Life Eternal

Chapter V - Change The Fate's Design...

It was the sound of a door being slammed shut as well as the scent of old dry timber that'd eventually pull you out of your unconsciousness & cause your weary eyes to fling open, the realization that something wasn't right already more than present despite your confusion. It took your vision quite some time to adjust to the brightness, a brightness that was not nearly as overwhelming as that from earlier but still enough to blind you for the moment while you were simply lying on your back, face turned towards the sun.

Wait…

                                        The sun?

You blinked several times to erase all doubt over the sight provided, caught in utter disbelief as you finally felt how the golden beams slowly but surely began to warm your face, eliciting a sigh of relief from you. However, it did neither bring peace to your still troubled mind neither would it answer any of those questions that were storming through your head; in fact it would only add more.

Lifting a single hand to shield your now fully opened eyes from the light you carefully glanced to the left since something there had caught your attention, something that looked oddly familiar yet bewildered you nonetheless:

It was an ordinary small wooden bookshelf, positioned right next to an open window through which - as you could finally see - the sunbeams entered the room you had woken up in for some bizarre reason. A whiff of cool autumnal air caressed your face. Eyes curious yet filled with confusion traveled further around to explore the new environment, somehow unable to properly adjust to the brightness after all. It felt as if you had just woken up from a really long sleep & a bad nightmare at that, trying to comprehend the current situation as well as all the previous events.

While observing everything as good as your blurred vision allowed you to you attempted to sit up, your joints screeching in pain with every single move. Dizziness befell you, making it nearly impossible to grasp a proper thought for what felt like an eternity, but once those blurred patterns formed into contours & also the numerous colours became much clearer you pushed your still weakened body up with both hands pressed flat to the floor, slowly lifting your head in the process.

     “ What on— ”

Clearly, this was not a dream either; the pain in your head as well as in your arms & legs was simply too convincing. Though everything around you appeared to be spinning even faster now you finally came to the realization that you were in some kind of room, a wooden hut or cabin perhaps judging by the walls & the rather old-fashioned interior. The scent of pine filled your nose once you took a deep breath, the old floor tiles creaking mercilessly beneath your feet with each step. Half-burned candles ornamented the shelves & tables, posters & pictures of quite familiar musicians the walls. During your observation you turned in your spot several times as though attempting to remember this place, taking in as much of the environment as possible, but it was in vain. You had never been here before, that much was for certain.

A few seconds in an upright stance & the dizziness started to wear off at last, allowing you take a look outside the open window into what appeared to be a garden; all run wild & thus bountiful with weeds, with ivy gnawing at the outer walls of the house. In the not so far distance, a forest, & behind it a line of tall grey mountains. Birds were singing in the peacefully swaying branches of the pine trees, filling the very air with life; the entire opposite of that other place you had been to before.

          Just what was going on? And where was —

Another loud noise ripped you out of your thoughts, similar to the one that had woken you up several minutes ago: a door falling shut with force, literally causing the walls to vibrate for a moment. Then footsteps, fast-paced as though someone was making their way down a set of stairs in sheer panic, followed by a gut-wrenching scream filled with agony & the sound of glass being shattered. You flinched, your back pressed against the wall, eyes fixated on the door in the opposite corner of the room.