1 Arrival

My eyes fluttered open to bear witness to a bizarre sight. There I lay, down upon the ground in some stone cave; what I was facing, was an opening in the cave, which provided a view to the outside world, from which the sun shone through.

Beside the small opening, which was barely enough for a man to pass through, lay the body of a man. His eyes were closed and his back rested against the cold walls of the cave, his clothes containing these small holes from which spread out a crimson red color. From the small hole, a group of people with strange markings on their faces peered into the cave. Their eyes resting on something that was behind me, their faces contorted with sheer terror.

Suddenly, and without warning, I heard a strange moaning sound behind me. It was faint and ragged. Like the suppressed sounds of a wild beast, relishing about getting to see a possible meal.

The people with the strange marking all fled in terror, not wasting even a fraction of their time to get out of the sight of whatever it was that was behind me.

I tried to get up. Only to find out thay I could not move my muscles. They refused to acknowledge any of the commands that I provided them with, laying completely still. It was at this moment that a pungent odour reached my nostrils, and so, it came to my notice the strange vapour thay was pouring down from the roof of the cave, filling the entire cave with it.

I realized that I had been paralyzed. I wanted to cry out for help, except I couldn't even move my mouth.

Just then, a migraine like no other struck me. It was to the point that I felt like my head would explode. I wanted so much to bang my head on the wall, or throw a brick onto my own head. The pain I felt was unlike anything I had ever experienced.

When it ended, images of the unknown hit me like an unstoppable flood. Nay, they weren't just images, they were wat more than just mere images. They felt more intimate, more connecting. They were memories... of myself?

John Carter. That was the name of the man I had connected to so deeply at this exact moment through memories. He was a Virginian soldier, a gentleman, as he liked to refer to himself. He didn't know his birth or age, and now that I had his memories, even I couldn't tell. As far as both me and he could tell, he had always been a man, and never aged even a day since who knew how long.

He came to the Arizona region in search for gold after the war. In search for wealth and experience. In search for something to live for. And in the process, got himself stuck in this situation. With all, but little hopes for survival against whatever it was that was behind him, and now, in this case, me.

And then, Damien Smith. A middle aged man in who used to live in New York after retirement from 10 years of service in the army. Also, a Yoga expert, who was stubborn about spirituality of Hinduism and the alignment of the Chakras.

I could not remember a lot about him. Only his name, work, personality and a bit of personal life. I could also remember his last moments. Not to the finest of details, but I do remember an extreme longing for adventure while walking down the streets, gazing up at the two stars during twilight. And then, a sharp pain at the back which was followed by darkness.

And then, here I was. Laying silently on the ground, in the body of John Carter, and no idea about which of the two men I actually am. Perhaps I am both. Perhaps I am not. Do I lean more towards John Carter or towards Damien Smith?

My thought process was suddenly interrupted by a shadow moving in front of the opening to the cave. It was my horse. Or rather, John Carter's horse which would make it a property of mine.

The horse looked inside of the cave for a moment, most probably noting my figure that was laid on the ground, and then moved away. Even after the horse was no longer in vision, I could hear the sound of its hooves, moving away from the cave. Either catching a glimpse of whatever it was that scared those strange people, or due to hunger propelling it to search of food.

Either one of those two, I could not allow the horse to wander off like that. It would spell disaster for me, as I would have no way of getting back to civilization as I was, without any food or water. I would be dead before I could even cross the desert.

I tried to move, but my paralysis would not permit such movement. My eyes darted around, trying to find a way through which I could keep the horse from leaving. Alas, I found none. I could do nothing but watch, while my only way of getting out of here alive moved away from my location.

After some time, even the noise of the hooves stopped. And then, all that was left was me, my dead friend, and the unknown living creature that was behind me, hidden in the dark and away from my sight.

The silence was almost deafening. But i could do nothing to change that. All I was capable of doing was waiting silently on the ground, either for the paralysis to eventually wear off or for the creature behind me, to kill me.

Having lived the lives of both John Carter and Damien Smith, I could safely say that even if I could face even the toughest foes on a battlefield, charge fearlessly against the enemy, even with impossible odds, I would still never want to be stuck in such a situation by choice. The sheer terror one feels, especially when the danger hasn't even been revealed cannot be described in mere words.

And so, I continued to wait. I waited, and waited and waited. Eventually, my sense of time began to dull as the night began to cover the desert of Arizona in its gentle embrace. The moonlight eventually began to fall into the cave from the small opening, bathing my figure in a cold heat. And I, was perfectly awake for the entire time. I could not sleep, not when the situation about my life and death was something even I was not sure about.

I braced my heart and waited for the eventual monster that would come out of the shadows and devour me whole. But it didn't come.

Not until at least 11 pm. For at about that time, I heard a dissonant growl and a sound of incessant moaning began in the cave, breaking the established symphony of silence.

The sound that was previously faint began to grow louder and louder, and with it, my heart continued to pound furiously in my chest.

It was not something pleasant. It was to the extent that even though I knew that I was paralyzed, that there was no use in trying to resist, I make one last effort.

It was not at all muscular, rather, it was an effort of the will, of the mind, of the nerves, of the consciousness. And with that final effort, something seemed to click, and the efforts gave results.

My body, which previously was unable of showcasing any movements jerked upright, shaken from the extreme effort. Although I was shocked, I did not intend to linger around here, not when the sound behind me seemed to grow louder at my movement. I quickly got up to my feet and bolted to the opening, not even bothering to look behind me.

Only when I was outside of the cave, did I finally look back into the cave, and what I witnessed shook me to some extent. First of all, the monster was nowhere to be seen. It was still hidden in the darkness at the back of the cave. But the second thing, which shook me to my core, was the fact that my body still lay silently upon the ground, still gazing over to the small opening, through which I continued to gaze at it.

I looked down towards my figure, only to realize that I was naked. I wore as much clothes as I did when I was born. Not even a single piece of cover was on my body. Was I dead? That thought crosses my mind. Indeed, that did not seem too far fetched of an explanation. But even then, I strangely accepted that fact.

Though I was slightly disturbed by such acceptance, there was nothing I could do. I looked back towards the distant horizon, the desert of Arizona did what it had to and lowered my morale at a chance of escaping back to civilization.

But then I realized, I was already dead so I did not need to worry.

I looked towards the sky and was filled with an extreme sense of longing as I looked towards the stars. The ethereal beauty of space was always a sight to behold and especially now, in such a deserted area where no city light could be seen, the stars shone all the more brighter.

Suddenly, my attention was drawn to a bright red shining dot in the sky The red spot shone all the more brighter than even the brightest stars in space, dwarfing even the gentle white glow of the moon.

Mars. The God of War, and for John Carter, the fighting man. It was what gave him the confidence and courage that he had.

Looking towards the bright figure of the Great God of War, Mars, my mind was filled with an even greater sense of longing; completely surpassing even the longing I held for space.

I unconsciously spread out my arms, as if trying to hold the sky in them and dropped to my knees.

And then, from the deepest depths of my heart, I called out to the heavenly body, across the giant void of space.

The planet itself seemed to call out to me and then, I was drawn to it.

With a flash of darkness for the tiniest part of a second, in front of me was a completely different scenery.

I knew that I had arrived on Mars. Never once did I question either my sanity or my reasoning. My mind and my soul, just as yours tells you that you are on Earth, told me that I am on Mars. You do not question the fact; neither did I.

i found myself lying on a yellowish mosslike vegetation which stretched out for interminable distances. I seemed to be lying in a deep, circular basin, along the outer verge of which I could distinguish the irregularities of low hills.

It was midday, in contrast to the night it has been upon the Earth and the sun seemed to shine brightly on my skin, giving me heat like never before. Here and there were slight outcroppings of quartz-bearing rock which glistened in the sunlight; and a little to my left, perhaps a hundred yards, appeared a low, walled enclosure about four feet in height. No water, and no other vegetation than the moss could be seen and neither could I see outside of the depression I had found myself lying inside of.

I looked around some more, trying to discern some more things from my surroundings. But when I found none, I decided to do some exploring.

And that was when I found my very first Martian surprise.

The slightest effort of my muscles that would have left me standing upright on Earth, carried me several meters into the air on Mars. The lesser atmospheric density and lesser gravitation doing its job to elevate my strength beyond what was ever found or even thought to be possible on Earth.

I landed gently upon the ground, the rapid fall doing no real damage to me whatsoever. This discovery greatly amazed me as did the feeling of being weightless for the split second before.

But with this discovery, came the discovery of the fact that I would need to learn walk all over again. I looked down towards my feet and smiled. I knew that I was going to be in for a ride.