Kuro: A Land in Eternal Night

Chapter 3.4: The Darkness

He started to move forward again, guided by the lone torch. The fire flickered, casting shadows in the great hallway. The stone walls seemed to grow in size, moving as if to entomb him. More tricks, he told himself. The air was cool outside the chamber.

A cool spring evening. A great beauty. A promise made under starry skies. A kiss, warm lips and a lover's embrace.

"Remember me, always."

Remember who?

Crossing the hallway felt like an eternity. With each step, his footsteps echoed and reverberated across the hallway. He looked back and realized that he must have walked a great distance. The chamber was now but a tiny light in the distance, the lit torches maintaining their dignity and marking his entrypoint. He wished there were lights to guide him to his next destination as well. But this reverse lighthouse served him just as well.

"Sing to me again of the far off lands." The boy insisted. "Why can I not stay with you?"

"They tell me a warrior has no time for memories or love. That I only have duty, and my sword. But my mind keeps coming back to the day we met. I can think of nothing but you."

At last, he reached the end of the hallway. A stone door greeted him. There was no bolt this time, but the door was less cooperative. He tried to push the door as hard as he could, but it did not budge. It loomed in front of him in silent defiance, mocking him, almost laughing in his face. He cast his torch upon it, trying to make sense of it all.

The door stood a good ten feet tall, with a great archway above. There were markings, symbols in a language he did not recognize. Doors this size normally had levers, machinery upon which it relied on to effect movement. He could find no evidence of such and the door stood before him, immovable as ever. He took a few steps and looked behind him at the hallway he had just crossed. The ceilings were high in this place. The hallway itself was about a hundred feet wide. He estimated that because of the time it took for him to cross it, combined with the size of the light in the chamber he had just left, that he had walked about a mile. He had wondered why there were braziers in the chamber, but none in the hallway.

There did not seem to be any other way to operate the door from what he could see. His patience wore thin. He turned to the door once more, running his hands over the cold stone, trying to see if there was anything he missed.

After a few moments of trying, he felt an indentation in the stone. It was a rectangular shaped indentation right about where his chest was. He ran his hands over it again, just to be sure he was not imagining it. It wasn't visible by torchlight, but certainly discernible through touch. He took his right hand and tried pushing. Nothing. He tried both hands. Still no movement.

In desperation and frustration, he took his fist and pounded in the space. The indentation moved slightly. Perhaps he was imagining it? He pounded on it again, this time the movement was greater. The indentation was getting deeper, more pronounced. He pounded with renewed gusto, excited that he was making progress where previously there was none. The indentation moved forward by a few more inches. By the fifth or sixth blow, he heard something click into place. He heard the movement of gears above him, coming to life in a whirring frenzy of activity. After a few moments, he heard heavy movement.

"The Knights of House Talanoth have but one purpose. You lend your sword in defense of your House, of your King, and your brothers." Commands uttered from on high. The Knight knelt before his liege, boy no longer.

The door started moving, swinging outward slowly, the dust dropping as it followed its predetermined path. As he watched the door swing outward with satisfaction, he had a brief flash of inspiration. He realized the spark yielded him something of value. A name. His name? It was very familiar. It seemed to speak to him of memories from long ago, of things that he could not quite recall, but that called out to him. It was a start and it was something he could use for now.

"Mykall. My name is Mykall."

"Mykall, my dear Mykall. My Knight." A memory, a face, the warm summer wind, and the scent of a woman.

"What I give to you, I give to no one else."

Mykall took a few steps beyond the now open doorway. The air was fresh, cool and inviting. He reasoned that he must have stepped outside. His eyes tried to strain to see his surroundings.

Darkness. It was still here, but he could see farther than he could before. Out here, it was not quite as bad as where he had come from. It must be nighttime, he decided. He looked up at the sky to get his bearings, and immediately noticed something very wrong.

The sky above him was pitch black.

There were no stars. No sign even, of the moon prince Tsukuyomi's presence, in any state. Far above the night sky, Tsukuyomi would exert his influence over the tides, waxing, waning or coming out in full force. None of the children of the light could be seen.

He heard the sound of crickets in the distance. Signs of life. The chill evening air made him cold. He was still soaked from laying on wet stone. He looked behind him at the place he had just been in and was startled. Without his realizing, the door he had just crossed had swung shut and he was staring at solid rock. He was standing on the side of a mountain. The door, if there ever was one, was nowhere to be found.

He ran his hands over the rock to find an indentation of sorts, something that would indicate the presence of the door he was sure he had just passed through a short while ago, but there was no sign of it. He felt like he was going crazy. "Am I dreaming?" If he was, it was too vivid. He could recall events as they occurred clearly. He received input from all five senses.

It was a world he no longer understood.

What of the sky? How had the world changed so much? What had transpired since he was last awake?

Full of questions, but happy to be alive, he decided to press on. He looked down the mountain at the land below. He saw tiny lights everywhere. The land was illuminated. A city perhaps? Closer to the mountain, past a small forest, there was a smaller, brightly lit area as well, perhaps a neighboring town. The breeze blew and Mykall wished he had taken a cloak with him from one of the bodies of armor in the chamber earlier. His torch burned brightly still, but it would run out soon enough. Best keep moving, he decided. He pressed on and began his descent from the mountain.

"Remember me, always."

Try as hard as he could, he could not honor the promise.