Chapter 1, Happenings

There were thin, sharp strands of grass or something that could be described as grass slicing through my skin as I ran. Silently, I raced through the field, hearing nothing but the frantic rushing of movement beneath me. My breath escaped my lungs in short whimpers and I felt the blood pounding roughly through my body. I was charging as fast as I could carry my seemingly heavy limbs, but somehow I felt as though I had frozen in terror. If there had been another present to witness the scene, I would have felt embarassed by my urgency. This wasn't a factor, however, for I was very much alone.

Up ahead, I noticed that the flatness of the vast space was broken down by grey stones that looked as though they had grown as life from the cracked earth. As I drew closer, I regarded the shape and symmetry to form a deserted graveyard. No place of worship was to be seen, no church, no cathedral. Graves of the dead lined neatly side by side, their names not clear but their purpose obvious... I panted, with tears from the wind cooling my cheeks, too afraid to glance behind. The deceased lay underground with no company but the sparce life in the soil. Absence of any God was resounding through the dim and morbid darkness. Nothing but stones greeted me as I slowed and took the opportunity to watch my back, in a literal sense more than a simple metaphor... and although it was dark, the hazy yellow moon bled through the thick of blackness and presented a clear yet daunting space behind me.

I remembered the name, and instantly saw the place where I needed to be. A chill ran over my back as the reality punched a hole in my hope, a final blow to remind me that all of this was real. All of this was happening to me, not in a book, or all of the early research written on papers... Dropping to my knees, I smoothed my shaking fingertips over the icy marble and slowly held the stone as i lifted it from the earth. The deep crumbling growl of the force was a surprise after the hours of silence and my heart continued to pound like a drum through every limb of my body. Pushing the stone sideways onto the grass, I peered downwards into the sheer blackness that was hidden deep beneath my feet.