The mass of liquid light morphed and shimmered the closer I got, like a mirage of mirrors through which different scenes played out. My lungs began to burn from the lack of oxygen and just as the orb shifted it’s image to that of a blurry but bright shoreline, my fingers reached out. They penetrated the orb’s surface easily, as if it, itself, were made of water, but as soon as the first fingertip passed through I felt a tug.

The orb grabbed me, for lack of a better phrase, and pulled my body forward.