The Stairs

A pair of eyes opened on a world. Uncertain. Frightful. Confused…

"Where am I?" They seemed to say, pleading to the dimly lit stone all around. Cold seeped in a moment later, a feeling that crept through the hands and feet of the figure.

"Brr.. it's too cold.." the young man began to say before quickly falling silent. The sound of his voice bounced off down the narrow hall into the distance.

The shivering chill of the air and stone was replaced by a burning question in his mind: "where am I?".

Searching through his memories the young man could find nothing. Nothing before this dark hall and the brisk air. Nothing at all… "who.. am I?" Became the next question he had. Somehow this question seemed to be the most important of all.

Standing still in the dark however; naked and chilled to the bone, was answering none of his questions. He took a step. One. two.. three… a steady rhythmic pace on the smooth stone below. Some unknown amount of time passed.. minutes maybe.. hours.. perhaps an eternity.. before the dim hall opened into a large hall.

The young man's eyes immediately fell to the center of the room. Two eyes met his own then, as he stared at an old man sitting atop a large pile of fur in the middle of the stone room. He didn't seem to care about the young man and made no effort to move or speak..

The young man cautiously stepped forward into the room. The warmth of a large fire in a hearth, just off-center of the chamber, was the only source of light.

"Hi… umm… what is this place?" The young man asked. The old man, clad in fur and leather, simply followed him with his hawk like gaze. He sat upon the pile of pelts as if it were his throne. The old man made no reply to his question.

The young man awkwardly looked around some more. Aside from the man, the furs, and the fire there wasn't much else. Some tools and what looked like a large hammer against a far wall broke the monotony against the otherwise barren stone wall.

Four large pillars jutted from the ground like ancient trunks of a long forgotten tree. They were each intricately carved with sketches of beasts and blade alike, yet faded and cracked so that you couldn't really tell what they were depicting exactly.

The young man began to walk around the room. Only then did he realize there was something else.. something behind the hulking figure of the old man.. Looking past, he noticed a dark hole in the wall. There, at the bottom of that void, stone steps began…

"Where does that go? Is it the way out?" He asked out loud. The old man slowly turned and looked at the entrance behind him before turning back.

"Climb" he said, a thunderous , ancient in it's tone, yet carrying such power it shook the young man.

"Umm.. okay.." he said, taking a wide birth around the old man. He approached the stairs, looking up into the darkness ahead. It was clear the climb would be a long one, the steps so far away they faded into the void..

He took one last glance at the strange figure atop his furs and the warm fire before turning and taking the first step..