I felt control over my body finally return once I had freed the blindfold from the head. Then I saw the head. I couldn't even prevent the vomit from escaping my mouth this time. The woman had no eyes. They were just gone. What remained were her hollow, bloodless sockets that felt like they were peering deep into my soul. I felt like her gaze was stripping me down to the barest strands that made up my existence. Then, to further my horror, her head started floating. The sockets, free from the burden of vision, glowed with an eerie, golden light. Her mouth opened, and I heard an absolutely terrifying voice. It sounded like five completely different people were talking simultaneously while someone was scraping their nails down a chalkboard.
"The Reflection of Creation, Meddler of fate
Piercing the veil of a story destined to break.
A man once rescued by the saviour's light
Becomes the very reason for the heroes' plight
A trick of the night, earning a Blind Seer's hate
The golden road of fate, leaving despair in its wake.
Glass shatters with the flutter of a young bird's flight
Wings of mirrors shifting, reflecting the hero's fight
A world once full of life, left at destruction's gate
Rises again, as the fire of life shrouds heartbreak
The Shepherds of Arcadia watch the heroes' fate
Finally, finding a story to help their boredom abate."
'Well, shit, that's just great, isn't it?' I couldn't help it; I had come down here in search of a way to cure my impending blindness. Not to get a prophecy about some weird 'Reflection of Creation'. Before I could even process the words, the woman's head slowly disintegrated, falling to the floor in a pile of golden dust. Before I could even recover from the recoil of the absolutely insane events, the coffin started sinking into the floor, leaving a hole in its place. Finally, I pulled myself out of my stupor. I noticed a grinding noise growing closer. I thought there was gonna be something else. Maybe another prophecy, maybe a coffin. Just to drive home the idea that my life could get stranger. It wasn't any of them. It was a statue, one made from the same softly glowing stone. The statue was of a woman, one wearing a horsehair helmet that only left holes for the eyes. I couldn't see them though; they were veiled in deep shadows that weren't even affected by the glowing stone. For some reason though, I knew she was staring at me. As my eyes travelled down the statue, I saw its intricately carved plate that was less armour and more just its body. The vines carved into the glimmering white felt like living things no longer bound by fate, frozen in time. In one hand was a large spear made out of a dark marble that seemed to suck in the light surrounding it, feeding off of it and growing more imposing. Like it was gradually growing more real with the light it consumed. In the other hand was a hoplite shield. Wreathed in the same frozen vines that decorated its plate, it gave off a silent, and sacred feeling. As if my seeing it was somehow sacrilegious. Before I had even realised it, I had been pulled back into my trance, filled with wonder. Then I noticed it move, its shield-bearing arm swinging the edge down on me like a falling meteor, and in that moment I finally realised that I was no longer just a regular person. I blinked, and the world went back to before she swung. My brain started firing off at full speed trying to figure out how to escape as I watched her lift her arm again like a self-fulfilling prophecy and bring it down in the same way I saw mere moments ago. I tried to move; my mind screamed at me, begging to get out of the way. There was nothing I could do; my legs were unmoving, trapped in a quagmire that refused to release me from its earthen chains. Then I felt something warm and almost liquid rush through my body to my legs, and I heard an off-tone twang. Sounding as if a rusted music box had just turned on for the first time in centuries. In the next moment, after I had blinked, I was at the wall on the other side of the room. It made absolutely no sense to me. How had I escaped? That liquid-like substance had to be mana, right?
I didn't have time to come to an answer. The statue was already on me, its thumping steps growing closer. It was fast, almost too fast for both its immense size and weight. I was terrified. However, I pushed it aside with inhuman effort and realised that I couldn't fight this thing. It was utterly impossible. Not only had I just woken up in this world, but I just knew that nothing I did would even be able to scratch its hulking body. So, I did what any sane human would do when faced with this situation. I turned around and ran away as fast as I could. As much as I wish I could say I stood my ground and fought, as much as I wish I didn't have to run away. I just knew it was hopeless. So I ran, back through the hallway that had led me to this room, my hands somehow covered in pale-white gloves, still clutching the charcoal blindfold like a lifeline. I could hear the statue behind me; it was gaining ground. Not only were its legs much longer than mine, but it was also just stronger and faster than me. I turned my head to catch a glimpse of it, to see how far away I was. It was right behind me, its petrified hand reaching out towards the back of my neck. I blinked hard, hoping I was just seeing things as a blood-curdling scream ripped from my throat, bouncing off the oppressive dark walls surrounding me and back into my ears. Then, with another out of tune twang, I was at the end of the hallway. The statue looked around in confusion, not understanding how its prey had got away. I saw it look up. Directly into my eyes. I knew it was smiling, enjoying the thrill of the hunt. Tears were running down from the corners of my eyes. My blood was cold, the fear almost freezing me with every step. 'If any god can hear me now, please just let me out. I'll never rob a temple again, I promise.' My thoughts ran in delirious circles, begging the gods of this world to forgive me for just trying to survive. None answered.
The statue was moving again. Slowly this time, it wanted to relish my fear. It wanted to taste the joy of its first hunt in millennia. I felt myself instinctively back away, trying to create as much distance between me and the statue as possible. It didn't work; my back had already hit the end wall of the hallways and above me, bathing me in the holy light of a temple long forgotten, was the opening that I had fallen through. My last hope of survival. I felt like Tantalus in his eternal imprisonment. Forever reaching out for salvation only for it to be just out of reach. I cursed the gods in my thoughts, and not only that, but I wondered why I was so desperate to get this stupid blindfold. It's not like I couldn't have waited at least a year to get it. It was too late, though; the statue had begun running at me, its spear levelled to run me through like a pig on a spit. In that moment, a crazy thought ran through my head. Yeah, sure, I couldn't reach the lip of the opening on my own, but with a foothold to jump off, I could.
"I swear upon all that is holy, if I survive this, I am never robbing the temple of a dead god again." I swore to myself, preparing to put my insane plan into action. Crouched slightly, getting ready for my leap of faith, I calculated the distance between the charging figure of stone and myself. Then, as it hit the perfect time, hesitation slipped into my mind, causing me to almost mistime my jump. My legs shot up like pistons in an engine. I felt the stone shield replace the marble beneath my feet. Finally, I made that last jump, using my opponent's momentum against it, leaving it to slam into the back wall, cracking it in an enormous explosion of sound. Leaving me hanging onto the edge of the opening like a man trying to escape a raging grizzly bear. I looked below and watched in abject horror as the statue got up, not even looking dazed or damaged, and saw it look up at me in mild amusement. Like it was watching a particularly amusing clown at the circus. I scrambled up, using my new body's strength to almost launch myself back onto the platform that held the podium I once stood at. At last, I looked back down into the hole, and found my hunter staring back at me. I flipped my middle finger at it. Another mistake, apparently. I could tell that it was angry. Not only had its prey escaped, but now it was being mocked by that very prey? That was far too much for it, apparently. It slowly crouched down, as if it were about to jump, and I felt a single thought pass through my mind. 'Surely not… it has to be way too heavy to make that jump… right?'