Citadel

The cold clammy chill from the stone seeped through my hand to my spine. The air was thick, like moving through ether. Light filtered through small windows. Still, it did little for the malaise which had long become the perpetuating quality of life here.

Gray. This could be the only way to describe this place.

Each foot led to an echo down the spiraling stairs, growing faint in the unseen distance. I continued down, supporting my weight against the inside wall. Feeling weaker with each passing day. I counted the steps each morning, but could never remember the count to the bottom. It always felt infinite, but I always made it to the bottom landing, standing on the dirty white mat. Placed there before I could remember.

I moved to through my routine. Repetitive and monotonous. Every day I would work through my time. Making my rounds through the timeworn passages. The routine seemed natural, following my own feet through the rutted corridors. Never really knowing what I was looking for, I just scanned along the way.

My rounds would always end in the same room. It had the largest window opening throughout the citadel. At least as far as I could tell. At times I felt creeping thoughts that there was much more to this place than I had the opportunity to learn. Though my path through the stony labyrinth never really offered alternatives.

Walking into the room opposite the window, I’d inspect the meager space. Always the same when I arrive. Empty, save for a table and chair against the side wall. I would move the table from the wall to the center of the room each day. Taking my seat, I looked out at what always resembled the intangible vista.

I had never been outside to walk those hills blanketed with the sea of grass. The wind rolling over the stalks of wild grass created long ripples of dark and light green channels up the hills. I sat here every day, I watched those waves roll across the panorama created by the window, never crashing or stagnating. Never seeming to end from where I sat.

Each day they view remained the same. Each day I watched as the dull light swept over the grass.

Today was different. The sky had color for a change. I could make out the faintest hue in the sky. As if paint began bleeding from the hills into the sky. It grew more concentrated, the center of my view creeping with a purple haze.

I stood. Slow and measured, my feet took step after step, moving closer to the window. The scene before me grew more eerie as what seemed like a purple film enveloped the world outside.

As time crept along something started to change. I could make out over the hills something was changing. The sky in the furthest corners shifted slowly. The color becoming cleaner. The sky to one side became fiery, the other cooler.

I stood and watched. Unsure if minutes had passed, or if it had bled to hours. Then again, time never seemed to matter here. I could never sense the sun crossing the sky, it had always been difficult to judge the passage of time.

Soon, I could make out vague figures on the hills. I couldn’t see much more than silhouettes, but the knowledge of their presence was shock enough. There had not been another soul here as far as I could recall. I had walked these halls in solitude for a time unknown to even myself.

On one side, the sky was filling with what seemed like glowing embers, except there were no certain points. Over the hill enveloped in the fiery red sky, appeared tall figures. They looked to be growing out of the very earth below them. They glowed, the ghastly figures moved in a manner which couldn’t be called human. The stilted movements became more unnerving as the creatures began to move down the hill. Slowly, the horizon of the hill became covered with more and more of the creatures.

Across the horizon, the other side of the sky began to seem cooler. The purple sky gave way to a calming blue. Slowly figures began to emerge on this horizon as well. Here they looked different, broad and monolithic. These beings appeared to be materializing from the air around them. They moved in a slow and measured pace, but seemed to flow like the water a spring creek. They began their procession down the hill they were on.

The two armies began to be make their way towards the citadel. They would clash before they arrived here. Were they coming for the castle? Were they coming for me?

I watched as both descended down the rolling hills. The eerie unease grew as I realized the grass seemed to flow around them undisturbed as they passed the rolling waves. The ominous feeling grew as I realized I couldn’t hear anything more than the soft rustle of the grass.

My eyes were fixed on the advance of the beings, I did not realize what happened beyond them. They all paused and slowly turned their backs towards me, their heads shifting towards the sky above the hills.

I followed their gaze and for the first time there was a star in the sky. This star quickly grew in the brightening sky. The very sky began to rupture. Both armies halted and one by one, each individual prostrated towards the light which now blotted bleached the color from across the sky.

A thunderous sound began to build with a small rumble, but soon became deafening as the light tore the sky in half. The ground began to quake, and soon I couldn’t stand. The light was now blinding. I turned to run, but couldn’t make out the room. Running anyway, my feet weren’t able to recognize the ground below them.

I slipped. My head hit the ground.

*****

My eyes shot open. I tried gasping for breath. I could feel something filling my mouth. Blinding bright lights. Ringing in my ears.

The deafening cloud of confusion veiled all my senses. I struggled, but I felt like my body wasn’t able to respond. Panic started griping my mind even tighter. Kicking my feet, pulling at my arms. Nothing. Urgency building in my mind.

The ringing started to fade. Shifting from a continuous high squeal to a beeping. It was rapid and sharp, drilling into my ear. Trying to call out, but my mouth was numb, it felt as if my tongue was swollen. Trying to gasp for air, whatever was filling my mouth cause me to gag.

Was that voices, it seemed like I hadn’t heard other people for an eternity. Slowly, the haze began to clear from my eyes, the world was coming into focus. I lay there as people were rushing around.

The voices became more clear as the cloud began to lift. There were pipes in my mouth and nose.

A soft voice broke through, “Just take slow breathes.”

My instant response was a nod.

“Do you know where you are?”

I shook my head.

A second voice broke through, “He’s stabilizing. Sir, we almost lost you there.”

Lifting my head, I saw her standing in the corner. Tears were streaming down her eyes as they met my own eyes. She came rushing to the side of the bed, pushing aside one of the others.

She kept trying to speak, but only muffled cries escaped her lips. I managed to lift my hand and grasp hers.

The disembodied voice came back, “Welcome back. We thought we lost you for about a minute there.”

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