Dizziness...
Zelgadis lifted his heavy head, and slowly opened his eyes. They were immediately assaulted by bright sunshine. Shutting them immediately, he winced at the stabbing pains shooting through his aching head, and tried to turn away from the painful brightness.
Blindly, he reached for his blanket, intending to pull it over his eyes. It wasn't there. Frustrated, he cast about for a pillow, a sheet, anything that could be used to shelter his eyes from the cruel morning sun. His still-clumsy fingers, however, couldn't find the soft bedcoverings that he'd assumed were around him. What they touched instead was hard and rough.
He lay still for a few moments, trying to make sense of this. His mild dizziness and disorientation, which had enveloped him since he'd woke, were slowly fading, and his disordered thoughts were beginning to arrange themselves once again. Soon he'd be able to figure out what the bloody hell was going on.
Taking the risk of opening his eyes once more, Zelgadis blinked a couple of times and squinted, already growing accustomed to the surrounding light. With no small measure of confusion, he realized that the surface on which he was curled up was nothing less than a wide expanse of exposed rock. It extended as far as he could see, which wasn't all that far, in truth; but was far enough for him to be absolutely certain that he wasn't in any kind of inn at all. And, seeing as he'd most definitely gone to sleep in an inn, this only served to confuse him even more.
Slowly unfolding his stiff, aching limbs, he stretched out and rolled onto his back. The stone on which he was now lying had been baking in the sun for quite a while; he could feel its burning heat through the fabric of his shirt. That didn't really register, however, as he found himself staring up at the sky above him.
There was barely a cloud in sight, and the sun glared mercilessly from its high vantage point; normal enough, for a sky. But where every other sky that Zelgadis had ever seen was coloured blue, this one was instead a flat, disturbing grey.
Barely able to understand the implications of such an impossible sight, he thought, horrified, What IS this place? What's going on? Where am I? The last he could remember, he'd been in his room at a Tallis City inn... but the memories were all twisted and tangled up in his mind. How could I have gotten from there to here, wherever 'here' is, without remembering a thing? I was in bed, I'm certain. There was moonlight.... We'd just - from the restaurant...? I felt sick; no, dizzy....
The chimaera put a hand to his head. The dizziness that had greeted him upon waking was now almost gone, and for that he was thankful. He sat up slowly, and cautiously got to his feet, to get a better look at his surroundings.
Everywhere he looked was stone. He was standing in the middle of a field of dark, impervious granite; though mostly rough-hewn, the rock was oddly smooth in several places, reflecting the light like pools of glass.
Tiny ridges in the stony ground began a few metres from where Zelgadis was standing. They seemed almost to be ripples in the rock itself, as if it was merely the surface of a frozen lake. The farther the ripples were, the higher they rose; in the distance, they seemed to be vague ghostly shapes rising out of the rock. Graceful spires; carved by millenia of wind and water, or perhaps melted and twisted into their fluting forms by energies beyond most peoples' comprehension. A virtual forest of these alien sculptures continued, as far as Zelgadis could tell, all the way to the low, dark mountains that squatted on the horizon.
In the other direction, the horizon showed only a hazy hint of green. Something other than rock, something living, could be found there, the chimaera assumed. He was barred from this promising glimpse of greenery, however, by a deep ravine that slashed its way across the rocky landscape. The sound of running water drew him to the ravine's edge. At its bottom, far below where he was standing, a swollen river churned and raged.
He'd be able to cross easily; a simple Levitation spell would do the trick. But he felt t oo tired to attempt it right now. The oppressive heat of this place, radiated by every inch of stone, was intensely wearying.
Is this some kind of desert? he wondered. It's certainly hot enough, and nothing seems to be growing here. But I've never heard of a desert with such a large river running through it.... He reluctantly admitted to himself that, in all probability, this strange land was nowhere near the territory that he was familiar with. This little revelation didn't help at all in figuring out how he'd gotten here, though.
The dark grey stone seemed perfectly suited to absorbing heat. As he stood near the ravine's edge, Zelgadis could even feel how hot the ground was, directly through the soles of his shoes. Anyone with more tender skin would be in danger of burning themselves if they tried to go barefoot here.
That idea sparked a dissonant memory in Zelgadis's mind. Hold it; I'm sure that I took my shoes off before getting into bed... didn't I...? A sudden, brief spell of dizziness overtook him. He staggered and almost fell over before it subsided, as quickly as it had come. If I don't get out of this sun, I'll get heatstroke, he realized worriedly.
Abandoning the ravine for now, he walked carefully towards the stone forest. A few minutes later, after wandering past ever taller outcroppings, he found some small shelter at the base of one twisted ridge of rock. It was little more than a depression in the outcropping's side, but it provided just enough shade for him. It was still hot, but since he was out of direct sun for now, it was bearable.
Though he'd just woken from a lengthy sleep less than ten minutes ago, Zelgadis was tired. His short walk had drained him as much as if he'd travelled a thousand miles, instead of less than one. Eventually, he'd have to figure out where he was and what had happened to him, but for now, he simply needed to rest. Closing his eyes, he leaned back against the solid rock and drifted away.
Part 14 | Story Index | Fanfiction