and dark skinned. And it didn’t have wings on its back. Instead, it had horns on its forehead. And it was wielding a large, dark sword. I realized I had made my whish just a little to rash. I knew now where I was, and why God had had pity in her eyes. If the light forest was Jannah, Valhalla, Heaven or Paradise, this would be Jahannam, Niflheim or simply, Hell. And unlike God, it is unlikely that Lucifer will grant me any wishes, should I ever manage to find him.