After a short moment, I heard it. A quiet sound. Gentle, endless. Once heard, impossible to unhear. It didn’t come from within, it wasn’t from me. It came from the outside, yet within me it grew moment by moment, branching out, becoming more powerful, filling the void with its presence.

It was the missing element. It didn’t so much give meaning to what I saw as it gave it life. It brought my thoughts to life. I sank into it, dissolved, and wept. I sobbed uncontrollably. I laughed while sobbing. I came together, only to fall apart again, dissolving.

I don’t know how long it lasted. It could have gone on forever. In the beginning, time didn’t exist; it melted away with me, but it returned, and at some point of it, I felt a pang of unease that perhaps it couldn’t last forever. And it didn’t. It calmed, faded slightly. The sound returned to its simpler, more regular form. Yet it didn’t disappear entirely. It stayed with me, and I rejoiced, hearing in it a call and a promise.