Olek arose from within the depths of his tiny hell. His face, ragged and forlorn, stepped out first. Each step he took seemed like one step closer to his death. His world was a blur; with a mirage of mixture of yelling, screaming, and the incessant echoing thunder he heard once in a dream. He had tried to forget that dream, but he couldn’t help remembering that one eventful night. He dreamt...

...There was a large stone obelisk tower amid a bed of death of tyranny. The obelisk stood high in a bed of souls, lying dead in piles all around the ground. A burst of steam and gray ashes spurted from the top of the tower, sending a rain of cold death in the air. Olek cried as he wandered amid a bed of bodies, dead to an unknown killer. Tears came out of his eyes, and rolled off his face onto the ground, only to explode into fire. Olek saw a legion of people, of many shapes, ages and sizes lined up. He sulked his way over, dodging piles of rubble. He remembered walking forever, toward the line of people far off in the distance. He kept walking through the basin of souls, and all the while the stone tower lurched above him, whimsically laughing down below. His heart raced, frantically beating as his ears reminded him of that pulsating thunder which seemed to erupt from inside his mind. That echoing thunder followed him as he wandered, and it seemed to be a presence following him, but as Olek turned his back, he could only see a never-ending bay of dead bodies. He walked forward, and suddenly tripped, losing his balance. The world seemed to go in slow motion as his body streaked down toward the ground. He fell with a thud, but noticed he was not where he had been before.

Rising to his feet, he looked around, still noticing the imminent presence of that stone tower perched high above like a god. It spewed ashes and soot all over the area. Olek ducked away as piles of ashes rocketed down to the ground. Olek looked all around, sensing a familiar presence. He turned around and saw his mother, meandering in the direction of the large stone edifice. Behind her, was a massive line of people lined as far as Olek could see. Olek remembered that this must’ve been the line of people he was running towards. He sulked over to his mother, and saw the blank expression as she sobbed, her head down below her shoulders. “What is the matter mother?” Olek pleaded. “Why are you so sullen?” No response came from his mother. She continued walking toward the tower, getting nearer and nearer towards in devastating appearance every second. He turned around, and walked toward the people following behind his mother. It was an eerie sight, to see thousands of people walking in rags with their heads down in shame. Out of the corner of his eye, a lady sulked towards him, wandering out of the line. She was covered in rages, it looked like she barely moved herself and she walked toward him, with a baby in her arms. She stopped in front of him, and held out her baby. “I cannot take your child,” Olek stated, and denied the request. The woman stood her ground, not moving an inch. “Please. I cannot…..” Suddenly the woman deteriorated; her body and clothes turning into ashes. This scared Olek out of his wits, and the once-human being lay as a pile of black ashes in front of him. No one around seemed to notice. The baby lie atop the pile, and began to cry. It was a horrible sight, to see a baby cry on a bed of its mother’s ash, but suddenly, and Olek could only fear, it too withered. It withered into a dark, pile of ashes, alongside the remnants of its mother.