Chapter 16-The Authenticity of a Dream
Irgen awoke to find himself smothered in rough, coarse blankets. He slowly sat upright and took in his surroundings. He was alone in a small yet spacious square room. As the covers fell off of him, he felt a cold wind chill the back of his neck. The hairs stood up on his arms as a cold shudder ran through him. He got up and walked toward an open window which he had just barely noticed. He rubbed his cold arms as he walked towards the curtains which were fluttering aimlessly in the wind.
He reached for the shutters, but his attention was distracted by the scene which unfolded before his eyes. Before him were the walls of a completely new castle. A large circular wall encircled the entire castle. In front of him were two huge towers. A wide iron walkway protruded from the tower he was in. It ran forward, cutting a swath through the landscape until it came to an abrupt halt in front of an iron, teeth-like gate. Irgen didn’t know what it was about the gate, but it filled him with a feeling of dread. As he stood by the window, a great roar erupted from the grounds below. The formidable gates swung open and a great host of men came marching in. The tramp, tramp, tramp of their feet gave off a kind of mesmerizing appeal.
For a while Irgen sat there and listened to them. But finally the host came to a halt right at the bottom of his tower. Silence suddenly flooded the room as Irgen snapped back to his senses. He slammed the window shut as he heard footsteps on the stairs which must be outside the door to his room. He froze as the steps became more audible and more pronounced. It was only then that he noticed the color of everything around him.
The footsteps stopped outside his room, and the door swung open. In the doorway stood the most frightening man he had ever seen. He was tall and skinny and yet his very presence made Irgen’s skin crawl. His very breathing seemed to create a cold feeling in the air around him. His bloodshot eyes looked straight at Irgen’s, riveting them in place. But perhaps the most terrifying thing about the man was the color of his armor, which was the same color as everything else in the room. It was that horrible, light absorbing, Black.