And in that instant, you are dematerialised.

To blink is to risk moving without purpose.

You no longer stand where you were, but now inhabit the trail between two woodlands. The silence and darkness either side of you are a blanket, but spears of sunlight slice through around ahead of you.

You sense you have been here before. You feel a deep nausea in your stomach.

In one of the trees, the wood is marked with scratches.

“I will find it.”

What else is there to do but walk onward? You come across another tree. The markings here give a different message.

“I have walked a million lifetimes and never found it. I will find it.”

You cannot tell whether you believe the message with all your heart or despise the foul lies.