In Light of Your Misleading

The only thing he was aware of was the blinding light shining at him. Lifting his arm in front of his face to shield his eyes, he turned to escape but the light followed, or else there were many lights surrounding him. Every direction he turned the same painful blaze burned at his weary eyes. He squinted, trying to make out shapes behind the lights. There were people. The longer he looked, the taller they seemed to be, towering ominously over the lights which they bore.
“Do you not see where you have brought yourself?” said one of the light-bearers in an ethereal voice that at once chilled and calmed him. The man waited for a moment, wary of these strange newcomers, and then replied coolly,
“Do you? You ask me, but do you know the answer yourself?” Silence. Then, the voice returned,
“You could come back…”
“I cannot. I have destroyed the way back.”
“There are other ways. Let us tell you.”
“If there were indeed other ways I would have found them by now. I have longed for a way back more than I have longed for anything else. Do not increase my pain by offering me that which is not available to me. There is no way, don’t you see? THERE IS NO WAY!” The man stopped abruptly, realizing that he had been yelling. Some of the lights began to move away. For a moment, he thought he had won. He thought he had finally made them see. But the lights that remained grew closer. They became brighter. The pain was unbearable. He closed his eyes but the light seared through. He threw himself down, face to the ground, and still the light would not relent. In complete desperation he let out an agonized yell and suddenly woke up. He sat up and looked around him. The barren wasteland cloaked in twilight remained unchanged. He was alone. This was reality.