Dawn broke through the darkness. The non-descriptive greys of the predawn disappeared silently, albeit swiftly, yielding to the skyscape of deep reds and pale pinks. A soft breeze began blowing from the North, shuffling and spreading around the wispy white clouds, rather like an artist’s representation of them on a watercolour. The meadow below turned to life and colour with a suddenness that matched the Sun’s appearance – turning into a lush green carpet from the dull grey-brown that it was seconds ago.
Curious life-forms appeared, going about their businesses as usual, as they did everyday in this World of theirs. A strange world, much like ours in some ways, unlike in other. A flight of fish-like, reptilian-looking birds took to the skies as it turned to its regular morning orange. They called to each other as they flew in their high-pitched nasal tones. A graceful, perfectly spherical, white ball popped out from among the grass in the meadow. In the exact centre of the sphere was a single round eye with a tiny pupil. Slowly, the head turned around in a circle, quite like the periscope of a submarine. Softly, it chirped. All around it, more similar spheres popped up and chirped in reply. The heads rose higher until they cleared the vegetation around them. The heads were connected to round, fluffy white bodies by black, camel-like necks. The bodies were themselves supported by six spindly legs with no discernable joints. There were about half-a-dozen of these creatures in the meadow, looking more like golf balls on a teeing green than the sheep of this World that they actually were. The heads bent down in unison and began cropping up the vegetation. There were more birds in the sky now. Some looked like flying squirrels that could actually flap and fly; others appeared as gliding worms that were so thin that the breeze picked them up like bits of thread and flung them about.
The Sun rose higher and the sky changed to a bright, baby blue. As if on cue, every single sheep stopped stooping in the grass and began chirping at each other loudly. They began chasing each other in intricate geometric paths running in peculiar half-jumps. The animals reached the meadow’s edge and jumped over an outcrop of rock that formed a natural fence easily. The grass on the other side wasn’t as green as the meadow. Here and there, rocky patches could be spotted by the keen-eyed. As if preordained, all except one of the sheep-like creatures suddenly put on a burst of speed and ran away ahead. The lone animal cheeped in despair. Like a chameleon, the fur on its body shifted from snow white to black. It cheeped again and began jumping after its recent companions.
As it moved, the scenery changed. The green grass thinned. Here, it only grew as tufty clumps of a dusty brown variety. The ground below was slaty and scrabbly. Here and there, thin, gnarled and leafless trees dotted the landscape. The sky became grey as the clouds combined growing heavy with vapour. The creature’s jumps became irregular, and finally stalled into a slowed-down version of a trot. The cheeping had died down to a ponderous, plaintive beep that sounded at long intervals. The ground slowly morphed into hard, packed sand; and as it altered, its breadth grew shorter, and the ground level dipped lower and lower on the horizon to the sides. There were no trees or grass here; not even dead ones. Little droplets of water fell from the sky forming into fine dew on the sheep-like creature’s hair. The droplets became drops and the drops gave way to a deluge. The rainwater formed rills and rivulets as they fell to the ground, only to be drained into the hungry soil in a matter of minutes. The sky grew darker and the wind rose into a gale. The rain seemed replenished with the storm-clouds herded by the wind. Great peals of thunder and balls of lightning dictated the sky. Doggedly, the animal kept plodding. Its cries had stopped completely. Its head was bowed. Its coat looked like a wet and bedraggled carpet. The ground had petered out to a narrow trail. On both sides, there seemed to be abysses from which a noisome smell arose. As the animal stepped on to the walkway the ground behind just dropped away into the bottomless pit, leaving the creature no place to move but forward. For every step the sheep took, the bridge behind crumbled into the crevasse. The rain kept falling, unabated. The creature kept walking, hopelessly. The sky grew dark, until it was pitch black. The night closed in all directions, overpowering the senses till it seemed all-pervasive and omnipresent. The path kept moving endlessly, forever. The sheep kept following it persistently, forever. The trail behind it kept getting shrouded by the darkness, forever.
