The Shadow Within- Chapter Four, The Discovery

           The clicks of droplets chime, not unlike music. I can hear them, feel them, even see them. I invision their cool streams of moisture, hugging to the stalactites of the ceiling with long, streaming arms. As their burden becomes too much, they flee, leaving behind their own being, free falling unto the stone floor...Plip....Plip....Plip......

         So much like that day. I sigh unto the ground, the cold floor soothing as I move my limbs from the warmth that accumulated in my sleep. I lay for a moment, listening to the chorus of falling water. "Was that me?" I whisper. The voice fades into the surrounding darkness. It had felt so real.

             I push myself to my knees, and I stretch. Amazingly, the soreness has left my body. Its surprising how much a rest on the cave floor can replenish the body. I look around, and face the darkness. Only, now it doesn't seem quite so dark. The familiar blanket seems rather soft on my skin.

            Fantasy or reality, I realize that the period of rest has come to an end. I stand, shifting my weight between my legs, seeking a point of balance. This takes a while, making me wonder to how long I actually lied on the floor. Finally, my feet find grip, and I move my legs, though it takes a few moments longer to effectively walk. After a few more however, I am awake. I wipe the sleep from my eyes, also to the extent of familiarity. Was that a memory? I cry into my mind. The story I played through did not vanish like a dream as it passed.

           Instead the events took grasp on me. I could feel the movement as I walked, feel the cleansing of an autumn day, as if I had only just experienced it. If these truly are reality, there lies only one question left in the dark. What am I doing here? My impatient mind yells into a black and blank void. As always, there is an echo, short lived and distant, as it is stalked by silence and promptly executed.

                The shout calms me down. It confirms that speaking will progress me no further. I pluck my weapon from off the ground I had stepped from. "Awaken." I say, building upon the bond of a wanderer and his blade, a master and his faithful servant. The curved, glassy blade wakes from his slumber. A soft ember spreads throughout the hearth, until the rippled ebony borders the glow. I continue walking, for some reason or another uncomfortable with the step away from anonymity, though by light is the only hope for a step further.

               A few steps in, a sudden abnormality of a shape comes into view ahead of me. The view flattens, another flat ground defying the pull of gravity. A wall, enscribed with the pattern on the original wall I followed, but also with more unfamiliar runes. I continue forward. The glow that reflects off this wall continues to grow with the shrinking distance. I continue to close it.

               It is a dark grey building, an asylum of sorts. I search the perimeter for a doorway. After encircling a few of the walls, I find an entrance, a smaller pocket of the pitch black void. Before entering, I consider my options. My instincts tell me this is not safe, the emptiness stares at me with eyes from anywhere and everywhere. However, I suppress my instincts. This may be dangerous, but it is also the only way to receive answers. Besides, the only other option is to walk on, and who knows how far the next checkpoint from nothingness might be? 

                               Slowly and warily, I enter.