Zack woke to the sound of distant yelling and horse hooves pounding the ground. He sat up startled by the revelation people were nearby. He got dressed and stuffed the hand cannon in his belt. When he opened the door, nothing was as it should be. He stepped out on the porch and saw a forest that ended at the cabin. To the east he saw mountains. Zack realized this was the same setting as the weird dream with the terrifying dragon. Zack felts chills run down his spine as he looked to the west for the dragons. They were not there. Instead, he found a village in the distance that was about three times larger than the last time he was here. Between the village and Zach's cabin was a fair ground with a large crowd of people watching some sort of competition in a giant ring.

Despite the obvious noise and excitement in the village he found himself peering back at the mountain. As he looked closer, he thought he could see a cave about halfway up the mountain by a waterfall. He grabbed his binoculars and looked closer. Sure enough, almost hidden by the waterfall there was a cave. It would have been easy to miss had there not been a faint purple glow emanating from the cave.

Zack pondered; how does a cave just glow faint purple?

Then he thought, probably the same way a dragon existed, in his dreams.

He had heard of people having lucid dreams but never really experienced it himself. Zack didn’t know why but he felt a compulsion to go to the cave. Like a memory that you can’t quite recall but is just on the edge of your consciousness. He felt compelled to visit the cave. He packed some water, snacks, a flashlight, other supplies, and put on his hiking boots. Making sure his gun was secured and loaded he made his way up the mountain to the cave.

The forest between him and the cave was thick with foliage. He did not see any animals but did see several birds that were much different than any he had seen before. He was able to find some animal trails that led him to a clearing about 500 yards from waterfall and pool of water. A small creek ran from the pool down the side of the mountain away from the direction of the cabin.

As he approached the waterfall. He noticed a path from the pool of water up to the cave mouth. The cave was still emanating a faint purple glow and he could hear sounds like people talking or singing. The sounds of people were so faint in the background against the noise of the waterfall he wasn’t entirely sure it was real. Yet as he approached the pull against his memory only grew. He had an insatiable desire to be in the cave. He slowly made his way up the path behind the waterfall. When he was about forty feet from the cave, he realized the purple glow was not coming from inside the cave. It was like a barrier covering the mouth of the cave.

The purple glow extended from the rock surrounding the cave mouth out about five feet like a bubble. He could vaguely make out shapes in the cave, but the view was blurry almost like it was pixelated. The weird sounds he heard that sounded like indistinct voices were coming from the cave. As he considered the sound, he realized it was possibly coming from the purple bubble. With his hand out, hoping this was still a dream he approached the bubble. His hand passed right through, and the sound stopped. Cautiously he moved through the purple barrier to the other side. When he was all the way through the sounds of the waterfall abruptly stopped and it became significantly darker.

He whirled around the look back, however all he saw was stone with strange markings. The markings were almost imperceptibly glowing purple. He touched the wall behind him, and it felt like a small current of electricity ran through his arm. Not enough to hurt, but made his arm feel weird and slightly numb. He turned around and fumbled for his flashlight. Before he could turn it on her noticed his eyes were acclimating to the cave. There was a faint light throughout the cave. It did not seem to be coming from any specific place. Yet, Zack could see well enough to move around.

Zack took in his surroundings. Strait in front of him was a large set of double doors like you might imagine opens to a castle. The doors reached over 10 feet high. There were two small windows in a stone wall on either side of the doors. The wall and doors looked as if they were built into the wall. With rock on either side the enter area was about 30 feet wide and 15 feet deep. He noticed the doors did not have handles. There was an object on the door that Zack guessed to be a knocker of some kind. A brass looking ring was affixed to the door about seven feet in the air. Attached to the ring was a large jewel shaped like a skull.

As he examined the door, the skulls eye lit up and seemed to orient on him. Zack took a deep breath and stepped back to the wall. As he did the lights in the skull’s eyes went out. He approached the door again and again the skulls eyes turned on. The skull oriented itself looking right at Zack. They just stared at each other for a long moment. Then Zack took another step towards the door and the Skull exhaled some smoke or possibly dust as it wheezed out a noise.

Zack stopped in astonishment. Was it my imagination or did that jeweled skull just try to talk to me?

Zack took another step closer. The light in the skull’s eyes got brighter and it clearly inhaled. As it exhaled it made noise like it was trying to talk. It sounded like someone who had a very dry mouth. Zack was not entirely sure what language the talking doorknocker jewel skull was using.

He stopped and realized how crazy that sounded. Was he really trying to understand a glowing doorknocker in what is apparently a magic cave? No crazier than anything else that has occurred in the past 72 hours.

The skull made a noise that sounded like it was trying to clear its throat. Finally, when it could make a clear sound, it started talking in a language Zack did not understand. Helplessly, Zack stared at the jabbering skull as it seemed to transition between languages as it spoke. The skull seemed to be getting irritated by Zack’s lack of response. It sounded like the skull was asking him a question.

Finally with a note of frustration Zack yelled at the skull, “I have no idea what you are saying!” The skull stopped and pulsed a few times.

It looked at Zack and said in perfect English “would you like to enter the sacred room?”

Zack was stunned at the skull’s use of English.

The skull repeated itself, “would you like to enter the sacred room?” It was strange to be talking with a doorknocker the shape of a glowing skull.

However, for lack of a better idea Zack simply said, “yes”.

The skull began to glow a deep purple and light shot out of its eyes and washed over Zack’s body. This happened for just a few seconds.

The skull stopped glowing, looked at Zack and said, “Permission to enter granted, affinity detected. You are the first to enter this chamber in thousands of years.”

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Suddenly he heard the lurch of the large doors as they slowly began to open. Soft purple light burst through the doors as they opened. It took another second to acclimate to the new rooms light. As Zack walked through the doors he took in the room. Immediately he noticed it was not just a room but a rather large space. As big as a large church back home. It was circular and had benches that looked like pews in concentric circles around the middle. In the center was table with seven chairs. The walls were covered in stained glass panels that ran from floor to ceiling. Each pane of glass showed a different scene with people and animals. There was a dull light coming through the glass which offset the soft purple glow of the space at the top of the room. The ceiling was vaulted and shaped almost like a circus tent with inscriptions and small windows spaced evenly around.

Zack began walking towards the center of the room as he took everything in. The room was clearly old. From the accumulated dust it was apparent no one had been here in a long time. There was so much dust that Zack left footprints as he took the steps down to the center of the room. When he got closer to the table, he saw that each chair was designed differently. He could feel an essence almost like a smell emanate from each chair. They had a distinct feel to them that were very different from each other. It gave Zack the feeling that each chair has or at least had a specific owner.

At the center of the table was large book on a small pedestal. The book had a tan binding with gold and silver etched into the leather. The pedestal had words artfully etched in the wood. The book was likewise covered in dust. So thick that Zack could not clearly make out the writing or art on the cover. Zack walked over to the table, careful not to touch it and reached to wipe off some of the dust.

As he reached for the book he heard a cough behind him, like someone was trying to get his attention. Grabbing his gun Zack whirled in the direction of the cough. There in gold and silver robes sat a man who looked like a wizard in a children’s fairytale. Complete with the pointy hat and the grey beard. The man sitting on the bench chuckled to himself.

He examined Zack with a bemused look on his face. “Is this really what Wizards look like to you?”

Zack, both astonished and confused said. “Excuse me, a what?”

The man responded “a wizard! Is this what you think a wizard looks like?”

Zack swallowed and meekly replied. “I have no idea what a wizard looks like, I have never seen a wizard before.”

The old man grunted as he said, “Well that does make sense since I am the last of the wizards. However, you must have heard of wizards for me to look this way.”

Zack replied curiously, “why would how I perceive wizards have any bearing on how you look”?

The man paused and then said, “Well that is an excellent question. To explain that I am afraid I need to start over. Welcome to my humble home, my name is Paxton, you can call me Pax. I am afraid that you have me at a disadvantage as I do not know your name or why you are here. For that matter how you even got here.”

Zack stumbled over his words as he thought about Pax and his claim to be a Wizard. Oh um, my name is Zack and as far as I know I am dreaming right now. So, I really have no idea how I got here.”

Pax looked at Zack and shook his head. “How can you not know how you got here. You could not have just apparated here by accident. This place was supposed to be hidden never to be found again.”

Zack exclaimed, “hhhmm well I appeared next to a mountain and saw a cave. I felt drawn to understand the cave better. When I examined from a distance, I saw a soft purple glow coming from the cave.”

The Wizard interrupted him, “You saw a soft purple glow? And what do you mean appeared?”

Zack was unsure how much he should share. He hesitated but finally decided he needed some answers and maybe this Pax wizard dude could help.

All at once Zack Blurted out “I am not sure what is going on, I think I am in a dream as I have had a similar dream before. I am staying at a friend’s cabin. Weird stuff is going on. A plane crashed; I was attacked by a giant furry forest monster. I dreamed of a dragon which was attacking the nearby village and it seemed to notice me. More look right into me. Yes, I saw a light purple glow around the entrance to the cave. A weird crystal gem like doorknocker skull spoke to me and now I am here. Shit has been weird and getting weirder.”

Pax got up and meandered around the room muttering to himself. He looked over at Zack a few times without saying anything. Zack was about to ask him if something is wrong when Pax turned and offered him his seat at the round table.

Pax said, “It seems your being here is not necessarily a chance encounter. To be clear you should not have been able to see the purple glow, nor should you have been able to communicate with the door skull. It takes a certain, um type of person to do that. A kind of person that has not existed in over 5,000 years.”

Zack asked, “what kind of person?”

Pax looked at him with a kind smile, "Well, a wizard of course."

Then Pax continued, “The door you entered has not been opened in the last five millennia. As a matter of fact, I was the last one to open the door so very long ago.”

Zack asked, "Wait, you are five thousand years old? That is not possible.”

Pax breathed in slowly as he thought. Almost distractedly, he answered, “Normally it is not possible."

Zack just stared in disbelief as if willing the most obvious follow up question, however Pax did not bite.

Finally, Zack asked, “Have you been alive in here for 5,000 years?”

Pax replied, “Yes! How did you find this place, how did you get in?”

Zack replied, “considering this is most likely a dream I am not sure you or I are actually here.”

Pax chuckled at that, “The one thing I can assure you young man is that we are both certainly here. The place you described with the village and the mountain is exactly as I remember it. Some version of that village has been around longer than my time and certainly longer than the forsaken Acolytes of the System.”

Zack considered this and asked, “what system?”

Pax looked at Zack incredulously, “what system? You ask what system? Are you toying with me boy” with an edge of anger to his voice.”

Zack was pretty sure Pax was delusional and frankly he was getting quite tired of weird shit happening all the time.

Zack met his voice with an angry edge of his own as he exclaimed, “Listen Pax the Wizard, 13 days ago I earned my doctorate in communications from the University of Minnesota, 11 days ago I asked my girlfriend of seven years to marry me, to which she said yes. Ten days ago, I found my new fiancé giving my mentor a blow job in his office. 8 days ago, I left on this fishing trip to Northern Canada. A trip that was supposed to be for her and I to get away for a romantic week of sex and fishing. I ended up going alone. In the last three days I have ‘accidently’ slipped in time twice, seen a giant forest creature with glowing yellow eyes, found my dad’s best friend right forearm in a plane crash outside my cabin. Been attacked by a different giant glowing red eyed forest monster and killed it. Had a dragon in another dream look into my soul. And I cannot seem to reach anyone back home.”

Zack took a big inhale and yelled at the top of his lungs, “So when you ask me ‘if I am playing with you boy’ I don’t have the slightest fucking clue what you are talking about, or why I am here, or what the fuck I am supposed to do next. I saw a glowing purple light coming from the mountain and felt compelled to see what was going on.” Zack collapsed into the chair and tears welled up in his eyes.

Pax was taken back by Zack’s comments and began muttering to himself. Finally, he asked, "when you killed the red eyed monster what happened next?"

Zack looked at him and said, “I hid in a closet fucking terrified.”

Pax replied, "I mean what did you do with the monster corpse?”

Zack said, “oh another weird thing to add to my list, it dissolved into smoke and dust. It left behind its giant claws and a small gem.”

Pax smiled, “Ok, I think I have some idea what is going on.” But first I must ask, and you must tell the truth, wizards have ways of detecting lying. Do you really not know anything about the system?”

Zack replied, “System of what? I have no idea what you are talking about.”

Pax mumbled to himself as he walked to the back of the room. He looked back at Zack, “Would you care for some tea? It tastes amazing and will settle your nerves.” Zack accepted and, in a few moments, they were sitting at the table together.

After his first sip Pax looked at Zack and said, “Can I tell you how I got here? It is a story about Wizards, the Acolytes of the System, and a great war. I think it may explain what you are experiencing.”

Zack leaned back and sipped his tea. It was delicious although he could not place the flavor. He sighed and said “sure.”