Creating an Atmosphere
I couldn’t see the top. I had been climbing for hours, but the rocks kept appearing over the horizon. Had I known it would take this long I would have left sooner, and brought some food. The sun was starting to set, not dark just yet, but it would be soon. The thought of turning back crossed my mind, but no, I must be closer to the top than I was to the village, since the strong scent of the bakery was long gone.

The trees were thinning, few enough that it didn’t look like forest anymore, just rocks and scattered trees. Along with the trees went the rustling leaves, the singing birds, and the bugs that had been orbiting my head.

I couldn’t tell how close I was to the top, so I climbed a nearby boulder, to see if I could see the top, it was so jagged and rough I cut my hand, just enough to slice open my hand. I winced and glanced at my hand, it was such a clean cut that my hand hadn’t started bleeding, the flesh just split apart to see the white meat below the skin. It didn’t take very long for the little white flesh to start filling up with blood, then overflowing and dripping down to the ground. I put my mouth on the cut, sucking out all the blood, the taste of the iron was so sweet it was almost addicting. I sat down to give my legs a break, and to take in the view.
Everything was green and lush, woods as far as I could see, except for a small square, the village I had left a few hours ago, but even that looked amazing, hidden in the woods. I looked over my shoulder, back towards the top, and there it was. The top of the mountain was only 100 feet away, maybe even less. I glanced down to see if I could just jump down, but I decided to climb down the rock instead of breaking my leg in the middle of nowhere.
As I was running to the top the sweet smell of flowers hit me so abruptly it felt like I ran into a wall. I fumbled for a step, gasping for cleaner air, but when I looked up from my feet everything was glowing, radiating every color in the rainbow. I had stumbled onto the land that the gods had kept for themselves. Every piece of vegetation was a perfect shade of green, like Pan had nurtured each one individually.

Bushes were bouquets, trees were flawless, and the sounds, the wind rustled like a beat to the perfect song. If someone was here with me this would make a perfect post card, a view of a mountain, lush forests, and one lone teen standing in the middle of it all.

As I was taking everything in, it suddenly, and quickly, faded. It felt as if someone was watching me, not from behind me, but looking down on me. Someone saw the imperfection that had walked into their garden, and pulled the magic out, before it was damaged by this new creature who, so rudely, trespassed into their backyard. The glow had left the horizon, the flowers closed; the grass even seemed to slump over as it died a little.

The wind picked up, the slow beat turned into a fast paced rock song, screaming in my ear to leave, pushing me, blowing me down the mountain, urging me to walk back down. The air moistened as the clouds ran to cover up the sun, with darkness coming right behind them. The scent of the plants disappeared, and they began to thrash from side to side, as if they were in pain.

I looked around, to see if I could find the flag that the guys said marked the opening to a cave, but it was nowhere to be seen. “I have to go back…” I thought to myself, “I actually have to go back…”
I turned around to see a dark black cloud, quickly moving right over my head, and just like that, the rain started to pour down, beating my head and shoulders. In just a second, this mountain of serene beauty turned into a horrifying disaster. “It has to be here somewhere! They wouldn’t send me up here as a joke would they?” I slowly started to panic, spinning around looking for a flag, a cave, a light, just anything that would help me.
In the direction I came, I saw a big boulder, arching up about fifteen feet; at least it would keep me dry until this storm passed. I sprinted down to it, not that it was that much of a relief, but it was better than standing in the open. I leaned on the rock, realizing that the water had leaked down the side the rock, getting my shirt even more soaked than it was. I slowly slid down the rock, it was smooth enough it just lightly scratch my back, sending a shiver up my spine and back down to my feet. I looked up to see if this storm would pass anytime soon, but it was just my luck it didn’t seem to ever end.
As I looked down my eyes caught a little yellow spot, a little further to the side of the mountain. I slowly got on my feet, not letting my eyes leave the spot. The harder I looked the more it looked like a light, but why would there be a light up here? Nobody lived up here, did they? I looked down and considered sitting here and just waiting for the storm to pass, but I was just too curious. I took a deep breath, and took off into the storm. In only a few seconds I was running as hard as I could, an occasional gust of wind would push me a little off course, but I refused to take my eyes off the light. I kept pushing harder and harder, but I wasn’t going any faster, it was just getting harder to run.