I'm not ready to die. I haven't even experienced light. All I know is darkness. Why is it that I am down in the dark? I want to be free. I want to experience the sun. The wind and rain and clouds. Things I know to exist but cannot remember.
I want to live.
Panting through clenched teeth, I slam my hand into the unrelenting rock. This can't be it. Living in the dark, breathing in the dark, and dying in it? I was so close to freedom. Or, at the very least, a fighting chance for freedom.
Through the white-hot agony lancing through my lower half, I manage to bring my hand down on the slab. I berrade it with my fists, then my palms. Nothing. Not even that mysterious spark that freed me the last time.
How do I get out?
Above me, echoing out of the darkness, comes a large groaning, like some massive beast in pain. With the sound comes movement. The rock in top of me shifts more, digging deeper into flesh.
I scream again, this time more in defiance and terror than pain. The agony is already massive. A little more seems like nothing.
Slamming my hand into the rock, over and over again, I thrash. I must get out. I need to get out. If the rock slips a little further it is going to break my pelvis. Any further than that and it'll break my spine. Then, I will die.
That will be the end.
This will not be my end.
The onslaught on the rock stops for a moment as I realize I am getting nowhere. I must think of something different… some other angle. My strength alone is not enough to move the slab. Tightening my abs, I reach down and behind me. There is the wood, but is there anything else? A few moments of searching reveal nothing. Alright, below me won't work. What about above?
Sitting up as best I can, I reach above me, stretching against the hold the rock has on me, attempting to reach something, anything that might help. I cannot reach far, but my fingers come in contact with something cold. Colder than both the wood and stone.
Immediately, I recognise the substance to be metal, but what type I have no idea. By the feel of it, the metal is corrugated and round, like a rod. Maybe I can use it to drag myself out? My fingers close around the rod, my other hand reaching for it.
Crunch.
The sound seems far away. It did not come from my body, but rather a long ways above me.
Crack.
Light slams through the space. Closing my eyes against the brightness, I cling to the rod, not quite comprehending what is going on. Obviously, there is something above me. But what is it? Some sort of monster? A beast? Another human maybe?
Clang, clang, clack!
I wince, curling myself closer to the slab above me as the distinct sound of a large rock falling from above me echoes throughout the cavern. The rock narrowly misses my body, moving the air right beside me as it passes.
Finally, I get my other hand on the rod. With my hold secure, I bend my strength to pulling, attempting to slide my hips free from their trap.
Above me, more noise and more movement. Is something trying to break in? Is something digging for me? Either way, I need to get out.
For a moment, my muscles lock, straining, agony ripping through skin, flesh, and bone. Pain unlike anything I've ever felt. Of course, I don't have the best data base on pain, but the agony I experience now is world ending.
Another sound comes to me, through this white fog of agony. Another scream, this one definitely in pain. If it came from me or another being, I am unable to discern. But then, finally, my hips come free from the trap. I can feel the uneven surface rip open my skin, but I am free.
I am free.
Finally.
Breath coming in gasps, residual pain spiking up my back and down my legs, I shakily remove my legs. Immediately my feet touch the surface underneath me that I know to be wood. Letting go of the rod, I drop myself down completely, relaxing my hurting body.
"What was that?"
I flinch at the voice, shouted down from above me. It sounded human at the very least. The rumbling, that has not stopped since it started, seems to calm down a little. Then a second voice joins the conversation.
"What was what?"
Both voices are male.
"I thought I heard something. It sounded like a scream," the first voice states. "Could there be someone below all this rubble?"
There is a moment of silence, then, "It's very unlikely. The Pax building was torn down years ago. If anyone was trapped under there, they'd be dead."
I grunt softly, coiling myself up a little. I should be dead, correct? How am I alive?
"Well, you're not wrong," the first voice continues. "But what if some stupid teenager crawled down there?"
There is a pause, then: "Fine. I'll send Reeyina down to see if she can find anything."
Reeyina? That is not a very human name.
Daring to brave the light, I crack my eyes open. At first, it is so bright I cannot see anything, and blink furiously to clear the reflexive tears. It takes a good moment, but eventually my eyes adjust. Light is… unlike anything else. Pure, warm… amazing. I don't ever want to go back to the dark. All around me, the light catches on dust. Dust that I no doubt stirred up. The wood beneath me is rotten, the slab I crawled out from underneath sporting my blood. Out of the slab, where I grabbed onto it, a little red colored rod sprouts. It is joined by many others. Whatever this stone is, it is not anything my subconscious recognises.
Turning my gaze up, I watch as the light flickers. Something is moving up there. The owner of one of the voices, no doubt. At least, I hope. This hole is deep, long pieces of metal clawing their way through it at multiple points. Perhaps the voices will help me get out?
Yellow light explodes to my right.
Instinct takes over and I spin, adrenaline immediately kicking through my system. Before I can do much else, however, a weight slams into my side and I find myself pinned beneath a glowing female being.
Immediately, I recognise this being for what it is. A spirit. An ethereal being, one that cannot interact with our physical plane unless they activate power to allow themselves to. This spirit was phasing through the rock, looking for anything alive. Like me. So why did it collide with me and not go through me?
And how in the world do I know this about the spirit?
For a moment, both the spirit and I stare at each other in shock. This spirit is dressed in what seems to be half a shirt and short trousers. Both pieces of cloth are golden and radiating the same yellow light as the spirit's own skin. Her hair is white, as are her irises.
Eventually, I move, baring my teeth at her in a semi-threatening manner.
The effect is instant, and the spirit immediately snaps out of her shock and shoots straight up off of me. She leaves golden sparks of light in the air, which my eyes are immediately drawn to. A slight tinkling, like that of small bells, sounds whenever she moves.
"Who are you?" she asks immediately, her voice light and lilting with an accent I don't recognize. "What are you?"
So it appears she doesn't know why she couldn't go through me either. She also does not seem to know who I am.
Swallowing, I reply, "I do not know."
"You don't know? How do you not know who you are? How did you get down here? Why are you down here?" the spirit asks, rapid-fire. She is obviously as confused as I am.
Sitting up a little, wincing against the pain in my hips, I reply, "I woke up not long ago with no memory of who or what I am. So I do not know."
Her white brows furrow as I move, her eyes traveling quickly over my body. "You are injured. Let me send for help. I will be right back."
With that, she spirals up out of the hole and into the light. Confused, I watch where she disappeared. I expected more questions, not simple acceptance.
I lay back down, sighing softly. Whatever. The mystery of who, and now what, I am can wait. The spirit is going for help. They're going to get me out of here.
Then I will truly be free.
Letting out another soft huff of air, my mind gives out, and throws me into the simple black of unconsciousness.