Theocriles

Chapter 1 ~ '21;08'

I woke up. Black. No stars, no moon. A sallow amber dust cloud unfurled across the vast barren skies. I glanced down at weathered boots, cushioned by blackened sand. I looked around. My head span and rapid feelings of vertigo set in. I breathed hard, as if all the air in my lungs had expelled. I scanned the endless plain of dust until my arid eyes came to rest upon the blood red flames of a fire. I stood, legs tremoring, making my way towards the ominous glow. A voice whined in my head, resounding four digits in a seamless cadence.

'21; 08'.

I heard my heart pulsating, the loud thumping noise throbbed through my skull, the numbers increasing in magnitude. 21; 08. 21; 08. Disorientation pounded behind my eyes. 21; 08. Legs failing beneath me, 21; 08. 21; 08. the ground reared up. 21; 08. 21; 08. 21; 08. Limbs stiff, fingers curled, I gazed powerlessly toward the flames. 21; 08. 21; 08. My staggered breath - 21;08. 21; 08. - scooped through the tangible torridity. Then, if it wasn't already dark enough - I was shrouded in my own obscurity.

* * *

I woke to the sound of crackling wood and saw tiny leaps of light, jumping as if to escape the intense heat of the fire, which was framed by a black figure. I lay on my side wrapped in a snug woven blanket and flicked my eyes to the body.

The silhouette was partly illuminated by the flickering flames. He was thin; his dark shabby hair was riddled with sand. He watched me questioningly with solid blue eyes, their colour enhanced by the flames. There was something about his eyes, something fierce, but vulnerable. He grimaced, a hint of relief settling over his features, and when I tried to get up, he rushed over and told me to rest.

He helped me back down, as if I were the most valuable object in the universe, as I wondered who he was, where he came from.

As I noiselessly questioned him, I began to question my own identity. It was then that I realised that I couldn't answer them for myself. I had no memories of my own. No name. No family. No past. Nothing. All I was sure of was the seering pain in my head and the repetition of the endless repetition of numbers, 21;08, 21;08, 21;08. They slowly melted into melody, almost a heartbeat, and I was once again asleep.

This happened a number of times. I would wake up, the darkness around me, the fire, the boy; these became familiar things, welcoming things. But the consistent ache and the feeling of helplessness wracked my frame. I tried to concentrate but my head couldn't cope with the overwhelming sense of numbness. It was as if my body had switched off, ommiting any unnecessary information, in order to protect my fragile mind.

As the next few days passed, the boy cared and looked after me, he tended to my every need. He gave me food and drink and made sure I was warm and comfortable. He spoke only a few words to me. His voice was not cruel or menacing. It was quiet and kind, almost the only tangible thing in the darkness of the night. I slept most of the time as my broken body healed itself; only gaining conciseness long enough to notice the absence of light, and the eternal eclipse. Although the tenebrosity of my surroundings alarmed me, these would be the only moments of amity I would remember. These were days before the nightmares, before the horrors I now know came to pass.

Each time I slept, my dreamworld was filled with the same blackness as my reality; but now and then I saw them. The four digits coming into focus and then blurring away. This was just the beginning though this would not always be the case.

I remember the day I woke up and for the first time felt that life had been restored to my body. Our surroundings became defined. The great snow capped tors and peaks of the colosseum of mountains encircled us, casting icy blue shadows across the black sand and illuminating the dust bowl. The air was clear but cold and there was a strange light glowing in the distance, spreading it's skeletal fingers across the starless void. It was Ghost White in colour; cold and hard in the timeless twilight.