1 Chapter 01: The Wake Up

The room was dark and musty. The smell of something grotesque reached beneath the seam beneath the door and leaked out into its neighboring room. The room was messy, with only a few tables and books laying around. In the middle of the room rested a man who knows not of what lies outside.

The man slowly opened his eyes, the crust breaking off as his eyelids peeled apart. He looked around before sitting up and rubbing them. He was qiuet, not much of a talker, even in his own head. He wasn't sure what had happened, he didn't even know where he was.

He arose from the floor which had shown signs of beginning to rot. He examined the space more carefully this time. There were two doors on either end of the room. He followed the scent leaking from one door to see if it would open, a tug would reveal it was locked. He went over to the other door and it opened with ease.

The door led into a hallway, some doors were boarded up, others were blocked by bookshelves or beds. He walked out clearly with a face of confusion as he struggled to understand what was going on. He was an adult male, but didn't remember ever being born or growing up. He didn't know who he was, where he was or what had happened as he rested on that floor.

These rooms and halls were the first view of his life, a foreshadowing of what to come. He walked down the hallway to see if he could find a way out of the building he was trapped in. The creaking of the floorboards followed him with every step, echoing throughout the halls he had been wandering.

He soon arrived at a boarded up window, a slight gap between the views gave a glimpse of the outside. He took hold of one board and tried pulling. The sound of nails pulling on the walls could be heard squeaking but, he didn't have the strength to pull off the board. He let go and rubbed his hands, sore from the harsh wood he had just grabbed.

The hall was dark, almost no light could be reached into the inside. The window was his only source of vision, and made even worse with his eyes struggling to adjust. The light, however, leaked in just enough to show a body which was crushed beneath a bookcase. The body dawned a hooded piece of leather attire and with nothing else in the area that he could see, decided to take it for his own.

He put it on, it was a little small for his stature but at least help shield out the cold the darkness was generating. He continued down the hall in hopes of finding something that could aid in tearing off the boards on the window.

However, his journey was soon cut short as a barricade of all sorts of items blocked his path to continue further down. There was a door nearby which had one board torn off slightly, leaving only two nails connected to the wall. He took hold of one end and pulled with all his might until eventually the board tore apart into two. The rot bad clearly reached here as well.

He took the new board he had acquired and stuck it between the window pane and boards. He leveraged the board until eventually he got one board off the window. He continued again with the next board and the next until the window was let free of the boards that once contained it.

He took a board that had come off the window and used an end with screws to smash the window apart. Glass flew everywhere and so he pulled his hood down to cover his eyes. After the glass settled he clicked through and found himself on a roof. The roof showed signs of decay and had an almost slippy feeling to it.

The man walked across the roof he had found himself on and went to a wall that had bricks poking out. A makeshift climb could be made if he had wished to climb higher. The space below the roof had a courtyard of sorts, almost two stories down. A fall would prove detremental as there was no saying how long until help would be on the way.

He took hold of a brick that had stuck out and began his ascent. The bricks were hard to climb, the feeling of them sliding out of their once cemented crevices had sent worry into the man. He continued and after struggling to climb he had reached a second roof. There were more boarded up windows at this height but he had no interest in breaking back into the building.

He walked to the opposite side of the roof and found a ladder leading even higher. It was sturdy compared to the bricks, but sign of rust was apparent. He took hold of the ladder and climbed once more. He had reached the final roof of his ascent. The world he found himself in was now able to be visualized from his current angle.

Although most of what was able to be seen was clearly only a small glimpse of what was really out there, it gave him insight. He grabbed onto a nearby cross which adorned itself at the apex of the roof he was on. The moon had its peircing gaze set upon him, light illuminated the surrounding world.

The city he found himself in was dark, grungy, devoid of life and hauntingly beautiful…

He had found himself in Vagalont.