And then my fall stopped.

I didn’t notice it at first. The large distances and extreme speeds made everything go by in slow motion, and it took me a while to see that the ground beneath me looked the same as it had before.

But I had stopped and was hanging motionless. I gazed at the empty space below me, watching as a black mist gathered and augmented. It looked as if it were trying to hide whatever was below my hovering form.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” A voice spoke from behind me.

I looked over my shoulder, seeing the old man hovering at my side.

“I… I don’t know,” I answered. “I don’t think I can.”

“Of course you can,” the man replied matter-of-factly. “There’s nothing stopping you.”

I gazed at the prohibiting smoke gathering below.

“Those are just your fears. They’ll let you pass if you don’t let them get in the way. Do you want to see beyond them or not?”

I breathed in deeply to calm my nerves. I had gone this far. I wasn’t going to let my fears stop me.

My descent began again.