Dmitri awoke with his cheek flat against the cold surface of the ground. There was a ringing in his ears and he shook his head as he sat up, trying to clear it. His head pounded and his vision blurred momentarily. He thought of Claudia and pain gripped his heart. Blinking back tears, he strengthened his resolve, best not to think of that right now. He sat up and looked around; he was in a hallway, he could tell that much. The walls and floor were like stone, but smoother. Overhead bright things shone down upon him, the glare of them too bright, he had to shade his eyes. They were as bright as the sun, yet they radiated no warmth, they must be some sort of light source he mused. The ringing in his ears continued, but then he realised that he could actually hear the sound, it was coming from somewhere in the hallway. Looking down it, he could see some cone-shaped objects mounted on the wall, atop these was another light source, but it was a flashing red. Beneath both of these was a rectangular box that suddenly crackled, and a voice issued forth from it in a language that was familiar but still not quite recognisable.

Getting to his feet, Dmitri cradled his head in his hands as the throbbing threatened to overtake him once more. He stumbled down the corridor, away from the piercing noise. Reaching a corner, he snuck a look around it; stretching out before him was a corridor much like the one he was in. Part way along it was a door recessed into the side. A large tapestry hung from one wall. Adorning it was a blood red background with a white circle in the middle. Within the circle was a black symbol portraying a cross with additional arms extending off each arm. Dmitri had seen this symbol before in his travels, in the eastern lands, but never before displayed like this. Cautiously, he continued down this new corridor towards the new door. From behind him came the sound of running, and of shouts in that odd language. Looking back around the corner he saw a group of men charging down the corridor at him. Each of the men wore a close fitting grey uniform, a much smaller version of the tapestry on their shoulders. Not only was their uniform the same, but they were all pale haired, the style very short. They were holding what appeared to be black metal spears and as they approached Dmitri, the men pointed the spears at him in a clearly unfriendly fashion. The man in front made a jabbing motion with his spear and spoke in the odd language. Dmitri made no move and said not a word. The man barked another word at him and jabbed the air emphatically once more. Dmitri shrugged, not able to understand the language, as hauntingly familiar as it was.

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“Who are you, what are you doing here?” barked the man, this time in English, his heavy accent making it difficult to understand.

Stunned at the turn of events Dmitri managed to stammer out that he didn’t know.

Upon hearing Dmitri’s voice, the man burst into a tirade and jabbed his weapon a few more times. Not knowing what to do, Dmitri just stood there. The man reacted by bringing up his weapon and slamming the blunt side against Dmitri’s head. Everything went black.