Awakening

by Hayden Pearton

  *

  Several minutes later, with the sun heading towards the horizon, they packed up and left. The silence that accompanied them as they walked, as opposed to the peaceful atmosphere from earlier, was filled with unspoken anxieties and fears manifesting and dissipating. The valley, which had only that morning been a place of life and light, had become dark and cold.

  The high mountain peaks, capped with their shimmering veils of snow, had been exaggerated in size by the dying light, causing them to appear as fearful giants to the weary travellers. The emerald grass beneath them suffered a similar transformation, as the green faded into brown, and then finally black, as the dusk-light began to fade. The sun itself seemed to be darker, as if it's fear had caused it to try and escape to the other side of the planet as soon as possible.

  After almost an hour of travelling through the semi-gloom, the group: an out-of-place boy, a mysterious girl, a dying hermit, and a broken re-mech; finally made it to the hill.

  Up close, it became even more obvious that it was man-made. Like the bunker they had stayed in during the storm, it looked... wrong. It was as if someone had set out to recreate a hill, and in doing so, had forgotten the most important part: imperfections. Every hill and mountain on the planet was created by nature, arising from hundreds of factors that included seismic activity, rock porosity, and even air temperature. So naturally, for a human, or machine to create a hill, they would obviously try and create a perfect hill, without any of the imperfections or unique factors that are created over the millennia. All in all, it was out of place.

  “Now what?” asked Alza.

  “I guess we should start searching for an entrance,” replied Kingston, with equal brevity.

  Following his suggestion, they split up and began looking for anything that might suggest a hidden entrance. Barsch and Kingston both circled around clockwise, while Alza and Maloch headed counter-clockwise. The hill was roughly twenty feet in height, and fifty feet in diameter, so it was not long before the two groups encountered one another. Having not found anything at the perimeter, they decided to climb to the top of the hill. The hill had a gentle incline, meaning that the short walk up was accomplished without any difficulty. At the top, they found two things: a small grate from which the smoke had bellowed, and a rectangular piece of glass set into the ground.

  Upon closer inspection, the piece of glass was revealed to be a digital screen, complete with a miniature video camera and a few touch-activated buttons thrown in for good measure. It was a remarkably advanced piece of technology, given its surroundings, and it had obviously been built to withstand almost anything nature could throw at it.

  Acting on a hunch, or perhaps a repressed memory, Alza leant down and whispered, “Activate.” Immediately, the screen came to life with a flurry of code. The seemingly random strings of numbers and letters were eventually replaced by a simple interface: a white background with a black outline of a hand. Once more acting on instinct, Alza placed her palm on the screen, it's shape matching perfectly with the outline. If there had been any doubt before...

  “ALZA00971 Hand-print confirmed. Please enter voice sample for verification.”

  “Voice sample?” Alza asked.

  “Sample matches archived voice print. Identity verified. Activating entrance hatch, please stand clear.”

  As soon as the voice stopped, it was replaced by a loud mechanical whirr. From the seamless, grass-covered ground, three lines appeared. The lines grew wider as it became apparent that they were connected in the figure of [_]. The lines, with another mechanical sound, revealed themselves to be the three sides of a metal trapdoor, which swung upwards, towards the bewildered group. The trapdoor opened to reveal a tall chute, studded with climbable rails. A small, violet light at the bottom was the only indication of how far they would fall if something went wrong.

  Together, they stared at the dark pit, somehow knowing that this was the end of their journey. As if mirroring their mood, the sun's light had almost completely faded. All that was left of the sun was a tiny sliver of light, which bathed the cloudy sky with shades of pink and purple. For Barsch, the disappearing light left only one question in his mind, “Will we ever see that sun rise again?”

  “Well... I just want to say something...”

  Barsch was looking at the foreboding hole with a mixture of fear and anticipation. “No matter what happens down there, I am truly grateful that I was able to meet you... all of you. I don't know if it was random chance, luck, or even divine intervention, but I'm glad that I awoke when I did. I'm glad I was able to travel with you, and get to know you. That's all...”

  Kingston nodded, his feelings, even if they were not as strong, were identical to Barsch's. Maloch followed his lead, his feelings of gratitude did not need to be stated in order to be understood. Even Alza, who had said from the beginning that she had stayed with the group out of necessity, nodded.

  “Thank you m'boy, I too feel blessed to have been able to meet you. And even though our journey has not been easy, or fun, it has been an experience that I will never forget. I have seen and done things that I would never have thought possible. Escaping exploding cities, crossing barren deserts, fighting beasts, and even meeting the Avatars, all of that would not have been possible without you.”

  Alza, having apparently grown tired of the exchange of sentiments, decided to enter the dimly-lit hole. “Ladies first,” she said, as she placed her foot on the top-most rung. Noticing that no one else was getting ready to enter, she added, with a drawn-out sigh, “Yes, your company was not always annoying or useless. None of you proved to be too much of a hindrance during our time together. So can we go? I want to hurry up and find out who I was, so that I can be done with all of this.”

  With that, Alza began her descent, with Barsch following her, a big smile on his face. Even now, after travelling together for so long, her inability to say what she really meant amazed him. Maloch went next, his eyes proving to be a valuable source of light in the dim environment.

  Kingston, however, did not follow. Instead, he turned towards the disappearing sun, watching as the very last rays of light left the world. He then turned to the east, where a more welcome sight was gradually rising. The moon, now full and bright, gave new light to the bleak landscape. Speaking aloud, with no one but the silent moon as a witness, Kingston said, “I will protect him, no matter what.” His declaration over, he too entered the dark pit.

  After Kingston passed from sight, the trapdoor silently swung down, sealing them in with an almost inaudible hiss. To the world at large, they were gone, but not forgotten. Less than fifty feet away, a cloaked man and woman -although such terms are only superficial, when one can change one's gender, age and appearance at will- waited patiently, hoping for their champion's safe return...