Daily Flash Fiction Challenge

Word count: 299

“Most people know of the great civilizations like Ancient Egypt or Mycenaean Greece, thriving in the Bronze age until their sudden mutual collapse. Most of the writing we have from Mycenaean Greece is actually written in the Greek Dark Ages a few hundred years after the collapse.” Lydia quickly scanned the words looking for a clue of what comes next.
Months she had studied every book she could find on the mysterious civilizations. It started out as a research project for class, but she became obsessed with finding the answer to their demise. And as she scrambled for the right words the question turned into a pounding in her head. She closed her eyes for a moment but as she opened them the world turned black again.
A moment later waves of colors smashed down on her. Before she could get a grip on reality her lunch made its way up and onto the dirt. Dirt, she was standing on a field of sand. Not a field, a whole desert of it. She blinked and crashed into the cold stone of a temple pillar. A riot formed beneath her as the people stormed the palace. The earth shook from more than just their thundering steps. Another blink and the rumbling grew stronger. More people fighting for wealth and power. She closed her eyes against the flash of bronze and almost fell as she balanced on the edge of an active volcano. A hot wind blew her back and she appeared in front of 1900-foot wave. She ran and cut her foot an a sharp rock, but landed in the snow. The impossible cold bit into her skin and she realized she lay atop The frozen White House. Then she finally woke up, covered in wounds screaming: “It’s happening again!”