Chapter 1 : ここはどこ?- Where Am I?

As he lay there, the wind continued to gust around him, It was a soothing sound, one that would have typically calmed somebody down, but now it only served to add to the confusion regarding the surrounding area. Trying to make sense of the surrounding sounds and aura, but unable to make any progress due to an unusual mental block. He couldn't remember his own name, how he got here, or even what "here" was. Thoughts felt jumbled and disconnected, like a set of mismatched puzzle pieces. The more an attempt was made on focus, the more overwhelming the situation became, and the harder it was to concentrate. For a moment, he considered the possibility that this was all a dream, but the sensation of the rough segmented ground and the slow foreboding chill of the air felt too real to be anything conjured up during a nap. Had there been an accident? Was this the result of some random act of violence? Asking needless question would be of little assistance, as wherever he was, it was devoid of any clues or information that could piece together what was going on.

It was a strange feeling, not knowing who or where he was. The feeling was disorienting, as if a fundamental aspect of his being had been erased, leaving him to pick up the scattered pieces of his own identity. The persistent gusts of wind only served as a reminder that time was moving forward, and yet, it wasn't evident that time was even a concern anymore.

His eyes remained closed, as if he could evade the nightmare that awaited him upon opening them. Knowing that doing so would provide some clarity about everything, but also aware of the fear that takes a strong hold, making it hard to muster the courage to do so. As a child, he used to have nightmares, and the only defence was to shut his eyes and hope it would all disappear. But this was different. He couldn't simply open his eyes and materialize in a familiar space. A feeling of uncanny displacement permeated the surroundings, even before any visual confirmation, indicating that this was not somewhere welcoming.

feeling the weight of the unknown further pressing down, much like the shadowy distant figures in the nightmares he attempted to escape. It was a feeling of helplessness and vulnerability, aware that it couldn't be avoided indefinitely. Despite the desire to confront these fears, sudden movements and action were out of the question. Brushing aside the feeling, focus was shifted to breathing as it was the only aspect that could be controlled in the darkest of situations. However, the more action was taken, the quicker his heart rate soared, leading to further feelings of confinement.

How long had this man been here, either conscious or unconscious? However long it seemed to them, it was too much for their own comfort, but simultaneously too little to actually take the next steps required. With the realization of the potential dangers of continued procrastination, he slowly began to open his eyes.

It was an awful feeling, akin to an exaggerated version of a typical morning stretch and first glimpse of the day, when the sunlight hits your eyes through a bedroom window and momentarily blinds you. The air was dry and stale, causing a sticky film to form around the edges of the eyelids, almost sealing them shut. Seeing this as an opportunity to move a limb or two, a hand was raised and attempted to rub away the layer of soot that had accumulated, feeling like it was at least a quarter of an inch thick.

After a few more moments of blinking, the individual's eyes managed to stay open long enough to send some information to their brain. Attempting to decipher even the colors that sat before them, the blackness of the closed eyelids began to be offset by a deep reddish orange color, first dull and lifeless, then rising to a crimson glow as their eyes adjusted to the light and took focus. The closest of what was seen would be sitting next to a roaring campfire, but without the accompanying crackle of the fire or the company of friends to work in contrast. Slowly but surely, things came into focus, and what presented itself in front of them was a seemingly endless deep red sky. Mouth agape, he found a profound admiration for the sight before him, notwithstanding the overwhelming sense of terror that it elicited.

Despite the obviously present dust waves in the air, he felt no need to safeguard his eyes from potential harm. Surprisingly, he could not feel the debris or grit on his face, or when placing a hand directly where large streams of them blew by. Gently leaning forward and pushing himself up to a seated position with his arms, It was as if underwater with goggles on, or wearing a high powered pair of binoculars, seeing something that _should not _be visible by the naked eye. He realized that the coal dust lingering in the air was not the foremost concern at that moment, which became increasingly evident as he turned his gaze to both sides.

Shifting his body to sit cross-legged, taking this time to feel the ground beneath him, or rather, its absence. The tightly packed grey bricks formed the flooring in a circle around him, with a general estimate of around 50 bricks in each direction. They could just barely fit an outstretched body when lying down. If he had been a few inches taller, one part or another of his body would surly have been hanging over the side.

The only sound in this place was a faint whisper of wind. He observed the dense grey clouds floating high above, and much like everything else, stretching endlessly towards the distance. Again leaning farther forward, he peered over the edge of the brick seating area to take a look below. As he cautiously looked down, making sure not to lose balance, he was terrified to see the reddish-orange skies that stretched into the far distance were also present beneath him. Although there were no clouds obstructing the view downward, the platform was so high up that the natural fog of the area made it impossible to see all the way to the bottom. What was worse, there wasn't even that much fog to speak of. A further testament to the extreme height this stone column took.

-----

The towering height of the pillar was unmistakable, and as he turned around with great caution, he saw greater extensions of the same unsettling sights. The only point of reference that came to mind were those free-climbers who scale the tallest buildings in the world during foggy days with no safety equipment. It was hard to imagine that someone had designed this as a twisted prank, but the idea that a small misstep while unconscious could turn this into a murder scene didn't install confidence.

So, what was the plan now? He had taken a look at all four sides of this pillar, and saw nothing that could at all be compared to a useful sights, or a sight at all for that matter. Feeling increasingly desperate for some kind of breakthrough, he decided to resort to a tactic he knew was likely to be futile, but it was the only one he could think of.

"Hello?" He said at a moderate volume. Giving it five seconds or so for somebody nearby to respond. Understandably, nobody ever did. Might as well take it up a notch.

"Hello!? Anybody here!" He shouted with similar success. After letting out a light sigh of defeat, he heard a quiet voice come from behind.

"You don't have to yell you know…"

As the voice spoke with a calm and serene tone, It contrasted poorly with the overwhelming feeling of shock that had taken hold of me. His body jolted while taking in sharp deep breaths in attempt to compose himself, he spun around to face the source of the sound. Despite trying his best to take a fighting stance towards the new company, he stood eye to eye with nobody. The emptiness of the space only seemed to amplify the unease that had been building up since first opening his eyes.

For a moment, frozen in place, a flurry of questions and doubts raced through the mind. Was this a trick played by their own mind or had they been here for so long that reality was slipping away? The thought was terrifying, and they made a conscious decision not to dwell on it as much as possible.

"I guess I really am going crazy" he whispered to himself under his breath.

"No, you're not going crazy"

Repeating the mistakes from earlier, spinning around under the assumption this unknown acrobat had somehow synchronized with his turning so I would miss them entirely. Despite his pathetic efforts at self defence with fists poised and ready to strike, no one was there. Feeling disappointed that he had taken a stance again his own mind one again.

"Who's there? Why don't you show yourself!" He exclaimed while holding stance and taking small exasperated breaths.

"Again sir, you don't need to yell, try looking down"

Upon comprehending what was conveyed to him, he lowered his fists and cast his gaze towards his feet. To his surprise, he beheld a diminutive creature standing there. It could not have exceeded a foot in height and bore no resemblance to anything he had encountered before. Its entire body resembled a capsule pill or antibiotic tablet with two minuscule legs and arms attached. The creature's body emitted a bright, nearly neon-orange glow with a glossy texture that was difficult to behold. If the sun shone upon it from a certain angle, it could potentially blind somebody.

The creature's eyes (or what he presumed to be its eyes) were comprised of two tiny, star-shaped black voids situated at the top of its body, which also served as its head. Its mouth consisted of a solitary white blob that seemed fitting given its resemblance to a puffy beard. Sensing his perplexity, the creature allowed him an extra moment to absorb all the information before addressing him. He knelt down to scrutinize the being more closely. Despite his usual self-restraint, he could not resist prodding the creature with his finger to determine its texture.

_Bloop.... Bloop Bloop..._

The texture was surprisingly soft, even more so than anticipated. It reminded him of poking my finger into a bowl of unset jelly, with the surface giving way and my finger sinking in effortlessly. I took advantage of the opportunity to explore this foreign substance, trying out different spots with various fingers, all of which yielded similar results.

_Bloop... Bloop..._

"Almost done their kid?" said the creature. Even with his otherworldly appearance, it seemed a tone of generic irritation was consistent across all beings, regardless of how soft or tiny they were.

"Oh, right right, s-sorry about that. Im… Kind of a little panicked here, I've never seen anything that looks like you before…" Tripping over his own words as he finished testing the creatures softness and lowered his hands.

"Fair enough, ready to get out of here?" He replied with a such a calm and somber tone that It seemed he didn't truly grasp how waking up in this kind of area can make somebody feel.

"Absolutely! Get me out of here, where the hell is this anyway?"

"You can ask question later" immediately pirouetting around with the tip of one of his stubby legs, he began taking steps towards the edge of the small column top I had been on since awaking. With each tiny step he inched closer to the edge.

"Hey! Slow down man you're gunna walk right off!" Seeing his walk, I knew that the next step or two would surely cause him to fall inevitably to his death, I stepped forward in an attempt to grab him while maintaining my own balance, but I wasn't fast enough. "Stop!" I shouted in a final desperate attempt.

As the creature lifted his foot off the edge, a sudden movement caught the mans attention. A rectangular object was hurtling towards him at a blinding speed, approaching almost 1000 miles per hour in his closest proximation. The object landed with perfect accuracy right where the creatures foot had been placed just moments, landing squarely in the middle. He couldn't believe his eyes as this strange phenomenon continued to happen not only repeatedly, but with seemingly increased accuracy and precision each time.

With every step the creature took, these steps seemingly came out of nowhere. The beams seemed to be made of a shiny, chrome-like material and propelled themselves forward with incredible speed, creating a staircase right before his eyes. It was as if some invisible force was guiding them to land in the perfect position. He watched what seemed to be this creature willing a staircase into existence from pure mental fortitude, After 10 steps or so he stopped, and turned his head back before speaking.

"Aren't you coming?" His raspy yet calm voice provided some well needed respite., but didn't fit the attitude of somebody bending the fabric of space.

"Am I coming? What the hell are you talking about?" I said with understandable frustration. "Where are those stair steps coming from? Those things rocket in from beyond the clouds like bullets and land right in-front of your feet! We don't have these things from where Im from, we have some stairs that move on their own but even those are quite a bit slower"

"You really do ask a lot of questions don't you". The creature lifted one of its short stubby arms and brought the tip of its stubby arm to its mouth, taking a deep inhale that lasted a good ten seconds. Small bubbles inside his jelly body began forming from his feet, and rising up before being disappearing upon reaching the tip of his arm. Finishing up and standing unwaveringly for a few more seconds, he then exhaled a cloud of thin smoke in the mans direction. As someone who has always disliked being around smokers, he instinctively waved his hands in an attempt to disperse the smoke, but it proved to be futile. The smoke seemed to linger, filling the air and obscuring his vision. He couldn't help but feel irritated by the creature's disregard for comfort of guests. He also noticed that the smoke seemed to be moving in an unusual direction towards him, contrary to the opposite direction of the blowing winds. It was as if the speed of the air had no effect on the smoke trails, and it raised questions regarding what could be causing such a phenomenon.

The man was pleased to see that unlike the traditional smoke he was all too familiar with, this cloud smelled more like a mix of pine trees with a hint of matchbook covers. It was actually fairly pleasing. As the cloud blew past, he took a deep breath of it, the smell was intoxicating. Anxiety and worry that had filled him since waking up began to wash away. The tension in many joints began to loosen and the fear surrounding this whole situation had all but disappeared. Having never been a drug user myself, he couldn't really liken the feeling to anything else, perhaps the feeling of the first weekend beer after a hard weeks work would be the closest thing. As the euphoria gently washed over his body, he had a sudden epiphany.

"Ah, I get it" The man said.

"Huh?" Asked the small creature as he lowered his arm and looked at the man with confusion.

"You knew I would be afraid and anxious, you knew how terrifying this place is…"

"What are you on about?" He asked.

"That's why you blew some of that smoke in my direction, you are a guardian of sorts, an angel even sent here to make me comfortable and guide me towards where I need to be" he said with one hand on my hip and the other near his chin triumphantly.

"Heh heh heh, Kid, I like your attitude, but you are way off"

"Huh?" I asked.

"The smoke was for me, I just knew I was going to need something a little stronger than usual when dealing with somebody like you" Again turning to continue up his continuously spawning staircase, getting a good laughed out of himself as he took a few more steps, and after four or five more, turned around to face me fully, as opposed to the over the shoulder tidbits prior.

"My names Sooté" said the creature.

"Good to know, my name is…" pausing for a period before realizing he wasn't entirely sure what his name is.

"Im guessing you aren't too sure of the answer to that" said Soote. "Don't worry about that for now. lets get going, we wouldn't want to be late. We've got some important shit to do"

----