Season of Fall, Day 41, 513 AV
Unknown Bell
Ding.
Ding.
Ding.
A bell was ringing, but Jorin couldn't tell from where. He was in a room. At least it looked like a room ... the walls were barren. Patterns swirled on them but he couldn't make out anything specific. He tried to concentrate but the more he did, the more the colors seemed to shift and turn and bend, as though they were alive. He gave up, moving, no floating toward the door.
Or was it a door? It looked more like an aperture. The swirling colors gave way to a blinding brightness that was almost overwhelming, and Jorin had to shield his eyes with his hands, except it didn't seem to work. The brightness was too great, and he ... was in the sky?
The clouds drifted by quietly, large balls of cotton that almost glowed in the warm sun. That infernal bell was still ringing. Ding. Ding. Ding. Jorin couldn't tell where it was coming from. It was coming from nowhere. It was coming from everywhere. He tried to move, but discovered that he seemed rooted to that particular area of space. The clouds floated past, almost mocking his lack of mobility.
Jorin took a deep breath. For some reason, he couldn't close his eyes, and the sun seemed to always be behind him no matter how he turned. What ... where was he? He couldn't see the ground. Maybe if he grabbed one of the clouds, he could hitch a ride? It was as good an idea as any, so he waited, and waited. Finally, one of the clouds drifted by close enough and he latched on, only to fall into the gray puffiness. His breath became more and more labored as he fell further and further into the grayness until he hit something solid with a thump.
Now what?! Jorin looked around. It didn't occur to him that, logically, this would now be inside a cloud. It seemed completely natural that he should now be inside what looked to be a large, abandoned building made from wood and brick. There was a long hallway that branched in the distance, the smooth walls having no doors. But the ceiling was open to the "sky", which only showed what looked to be a mirror image of the same hallway, in reverse, like a mirror. But ... something was off. It wasn't a mirror.
Jorin could see that the hallway above him did have doors. Many, many doors. And grinning down (up?) at him was his own reflection. Jorin just stared at his mirror image, whose enigmatic grin never left his face. The mirror Jorin gave a small sarcastic wave and disappeared into one of the many doors.
For some reason, Jorin knew he had to follow. He marched down the hall, until he reached the branch, where the hall split two ways. No three. No ... it was impossible to tell. He tried to focus, but the divisions seemed to morph and split and combine until he couldn't tell if there were two branches or twenty. Jorin decided to just go forward, so forward he went. The hallway shifted endlessly, before settling down, and he could see the mirror hallway above. Except now, he was in the long hall with many doors. Which door did the mirror Jorin enter?
He couldn't remember. So he picked one. It wouldn't open. Jorin struggled, and strained, and finally the door burst open, the darkness within almost consuming him. The room, there was a room behind this door. For some reason, Jorin knew that, and yet when he'd opened it, he found nothing but an inky void. He could feel a cold chill run down his spine as he slammed the door shut. He leaned against the wall and slid down to his knees.
That empty void terrified him, and he looked at the other doors with trepidation. He did not dare try them. Somewhere inside, for whatever reason, Jorin knew that time was running out but he was scared. Paralyzed. He didn't know what to do.