Chapter 3

The stasis pods were a new feeling for me, for I had never even left my home planet, let alone be placed in a long term stasis pod on a massive colony ship.

The tongue lashing went as expected. Long, drawn out, and vicious. My Mother ripped up one side of me and down the other and her accusations became more and more outlandish. Finally I escaped to the sanctuary of my room and slammed the door. After the crash subsided I mumbled "well that was louder than I expected" to myself and tossed my bag to some obscure corner of my room. Stepping to my window I slid it open took the survival knife my father gave me and strapped it to my belt.

Clambering out onto the roof, I made my way to its lowest point, and dropped to the ground. "ow." I grumbled, as I botched the roll I used to try and break my fall. Walking off the sore leg I strode down onto a very familiar path. A path that I hadn't walked for a very long time. My father, before he left, made a sign out a piece of driftwood from some vacation that happened before I was born. He had carved into the sign "The Path of Light" and whenever I asked about it (Basically every time we walked past it) he would smile slightly and ensure me that I would understand someday.

The old trail was slightly grown over, and clearly hadn't been used for a few years. There were ferns and small shrubs, and the scattered young pine tree beginning its growth. But nonetheless, the path was visible, so I moved on. As I walked I remembered the times I walked through these trees with my father. How he would explain things like what the names to certain plants are. The types of trees, or the names of the songbirds. Then I stopped and smiled, and saw a still clear spot on the trail. It was a line my father had drawn, that signaled the "start" line to the races we had in and amongst the trees. Feeling slightly nostalgic I shrugged and started jogging.

The increase in pace worked as a release for the stress of the day and I found myself running. Going faster and faster until it was all I could do to not run head-long into a tree. As I was nearing the end of my capacity to sprint I felt that… Feeling. The same one from that morning. "..The hell?" I questioned myself, and stopped running. It was a mix of dread and... Something. I still couldn't place it. I shook my head trying to rid myself of the feeling and grumbled "I ate some bad waffles this morning."

Almost subconsciously I started walking again. This time my eyes wandered and I took in exactly where I was.

"Wait." I said aloud. "Where am I?"

I looked around; much more carefully this time but all that did was solidify the feeling. I had never gone this far into the woods before. "Dad must have had us turn around earlier when I was a kid" I thought to myself. But there was still plenty of cleared paths, to follow so I chose to keep walking. It must lead somewhere, right?

I had just been about to conclude that the trail wasn't leading anywhere special; I saw something odd in and amongst the roots of the overgrown trail. A singular cobblestone. I made a small grunting noise of interest and decided to keep walking. Only at this point did I notice a change in the forest. I was a hell of a lot denser, and the trail was quite clearly fading. "Come on..." I mumbled "don't stop now." Within moments I was pushing myself through brush and tree branches, earning myself a nice painful slash just beneath my right eye, "thanks for that" I complained to the tree, feeling the need to whisper for some reason.

As if in apology the path suddenly opened again, and was clearer than ever. A roughly hewn cobblestone pathway leads the way to a large stone courtyard, with a small pillar in the center. The stones were laid in such a way that they encircled the pillar, and made it seem taller than it actually was. The pillar itself was a slightly darker grey than that of the other rocks, and stood to about my waist.

"I swear to god if I find a freakin' cultist hiding around a corner here…" I grumbled to myself, trying to get the sinking feeling in my gut to leave. My pace slowed considerably, I advanced towards the center of the courtyard and the pillar, subconsciously having drawn my knife. As I neared the pillar, everything seemed... heavier. As if the wind that blew the leaves wasn't as fast or strong. And that my own legs wouldn't move as I wanted them to. "What is this?" I said in a voice that was barely audible, even to me. Regardless something responded, for I felt that same feeling as before only now there was no denying it. It was dread. Fear. And... Pride? This severely confused me, and I stood paralyzed by that feeling for a solid minute. In that minute I observed a change in the pillar. It was as if between the blinks of my eye it morphed from a cobblestone construction, to something that would have taken god knows how long for some master craftsmen to create. It was suddenly laced with carvings, most were random lines in the stone, and others seemed to be a script of some sort. But there were two very distinct carvings that the others seemed to revolve around, and they depicted a man and a woman. The man carried some sort of sword that was rounded without an edge, and another who was lifting what I guess was a large rock without actually touching the rock. Maybe she was throwing it? I don't know. Strong girl I guess.

Then it hit me, stronger than ever. This time the feeling came with words. "look…"I spun in place expecting someone to have crept up on me. "look…"I heard it again, and continued looking everywhere I could. "Hello?" I called, and mentally punched myself. "That's right Grant. You might as well tell the serial killer Hey! Im over here! Come get me!"I thought. By the time I had pulled a full 360 I heard the voice again, and only now did I realize I was hearing it in my mind. "LOOK." The voice commanded, and I finally understood. There was the outline of a left hand on the top face of the pillar. With the unrelenting compulsion of someone who feels as if they've already lost their mind, I placed my hand on the pillar. Quiet. Everything, the wind in the trees the birds chirping and the ambient noise of the forest stopped. The only sound was the soft tick… tick…tick... of my watch as it counted out the seconds…tick…tick…tick…. Until finally even my watch stopped ticking, its small hands coming to a stop. "Alright scary watch-stopping pillar please don't kill me." I said in a quiet shaky voice that seemed much louder than it was because of the quiet.

Beep.

"what the-"

CRASH

Suddenly the stones around the pillar began to collapse, and in my panic state I did not notice the order. I tried to run but my hand was caught my some unseen force, stuck to the stone surface of the pillar. I looked around myself frantically as the earth around me sunk into the ground. The rumbling and sounds of grinding stone must have echoed for miles, but not a single bird flew from its perch. Not one leaf was moving in the wind. I closed my eyes and waited for the ground beneath me to fail. Only to experience one final deafening boom and all was still.

After my heart rate slowed to a healthy level I looked around. "Well that's a cliché." I said slightly laughing. The stones had descended in such a way as to provide a spiral staircase near the center of the courtyard, and closer to the edges a spiraling ramp.

"Go" I heard the voice again.

"Yessir" I respond with a wavering voice, and started down the stairs shaking my head. "What am I getting myself into?"