A brilliant aurora borealis filled the night sky. I had never seen anything like it. The swirling gossamer strands of light, the stunning colors bleeding one into another, all set against a backdrop of seemingly endless, uncountable stars. Suddenly, I was in a different place. The hike, the swamp, the cold, the near-naked huddling—it was all now part of a primordial throwback. Man, nature, universe. While I wore earth, I was enveloped in the dancing lights. Abandoned by the last of our communal heat, I was absorbed by the distant stars. I lost track of how long I stared at the sky before
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