In the steps of Eternity

Awakening: Part 1

With a twitch and a jerk I begin to rouse into consciousness. Unable to move I am forced to open my eyes to see what had pinned me against the ground.

Darkness. I am reminded of my dream as I try to look around to understand where I might be. “At least I am not submerged this time. What a horrible place that was.” I think to myself.

Before I could attempt to push anything off of myself, a small rumble and clatter sounds through the room. “There is something being added to the pile.” I try to sigh but something falls in my mouth as soon as I do.

Clearing my mouth of the debris I try once more to move only to end up moving more debris and causing more material to fall onto the pile.

“It should be stone that is burying me right?” I ask myself in sheer contemplation, realizing that I can't even feel the material its self.

Getting tired of just sitting here thinking to myself I attempt to rouse myself with even the as much determination that I can manage.

As I grit my teeth and begin to push forward I begin to feel a strange sense of power as it begins to ripple through my body, and for the first time I can feel the stone on top of me.

Using this new sense of power, I am filled with strength I never thought I would be able to muster as I start to push the stone aside. Rumbling loudly the pile is cast off with relative ease.

Sitting up, I attempt to stand before pausing and thinking to myself “It's too dark to see. Should I really be trying to stand?”

Before realization was able to set in my vision cleared, peering into the darkness of the room no longer seemed to bother me.

“But... How?” I question in a hushed mumble before taking a good look around at what was once cloaked in endless darkness.

A large chamber sat before me, stairs cascade down towards the farthest center with desks between each set of stairs.

“Something strange must have happened here.” I thought out loud while I walk around inspecting the rather large room in more detail.

Following from the center of the room, chunks of desks, stairs and dividers are spread across the room as if blown away from the center. In the center itself remains an Ornate Stone hand, clearly made of a peculiar type of stone.

“I Wonder what it once held...” I ask out loud as I run my hand across the surface of the Ornate stone. It is smooth and beyond cold, as if it threatens to consume the very essence of my life.

Visions shoot through my mind and with them immeasurable pain. In these visions I am reminded of the Ornate cube I had seen in my dream before I had woken up.

Clutching my head I sit down and attempt to calm my mind and halt the pain. Before images begin to

Focusing on the images and visions flashing though my mind they begin to slow down allowing me to see their true contents. Alleviating the majority of the pain along with.

From what I could make out in the visions, There was a young Mage working on a project? The visions centered around an artifact dug up from some long ancient empire that seemed to have vanished from the world without a single trace.

Shaking my head and clearing my mind of the visions I set them aside to give them a better look over when I have a better understanding of where I am.

“Information saved is easier to access and sift through, when you are sure you are safe. I think.” I say to myself once more, realizing I have a strange habit of talking to nobody.

Shrugging I walk to what seems to be a door way. Nope. Broom Closet. Clicking my tongue I turn around and look some more for an actual way out

Finding the way out of the chamber I wonder though what seems like an endless number of passages before hearing a gentle and faint sound of wind.

“After the gods know how many hours of looking around... Have I found an exit?” I think to myself as I begin to trace the origin of the sound

A gentle breeze rolls across my skin as I come into a corridor filled with giant pillars, sunlight pours in from far above through vines in a breech of the ceiling and only now, do I realize that there are remains of people scattered about in the structure's halls.

“I wonder who they all were?” I think aloud once more before looking for a way to reach the breach while gently stepping around the bodies.

Frustration quickly sets in as hours go by and I am unable to find a way to climb through the hole in the ceiling. Searching the Hall I have also found that every passage had long caved in aside from the one which I came.

“If only I could fly like a bird. Then I wouldn't be in this predicament.” I think to myself as I gaze longingly at the hole in the ceiling.

Barely a moment after I had pictured soaring the skies of freedom I realized I no longer felt the ground beneath me.

Looking down below me I find in absolute amazement that I am floating about an inch off the ground its self.

“What in the!?...” I exclaimed in pure bafflement before taking a moment to think on it. “I thought about flying free like a bird and now I am floating. Could that have anything to do with it?” I ask the emptiness of the halls.

Putting thought into practice I imagine myself flying higher and nothing happened. Thinking more on it, I began to desire to fly free like a bird and I began to reach higher in the room, coming closer and closer to the hole.

“Freedom at last...” I finally take a breath and reach for the vines before me. Ascending the hole and into the world above.