The Great Game

If you’re new to the Great Game, please have a quick look at the blurb to your left, where you’ll find a short catch-up introduction.

I became aware of another presence pacing me. I turned my attention on it. It was my face, flying alongside me. It wasn’t quite right, but it was definitely me. It stared at me impassively, and I could feel that it was exerting a pull on me. Despite the totally blank, mindless expression, I knew that it was boiling with passions that were just out of reach.

The pull was strengthening as the distance between us slowly eroded. I thought about trying to evade it, but the prospect seemed infinitely exhausting. Allowing myself to be drawn into the face was so much easier. Even as I started to accept that, the face lit up, my features twisting with hungry glee. I knew I ought to be alarmed, but somehow I couldn’t summon the energy to become genuinely concerned. Horrible, sickly laughter echoed around me, and it took me several seconds to realize that it was coming from me.

I curved in towards the face, speeding up fiercely, and found myself whipping along in front of it and round the far side. Oddly, it seemed to always be looking towards me, no matter how dizzily I whirled. I circled closer and closer, whirling and looping as I went, and as I approached, I gradually realized that in fact the face was vast, and I was miniscule. Then I was darting in towards the left eye, a sparkling pit lined with eerie, pale flame that sank down into oblivion.

I felt the pit pull me in, stretching me thinner and longer and longer and thinner, and desperately tried to scream…

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” The noise was deafeningly loud, and seemed to be pealing from all around me. The pitch was wrong too, multi-layered and almost throbbing. It seemed impossible that it could be coming from my throat. I – it – trailed off, and bright lights flicked on. I was in the dorm room, sitting bolt upright on the uncomfortable cot, mouth grimacing open.

As was everyone else in the room.

We shared nervous glances. One of the guys down the far end cleared his throat. “What the hell?”

His only answer was collective confusion and growing alarm.

After a long, uncomfortable moment, I said “There was a canyon… A nightmare. Anyone else?”

Blank stares and shaken heads.

“Oh,” I said.

The door opened, and I jumped slightly. Travis stormed in, looking rumpled and unhappy. “What the devil is going on?’

The woman next to me pointed over at me. “Ask him.”

Travis sighed. “Alright Taylor, come with me.” He pushed the door open and looked at me pointedly.

“Yes, sir,” I said. I hauled myself out of the cot, and padded out into the hallway, slightly nervous.

Travis closed the door behind us, and led me a few steps down the hall. “So?” He kept his voice low, but he sounded weary.

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Today’s picture is Burning Rock Face by Whitlam1