text: My mind in a timeless void. It seems like I've been here forever and not at all. And then it comes, like waking from a dream, it is all too sudden and all too soon. A single drop of ink in clear water and it hurts. Am I being pulled back into the world? A violent tug, a siphoning of my essence. The ink spreads and this time it hurts even more. Then, a sudden pause from the pull on my soul. A momentary respite. I am still in the void. It is quiet again. Maybe I am not called. Maybe- I shriek and scream like a babe that draws its first breath. I can almost feel the air filling the lungs that I don't inhabit yet. It is still the void that I scream into. Then it fades but like a pendulum it raises on the other side. I can now hear my scream filling an air I am still not yet fully part of. The void now disappears like it had never been and I am introduced to a new kind of darkness. My scream now feels more.. carnal. More physical. More alive. My blood awakens and it feels like a lightning strike in my veins. A brief moment of silence as the feeling dissipates and then I shriek once more as the pain finds a way to show me the true extent of its fury. His eternal bones cracked audibly and his overcoat threw centuries of dust into the air as he jolted up from his stone throne. Echoes of his scream still bounced around him. It was dark. He blinked open his eyelids and regained his vision. He cracked the bones in his hands and back and just stood in place, slowly looking left and right, still stretching. He could feel the blood that his heart was pumping and it was as strong and sharp as he had remembered. He took a step forward and leapt a few meters down onto the old and broken stone floor, staggering upon landing. As he did, dust rose around him in a thick fog. He looked forward and with a concrete step started towards the exit. He pushed the large rolling stone that covered the exit, introducing strands of bright moonlight into the cave. Helios stepped outside and the moment he did, the harsh mountain air filled his lungs making him cough out dust. Although the sensation was deeply uncomfortable, he found this almost comedic. Almost. His lungs and body now filled with oxygen and it was an exhilarating shock to his system. He stood outside for some time, with every breath taking in more oxygen than letting out. 'Ahhh.. I had almost forgotten how air and blood makes a body feel,' Helios murmured to himself. 'I need water.' He scanned the surroundings slowly from left to right, filling his nose with air. Nothing. Like a dog, he then blew air out of his nose, producing another considerable puff of dust. His next inhalation was effective enough. Resolutely, he started to climb the rock-face behind him. His movements were deft, almost cat-like and he made no error. He reached the ledge quick and as it opened a new horizon, his eyes flashed with hunger as they fixed on a cold stream further up the hill. He didn't walk, nor did he run. He took a great leap toward it, landing close to it with a strong thud. He then stretched one final time and walked to the stream where he washed his hands and his face. The dust and muck that had gathered on his skin during his centuries long hibernation had now been mostly wiped. Now, as if saving the best part of the meal for the last, in eager anticipation, he cupped his right hand into a funnel and leaning on his left he let the stream flow to his mouth. Involuntarily, he closed his eyes and truly enjoyed the clear, cold mountain stream. After he was finished, he sat down next to the simmering flow and stared at the moon. 'Oh, moon, would you know? Why have I been awakened from my slumber so?' He sighed and stared at the wet glow on his hands.