Screen

I felt the cold stone where it met my cheek, the rim and temple of my glasses made it very uncomfortable to lay down with them on. I felt like I had heard someone's voice.

It was dark. Nighttime, maybe? But not pitch-black. There were lights. Fire. Above me. Some kind of lighting, I thought, candles since only a little light reached me. Small ones were affixed to the wall. Not just one, but many, spaced evenly, continuing as far as I could see to one side. 

Where am I?

It was kinda hard to breathe.

When I tried to touch the wall it was hard and rocky. This was no wall. It was just bare rock. Little wonder my body felt sore after lying on this stone floor for who knows how long. My right arm tingled from having 'slept' on it, I might have landed on it after being knocked unconscious.

Maybe he was in a cave... A cave? Why would I be in a cave...?

Those candles were pretty high up. I might be able to reach one if I stood on my toes. Moreover, they didn't even give me enough light to see my hands and feet.

Faint noises that sounded like breathing came from close by. There must be others here with me.

 Humans? What if they weren't? I might be in deep sh*t. But the breathing sounded soft and totally not like a huge dog or wolf.

"Is anyone there?" My voice came out a bit shaky, afraid of not actually getting an answer in words and instead a growl of a beast. 

"Uh, yeah," a man's voice shot back.

"I'm here..." came another response, likely that of a woman.

Another man's voice gave a short, "Yeah."

"I figured as much," another person added 

"How many of us are there?"

"Should we count?"

"And... where are we anyway?"

"Dunno."

What? Doesn't anyone know where we are?"

"What is going on?"

"Where are we?"

 Seriously, Where the hell were we? What was I doing in a place like this? And why? How long had I been here?

I clutch my arm as if adding pressure would wake it up and stop feeling like ants crawling under my skin.

I had no clue what was going on, how long we had been here, or the reason why we woke up here.

When I started to consider my situation, something began to tug at the back of my mind. But it suddenly vanished before I could latch on to it.

Nothing came to my mind, my memories were blank when I tried to remember why I was here or what happened before I fell asleep. I was at a complete loss.

"Sitting here won't get us the answers we want." Said one in a low raspy voice. 

There was a sound like someone stepping on pebbles. It sounded like man stood up.

"Going somewhere?" a woman's voice asked.

"Following the wall." the man answered. "Going to try heading towards the light." The man's tone was surprisingly calm.

Wasn't he scared? Why wasn't he shaken by this? Was his curiosity overshadowing the shock or was he one of those who acted before they could think?

The man was moved to the area beneath the second candle of the wall in front of me to the right. His hand could easily reach the candle by just stretching his hand upward.

From the faint light that illuminated his head, I could make out his red hair, considering there was not much light I could not distinguish it from being a dark red or lighter color.

"I'm going too." the woman said.

"Me too, I guess." A man's voice said.

"H-Hoold on, guy's! I'm coming too." said yet another person. The voice sounded slightly high-pitched, but it was probably another male."We can probably go that way. There's probably no candles though."

The red-haired man stopped and looked in the opposite direction of where he was facing, "If you want to go that way, be my guest." and started walking.

It looked like everyone would be following the red-haired man. There are no lights in the other directions so whoever brought us here must want us to go that way. I don't want to follow someone else's script but the alternative is to stay here in the dark and probably die of hunger or something else. Can't say following the light won't lead me to my death too.I got up and trailed behind them.

With one hand on the wall in case my legs bumped into some heavy boulder along the way. The more I walked the more a mental image of the floor and walls was made in my mind. The ground wasn't smooth. It was uneven, but easy to walk on.

There was someone in front of me and someone behind me. I didn't know who, though.

Judging by their voices no one here was that old. I don't know any of these people... at least, I don't think so. 

Who were the people I knew? Acquaintances. Friends. But who exactly were they?

He couldn't think of anyone. no, it is more like whenever he tried to work backward from the faces that did come to mind, they would suddenly vanish.

It did not happen with just friends. Family too. It wasn't like I didn't have friends or family It was more like I ought to know them but was forgetting.

Maybe it's best not to think about it. 

I felt a shaky hand grab onto the back of my shirt as if it were holding for dear life. "I-I can't remember them." It sounded like she was about to break down in tears and maniacal laughter, both of which made me feel empathetic and creeped out.

Her hand stopped trembling and she let go of me. "Huh, why am I crying?"

"I-I don't know?" It started confusing me, why did she cry? I needed to keep walking It was better not to think about it. The more I tried to remember, the less I could recall.

.The row of candles continued with no end in sight.

How long had I been walking? Had It been a long time, or not? I couldn't say which, my sense of time and space had been dulled.

"There's something here," said someone up ahead. "It's bright... Lamps?"

The red-haired man said, "It's a gate."

"D-Do you think it's the exit?" exclaimed a different man, his voice shrill and excited.

The sound of heavy footsteps lightened. Even in the dark, I could tell that everyone was hurrying ahead.

I could see the light sources now. They were much brighter than the candles had been. Those were definitely lamps. Were they hanging on the wall? The lamps were illuminating an iron gate.

The red-haired man grabbed the iron gates. He looked almost like a bodybuilder but not as big, he was also dressed in a dark tank top and sweat pants in some forest camo. He shook the iron gate as if pure strength could move which was correct.

"I'm opening it," the gym rat called, pulling the gate inwards. With a creaking noise, the iron gare opened.

"Oh...!" several people cried out at the same time.

"Can we get out?!" exclaimed a girl in bright flashy clothes in front of me.

The gym rat headed through the door. "There are stairs. We can go up."

Through the door was a cramped, moldy corridor. Beyond that, there were stone steps. There were no lights, but light was shining from above.

The group ascended the stairs in a single file, one step at a time.

There was another iron gate at the top of the stairs. This one looked like it wouldn't open.

The gym rat bashed the gate with his fists over and over. "Is anybody there?! Open the gate!" He roared using all of the air in his lungs.

Another guy in our group joined in calling for help. "Hey, open the door! Hey!"

I was about to join in the screaming when the gym rat took his hands off the gate and stepped back Apparently someone had come.

The guy with a buzz cut stepped back and went quiet. and there was the sound of a lock turning. The iron gate opened, and a man's voice said. "Get out." I assumed the voice belonged to the man who had unlocked and opened the door. 

We ascended the stairs to a stone room. It was windowless, but brightly lit thanks to the lamps. In addition to the stairs we had come up, there was another set of stairs up to a higher level.

This place feels too old like it doesn't belong in the modern world. The man who opened the gate dressed weirdly, too. I mean, those aren't clothes he's wearing. That metal stuff he's wearing is... armor? I'd call that headgear he has on an armored helmet. And the object hanging from his waist doesn't look like a nightstick. Was it a sword.... or something similar? Armor, a helmet, and a sword? What era did this guy come from? Then again, I guess that's not the problem here.

The man in armor pulled a blackish switch on the wall.

The wall and floor shook slightly, and a heavy sound echoed through the room. The wall moved.

Part of the wall slowly opened.

It sunk, leaving a hole. An oblong, rectangular hole.

The man in the armor said, "Get out" again, gesturing with his chin to the hole.

The gym rat went outside first, and the girl with bright colors followed. Everyone followed after them, going through the whole one after another as if being pulled along.

Outside. 

This time we were really outside. 

It was either predawn or twilight. The dimly lit sky spread out as far as the eye could see.

This was the top of a small hill.

When I turned around to see the cave we came out of, a large tower rose in front of me. I had been below the tower, not a cave.

Counting everyone in the group, there were seven guys including the gym rat, the guy who also called for someone to open the gate, and me. And five girls including the girl with bright colored clothes, and the girl who was about to cry. Twelve total.

It was dark, so I couldn't see that much detail. Still, I could make out their figures, roughly what they were wearing, hairstyles, and general facial features. As I had thought, I did not recognize anyone here.

"You think that's a city?" Asked a slender man with silky hair, he gave off some effeminate vibes. He was pointing to the other side of the hill.

Looking in the direction he was pointing, I could see buildings crowded together.

A town. It certainly looked like one. It had to be a town. Except that the town was surrounded by a high fence- No, not a fence. It was surrounded by high, solid walls.

Rather than a town," said a thin man wearing black-rimmed glasses, "It's almost like a catle."

"A castle..." I whispered, but for some reason his voice sounded liike someone else's.

"Umm..." The girl who almost cried behind me held my shirt and pulled it a couple of times to get my attention. "Do you know where this is?"

"... Right." I turned around to look at the others for answers. "Do any of you know where this is?"

No one said anything. Unless they were deliberately trying to trouble the girl, or were concealing the information for some other reason, that meant none of them had any idea.

"I got it!" Said the effeminate man, clapping his hands to draw our attention. "Why don't we ask that dude?! You know, the one who was in, like, armor or whatever."

Everyone turned to look at the tower.

And then it happened.

The entrance began to shrink. The wall rose up again, filling the whole.

"Whoa, whoa, wai-" The effeminate man. made a panicked run for it. He was way too late.

The entrance vanished, leaving the spot where it had once been indistinguishable from the surrounding wall. The effeminate man tried touching and hitting the wall in all sorts of places while crying out things like, "Oh, come on, you can't be doing thhis! Wait, wait, please, please..." But nothing worked.

After a while, he sat down, dejected.

"And, now, with that perfect tiiiiiming!" a high-pitched woman's voice rang out-

There were five girls in the group, and I doubted their voices were so high-pitched.

"I appear you know. I take the stage, you know. Where am I? I'm right heeeere!"

"Right where?" Asked one of the other guys in our group.

"Don't paaaaanic! Don't be alaaaaarmed! But, still, don't relaaaaaax Don't pull out your hair, eiiiiither!"

Singing something like "Chararararahn, charararararahn." A woman poked her head out of the side of the tower, where she had apparently been hiding.

Is her hairstyle what is considered 'twintails'? 

" Heeeey, is everyone feeling fiiine? Welcome to Grimgar. I'm your guide, Hiyo-"

I was forcibly pulled back, making me feel like going from a memory and actually living it to being a player of a first-person game.

The twin-tailed girl was still talking, but now on an old school blocky TV, like the ones in PERSONA 4.

There were two TVs, one on top of the other. The one with the memories I just lived was on top of another one. The other one showed a memory of someone watching a game of football. (Not the USA one where you bearly touch the ball with your feet.)

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Word count 2290

If there are any grammatical errors, let me know by commenting on the paragraph.

Thank you guys. I appreciate your reading so far. 

Considered this a new volume.

Well I'm off to play some more Clair Obscure Expedition 33 on my crappy PC, gotta master those parries.