Chains Chapter 7

It was unknown to him how long he had been unconscious for, but when he finally came to his senses, he found himself in a place with a layout so simple, yet so profound. In what seemed like the centre of an alien universe he sat, with a single spotlight shining upon him from above, casting a circle of illumination around him just big enough for him to see ten feet at most in all directions, and beyond the fringes of its limited glow lay an ocean of darkness that made it impossible to identify what lurked beyond.

Yet he was not alone in that cone of light, and together with him stood the only other thing visible to his lifeless eyes, his nemesis; the old desk that had haunted him for days without end, a companion whose company bore affliction instead of comfort. And now here he was once again, seated in his rightful place behind its familiar frame, his feet crossed at the ankles as always, staring blankly at the files stacked neatly at the top right corner like he would find them every morning.

But this time, there was no more running, for his wrists were inescapably imprisoned in a freshly forged set of chains; the thickest he had ever seen, the heaviest he had ever had to carry, and twisting around the prosaic body of the old desk they extended endlessly, forming a convoluted mass of knots and loops whose complex paths could not be traced, binding him once and for all, inseparably and indefinitely to his duties and obligations.

Filled with indignation, but resigned to the preordained, his hands trembled violently with anger as he wept bitter tears of grief and hate. The struggle had come to an end, and though he resented having to accept the ruinous fate that had befallen him, he no longer had the strength to carry on fighting, and in a broken state of utter despair, he bowed his head in defeat as he listened, helpless and hopeless, to the dying breaths of his long-cherished dreams.

But the nightmare was far from over, and just as he thought that the worst had already come to pass, he began to hear their perfectly timed footsteps closing in on him from all around, marching with flawless precision, bringing with them an ominous sense of impending judgment. Like an army of a hundred strong, the ground trembled under the weight of their advance, sowing great fear in his already weakened heart as the apprehension of unrealized suffering tormented him to no end.

Barely beyond the edges of the light they cunningly stayed their feet, and though they were entirely cloaked in darkness, hidden from his eyes, he could feel their overbearing presence wherever he turned. Besieged by unsettling silence, he heard the frantic beatings of his heart pounding faster and faster into his ears as his palms drenched themselves in nervousness and perspiration. Then suddenly, without a shadow of a warning, the entire area was flooded in a deluge of light, shattering the darkness and blinding him temporarily, but ultimately revealing the most mystifying display he had ever witnessed in his life.