Chapter 1

Though he had reached level ground, things became worse for Uriel as the day progressed. The suns had been shining brightly in the early morning, but by the afternoon, they were obscured by dark grey clouds similar to those of the previous afternoon. A forceful wind accompanied the clouds and brought heavy, wet snow. His resolve was quickly diminishing. As the afternoon wore on, Uriel found himself in a blizzard and was having difficulty determining the direction he should travel. Visibility became very poor and he was beginning to wonder if he was covering the same ground. Along with the ever-present doubts, suspicions and fears, he now had to deal with physical inadequacies as well. He had not eaten since his "appearance" in this world and had gotten little sleep. His hands and feet were beginning to become numb with the cold. His eyes watered from the severity of the wind. Tiny icicles formed in his hair and moustache.

Uriel persisted in his aimless wandering, all the while his hysteria rising. When he grew too tired to continue, he dropped to his knees. Head bent, looking down at the snow, he could only wonder why this was happening. Uriel became angry. He looked to the sky and yelled, "Why? Why in the hell am I here? Why? Did you put me here to suffer again? To die again? Why, damn it, why?" Uriel stood up and thrust his staff to the sky. He didn't know what would happen or what he wanted to happen. In any event, nothing did happen. The snow continued to fall, the wind continued to wail, and Uriel, receiving no answers, continued to wander.

It wasn't long before he felt his panic heighten once more. He tried very hard to think things logically through but could not arrive at any positive conclusions. He was losing his grasp on reality. "There aren't any answers, damn it! None," he shouted. He hugged himself tight with fear and staggered on. All he could think of was dying alone in the snow in this world he didn't even know. And then the Dark Ones would take him and… "Not that again, please not that again," he whispered.