The night fog was thick on the doorstep as Richard left the house for a walk with his faithful dog Bailey. The breeze of the autumn wind tickled his face coolly, and the leaves rustled softly under his feet.
A few minutes later, Richard noticed that the forest was changing before his eyes. The trees became increasingly lively and dense, which penetrated through the foliage of the forest.
… my heart started beating faster.
So suddenly, they saw a ring of fire floating above the ground above the seaweed near the shore. Bailey began to squeal like a child, but Richard felt no fear, if only a little, and the need to see and unravel, to understand the unusual phenomenon in the middle of the forest, roused him, and the fear disappeared.
The first thing Richard felt afterward wasthe cosmic silence and lack of hunger. He completely forgot about his usual need for food. Surprisingly, his body began to extract energy from the surrounding environment, fueling the unusual energy sources around him. The dog was no longer there.
Richard witnessed a tribe of giant ancient trees that communicated with each other through their roots,creating a network of intelligent communication. He visited the city of underwater creatures that breathed water and possessed the magic of the oceans. From afar, he watched the life of human birds that can fly over gorges, he saw dinosaurs grazing peacefully in a meadow like cows.
Richard didn't know how much time had passed, but he wanted to go back home, because he was getting uncomfortable and even scared.
And he decided to go back home, and just as he thought about it, he appeared next to the tree where he got into the portal, his dog was sitting.
– I looked for you there and didn't find you."
Bailey wagged her tail and began to curl around his feet. So they returned home. The dog ran ahead and constantly showed Richard the way.
When they got home, he found that the calendar had the same date on it when he left for the woods. The refrigerator, which had been broken before, he began to use instead of a shelf for books.
He wanted to tell them everything he had seen and gone through, but no one believed him.
But it became difficult for him to communicate with people, people shunned him, avoided him, old friends thought that he was crazy. So Richard decided to go back to the forest where he had passed through the portal before, but he couldn't do it. The forest has completely changed, or rather, it has burned out, and only the firebrands of this place remain. He started walking in different directions in hopes of getting into the portal, but each time he felt that it was getting harder and harder for him to walk.
The sun was already sinking below the horizon, and before nightfall, Richard decided to head back home before he got completely lost. It was getting harder for him to walk. When he reached his house, he greeted the neighbors, but no one greeted him in return.
When he got home, he decided to take a warm bath and shave. A very old man was looking at him in the mirror.