Something brushed up against the skin of my cheek. I turned, fully expecting to see an open door or a person waiting behind me, but was disappointed. The hallway was just as it had been two seconds ago, when I first walked through it.

This marked my first willful visit to the Dome, the third of three visits so far. The first two times had been mostly accidental, and both times I had been greeted by abnormal people who called themselves teachers in this strange place. I had come deliberately this time, and had not been greeted by anyone at all. The halls stretched before me without offering guidance, real or imagined, and most of them were shadowed or blocked by something undefinable.

The warm against my face was starting to spread across my body and had gained a clear source: back the way I had come from. My eyes narrowed at the offending passage, wondering at it now that I was taking the time to look more closely. It was slightly different than it had been before. It seemed more greenish, less white and gold. Most of the walls I had seen in this place were either solid white or the tan-brown of sandstone, making the green stand out more clearly. The heat was becoming more and more tangible, more obvious, as the color became more and more vibrant.

It reminded me of a forest, going by the warmth and texture, or a tropical ocean.

Without truly realizing I had done it, I felt myself drawn to turn and begin walking back down the corridor. My footsteps were dulled to almost inaudibility, somehow replaced without my knowing it by the sound of a steady pulse, droning fast enough that it was almost a hum. It was deep enough that I could feel it vibrate through me, but somehow alluring and welcoming and dangerous and odd and enigmatic all at once. Most of what it brought to mind was forestry, though occasionally, when I felt my thoughts drawn elsewhere, the brush of a warm wind steered me back.

For a moment, I felt a special kinship with the fish caught by an exceptionally wise and gentle fisherman: steadily pulled, given no choice, but with such and easy guide that it was almost willful to be going towards the boat. That was where the sense of danger stemmed from, I did not doubt. The feeling was strong enough that I was almost completely sure that whoever this was, friend or foe, would be a poor choice of person against whom I could fight. I felt myself drawing nearer as the warmth began to steadily increase, and a sudden familiarity descended upon me.

Not that I knew exactly who it was, or even that I had a face to put with this feeling of knowing the person behind this—by this time I was sure it was a person, for whatever reason—but rather that I could feel a kinship with him, or a foreknowledge. As if we had met and connected, but never really gotten to know one another through anything important or meaningful. This was a person I could have fought. This is a person I could have had a drink with, or a meal with. This was a person who could have been my brother, my father, my mother. It was someone who I could not recognize at a glance, but would immediately remember when I was properly reminded.

The door stopped me. It was a door like any other door, but I could feel with absolute clarity that beyond it was the person I knew. The person I had met. My hand closed on the handle, twisted it. As the door opened, a blaze of golden heat coursed through me, as if I were stepping from outside a fiery building to the very center of the inferno. Remarkably, I felt none the worse for doing so. Rather, it was almost like pure energy was pulsing against my skin, trying to get in and definitely making an impact on me, but completely unable to enter ... or else unwilling to enter. It was amazing and inexplicable. Trying to explain a sensation such as the one I felt at that moment would take years, and even then it would be fragmented and incomplete.

It was stunning.

I stood in the door for a moment, soaked in the warmth, before I mustered my strength and finally stepped inside. This was my destination. I was sure that this was my destination. The person had to be here, in this place, in this ... jungle.

The green outside had been almost an illusion, like a mist, disappearing before the eyes just as I got close enough to touch it. In here, it hung on everything. Trees, grass, plants, everything was as forest green as I could possibly have imagined. As soon as I stepped inside, I realized that I was alone. Whoever was in the room was far away, or hiding.

"Hello?" I called. Unsure, I waited.

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[Graphics by Me.]

[The signature links to Aleksandr Sokoll.]
["I believe in sleeping." ~ Bruce Lee]