Bound by Shadows: A True Ordeal (open)

[Koli]

Koli opened his eyes, only to see a flat stone ceiling.

He could have sat upright and wondered why he had no memory of getting to this place.
If he really wanted, he could look around and gain his bearings.

But severe disappointment caked onto the ceiling, oozing down and enveloping Koli. Foaming frothy emotions fogged up his mind, resulting in great lethargy. Hopelesness heavied the air, and an overwhelming nothingness made him yearn to close his eyes.

Scraping of wood against stone interrupted Koli’s trance. He took a breath and sat up, feeling a cold and tingling sense wash over him. Koli’s looking around proved absence of doors, passages, and exits. Gray unpainted stone created the uniformed walls. A white lantern of some unknown fuel source distantly cast shadows on the wall from the grate it submitted behind. Never wavering, never flickering, the light simply shined thoughtlessly.

The scraping noises continued.

Koli decided to pace his room to see how large it was, but any time he moved a severe headache kept him from moving.

After a time, he tired of nothingness and attempted to stand. He awakened on the floor, apparently having fainted.

Koli soon realized that he could stand if he did so slowly, and he could walk for short periods at a time.

Koli repeatedly drifted off into dreamless sleep, whereupon he would wake and strengthen himself small bits at a time.

And all the while, he woke when the scraping began, and slept when the scraping ceased.

Bound inexplicably, yet completely unshackled, Koli turned inward to escape as much as he could each day.