The Awakening

Chapter 1 (Edited)

*Edited Sept. 14, 2017 (First published June 16, 2015)

The first thing I noticed upon awakening was the sound of shuffling all around me, the sound of dozens of feet slowly dragging themselves across the ground. Slowly, my body felt like it was waking up, my mind telling me to stand up and find out what was happening. I barely managed to force my tired eyes open, blurs of flickering color slowly sharpening until I was looking at what appeared to be a small mob of people slowly walking past me, dragging their feet in the dirt as they moved down the barely lit tunnel I found myself in.

I forced myself up into a sitting position and tried to call out to them. All that came out was a breathless whisper of sound, softer than the breeze that whipped down the tunnel and caused the light around me to flicker. Looking for the source, I managed to make out a small fire burning alongside the far wall further down the tunnel. Using the wall beside me for support, I worked myself into a standing position, wondering why nobody around me seemed to notice my struggle and come over to help. Maybe in the dim light, they couldn't make out my struggle for what it was. That or they really just didn't care.

Looking down the tunnel, I saw a brighter light shining from further away, well past the small fire that was burning ahead of me. Wondering about where everyone was going, I began following the shadowy figures that shambled down the tunnel, curious of what had captured the attention of so many people. As we got closer to the light, I began to squint, my eyes far slower to adjust to the growing light than I felt they should be. Maybe I had hit my head when I fell, something that had me quietly running the fingers of one hand along my scalp, sighing in relief when I found nothing wrong. No bumps, cuts or tender spots hidden within my hair.

I began wondering just how I had gotten here in the first place, everything before I woke up just a large blur of thoughts, like looking into a deep, murky pool and trying to see the bottom. I figured my best bet was to find the source of the light down the tunnel and hope that someone was waiting there who could help me figure out what had happened. Maybe they could tell me where I was, who I was, and why everyone seemed like they were practically sleepwalking. They hadn't even reacted when I'd started shuffling down the tunnel with them earlier, using the wall to keep balance as I moved forward. I felt exhausted by the time I entered the cavern the tunnel led to, a bonfire burning brightly on a small piece of land in the middle of a crystal clear pool of water.

What I saw of the cavern was awe inspiring. Huge spires of rock towering upward before disappearing into the shadows that hid the distant ceiling from view. Glistening crystal formations were scattered about the cavern, catching the light from the bonfire in breathtaking displays of color as they helped to light up some of the unexpectedly gigantic room. Even the walls themselves, what was visible at least, were amazing to behold, a deep red rock that appeared to be worn smooth by time and crisscrossed with random veins of black and white stone.

But all that beauty couldn't hide the terrible sight of what gathered before me. All those people that had passed me by, that had shuffled beside me or followed behind... They weren't injured people seeking help, not people experiencing a mass hallucination or even a weird sleepwalking epidemic, oh no. They were horrifying to behold under the bright lights of the bonfire, their flesh dull and discolored, some limbs missing or covered in wounds that failed to bleed any longer. They were dead, some missing more flesh than others but somehow still standing, still moving around like they were alive! It didn't seem to matter how much was left of them as they slowly shambled forward towards the lake, gathering around the edges in some morbid parody of life.

I was frozen in fear, waiting for them to turn and attack me, but they just kept passing by like I wasn't there. They seemed to ignore me as I stood there, like a rock sticking up in the middle of a stream. The worst part of everything, however, came when I understood why they ignored me, because no matter how scared I was at that moment, my heart didn't race. My breath did not come in frightened gasps or choked sobs. My body just stood there, as unmoving as the bodies that stood around the edges of the lake, seemingly waiting for something to happen.

I was just like them, just another shambling corpse that somehow managed to keep moving, not longer one of the living that I somehow knew I had once been. I opened my mouth, releasing a soundless wail of despair.

The last thing I saw before the darkness laid claim to me, was a single figure stepping out from the lake, black eyes glimmering strangely as it turned to face me.