I awoke coughing, choking, gasping for air. Every breath brought nothing but more coughing and choking, because the air was thick with dust and particles of rock… Where was I? Last thing I remembered I was laying on the ground in a meadow, looking to the past for forgiveness, and to the future for hope. That meadow had become my life, it was my little piece of the world, I was dead, I had accepted that a long time ago. No longer was I dead, I was very much alive, at least for the moment. I looked around quickly, looking for a glint of light, something to show me a direction out of this dark pit, but there was nothing, just dust, and darkness. What had happened to so drastically change my existence? What did it matter, if I didn’t find some way to get out, or at least to somewhere that had clean, or cleaner air I was going to die. I had no choice, so I started to walk in no direction in particular, I just started to move in what seemed to me the clearest direction. I was more stumbling along than anything else, I couldn’t see where I was going, the cloud of dust was too thick to make anything out. Non the less, I kept moving, hoping to stumble into some cleaner air, I was starting to get dizzy from the lack of oxygen. Up ahead, I thought I could see a faint glow of light, or maybe a break in the cloud. I only needed to make it a few more steps and I would find out what was up ahead, all I could hope for was a breath of fresh air. As I continued to walk towards the light, I began to black out, I was seeing flashing lights, and everything was beginning to blur. No, I had to make it, I had to get out of this hopeless abyss. Those were my thoughts as I fell into the blackness.

I heard the murmuring of hushed voices around me, I had somehow been able to survive the suffocating cloud of dust and debris. How, had I gotten through it? Had these people around me saved me? I needed answers to the questions flying around in my head. I cracked open one eye only to see, that I was surrounded by people, more than I had expected, there must have been dozens, all of them staring at me. All those eyes studying me, trying to see through me it seemed. I tried to sit up, but I couldn’t, I was tied to a table. Why had I been restrained? “Hello” I said. They all jumped back when I spoke, apparently they didn’t expect me to speak. They all looked very frightened, I had no clue why, I was restrained, and I had no intention of harming any of them, but I suppose they had no way of knowing that. “Why are you here?” asked a small man standing near the front, he had the look of someone who was in charge. “I don’t know why I’m here, I have no idea where I am actually.” I said. “Sure, you expect us to believe that you don’t know where you are, or how you got here? Because that is an extremely bold statement, this mine is extremely well hidden.” He said. All the other people in the circle glanced between each other and this man, he seemed to be the leader. He motioned to a young boy, maybe eight or nine years old. He whispered to the boy, who immediately took of running out of the small cavern we were in currently. It looked to be some sort of meeting place for these people, like a stone age council room. “What is your name?” the man finally asked. “William Wallace.” I replied. It was strange, they all looked shocked. As if they knew my name. “No you can’t possibly be the one.” He said bitterly. “What are you talking about?” I asked him. “There is a prophecy that tells of a man named William Wallace, it speaks of a warrior that will come to free us from this, life of being trapped in this mine.” He says solemnly. It can’t be, was my purpose here to free these people as I freed mine? Why would it be my fate to eternally save people. “How long have you been trapped in this cave?” I asked. Might as well get as much information as I could, while I had the opportunity. “Four generations.” He said. There was a commotion as the boy entered the cavern followed by an old woman, she seemed to be moving as if she was floating. She had gray hair, and a wrinkled face, and her eyes, they were totally white, blind. “Is he the one?” she rasped. “It appears so.” Said the leader. “Shall I tell the story of how we became prisoners?” she asked. “I believe it is time.” He replied. “Four generations ago, a man came to our small village, and foretold the arrival of a great and menacing army, that would raid our land. He begged us to take refuge inside these caves, told us it was our only chance at survival. Needless to say, we didn’t listen… at least not at first, it took twelve deaths to convince us to hide. But he also foretold the coming of a great warrior to free us from the oppression of this faceless enemy. He said that the day you arrived was the day we must leave the mine, to begin anew. That is our story. And now it is your turn to help us. Will you lead us to the surface?” she said. It was all too much to take in, I had been dead, for years maybe, I had made peace with myself, I had accepted the fact that I would live in that meadow forever. Now I was alive once again, and being asked to assist these people. I couldn’t just say no. “I will lead you to the surface, but after that you are on your own. If there are troubles along the way to the surface I will defend you as best I can. Once on the outside, I must go my own way.” I said. There was a palpable change in the room, as if a weight had been lifted off each one of the peoples shoulders. I looked each one of them in the eyes in turn, all across the room. “One more thing, will you untie me now?” I asked. “HAHA, of course, I apologize for that, we had to be cautious.” He said. Of course I understood, though it didn’t do anything to make me more comfortable. “Of course” I said. The boy walked over to me holding a large bladed knife, he cautiously cut the ropes from around me. “Thank you” I said to him. He ran off as I spoke, I must have frightened him. Now that I was free, it was time to plan our trip back to the surface. A way through that endless cloud of dust. “What do you know about the cloud?” I asked the leader. “And what may I call you?” he glanced up as he replied. “My name is Fip, and that cloud is something that comes and goes. There is no way to predict when it will leave or for how long. But we have ways to travel through it.” He said confidently. “Then why haven’t you left the cave before?” I asked. A troubled expression passed over his face. “We tried to send a scouting party to the surface, they didn’t make it, a few minutes after entering the cloud we began to hear their screams. It was over in a few moments, and we never saw a sign of them again.” He said. That was a troubling prospect, to have to fight something inside that abyss, it was hard enough to walk through it, much less fight. “Do you know how far it is to the exit of this cave? Or even how to get there?” I asked. “Yes we know how to get there, but it is blocked off, we will have to clear it once we arrive there. It shouldn’t take more than half a day to walk there. Considering how small our number is.” He said. Half a day to walk there, it seemed impossible that there was that much space underground. “What do you mean blocked?” I asked. “Apparently when our ancestors entered the cave they saw fit to seal the entrance with rocks.” He answered. That shouldn’t be too difficult, from what I could see, there were plenty of men, between them it should be a relatively simple task. “When will we leave?” I asked. “As soon as we can gather everyone, and get everything packed, should be in less than a few hours.” He replied. It was a long wait, I sat there in a corner watching as the people gathered there things and began to assemble into a mass, Fip was running around barking orders half heartedly. It seemed as though not everyone was so eager to leave this place behind. I was trying to work everything out in my mind, how had I ended up here? What was my true purpose here? As I glanced back up I noticed Fip staring at me, almost as if trying to see into my thoughts. “Are you ready to leave?” He asks. “Yes.” I reply. With that we are on our way out of the protected cavern and into the unknown of the dust cloud, as we walked out I was handed some sort of mask. I put it on, and I was able to breathe inside the cloud. It wasn’t so terrifying once you were able to breathe. The ground was just loose sand, it shifted under foot, causing you to feel a little off balance. The cave walls were a strange greenish blue color. The ceilings were high, and rounded. The group walked in a line behind myself and Fip, that’s how most of the day went, just walking. We stopped only once, and that was only to break for food and water, even that was only a short respite. It was hard to gauge time inside that cave, but if I had to guess, I would say it took us almost six hours to reach the sealed entrance, I had been wrong about it being an easy task. The entrance to the cave had to be over three meters tall, and almost double that wide. It looked as if it was going to take forever to break through to the other side. “Well, lets get this over with.” I said. Fip guided three men over to me, and we began to pull rocks away, one by one. It took only minutes before we began to see cracks through which light was shining through. It looked as if we would be out of the cave at last. But that brought up the question, what would be on the other side? Seeing the light gave the rest of the people hope, and energy. They began to help, with the added hands, it took us only minutes to open a hole big enough for people to crawl through. “Who wants to go first I asked?” I asked. They all just stood there and looked at me. “Ok, I guess I’ll go.” I said. Crawling thorough the gap in the rocks was the most emotion filled moment I’ve ever experienced, I was scared, excited, and a little bit hesitant. Breaking through the last bit of loose rock in the way, I stood and looked around, to see nothing but sand, and blue sky. I had never seen anything like it. It was a vast ocean, of orange sand. The heat, was incredible, blistering, it was almost unbearable. I returned to the opening and called to the other that it was ok to climb out. One by one they began to file out of the small opening. As they exited the tunnel, I could see the shock on all their faces, this was the last thing they expected, one prison for another. Fip walked over to me, looking very distraught. “Where are we? Where is the village we left behind?” he asked. I had no words to tell him, all I could do was shake my head, and try to figure out how to escape the heat, and find a way out of the endless sand pit. As the last few people exited the cave, they all began to talk amongst themselves, some outraged, some scared and some in shock. They all knew that the only option was to try to find a way across, this vast desert. It would take time, and it would be a perilous journey into the unknown.


It was days ago that we exited the cave, we had been walking for the entire time, using all our water and food. We’d lost a few people along the way, but there was no time to stop to mourn the dead. We had to get out of the heat, and find somewhere that could offer shade and water. We were running out of options, if we didn’t find our way out today, we would be lost forever in this abyss of sand and sun. Fip and I had grown closer, not out of friendship, but out of need. He couldn’t lead the group alone anymore, he needed help, and I was the only one who could help him. “Wallace!” he called out. I looked up to see him on top of one the tall dunes, looking to the horizon directly in front of us. I ran up the dune trying to guess what it was on my way up. He looked excited, that must mean that wed made it out, or at least that there was water ahead, but what I saw, nearly brought me to tears. It was a city, made of what appeared to be gold, it was glowing in the sunlight, twinkling like a star from God. We had done it, we had made it out of the mine, and through the desert, we had succeeded in making it to safety. My job was done, it was time for me to leave the group and go out on my own. “It was good knowing you Fip.” I said. “Goodbye.” I said as I began to fade away into the wind like smoke from a small fire. I finally understood, my job in this life is to help others do what they cant. To offer salvation to the weak and needy. That’s what I was born for, I was William Wallace.