Golden Dawn

|Chapter 17 ~ Angelus Duncan|

I slowly opened my eyes. For a moment, I was very disorientated. My head felt heavy and I kept seeing through hazy eyelids as I tried to take in my surroundings. I attempted to move my arms and noticed my wrists had been chained by hard cuffs. The cold material felt a lot like metal and dug painfully deep into my skin. I winced as I tried to move them, realizing they were not budging in the slightest.

I instead tried to focus my attention on the lower half of my body. I suddenly grasped why I felt so disoriented and my shock was nerve-wracking. I hung from the ceiling in a vertical position, chains and shackles bound around my joints, the only things keeping me steadied mid-air. My arms were tired and I felt drained.

A horrible realization started to dawn on me. I had no idea where I was nor how I got there.

It felt like days ago since I last ate. My mouth tasted dry and dusty, like sand. I wore the same Alium clothing I tried on a couple of weeks ago, the shirt and pants dirty and shredded in some places. I focused my attention on something other than my uncomfortableness and inspected the room I was held captive in. It was built in a circular structure made out of grey stone walls. There were no doors nor windows except for a lone trapdoor high above me.

I suddenly felt incredibly lonely. I wondered where Gandila was and if she was safe. I would never forgive myself if something were to happen to Albert's partner and now - my closest friend. The kind faces of my new companions back in the underground city suddenly entered my head. I didn't realize I was crying until sobs echoed out across the empty walls.

For a while I only cried, letting my emotions take the better of me. At some point I fell asleep and awoke to the sound of voices high above me. I was instantly awake, my calve burning like fire as I twisted my body upwards .

They sounded close, but muffled as if the voices were obstructed by something - like a wall. I shook my chains in the hope that the metal was perhaps not fastened tightly enough, but sighed in defeat after several tries. I scanned the space around me as far as my confinement allowed. The stone walls had no exits or cracks. I was completely trapped and that worried me.

For how long was I already encaged? Days? Weeks?

My sense of time seemed to have faded away with the last remains of hope I previously mustered. I was left with nothing. Nothing that could give me an indication of what exactly happened to me.

Suddenly the sound of locks clicked into place and the sound shattered through my prison. The trapdoor above my head lifted. Sharp light shone down on my head and I immediately closed my eyes to protect them from the piercing brightness. I yelped as I suddenly felt myself lifting upwards - even though my hands and legs were still cuffed.

In the next moment, I was out of my horrible confinement and in a completely different room. My surroundings however stunned me so badly, I couldn't even manage to feel any sense of gratitude.

Room  was not the correct term to describe the area I was in.

A black void of brilliant stars blinked down in their millions down on me from a ceiling so tall I thought it would never see its end. Huge statues of male and female Lepshares - I presumed - lined the far walls of the magnificent hall, every warrior armed with a weapon - each the size of a house. Creamy pillars built out of marble and each, as tall as mountains held up the night sky of dazzling stars. Dark purple curtains that reminded me of lilac silk, connected each pillar and swung lightly in the comfortable cool breeze that swept through the space. I loved the cold and enjoyed the feeling of it on my dirty skin.

My eyes rested on the sides of the hall. Everything around me was so radiant and imperial I wasn't able to comprehend the sheer beauty of it all. Pane-less windows lined the sides of the hall and were open to a snowy landscape with enormous mountains in the distance, forming a giant border to the icy tundra. Magnificent blue, yellow and green lights painted the frosty sky, making the sight even more surreal than it already was. Snowflakes danced outside the windows but never entered the hall, almost as if there was an invisible barrier draped around the entire space. Able to protect everyone inside from the very climate. The greatness of the sight left me absolutely speechless.