It all started with a sketch
Of a landscape
Or maybe two
I am not sure anymore
I go closer
To what appears to be trees
Under my feet
Are ground textures of different natures
Here I am
A wet breeze sweeps the mist
I see five plants
That look like one
A smell of mold comes from the ground
By looking and touching the barks
I can compare the five tree trunks
They share similar colors scales scars
Only diameters and heights differ
The obsessive contemplation
Makes me walk around the plants
Between two trunks I stumble upon a ladder
Emerging from the smelly mud
I decide to climb down
And enter the earth without effort
It is very dark the ladder is cold and wet
Sometimes I see strange glowing rocks on the walls
Entertaining my descent
I wake up suffocating
My back and my head hurt
I must have fallen
I see the open hole I come from
The smell of fresh mushrooms is intense
Will I be able to stand up
A wall closeby helps me
To get back on my feet
On my fingers is a sticky substance
The smell comes from it
In front of me is a giant root
It must belong to the trees
Mechanical sounds emanate from the root
I dig around to understand
I rip the fragile skin of the plant to see inside
A piece of complex and frightening machinery appears
I believe the machine computes something
Each part has a function
The whole system might cause
The five trees to evolve
I am surrounded by mold and a persistent smell
Of both death and fertility
And clicks and ticks from the machine
Appearing to be the origin of everything
I feel dizzy and suffocating and nauseous
I wish I could have broken that monster
It has this scary power
I am not in control anymore
The worst creatures appear suddenly
I am poisoned I want to sleep
My eyes cannot be closed
My body seems to be slowly digested
In a coffin of spore foam
I come to my senses on a bed of gray pebbles
The air is dry and the smell of death is gone
How did I get to the surface
Like a lazy tide
Water appears and wets my numb body
The peebles slowly transform
Into glowing glass ovoids
They hold images I can’t recognize
— I am yours — you own everything here
— Take me with you — you will need me
Told me a frog nearby
Therefore I decide to sketch it
The frog dives back into the orbs
Then I stand up painfully
It is hot now I am sweating
Looking away I see the horizon
And the five trees in a mirage
The sky is thick and gray
And seems to be ready to fall
There are things in my peripheral vision
That I cannot look in detail
It must be a poison reflux
I head back to the trees
The only thing I see in the distance
They seem far how did I get so far
A floating billboard appears suddenly
I come nearer to read
On the billboard is written
— Evasive corrosive and furtive
— A lethal technology has infested the land
— Find it and destroy it
— May all the things reborn
The message scares me
While trying to find its meaning
I notice a shapeless object with familiar shades
Dangling from a side of the billboard
I realize it is a lifeless frog
I am exhausted and lost
There is one star only
In a stranger sky above me
I slowly fall asleep remembering
The things I have heard and read
Before daylight even breaks
The unbearable heat wakes me up
Then hunger makes me wander around
Until I stumbled onto a large
But barely visible architecture
I think I can climb the platform
With the hope of finding a bit of food and fresh air
It feels good to leave this unpredictable ground
After twenty minutes of assent
I need to catch my breath
I take this opportunity to browse my notebook
And come to realize I may not be just an observer
Of what is happening here
I close the book and look around
I feel attracted by the vast landscape
I am alone in this sea of emptiness
In which an inevitable path plunges in
My walk never stops
On the straight flat path
Like a machine I walk
Suspended above the ground
An oval sun appears slowly behind the clouds
I feel trapped between the star and the void
While I continue to walk
A feeling of déjà visité strikes me
Like ghosts traversing time and space
The trees show up beneath my feet
What kind of route did I take
For such an encounter to happen
Above the group of trees
Is an imprecise horizon
And a growing object breaks through it
A creature that comes in my direction
All of a sudden a heavy rain falls
Its drops are green and taste like sweet water
The snake-like animal is now very close
I cannot see it anymore but his breathing is louder
In a blast of air the huge creature appears
It says in a language I can barely guess
— This place does not need you
— Get digested by me and become one of us
— Or remain a witness of your own decay
My whole body is seized by a complex fear
I need some time to realize the words I heard
The root the frog the billboard were warnings
Am I the source of the disturbances in this world
Am I the evasive technology
I inhale and jump
Leaving the platform and leaving my fears
At this precise moment I feel free
And alive
Here I am now
Being without your eyes to see me
Without your nose to smell me
Without your skin to touch me
Nor your existence to hurt me