Chapter Three:
Discoveries
I woke up to a throbbing pain eating at the back of my head. I tried to raise my hand, to feel the wound, yet found I couldn't move it more than a few inches upward. I opened my eyes, yet found the view the same whether they were closed or not. Almost in a panic, I wanted to feel the wound, but discovered once again that my arm was immobile in my limited space. I smashed my elbow against the side of my tight prison, jerked my head up at the collision, and smacked my already pounding head against the hard roof.
"Damn it!" I said and sunk back down to the ground. "What the hell is going on?"
I forced myself to calm down and tried to think, forgetting about the numbing soreness in my back and head. I slowed my breathing, hoping to relax my heart, and finally my thoughts were able to come together.
'Where the hell am I?' I thought.
I blinked in the darkness to make sure my eyes were truly open. The inky darkness seemed so dead that I wondered if perhaps I was blind. As my eyes darted blindly about, I noticed, to my great relief, a twinge of light. Only a sliver, one single, golden thread fell in through the ceiling. It rested on my hand and I saw the raw edges of some deep cut.
'Kuso!' I thought, seeing the condition of the wound. 'What else happened to me?'
There was no noise as I lay still. Whenever I moved my arms or body the small distances the space allowed, the tiny swishing, gravelly noises seemed to echo. This was maddening! I felt suffocated trapped there. The darkness closed in all around me and whichever way I turned I struck my arms and legs against the sides.
"Let me out of here!" I heard my voice rising to a scream. "Get me out!"
'How did I get here?' I thought with fear rising in my heart. 'What happened to me? What the hell is going on?!'
I couldn't move. I couldn't see. I couldn't hear. All I knew was I was trapped beneath a mass of rocks and debris, yet I had no idea how deeply I was buried. Despite my efforts to calm it, my heart started beating wildly. I couldn't stand being trapped there. My senses overflowed and I desperately struck at the side of the enclosure.
The side fell away like a house of cards, and walls and roof came crashing down in loose shards. I was able to stand; pebbles and dust fell from my hair and clothes. Light flooded over me and stung my eyes. I could hardly believe what had just happened. That thick prison had crumbled with one blow, and suddenly I was free.
I could finally breathe deeply and the joy of that made me forget the soreness of my battered body. I laughed for my heart's ease and opened my eyes to the morning light. To be in the open air, to be free, built up in my heart and joy consumed me. Yes, I was happy, and I dropped my shoulders in relief and looked around me.
The smile that had found its way to me slowly faded. The joy that I had not been able to contain was lost, paralyzing me in a bewildered stupor. My jaw dropped heavily and I gazed over the city (if I could even call it that) even more confused than when I had woken in complete darkness. Ruins, everything was in ruins.
"What is this?" I breathed into the air.
The air was still and stale. Not even a breath of wind was there to stir the dead stillness. All around, billowy, black clouds rose in straight lines. Countless buildings lay in shambles, leaving only piles of rubble like the one I had crawled from. In the streets, more like a discharged mine field, overturned cars had been battered and beaten into mangles shapes so that they were only recognizable by the broken glass of the windshields and dislodged air bags. Ash and soot flowed into sewer grates in rivers from broken hydrants. A few sickly flames lived, yet would soon extinguish when they consumed their measly amounts of fuel.
For some reason, my heart ached at the sight, yet I could not understand why. In fact, I only then realized I did not know where I was. There was some reason for this, I knew that I had some purpose here.
'What is this place?' I thought. 'I should know this. I should know why I am here.'
My head ached and I clutched my skull savagely. I didn't know. I didn't know why I stood in this decimated city. I didn't know anything. It dawned on me in that confusing instant. This was the beginning of my mind; I could see nothing of the past. I had no past. I had no name. I had come into this place somehow. Yet to all my knowledge, this was my first day of life. Nothing existed before my waking.
"I have no past." I repeated my thoughts. "I have no name."
I touched my chest, trying to still my heart, and felt a strap there. I found that on my back, there was a scabbard. I dropped my head and at my feet, covered in dust, something caught my eye. It gleamed in the light, a round, shining metal. I reached down to it, and brushed away the larger rocks that covered it. It was the end of a leather bound sword hilt. Pulling the weapon from the rocks, I examined the double-edged sword. I ran my fingers down the flat and over the hilt.
'I know this.' My mind told me.
With one swift movement, the weapon was in its cover. This sword was mine, I was sure of it. It was the only thing I knew, but I needed to know more. I had some purpose in this world, something I had forgotten. I had to know why I was here, why I had woken in that troubled world.
I looked over the city one last time. There was nothing for me here; there was nothing I could learn here. I stepped from the rubble, and walked away from that place with the nagging thought that I was leaving something important behind. But what that was, I would travel the world to learn.
Discoveries
I woke up to a throbbing pain eating at the back of my head. I tried to raise my hand, to feel the wound, yet found I couldn't move it more than a few inches upward. I opened my eyes, yet found the view the same whether they were closed or not. Almost in a panic, I wanted to feel the wound, but discovered once again that my arm was immobile in my limited space. I smashed my elbow against the side of my tight prison, jerked my head up at the collision, and smacked my already pounding head against the hard roof.
"Damn it!" I said and sunk back down to the ground. "What the hell is going on?"
I forced myself to calm down and tried to think, forgetting about the numbing soreness in my back and head. I slowed my breathing, hoping to relax my heart, and finally my thoughts were able to come together.
'Where the hell am I?' I thought.
I blinked in the darkness to make sure my eyes were truly open. The inky darkness seemed so dead that I wondered if perhaps I was blind. As my eyes darted blindly about, I noticed, to my great relief, a twinge of light. Only a sliver, one single, golden thread fell in through the ceiling. It rested on my hand and I saw the raw edges of some deep cut.
'Kuso!' I thought, seeing the condition of the wound. 'What else happened to me?'
There was no noise as I lay still. Whenever I moved my arms or body the small distances the space allowed, the tiny swishing, gravelly noises seemed to echo. This was maddening! I felt suffocated trapped there. The darkness closed in all around me and whichever way I turned I struck my arms and legs against the sides.
"Let me out of here!" I heard my voice rising to a scream. "Get me out!"
'How did I get here?' I thought with fear rising in my heart. 'What happened to me? What the hell is going on?!'
I couldn't move. I couldn't see. I couldn't hear. All I knew was I was trapped beneath a mass of rocks and debris, yet I had no idea how deeply I was buried. Despite my efforts to calm it, my heart started beating wildly. I couldn't stand being trapped there. My senses overflowed and I desperately struck at the side of the enclosure.
The side fell away like a house of cards, and walls and roof came crashing down in loose shards. I was able to stand; pebbles and dust fell from my hair and clothes. Light flooded over me and stung my eyes. I could hardly believe what had just happened. That thick prison had crumbled with one blow, and suddenly I was free.
I could finally breathe deeply and the joy of that made me forget the soreness of my battered body. I laughed for my heart's ease and opened my eyes to the morning light. To be in the open air, to be free, built up in my heart and joy consumed me. Yes, I was happy, and I dropped my shoulders in relief and looked around me.
The smile that had found its way to me slowly faded. The joy that I had not been able to contain was lost, paralyzing me in a bewildered stupor. My jaw dropped heavily and I gazed over the city (if I could even call it that) even more confused than when I had woken in complete darkness. Ruins, everything was in ruins.
"What is this?" I breathed into the air.
The air was still and stale. Not even a breath of wind was there to stir the dead stillness. All around, billowy, black clouds rose in straight lines. Countless buildings lay in shambles, leaving only piles of rubble like the one I had crawled from. In the streets, more like a discharged mine field, overturned cars had been battered and beaten into mangles shapes so that they were only recognizable by the broken glass of the windshields and dislodged air bags. Ash and soot flowed into sewer grates in rivers from broken hydrants. A few sickly flames lived, yet would soon extinguish when they consumed their measly amounts of fuel.
For some reason, my heart ached at the sight, yet I could not understand why. In fact, I only then realized I did not know where I was. There was some reason for this, I knew that I had some purpose here.
'What is this place?' I thought. 'I should know this. I should know why I am here.'
My head ached and I clutched my skull savagely. I didn't know. I didn't know why I stood in this decimated city. I didn't know anything. It dawned on me in that confusing instant. This was the beginning of my mind; I could see nothing of the past. I had no past. I had no name. I had come into this place somehow. Yet to all my knowledge, this was my first day of life. Nothing existed before my waking.
"I have no past." I repeated my thoughts. "I have no name."
I touched my chest, trying to still my heart, and felt a strap there. I found that on my back, there was a scabbard. I dropped my head and at my feet, covered in dust, something caught my eye. It gleamed in the light, a round, shining metal. I reached down to it, and brushed away the larger rocks that covered it. It was the end of a leather bound sword hilt. Pulling the weapon from the rocks, I examined the double-edged sword. I ran my fingers down the flat and over the hilt.
'I know this.' My mind told me.
With one swift movement, the weapon was in its cover. This sword was mine, I was sure of it. It was the only thing I knew, but I needed to know more. I had some purpose in this world, something I had forgotten. I had to know why I was here, why I had woken in that troubled world.
I looked over the city one last time. There was nothing for me here; there was nothing I could learn here. I stepped from the rubble, and walked away from that place with the nagging thought that I was leaving something important behind. But what that was, I would travel the world to learn.