He was very cold. He looked at his watch, almost 8 o’clock and the sun was just starting to rise. It was a chilly winter morning. A cold wind blew across the field where the man stood facing the east. His shoulders were curled up inside to leave as little an area possible for the wind. It was a loosing battle and his whole body shivered as he fought to maintain his balance. He had been standing for many hours now, staring towards the horizon waiting for something he himself didn’t know. He had arrived sometime in the night and had chosen this place to observe from.
Then suddenly it started getting dark again, like it does during an eclipse. But there was no eclipse, he could see the moon overhead while the sun was already rising. He turned around slowly to see behind him. There it was, darkness was spreading its tentacles from the west. Already the unknown dark had started enveloping him. He reached out with his hand, it felt warm. The darkness was not like a mist. He could see clearly as far as his vision permitted, save for the parts already engulfed in entirety. The darkness was sucking the light out of the world he knew. But he also knew it was only for him. No one else would have noticed anything different. He had called it and it had come.
The sun started to fade. It was crystal clear, just not so bright anymore. He could look at it directly and it glowed like a dull dirty ember. Within minutes the light had lost all its magic as dark spread all across the field and beyond.
This was the sign he was looking for. He wondered if anyone else saw all this. Probably not, he thought. It was like slowly going blind.
The wind around him started to blow hard and he could hear the long whistles as shapeless eddies swirled all around him. He would have to figure out what to do soon or he would be trapped here forever. He remember that he had some distances all around him and there was little chance of him actually falling over anywhere. He remembered the terrain well. It was flat for a long distance on all sides.
He took his chances and took off his knapsack by feel. He opened the clasp and rummaged through the contents. He took out the large ball of string attached to the pike and going by feel, struck the pike into the ground below. Then he took out the large rock he had in the backpack and struck the head of the pike repeatedly till he was sure it was in the ground nice and tight. Satisfied, he kept the rock beside the pike on the ground. There was no need to carry the extra weight. Then he carefully held the ball of twine and started walking away from the pike feeling the resistance of the twine as a guide for keeping straight.
It was now pitched black but he was not worried. This was something he knew could have happened. It had once, a very long time ago and he had researched carefully. Just make sure there was always a little tension in the twine, the ancient inscription had warned. That was the only way to make sure he was going straight. The direction didn’t matter. If you walk in a straight line on a sphere, you will eventually end up at the beginning. The darkness was like that. He was sure he could do it.
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