Darkness Until Dawn

The full strength of the storm had set itself against me and I had prevailed. In all honesty, it was not even a proper mountain, merely a glorified hill. And yet it had been my Everest. The shrieking wind was suddenly silent, the echoes in the distance faded away. Even the chill in my bones felt some relief… it wasn’t that the cold had gone, but a warmth had kindled within. You might argue that the exertion had warmed me, but I would argue it was hope. Blind hope, perhaps even reckless hope… but the thought of somehow finding a way out of here…. It warmed my bones like nothing else could.  Yet the hope that had kindled quickly sputtered back into mere embers. This hill that was meant to be my salvation (though I knew not HOW), was little more then a rise of earth crowned by strewn stones and a faded, fractured crystal rock near the center. It appeared as if there had once been walls and a central tower on this rise. The presence of the crystal mystified me, however.  Yet this ...

I have lost my way before, it's true. I have retreated into the distance, pulling back from the world in pursuit of shelter from the storm. But this... this perversion of existence I am now facing... I could not have imagined it. Before I had more questions then answers, and I yearned for those answers and the clarity I thought they would bring. But now... now there are no answers at all. Worse, I fear the answers so intensely that I no longer seek them. After so long of feeling lost, without purpose, without shelter... I feel like I have to redefine those words to incorporate this new reality.  It's been days here in this void, stumbling through the darkness. I know not what this place is or why I'm here. I have no map, nor compass or path to guide me. Even the stars are denied to me. The fog that surrounds me does not discriminate between earth and sky.  The air is cold and colder still... by now the chill echoes in my bones, as if the very air is trying to assault me. Wi...