Awakening VIII

So, here I am; in a corridor outside reality itself, the only route of escape a vertical tunnel fifteen feet above the ground. I have, in my possession, my clothes, $10.27 in stolen money, a key that can open any lock, a great big metal rod, a nearly-depleted roll of duct tape, a pair of scissors, and a lockbox holding a device that vaporizes inanimate objects and sheaths living things in a burning-hot energy-shield.

I'm quite a sight, I imagine.

So how to climb those fifteen feet up? I go to the bunk room and look at the tunnel. After a moment of thought, I grab hold of a bunk bed (not the one I wrecked) and push it underneath the tunnel. I climb on top and reach.

It's still ten feet up. I can't reach quite that far.

I go back to the cavern of the giant. The robed men still stand there, immobilized in fields of sparkling red-and-white energy. I stare into the closest one's face. Even up close, the energy blocks a clear view. Mysterious even while trapped. And I can't touch them; my fingers or my clothes would burn equally well... but will metal? I take out the rod used to open the daimone's vault; on consideration, I wrap the end in my shirt before gripping it, to avoid worse injury than the blisters I've already suffered. Gingerly, I touch the rod to a robed figure. My shirt grows hot in my hands, but... the metal remains intact. It doesn't even glow!

I may have found a solution.

I begin experimenting; the figures are easily pushed around once they start moving, gliding across the floor smoothly. I nearly get hurt when one of them bounces off a wall and comes back at me faster than expected. As a plan forms in my mind, I push them all, one by one, into the bunk room, shoving them into a large pile in the center of the room. I look at the pile nervously; it's about nine feet high, robed figures piled about in a most undignified manner, and
I know that they won't give much traction. Reluctantly, I begin shedding my heavier and more awkward items; the metal rod (too big) and the scissors (too likely to end up poking me in the side at a bad moment - why did I ever pick those up, anyway?). On consideration, I use the last of the duct tape to fasten the lockbox and giant's key on safely, and toss the roll away. I look at the pile again.

Then I charge up the pile of energy-enshrouded bodies, running as fast as I can with the heap beginning to shift beneath me and my soles growing very, very hot. At the top, I jump the best jump I've ever made; slamming into the bars of the ladder and somehow managing to keep my grip. Beneath me, the pile is collapsing, spreading across the floor. From the feel of them, I suspect that my shoes have a number of holes in them, burnt by the heat.

I hope that I don't have to release the daimone after all. If it was hard getting down before... that mess below would give me quite a warm welcome.

As I climb, I wonder. I've lost my duct tape, opened the lockbox, gotten a bit of cash and a full meal... and a lot of knowledge about just what this place is, what they're trying to do here... what sort of things they can do. (Though I still don't know who they are.) Now I have a choice to make. I can try to escape - with a key that opens any lock, a weapon of immense power in the lockbox, and the exact knowledge of where they imprisoned Rebecca, my girlfriend, it should be easy. Or I can try a harder task - to free all the captives, and ensure that they (again, whoever they are) are stopped, from imprisoning innocents, summoning daimones, and otherwise causing havoc.

Sounds quite melodramatic, doesn't it?

Nevertheless. I've nearly gotten to the top of the tunnel. What now?

What now, indeed?

Awakening, Part One: Fin.