Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash vol. 1

Awaken

He opened his eyes, feeling like he’d heard someone’s voice.

      It was dark. Nighttime, maybe? But not pitch black. There were lights. Fire. Above him. Some kind of lighting. Candles, it looked like. Small ones affixed to the wall. Not just one, but many, spaced evenly, continuing as far as he could see.

      Where was this place?

      It was kind of hard to breathe.

      When he tried touching the wall, it was hard and rocky. This was no wall. It was just bare rock. Little wonder his back was sore after lying against it. His butt hurt, too.

      Maybe he was in a cave... A cave? Why would he be in a cave...?

      Those candles were pretty high up. He might be able to reach one if he stood; that was how high they were. Moreover, they didn’t even give off enough light for him to see his hands and feet.

      But he sensed the presence of others nearby. When he listened closely, there was a faint noise that sounded like breathing.

      Humans? What if they weren’t? He might be in trouble. But they sounded human, somehow.

      “Is anyone there?” he asked hesitantly.

      “Uh, yeah,” a man’s voice shot back.

      “I’m here...” came another response, likely that of a woman.

      Another man’s voice gave a short, “Yeah.”

      “I figured as much,” another person added.

      “How many of us are there?”

      “Should we count?”

      “And... where are we, anyway?”

      “Dunno...”

      “What? Doesn’t anyone know where we are?”

      “What’s going on?”

      “What is this?”

      Seriously. What the hell was this? What was he doing in a place like this? And why? How long had he been here?

      He clutched at his chest tightly, as if trying to claw something off of it.

      He had no clue what was going on. How long had he been here? Why was he here?

      When he began to consider his situation, something began to tug at the back of his mind. But it suddenly vanished before he could latch on to it.

      He didn’t know. He didn’t know anything. He was at a complete loss.

      “Sitting here won’t solve anything,” said one man in a low, husky voice.

      There was a sound, like someone stepping on pebbles. It sounded like the man had stood up.

      “Going somewhere...?” a woman’s voice asked.

      “Following the wall,” the man answered. “Going to try heading towards the light.” The man’s tone was surprisingly calm.

Wasn’t he scared? Why wasn’t he shaken up by this?

      The man was now beneath the second candle from him, and he seemed very tall.

      He could make out a bit of the man’s head in the candlelight. The man’s hair wasn’t black. Was it... silver?