Prologue
"The earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. On it, everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was lived out their lives. Thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every saint and sinner in the history of our species. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors, so that in glory and triumph they can be the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Our posturings, our imagined self importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light and underscores our responsibility to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot." – As quoted on "Pale Blue Dot" by Story of the Year.
"Where am I?"
The landscape seemed ominous enough, a mysterious light only allowing him to clearly see five feet, maybe six, in front or behind him. He didn't know exactly how long he had been walking down this path of rubble and devastation, but it seemed like an eternity. All around him, ancient buildings lay in pieces after what must have been millennia, yet they haven't eroded or weathered a bit. The hard marble ground was cold against his bare feet, yet the air had no temperature. In fact, it was like there was no atmosphere at all - all that lingered was a strange sensation, a tense feeling that hung like smoke in an unventilated room.
"Am I dreaming? I must be," the young man contemplated to himself, his voice echoing into oblivion. He closed his eyes and stretched out his arms before continuing with his self-conversation, "there is no possible way that this hallway could possib-"
After the loud thunk of head-on-column, the young man shook the cobwebs out and held his sore forehead in his left hand, his eyes still closed from the intense burst of pain that usually comes from face planting into a solid object.
"And of course there has to be a dead end right after I close my eyes. Just my luck."
He then proceeded to open his eyes, realizing the strange aura of darkness that had once surrounded him was no more. He looked up, standing in front of the most elaborate palace he had ever seen – given the fact that it, like the landscape he had just travelled through, was in shambles.
It had the atmosphere of both a fairy tale castle and a Muslim mosque, with its ancient Greek base architecture with a large golden dome for a roof and a crescent moon atop. Although the man could see it in its true glory in his imagination, the dome roof had many cracks and gaping holes in its structure and the moon was missing a huge piece on one end. A majority of the balconies no longer existed and out of the two or three that he could see were still intact had huge chunks out of them, as well.
The young man made his way inside the palace, kicking a piece of a rabbit statue out of his way. As he entered, his eyes trailed the dusty walls, taking in marks, scratches and burn scars, all of which made him a little bit hesitant to continue. What if the structure collapsed in on him or trapped him inside the ruins? He had to continue; something was pulling him further and further inside, a strange force he couldn't comprehend.
As he passed through the floor-level corridors, his mind began to wonder what had happened. Was it a war? A massive fire that raged out of control? A meteor strike, perhaps? Nothing seemed possible, not even the meteors due to the fact there were no impact craters that he had seen thus far. The only new things he saw were staircases crumbled to make access to the upper levels more difficult, if not impossible, as well as various tapestries and paintings charred beyond recognition. The dining rooms, guest rooms, worker's quarters, everything was destroyed or heavily damaged.
"Where are all the people?" the man asked himself as he began down what he guessed to be the main corridor, the walls thirty feet high and twenty feet apart. The marble walls were scuffed, scratched and dusty from eons of being undisturbed. Statues that once graced the hallway now laid in ruin or in pieces on the dust-covered floor. He could still make out the trace evidence of crescent moons pained along the corridor, though the paint was so old, it was nearly impossible to make them out the first few times he tried.
The man stopped in front of a massive door that ran nearly the entire height and width of the hall. Somehow, despite the carnage and devastation all around, the door remained only dusty and the decorations were mildly bleached by the sun peeking through the holes in the ceiling. He stepped forward, leaning his shoulder against the door and pushed with all of his might, slowly opening the titanic door with an eerie creak as he slipped inside, the door closing behind him a little faster, but with a sonic boom due to the sheer weight.
The mysterious explorer looked around the room in slight disappointment. Although it was very large, quite larger than the rest of the palace, all that remained was dust, crumbled stairs and a few remaining, yet ornate, handrails. In fact, the only real artifact that remained intact in the room was a tiara, gold with a red jewel in the center. He looked it over, buffing the jewel before setting it back down out of respect of the castle.
The man walked over to the ruined balcony, leaning against the doorframe by his shoulder just two inches from a one story drop-off into what appeared to be castle gardens. He looked out at the garden, which spread out as far as he could see, contemplating everything he had taken in. "I haven't seen any survivors, corpses, skeletons or even a tiny fragment of remains of some sort of life form. What in the name of the Goddess happened here?"
"Let me show you."
The feminine voice was as someone was right behind him, shaking the man from his thoughts as he spun around to see who was there. To his surprise, there was no one there. It was the most beautiful voice he had ever heard; haunting, yet soothing at the same time, hypnotizing if whoever spoke would whisper in his ear for too long.
Before the man could respond with a hello or "Who's there?", he began to feel lightheaded. All of a sudden, the room began to spin violently as if he were drunk. Trying to regain his equilibrium, he stumbled backward to support himself on the wall, but found himself at the edge of the decimated balcony. The world spinning like a tilt-a-whirl, he fought to maintain balance on fear of falling to his death.
Once more the voice spoke, "Let me show you."
This time, however, a face appeared before the man's eyes: a beautiful woman in her twenties with deep blue eyes containing the curiosity of a child. Her hair was silver and pulled up in pigtails that was fashioned into an orb at the top sides of her head, the tails flowing down. Between her eyes was a golden crescent moon, points facing up, glistening in nonexistent light.
The stone beneath his feet began to crumble as he gave one last utterance.
"My goddess…"
The edge of the floor gave out, making him lose his balance and fall backward. And yet, he did not scream, nor was he panicked. Instead, he was calm, peaceful; for some reason, he was completely relaxed. He could feel the presence of that woman all around him, as if she would not let him fall. The beautiful goddess he had just encountered, she would never lead him towards harm.
As he fell closer to the ground, he could see the world around him fade away into oblivion, followed by a bright flash.
When he regained his senses, he found himself in a grand garden – the same one he was about to meet his demise. But, something was different. It was no longer in ruins; it was a place of grandeur. Large, green bushes grew freely in a labyrinth, supporting roses of all colors and sizes. Fountains, benches, gazebos, reflection pools, large columns and staircases leading to other levels grouped with a clear blue sky and wondrous flowers blooming everywhere, it was quite the sight for the young man.
As if he had been teleported there, he soon found himself at the biggest gazebo, located at the center of the garden and hidden by rose bushes from the world. He gazed inside, finding two young lovers contently dozing in each others' arms. The man, quite taller than he, looked roughly in his mid-twenties and had coal black hair and blue armor. The female, on the other hand, was as the woman he saw in his mind, except with blonde hair and slightly younger. She wore a white dress very similar to an ancient Greek goddess.
The world around the young man then went black as he found himself in yet another place, but this was far different from where he had been. All around him was darkness; not from the absence of light, but from the negativity emanating from all around him. He stood upon a cliff overlooking what looked to be a gathering of demons before a hellish throne. Behind the throne was an outcropping in the shape of a skull, a menacing green light shining within.
Sitting on the throne was a pale-skinned tall woman with blood red hair that hung to the small of her back, wearing a dark indigo dress. Before her stood four men in similar colored uniforms, a legion's legion of demons and monsters behind them. All were bowing before this woman, whom had an evil within her the likes of which the young man had never felt before in his life.
With another flash, he found himself back at the gardens, but everything was not peaceful like before. Instead, everything was decimated, the gardens and insides burning. He began running through the garden to get to the center gazebo, dodging demons and strange blasts of light. He was in shock, in horror. He realized what had happened.
"So, this is what happened to the palace," he thought as he made his way down the fiery paths. "All the destruction, but for what?"
He soon found himself at the center of the garden once more, his heart dropping deeper than the deepest abyss. He found the two lovers surrounded female warriors all around in strange schoolgirl-like uniforms. All laying on the ground.
All dead.
He ran down and knelt down before the two lovers, tears burning his eyes and face like acid. No words could be said, no emotions but grief and anger could be felt, all for people he didn't know. He looked in front of him and locked eyes with another woman. She looked slightly older, but she felt very familiar.
"My goddess…"
He then felt another familiar presence, his grief being overshadowed by anger. He stood and saw the dark queen, cackling with maleficent glee at the carnage around her. The man clinched his fists and felt a light explode within him, a surge of energy as if lightning tore through his mind, body and soul simultaneously. His heart raced, every hair on his body stood on end from the soothing-yet-raging warmth, his vengeful mind cleared, and his rage turned to that of serenity.
The white-haired woman stood in front of him and caressed him on the cheek, leaning toward him.
"Everything will come to pass, Janus. You cannot escape your destiny…"
The young man violently sat up in bed, his blanket flying off of him to the floor, his eyes darting around the dark, moonlit room as he tried to catch his breath. His hands were still clinched tightly from before, the sensation of someone's touch upon his face still lingering. As he composed himself, he leaned forward, pulling his knees toward him and resting his head upon them. He closed his eyes, breathing deeply to calm himself.
"Was everything a dream?" he asked himself after minutes of silence. He opened his eyes as soon as he relaxed, sprawled out and leaned over the edge of his bed to retrieve his blanket. Pulling the blanket over his body, he laid his head down, his left arm cushioning his head instead of the pillow. He looked at the inside of his right wrist at the tattoo of an equilateral hourglass, one small line coming from the top and bottom sides. He sighed as he dropped his arm to his side, closing his eyes, and soon drifting off to sleep.
The digital alarm clock read 4:13. The hourglass tattoo glowed a faint gold. The eyes watching him outside his window swiftly darted away into the night.