[color=beige]Frozen daggers scrapped against my cheeks threatening to rend my flesh into strips of pulp, destined to be iced away forever in the snowy drifts surrounding my legs. The blizzard is gaining on me. Still, I have no intention of leaving my popsicle stiff corpse alone in the snow as payment for my trespassing transgression. Refastening the strings of the fluffy snow-hare hood clenched about my head, I push forward, into the darkness, into the endless white.

I hit something hard and suddenly the wind is no longer blasting across my face. Its’ surface is cold, everything is cold, but this is different. The chill from the wall before me strikes a warmth into my fingers. A sensation pushed through the four layers of gloves and mittens encasing my hands that remind me of my dark warm basement back at home. I glance to the left, following the shadowed frame of the wall. I can see it, barely, an enormous backwards curving structure that extends into the empty whiteness, out of visibility. I look right, only to see the same infinite curve. I figure one direction is as good as another and walk forward, my left hand tracing the path of the wall.

I walk forever. Time resounds in the innards of my skull. A pulsing tick and tock, thundering around in my head. The flow of time being magnified by the cold heat of the wall against my left hand.

My hand falls from the wall, finding empty space. Have I lost my path? I reach out like blind man in a foreign room. I step forward, expecting the wall, but I find only more emptiness. The storm has quieted, only a faint whisper at my back. No, it still rages I think. I step forward again. Only blank openness. Rummaging through my knapsack I produce my flint and lantern. Spark, spark and finally light.

I hadn't lost the wall, the wall had lost me. A chasm, a fold in the near perfect protection. Nearly three meters wide, as endlessly high as the exterior walls and deeper than the light will show. Have I made it? Is this it? I quiet my hopes and take my first step into the dark abyss.

Deeper into the crevasse I push myself. The clockwork sounds pouring through the walls have risen to a deafening roar. Every massive explosion of tick is quickly followed by a cascade of tock. A grinding rhythm of gears and metal contraptions moving steadily beyond the walls sent my mind wandering in chaos. I have traveled so far, too far, to let anything stop me now. Still the incessant ticks continue to grind down my resistance.

Finally after what must have been two hundred meters I reach something new; an enormous door towering before me. Easily a dozen meters high, the entry device was a mammoth of design. As I move closer to examine it, I notice it shimmers in the candle light like finely polished brass. Intricate engravings adorn the surface, covering every visible part of the door. Ancient runes and glyphic script encircled the only extrusion on its surface. A single knob, bigger than two of my heads, is set in the dead center of the door. I again returned to my pack to produce a length of rope. After several failed attempts I manage to loop the rope around the knob and begin the climb towards it.

Reaching the handle I tied myself off to hold my height just below the oversized door knob. I pulled out my spectacles and took a closer examination of the writings about the protrusion. The script is familiar to me. It is a variation of the tongue used by the barbarians from across the frozen sea. Surely such a benign race of warmongers could not be responsible for this marvel of engineering? I put away my glasses and feel across the surface of the knob. It’s incredibly smooth. A single mar on its skin of brass about two-thirds of the way around give me the information I am seeking; I only hope I weigh enough.

I fasten a steel peg from the tools in my pack into the hole of the handle and tie the other end of the rope to it. Slinging the length over the curvature of the knob I release my knot and swing the full brunt of my weight against the steel peg. Slowly I drift towards the floor as the knob turns on its axis. Suddenly I fall to floor some three meters still below me. The peg immediately follows me down striking me in the head. The knob began a slow turn back to its original position. It is obvious that I have miscalculated.

Practice makes perfect and on my second try I make take the foresight to triple wrap the rope before beginning my decent. Now, I make it down to the floor in one piece. Still the door will not move. The rope is tight against my hands. I jump up and pull down on the remaining length. The knob completes a full cycle around its shaft a soft click emanates from the door.

Quickly I stand back waiting for the next motion. A hidden seam appears as a curvy zigzag along the length of the door spewing a brilliant light into the dim chasm. I am engulfed in a mountain of glow as I hear the doors slide open and thunder on their hinges. I am blind by the light but filled with warmth of anticipation that eludes description.

My arm covers my face, desperately attempting to block out the complete whiteness of the light. My left foot moves out first, taking me into the light. I cross the threshold of the door and hear it softly slide shut behind me as I pass. Then, the light begins to fade its massive intensity. Down, down, down; it softens until I can see clearly.

“Amazing!â€

...That's it? Nooooo! You need to finish this.

^ agreed. you can't just leave it at that... he's not out yet... or dead .. >_<;;

quite gripping story as you can tell i suppose. ^_^ please continue.