A Moment at the top of Timberwolf Mountain

[Mitch]

I spent a moment at dusk watching the sky at the top of the Timberwolf Mountain. This is that moment, complete with pictures. Enjoy!

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The first thing he saw when he woke up from his nap was the horizon covered in pink clouds. The sky above them was still glowing in shades of dark blue and purple. He smiled when he noticed that far behind the clouds, green columns of light were rising, turning the sky ever darker.

As stars became brighter against the blackness, the blue pilars of light became distinguishable. He leaned back on his hands, no longer noticing the cold. The northern lights had always been magical to him, a sign that the world was larger and more beautiful than he could even imagine. Enraptured by the spectacle before him, he only realised that the plane's wrecked frame was probably shielding him icy winds. 

The far away mountains no longer reflected the pink still prominent in the clouds. Their outlines brought to his mind a painting he had seen once in a museum, though he could not remember the painting's name, or the museum's.

Columns widened into curtains and rose up higher above the mountains. More stars faded into view, and the dark pink clouds were more and more like shadows in front of the lights. As the moon peeked from behind the mountains, the horizon only showed black shapes of rock and cloud in front of the green northern lights and bright white stars. Behind it all the darkness of space might as well have been black drawing paper that he had sometimes seen in stores. Somehow the vastness of it all filled him with a strange peace and a sense of unity with the universe. He shivered and smiled.

The clouds changed subtly and suddenly he imagined he was looking at dust or smoke floating in space, dancing with the lights, not caring what was happening on the ground. Just as suddenly he realised he was losing his sense of self a bit. Mentally he was in the dust, he was that smoke, he was dancing there in the light. He forced himself to flex his fingers and toes. Sparkling pain erupted as bloodflow increased in the frozen muscles. Shielded from wind or not, he was still outdoors without a fire. He took one last look at the sky and sighed deeply. He was trembling with cold now. He turned around and crawled a few feet before forcing himself on his feet. As sat down to rebuild his fire, he wondered how many people had faded into the long dark while watching the lights. He also hoped that if that became inevitable for him, he would be able to go that way.