Bridge to the Inferno

Chapter 1

My ears hurt.

The absence of sound made me feel as obsolete as a piece of paper hitting the ground with the sheer force of a hundred steam engines. The feeling of complete weightlessness made my heart palpitate, my fingers twitch and my eyes to have the need to open themselves. It wouldn't have been any different from what I saw closed. I knew darkness enveloped me. I knew darkness was the closest companion I had and its sound was louder than the booming beat of my heart in my chest. My throat started to hurt and I could feel my skin start to etch itself, shrinking in on me. My body wouldn't be able to handle this pressure, I knew. It would collapse, burst itself in, my chest would shrink and my mouth would push itself in. I didn't want to be alive for that. I didn't want to see my body give up on me. Not without a hint of the sun's rays or the gush of wind in my hair, but the approaching wet dust would soon show me my hand in marriage to life beyond this world. I wanted to fight, I wanted to open my mouth and breath and I wanted to open my eyes and see the life here but I was too afraid. I was too afraid to see my life as it is, to be tied to nothing and everything - to feel completely weightless and have gravity slam into me. I'm better off accepting my fate as it is than to hold on to hope. And so I did.

*****

My eyes burned.

I let them flutter open and I'm shocked to be surrounded by the illumination of burning torches. I reached around to feel the ground beneath me and beyond the rough exterior of the cloth, I felt the dampness of the earthy floor. A sharp pain in my chest quelled my attempts at sitting up.

Questions filled my mind. My heart began to race for other reasons now. Where am I? How did I get here? Am I alive? The only obvious clue that eased my rising anxiety was the fact that my chest hurt and ached and my throat felt as though I swallowed a dozen needles. It all made me realise one thing. That I was alive but very fucked.

Can I talk? Should I try?

I tried to let out a sound but I stopped myself as water pooled in my eyes.

I closed them and tried to think back to any point of my execution if anyone had followed behind me, but from the moment I was dunk underneath into the depths away from light, I kept my eyes shut and I felt no wave except for what had pulled me down. I knew I couldn't have freed myself and swam away to an unknown dark enclosed space such as this so the "how" to my arrival in this current destination relies on another entity.

I was alone and now I'm not, so the question stands - who saved me? Where did they take me? Where am I and where are they? I opened my eyes again to take in the haven I woke up. There were two torches, one on the wall adjacent to my bed and the other one next to where my head had laid.

The ceiling was low but it looked high enough for myself to stand here but I can't be sure - I still feel out of it. I turned my head to my left and saw piles of books, papers and chalk scattered till the other side of the room. From the shimmer on the edges of the books, I can tell they were wet meaning they were likely just retrieved, possibly my collection from when I was overthrown.

The sound of footsteps pulled my attention and I quickly closed my eyes. They saved me whoever they are but I can't trust anyone - especially someone who watched as I sunk miles below the surface. I steadied my breathing but just up to my threshold. I knew if I were truly asleep, my chest would only be elevating above the norm but sleep brought a form of practice towards death. I had to be lifeless in its presence.

Whatever I was doing to breathe, probably didn't do much convincing because the next thing I felt was an angry grunt and a loud crack in my ears as they connected its palms with my face.