The first thing that came to mind was the rushing sound of waves lapping against a shore. Slowly, as I focused on the sound and recognized it for what it was, this was followed by the warmth of the sun beating down against me, and the feeling of sand against my back. Then, my vision was suffused with an orange glow, which rapidly brightened as I gently opened my eyes. The sun, a brilliant white sphere solidly above the horizon to my left, beat down on me with a heat just bordering on uncomfortable.
I raised my hand to shield my sight from the glare only to pause as I noticed the appendage in question. There was a sensation of unfamiliarity, confusion, and curiosity as I glanced at the faintly glowing appendage. I knew that this was not what a hand should look like - there should be fingers, and skin, and maybe some fine hairs. Instead there was just a pale, luminescent approximation of what the limb should be. For some reason I knew this should concern me, but I also had a feeling that this was fine, almost expected, though I didn't know why. I lowered my arm and stood up.
Glancing down, I realized that this state of glowing amorphism seemed to be shared with the rest of my body - at least, everything I could see. Still, this didn't bother me, though I subtly knew that it should, for some reason I couldn't quite put my finger on. My mind seemed to oscillate between the thought that my body shouldn't look like this, that it should be something specific, and that this was fine, and maybe an opportunity. Not having a firm opinion on either, and not having any idea how one would go about rectifying the situation regardless, I put the thoughts aside and began to look around.
In front of me was a body of water that seemed to stretch outwards forever - at least as far as the eye could see. Regardless of whether I looked to the left or right, this persisted. I turned to the right, seeing the sandy beach stretch out and curve to the right into a line of trees, and as I continued to turn, I saw the beach turn into various grasses as the forest approached. As I continued to turn, I stopped, as directly behind where I'd been laying, between myself and the forest, was a large rectangular standing stone. Like me, it glowed in the light. I took a quick glance to the right of my current position and noticed that the scenery mirrored what I'd already seen - more beach, forest, and grasses. No distinguishing features, other than this large stone now in front of me. I quickly approached.
The stone held numerous markings that seemed to swim and undulate beneath the glowing aura surrounding it. Though I didn't recognize the markings, and understood that I should be aware of what at least some markings somewhere meant, as I inspected the stone I began to get an impression of the intent behind them.
As the disparate and multiple meanings resonated in my mind, I began to swiftly get experience a pulsing, pounding sensation that made it hard to focus. I closed my eyes and tilted my head down as I waited for the sensation to fade. When I looked up again, I could see that the glow was less intense and had solidified into new markings. I could directly understand what the new markings meant, though I could vaguely see the original markings remained on the stone underneath. I began to look over the markings once more.
I took a moment to process what I had read. There were a lot of implications, some of which I understood, and others I did not. I looked around once more, and then with a combination of resignation and anxious curiosity, reached towards the stone.
