With his first shuddering breath came strange sensations... smells... sounds... feeling... a sense of colour and light... although there were as yet no words to describe these things.

Something touched... soft and yielding yet persistent and nudging... and the man opened his eyes to be flooded with yet more strange stimuli. And yet it was as if he knew what they all were, he just hadn't experienced them before.

And over all a warm, reassuring and comforting presence, as if another being was hovering close in protection and, yes, in love. Again, no words as yet to put to this strange but welcome sensation.

The man slowly eased himself into a sitting position, overwhelmed still by the cascade of noise, smells and sights, punctuated by the same soft and insistent nudging on his leg. Looking down he perceived the source of the nudging:  a small brown being sniffing at him, curious at the new arrival in its universe.

Communication... felt more than heard... a communication of welcome, of joy, of comfort.

Unworried by the presence of the small brown creature, the man turned his head to take in more of his new environment. Not that he could remember ever having been elsewhere. As if his existence had somehow just started. Slowly he absorbed the colours, movement, sounds and smells of this strange yet familiar place; as if knowledge of it was somehow already embedded in his consciousness. Birds in the bright but cloudy sky, bright-coloured flowers and trees, other creatures moving around, some already approaching in peaceful inquisitiveness.

Climbing to his two feet, he was mildly interested to see that all the other creatures around moved differently, on four feet. Differently, yet not aggressively or speedily, as if there was nothing in this exuberant environment to cause rush or hurry or anxiety. The man approached some of the nearest creatures, reached out his hand to feel fur, hair, skin; met curious and sometimes intelligent eyes, felt noses sniffing at his unusual nakedness. For while the man did have hair it was not a thick uniform covering like the other creatures and much of his skin could be seen.

There it was again: communication! This time he sensed it vocalising in his mind: words of welcome, of joy, of comfort. Words of reassurance and guidance. This was his Creator in touch with the pinnacle of His creation: a creature to rule a creation, yet more than a creature; a being that was a "who" and not a "what"; a soul in a body; capable of relating to the Creator in a way no other being in this place could.

He began to explore his new environment, conscious all the time of that warm presence. Now it was guiding him, showing him things, encouraging him to name and to classify and to categorise what he was seeing and hearing and smelling; preparing him for rulership, for dominion over all that the Creator was now laying before him. Days after and he was still exploring and investigating his environment. He had seen so many of the amazing creatures that he lived among and he had found words to describe and name them. He understood that food was all around on trees and bushes. He knew to sleep when the sun went down and all the other creatures vanished to their places of rest.

But in the midst of this beauty and diversity, pure in its newness and life, something was missing. It was as if he wasn't complete. His fellowship and communication with the Creator was spontaneous, warm, loving on both sides, yet still he felt a space in his existence. His Creator knew it too and one night the man slept deeper and longer than he had before!

The next in this series is still in preparation...