A void... Deep and dark... I opened my eyes to look about, but saw nothingness, true nothingness. There was seemingly no light for me to perceive, and no absence of it to not perceive either. I searched instead for myself, looking down I still saw nothing. I moved my arm to touch my chest, but felt nothing. Not even the motion of my arm or the twinge of a finger.
Panic rose up from my heart as I wondered what was happening, was I dead? Was this what awaited someone who had been so faithless as I? Horrid nothingness? I fought, kicking and thrashing about in search of some sensation, anything.
Minutes seemed to meld into hours seemed to meld into days, into months then years. Time had lost all meaning in this void. My mind had begun to go numb from the lack of sensation, from the lack of anything. I tried to close them, to perhaps sleep, I felt so tired.
*****
A light. A small red light in the distance. How I knew of its existence, I'll never know, but I snapped my eyes open to see it there. I swam, if you can even call it that. Floating my nothingness of a body ever closer to it. Several times I wondered if I was actually moving with all this effort, but gradually the light got larger... Closer.
Finally I could make out an object. It was.... The light was a door! A single wooden door with ornate yellow stonework around it. It seemed familiar, but I had no idea why, nor did I care. I continued my desperate descent to the light and finally landed on its rough yellow stoned steps.
I could see my body now, and feet. With a bright smile I hugged myself, happy to have my limbs back, or at the very least the knowledge that they still existed.
"-ond.."I heard a voice call out to me. What is going on? I thought to myself. Inquiries long since discarded that were now resurfacing. Where am I, and how did I get here? What was I doing before this? All excellent questions, I thought to myself. Perhaps the other side of the door will tell me?
Turning to search the door, I could not shake the feeling that I had seen it somewhere before, though I could not pick out why. Rounded on the top, it had several metal hinges on the left side and a single black looped handle on the right. I gripped it and pulled, but it would not budge. Stumped, I pulled again. Then again, then ten more...
"What the hell?!" I yelled out in frustration as I shook at the handle.
Still getting nowhere, I finally gave up, turning instead to search my surroundings for another light. Perhaps there were other doors I could seek? Perhaps the exit was not within this door.
Finding no other obvious lights, I sat down on the steps under me with a dejected sigh. I was too afraid of the sensation of nothingness to try venturing out there into the void again.... at least not yet.
"-esmond!" The strange voice called out louder this time, perking my ears as I jumped to my feet.
"Hello? who's there?" I spun in a three hundred and sixty degree circle, searching for the disembodied voice.
"Desmond!" It finally sounded clear and like waking from a bad dream, everything came crashing back to me. Theseus had been taken; I had gone to scout for clues, Agreus, we had fought, I had... Died?
No. that could not be right. This could not be death. This had to be within my soul, within Arce Elymas Magus. The stonework was the same around this door, so it had to be one within it.
Upon understanding the revelation, the castle seemingly materialized around me. Yellow stonework cascading all around me, each stone brick rolling and setting into place like a puzzle being solved at superspeed, forming a long endless hall behind me.
"Ah ha! I knew it!" I shouted with a smug grin on my face. But why was the castle hidden in the first place. Why did my realizing where I was make it appear? I searched my new surroundings to find anything in particular that would clue me in as to my surroundings. I had searched every square inch of the castle previously, and nowhere was there a hallway this long, nor this endless. After fifteen minutes of endless walking, I turned and trekked back to the door, which stood waiting for me, silent and foreboding. It was then that I recognized the simplicity of it. This had to be the door to the Wizard tower!
*****
"Alright, so obviously now is the time. Now is the moment to enter this door and get the power I need in order to survive this encounter and save Theseus." I stepped forward to grab the handle, confident that this time, this time it would work. I pulled lightly, expecting it to open, only to find it annoyingly shut tight.
"Desmond!" The ethereal voice called out once more, and I grit my teeth in frustration.
"I know! I'm trying!" I yelled back.
Stepping back from the door I considered what I knew. First and foremost, the door would not open. Second the Moirai had said that I needed whatever was is in there in order to save Theseus and survive. Third, their message indicated that I needed the powers that only stars knew.
"Desmond!" The voice called out again, desperation seeping through its voice.
"I know! Can you just let me think!" I shouted back once more. I took a deep breath, collecting my thoughts.
"A power that only stars know... Think Desmond. What do I know about stars?" I continued speaking aloud, trying to work through the problem one step at a time.
"Stars are the center of a universe, their gravitational energy pulling everything into a circular pattern around them." I started, doing my best to remember fifth grade astrology class. "Is the answer gravity? Is that the power that only stars know? But everything knows gravity... Stars know heat and radiation too, they are super heated.... Is the answer heat or gravity?" I considered thoughtfully, glancing back at the door, wishing for a 'ding, ding, ding you got it. Come on down!' But it never came.
"Okay... Not heat and gravity. Think Desmond. What causes stars emit such large gravitation fields... It's got to be mass right? The more dense something is, the more mass it has, and thus the heavier it pulls on objects around it..." I peered back at the door for confirmation, but received none.
"Gah! Can't you see that I'm trying here? Give me a break!" I shouted back at the wooden door before burying my head in my hands... When suddenly a thought occurred to me.
"What if the answer is not an answer. But a change. What if I can't open the door, because I'm not a Wizard. Wizards can do magic, and I have not... Not yet." I sucked in a deep breath and peered down at my hands.
There was no time like the present... Right?