[Egg]

'Mrs God'. The concept of a Mrs / female God / Goddess never really crossed my mind, and to be honest, spiritual things were the furthest from my mind that beautiful sunny day, the bright sun warmiing the rock and moorlands, dancing off the peaks as it played across the still snow layed in the distance, and really making me feel the luckiest guy in the world at that moment.

I had decided to go for a long stretch for no other reason than I could. My family all wanted to go to the lakes, I wanted to go to the mountain, so I took the train, they took the car. I said good bye and left them early in the morning.

It was 2 pm, and I stopped at the egde of a dramatic scree fall. Looking at the maps I could see I had made a slight reading error, and would need to walk another half mile before i could cross the ridge I had aimed for. Nothing dramatic, just a small navigation error due to watching the world rather than the map!

The crack and boom made me fall to the floor. I felt it through every bone in my body, and the first thing to come to mind was 'earth quake', but the ground didn't shake or shudder, it remained still.

Falling to the floor saved my life, for in the next moment the entire rockline I was laid flat on decided to become the latest scree fall. I remember slipping side ways whilst laid flat, remember the sheer gut wrenching fear as the world slipped sideways, and then remember being flung bodily to my side about 10 meters through the air.

I simply closed my eyes, and knew, just knew that I was dead. I laid still, and accepted my time was up, and that Jesus would come to collect me and I would return to the Creator. I had no feelings as I fell, apart from an odd 'ha ha! I get to see you sooner than you thought!'

The next moment the world seemed to shimmer, the air become almost watery and a face, huge, massive face was looking down at me, smiling.

Her skin was a shade of gold, light, shiny, beautiful golden glow. Her hair was flame red, straight, but like a fiery halo as it blew in some unseen wind, backwards and upwards. But it was her eyes that struck me as I stared at her.

Her eyes were like the brightest, but deepest purple / violet I had ever seen, but filled with love, warmth and utter beauty. They also shone from within, and reminded me of a sunset over an ocean, only in beautiful shades of violet / purple. Then I noticed that I was not falling so fast, and that in fact, I should of already slammed into and been buried under the rocks.

I looked down, and saw I was cradled in a hand, a super massive hand where just the palm was visible. It was huge, but held me softly like a child would cup a grass hopper it wanted to keep safe.

She looked at me, smiled, and then I was still, stationary, stopped dead in mid air. Then she laid what i can only describe as a cushion of colour out underneath me, filled with flowers, a riot of different shades and shapes, like a brides train, but now underneath me.

She touched me on the face, and said 'it is not your time, you will not die at my hand nor in my land', and vanished. The world slammed back into being 'real', and a ferocious feeling of sliding, of motion, of tumbling over and over downwards, and then stillness.

I laid there in silence. Nothing moved, nothing could be heard apart from a single rock every now and agin clattering to the floor from far above. I laid there, looking up at the 800 or so feet i had just fallen. I breathed in, looked up at the sky, and saw the form of the women who had caught me in mid air high above. She was like a translucent purple / red / blue ghost, and then she descended and just became the land. It was as if the world itself had a ghost / spirit, and she had risen up to catch me.

I laid there in the wet and mud wondering why on earth I was wet, when i heard a helicopter in the distance, and remember the absurd thought of 'wonder which poor sod needs that then?' just as some people came running across the rocky scree.

I sat up and the first person near me nearly died of fright. The second just blinked twice, three times, turned around and said 'holy **** the dudes alive!'

I was soaked to the skin, and couldn't figure out what had happend. one of the climbers who had come to 'rescue' me just pointed to the rocks.

'We saw you stood at the top, saw the fault open and throw the face down, saw you falling, and man, we saw the water gush from the rock face, and dude, you just floated down the top of the rocks on a wave dude. A freaking wave. You are the luckiest guy ever dude, and I mean it, you should be dead'.

Looking at the rock face, seeing its enormity from the ground, seeing its vastness, and how the rocks were at least 30 feet deep, I should of been buried, smashed, dead deep beneath them. Instead I was laid in an inch of water.

A women asked me where my ropes and gear was, and I said some non commital reply as I really didn't care, as I was alive, and she said to me ' lucky your rope held for those extra three seconds and hung you there, or else you would of been under those rocks like a flash. Instead, you got swept out and down by the water'.

I was looked over by a medic, and just had some nasty cuts and scrapes, no broken anythings as far as he could tell, but still had to go with him to the hospital, and climbed into the helicopter. I was helped into it by the women, and she looked puzzled at me, and then the floor I was laid on.

Her last question to me was 'where is your harness if you was roped in?' Truth was, I never walked with a harness, ever.

So, if your in Austria, reading this, remembering the guy who fell, thats what happend. A Goddess decided it was not my time to die. You saw water, but i felt her hand and saw her face.

The land does have a Goddess, it does ahve a spirit, and she is beautiful, vibrant and alive.