• The cold winter breeze breaks into my room.
    My weary eyes open to this tomb.
    My hands grip the stone bed sheets as I ask where am I.
    Then across the room came a bone chilling sigh.

    I feel anxiety with no heartbeat.
    I quickly turn about on my feet.
    Black clouds hug the lean figure before me,
    I stumble back from this thing I see.

    The figure tilted its shrouded mien,
    Then asked "Did knowledge make you not so keen?"
    I get ready to question what is meant but throbs slam through my head.
    I collapse against my bed thinking of what was said.

    My eyes open to an empty house by the sea.
    The frost in my veins still seems to take a hold of me.
    I look up to see the window open to the ocean breeze,
    Yet I know that it is not what makes my blood freeze.

    I stand up slowly as I fight the frost in my ligaments.
    I look out the window to stare at my world's fragments.
    The pale sunlight and lifeless blue sky tear at me,
    Tis beautiful here in Hawaii.

    I turn upon the pale white carpet that caresses my nervous system so.
    I grip my head for I feel there is something I should know.
    I walk into the hallway that is lavished with portraits and porcelain busts glazed black and white.
    I feel my blood flow quicken at the sight.

    I see a bust of Achilles in his brilliant armor of bronze and steel.
    He stands tall and strong like he’s ready to kill.
    Then I gaze upon the portrait that shows his immortal image's seal,
    I see him felled by an arrow to his heel.

    I shake my head as I walk on through the hall.
    Every bust of a hero matched by a portrait of their fall.
    Then I come to a statue of me,
    I freeze and question "What is this I see?"

    I grip the pale statue and begin to look up to the portrait above it.
    I feel terror as everything appeared to fit.
    The silence in the hall became a rising symphony to my ears,
    All the notes that played turned sour by my fears.

    I am in a beautiful garden with that cloaked figure from my nightmare.
    Yet I seem not to care.
    I feel my head throbbing as the world cracks away from around me.
    Only pale black and the portrait do I see.

    From the painted canvas a figure now descends,
    Out into the pitch black room it blends.
    It speaks in a soft but razor blade voice,
    “Do you enjoy your choice?”

    Tears run out my eyes but freeze upon my cheek.
    The ice seizes at my lungs and makes me weak.
    Yet I force a question out for it is necessary for my life to,
    “Who…. Who are you?”

    The cloaked figure sighs and jests out,
    “Do you not know what this is about?
    This world in which you crafted yourself in?
    This world where you lack your Eden?”

    I look confused but collapse to the floor.
    It says gently “You’re the one who opened knowledge’s door.”
    I grip my aching chest that houses no beat.
    I groan as I try to get feeling in my feet.

    The world spins as the shadows leave me.
    I slam my eyes shut as I feel water running up to my knee.
    I smell a tropical breeze and feel the sun’s ray.
    Yet I do not feel the warmth of day.

    My eyes open as I grasp sand.
    I look around to recognize the land.
    I see the Mediterranean Sea.
    God, what is happening to me?

    I stand up and feel the cool salt water brush on my feet.
    My eyes gaze up to find I am at the island of Crete.
    I begin to stumble along the shore.
    I come to find prisoners shoved down into a door.

    Then guards seize me by my arms.
    My mind whirls as I realize all of the possible harms.
    Why are these men dressed in armor and shield?
    How is there such perfection in that door’s archaic build?

    I am dragged before a king who speaks a language unknown to me.
    Yet something in my genome reveals what the words meaning may be.
    “Welcome to the home of the Minotaur you lucky soul.
    You get to pay your vices’ toll.”

    I am thrown into the dark deep as the doors slam shut.
    I hear men and women whine like an abandoned mutt.
    They flee as I sit still.
    Why can I not muster my will?

    A girl stands before me as I look at her with gentle eyes.
    I could see the crimson in her eyes from her cries.
    I wrap my arms around her to comfort her pain,
    Yet I feel the weight of some bane.

    Then she backs away with a smile.
    Confusion drifts upon my face as I realize her guile.
    She runs as she calls “Austerion!”
    I struggle but ropes restrain me to the ground I am on.

    I feel my heart aching!
    I feel my heart breaking!
    I feel the lightning and tornadoes tearing at my lung,
    I feel the deceit that the angel of music has sung.

    I feel the ground quaking.
    I feel my body shaking.
    There is the rage-filled sound of the Minotaur’s surveillance!
    There comes the storming of his hoof’s and then – Silence.

    Here comes the frost again.
    I feel crushed inside by some sin.
    The figure returns once more.
    God what does it want me for?

    Yet something is different this time.
    Faded is the black cloudy grime.
    Its clouds caress into curves around its side.
    Its ebony skin no longer seemed to hide.

    I bite my lip as my blood rushes through my every vein.
    I feel like I am driving myself insane.
    The ropes deteriorate and release their hold of me.
    I look up to the shade and try to identify who it may be.

    The shade slowly circles me as if observing my pain,
    The gentle taps of feet on the ground vex my every vein.
    I feel my stomach churning from anxiety,
    Why does it prance with such piety ?

    “She left you to die I see,”
    It said with mockery towards me.
    I look up at the figure to see the black clouds forming into a ruined bridal gown.
    My nerves give in and I look straight down.

    “Wh-Who are you and why does it hurt to look at thee?”
    I questioned the shade in hopes of what the answer may be.
    It laughed gently and turned its back to me,
    “You chased knowledge to only forget all that used to be.”

    The sour churning in my gut turns into fuels for my rage.
    It is now that the truth and my brain must engage!
    I hop to my feet and begin to sprint.
    I run hard and fast just to catch a dreadful scent.

    The darkness fades into charcoal black clouds.
    The ground becomes a street filled with panicking crowds.
    The smell of fire fills the air,
    I can see buildings burning and their infrastructures tear!

    I fill the ground begin to quake.
    Oh God why does the Heaven’s shake!?
    The lava from Mount Vesuvius lights the hills I fear to say,
    By lord I am in Pompeii!

    I see children crying and women holding them close to calm their tears.
    I see scholarly men scrambling to protect scrolls from their fears.
    I feel ash constricting my lungs from breathing right.
    I cringe at the screams and yelps of people in plight.

    I begin to run as fast as I can to get away.
    I slow my run as my heart forces me to stay.
    I look back to the burning skyline and stand my ground.
    I stare in fear and then hear a pleading sound.

    I look down and see an ebony maiden upon the land.
    My heart throbs as I take a step towards her yet my legs feel like they are laden with sand.
    She screams “My love, save me!”
    I bite my lip as tears roll out like the sea.

    My heart screams to stay here and know the end of time with her,
    But my head screams against the feeling it bore.
    My body turns and takes flight.
    All against my tears and my heart’s plight.

    I hear her screams of pain,
    I hear her heart cry out in vain!
    Oh God why do I try not to hear?
    Why do I have to be here!?

    Then a girl grabs my hand and guides me on.
    It’s the girl from Crete who used me like a pawn.
    I am unable to fight the wills to be with her in my core;
    My heart is tearing as I begin to remember what I swore!

    The ground breaks away from under me,
    Dissipated is everything that just a mere second ago I could see.
    I am floating in white emptiness of some unimaginable place,
    Yet I feel fire rip into me even in this space!

    Then I land gently on some invisible ground as everything seems to shake.
    I lay there gasping for breath as my body begins to quake.
    The white fades slowly into a vibrant blue.
    The ground comes alive in a temperate green hue.

    Birds take flight into the sky.
    The Euphrates River fades into the world as I cry.
    Trees take form as my hands grasp the ground.
    Flowers and animals form from the dirt as my mind swings all around.

    I groan as I close my eyes.
    I begin to revisit the memories of my lies.
    Tears roll out onto the grass and roses grow out,
    The birds chirp as I shout.

    This world is so beautiful and graceful to see.
    The plague that only contradicts it is me.
    I spent all this time searching for a life so grand.
    I spent time just to see what I had crumble into sand.

    I feel my hear still not beating,
    Yet my heart ache is still not fleeting.
    My hands grip at the ground as I scream in pain.
    I crafted a world for me but I made it to always suffer my bane.

    Then a gentle female voice says to me,
    “Now do you see?”
    I look up and see the girl from Pompeii.
    I lose all words to say.

    She gives me a hand that I do not deserve to have offered to me.
    She smiles a diamond smile that I do not deserve to even see.
    I have tears running out of my eyes when she simply states,
    “You need not suffer anymore of heartbreak’s weights.”

    I look up in shock for what she said,
    I searched for possible meanings in my head.
    Then I forgot my fears of what should be,
    I surrender the disgrace that restrains me.

    When I take her hand life courses through my every vein!
    My heart springs to a beat without a strain!
    I feel life finally take refuge in me.
    Oh God how the lust for a knowledge can make you unable to see!

    I take her in my arms as tightly as I can.
    My memory breaks free from this self-inflicted ban.
    I weep and loudly proclaim,
    “I deserve an eternity in Hell for my shame!”

    She shakes her head and says to me,
    “Dearest stop for there is still a we.”
    I smile through my tears,
    Silenced are all of my inner jeers.

    I look into her deep brown eyes,
    I begin to smile despite my cries.
    I press my forehead to hers as my arms wrap around her hips.
    I then gently kiss her lips.

    Days turn into nanoseconds and run pass us two,
    Years become seconds as I kiss you.
    Centuries pass faster than minutes as you hold me.
    Cities construct around us but it does not bother me or thee.

    Memories flash through my eyes of us two.
    Centuries of dying for I could not hold you.
    I look in to your eyes as you smile too,
    You gently say “I love you.”

    “Joshua, can you hear me?”
    I look over to my friend but with memories of you still to see.
    I shake myself into focus and stammer out,
    “No, but say it again without a shout.”

    He shakes his head and questions me,
    “Would you like that girl down on a knee?”
    I look at him and think of all I just saw.
    I still feel the beat in my heart is raw.

    I look to him and say,
    “Never shall I, I pray.
    I have a girlfriend and no one more.
    I don’t want the knowledge of a life without her.”