The Citizen, as Sultan had decided to call his mysterious helper, was unusually silent during the time he spent pondering his conundrum.
Even after Sultan sent his apology, they took longer than usual to respond. He even began to suspect they might have finally started taking the situation seriously and were typing a thoughtful, beneficial reply.
"Good boy." The response arrived shortly after, accompanied by a patting-hand emoji.
Sultan let out a heavy sigh in surrender. "I should wish for the sun to rise in the west instead."
"So, why aren't you moving?" the Citizen asked, finishing with a wondering-face emoji.
"Just gathering my energy. I'll be up in a few minutes," Sultan replied.
Sultan's condition has significantly improved during his rollercoaster-like chat with The Citizen. His fatigue had dwindled to a mere shadow of what it was when he first regained consciousness.
His body was almost functionable and he can even manage to run if need be. He was starting to feel like his usual self again, a usual self that is exhausted after a grueling and arduous day of work, famished, naked in a freezing room, and burdened by psychological trauma. Yes, his very normal self, back to the old familiar days, except this time, he had no idea why he was enduring any of it.
Sultan just needed a little time to steel his nerves.
He didn't expect the journey to be short—if the projection on the empty map was any indication. Nor did he anticipate it to be easy or pleasant; if anything, it was likely to be outright dangerous. These brief moments of reprieve and peace might be the last he would have for a long time.
That was why he was reluctant to end them, trying to prolong them for as long as possible. Or at least, that's what he would have done if not for an annoyingly relentless person hurling stone-like messages at him.
"Come on, Sultan. You ought to get moving." [Emoji of a frantic, waving hand]
"Aren't you excited to explore this new, unknown place? Because, like hell, I am." [Anticipating-face emoji]
"Let's gooooo for adventure!"
"One that's full of wild and epic experiences..."
"And one that might end with the most gruesome, hideous, and painful of deaths for you." [Wide-eyed-face emoji]
"Ooh, that would be so fun to watch. I'm going to bring some popcorn, you prepare yourself in the meantime."
Sultan palm-faced upon reading those last two. "That psycho." He cursed as he rose to his feet, leaning on the wall for support.
After all this talk about assistance, guidance, and saving his sorry-butt, the psycho was going to make a show out of his suffering. Sometimes, Sultan wondered whether these unpleasant cracks were just that, or if they will end up to held more truth than he would ever feel comfortable confronting.
'doesn't matter for now,' he thought with a shake of his head, trying to rid himself of such unnecessary thoughts, and wincing at the sharp protest of his sore neck and shoulder muscles.
the backlash, However, didn't hold him back, and soon enough, Sultan was sauntering on his legs, hogging the wall as he explored the confines of his present space.
It wasn't easy, though.
Every step felt like a knife, each movement a stab that pierced every inch of his body. each touch was delivered with direct surges of phantom pain , as though his bones were exposed to the elements, without any flesh, skin, or fat to encase them.
His skin was like hardened mud, cracking and fractioning with each fold and shift. His blood, icy and slow-moving, leaving numbness in his limps as it sluggishly traveled from one part to another.
Blessedly, this agonizing existence didn't last long. Shortly after, his body began to adapt to the new environment; although he had to take a few laps around the place for it to be so.
This, in turn, proved beneficial, as it allowed him to form a mental map of the area.
Sultan found himself in a chamber-like room.
Its shape, however, was difficult to discern. It wasn't a clear square with sharp, tidy corners, nor was it a sloping circle with an obvious center.
The walls seemed to fold into themselves, with certain sections bulging or curving inward, as if the entire space had been carved directly out of a rock or a mountain.
"Maybe I'm in a cave," he thought at first.
But this assumption was quickly disproven when he couldn't find any clear exit.
Instead, his hands came upon a hole in the middle of the wall.
Yet, it was clearly not a natural formation. It was too deliberate, too purposeful to be just a landmark. The opening was sharp and well-defined, centered precisely in the middle.
And This befuddled Sultan, for he couldn't understand the reason of such a hole.
It wasn't large enough to be a door, nor high enough to be a window. Worse than that, it wouldn't be enough for Sultan to exit walking; he would have to crawl on his hands and knees to fit through the narrow opening.
Well, that would be a problem for a few minutes later, because he wasn't keen on leavingjust yet. He still wanted to explore the chamber some more.
So, Sultan stepped away from the support of the sturdy, mighty walls and resumed walking on his not-so-mighty legs, beginning to carefully examine the ground with his feet.
The place wasn't very spacious, requiring only a few steps to cross from one side to the other. meanwhile, The Citizen picked up the chatter again.
"You still there?" >{} an impatient face emoji.
"Why haven't you moved out?"
"And why are you walking like a drunken duck?" {a laughing, pointing emoji}
That remark hit closer to the truth than Sultan would like to admit.
He was clumsily shuffling his feet left and right, trying in vain to find anything that might be of help to his endeavor, since The place was far too dark to rely on sight for searching.
There wasn't the slightest hint of sunlight; its absence adding yet another piece to the increasingly unsolvable puzzle of Sultan's location.
"Perhaps I'm underground," the thought began to form, but then he halted abruptly, another disturbing question popping into his mind.
"Can you see me?" Sultan asked the Citizen, against his better judgment.
"See you? Preposterous!" {shocked-face emoji}
"Sultan, my dear, you can't even see your own toes if you stare at your feet. How could you possibly expect me to see you?" {an exasperated-face emoji}
"Then how did you know my way of walking?" he questioned as he resumed his shuffling and scuffling across the ground.
"Ah, because our hearts are intertwined! You see, My love for you is so strong, I can feel you from far away." Came the nonsensical reply, ending with a heart-eyed--face emoji.
Sultan, however, paid it no attention, because his haphazard shuffling had finally borne fruit.
His left foot kicked something, sending it clattering to the far end of the room.