The complete brightness lasted no more than a couple of seconds, through which he went completely disoriented, but somehow he had stayed calmed. As unexpected as that event had been, what happened right after took the prize. When his vision came back, the place he was in had drastically changed.

The abandoned park, with its dying trees and general decay, was completely gone and replaced with a temple like structure he was already inside of. It wasn't immediate, but he realized he was still sitting from before. Completely thrown off about the situation he apparently got himself into, he couldn't help himself but look at every little detail he could see there. At first glance, he had guessed there were windows everywhere, or that it wasn't a closed space to the very least. He couldn't see any shadows due to all the light in that place, but a better look proved him wrong about his initial thought: there were no doors or windows to be seen, and all the light seemed to come from above, from the ceiling (if it actually had one) that escaped his vision range.

The next thing he noticed was the existence of pillars in that room. Due to their position, he figured out it was a round structure. Said pillars had carvings all over them, but when he approached one, he got even more confused. He was able to distinguish some symbols, although it didn't make sense at all. Time. Destruction. Hope. Chaos. Those words he could understand from the writings, since they were actually in English. Upon closer examination, he could identify a big diversity of languages placed in that stone pillar. He could identify Russian writing, as well as Spanish, Chinese, French, Japanese, German and some others he couldn’t tell apart.

“What the heck…?”, he asked quietly. Despite how hard he tried to understand, it made less sense the more he thought about it. He looked at the pillars in his right and left, but it appeared to be the same case for all of them. Once he felt like he couldn't get more clues of what was going on, he averted his gaze from the pillar he was inspecting and looked at the middle of the room instead. Ever since he arrived, he had seen another pillar there, bigger than any other, but he had left it for last on purpose.

As he walked towards it, he could already notice similar carvings to what the rest of them had. However, he also noticed a bunch of lines all over it, connecting with each other and changing directions constantly. He walked around it, and felt impressed about whoever had made it. He was way past his original shock, and curiosity was directing all his actions.

Those lines had a pattern that was suspicious, to say the least. All of them joined at certain place: for how big it was, the place that worked as conjuction was really small. He looked directly up again, and there didn't seem to be an end to the pillar. Not only that, but if he tried to hug it, his arms would only encompass a third part of its size.

Because of all of that, he didn't notice at first that conjuction; a circle carved in the cold stone the size of his own palm. Curiosity was a trait that often drove his actions, and that's exactly what happened when he placed his hand on said circle. What did he expect to happen? Truth be told, not even he knew. Like I said, his curiosity would lead his actions in this sort of situation. Even if he knew nothing would happen, the “What if?” feeling that those scenarios would cause was way too strong.

Thanks to that, he was uncertain about how to feel when that small circle began shining with a blue light.

He stepped back in a mix of fear and excitement. After all, now that he had gotten that far, he might as well go all the way, right? That's what he thought when he started exploring the room in the first place, and he hoped he hadn't missed anything important, because the shining and brightness from the pond came from that tiny carving as well, making his vision go completely white again. Maybe a little too late, but he realised he was in for quite a ride.

This time, he was already standing when he got his vision back, and the first thing he saw were another four people, all of them in a room different from before. Well, that was unexpected. He could feel the tension in the air, as they looked at each other cautiously, forming a circle around some stone structures he’d take the time to look at later. Funny enough, they were all in the same age range, based on looks only.

From those other four people, there were two girls and two guys. At his left on the circle, one of the girls was standing looking rather angry. She had black, short hair that didn't even make it to her shoulders. Her skin had a brunette coloration, the one you’d get from spending plenty of time working rather than tanning. Just from her hard looking expression, it was easy to tell she was the kind of person to be slightly grumpy all the time. At least that explained her current mood… right?

Whoever she was, it looked like if she was already mistrusting all of them, not like if she could be blamed. Her stance with her arms crossed didn't show much eagerness to open to others, either. He couldn't tell from the way she was constantly avoiding to look at anyone for too long, but she appeared to have brown eyes. Judging by her jeans and shirt, she seemed to prefer comfortable clothes. First thing they both had in common.

One final look at her didn't reveal much more than that, except maybe the fact that, for a female of her age standards, her chest was kind of… flat.

He shook that thought out of his head and left the black haired girl alone. On his right, there was another guy. The first thing he couldn't help but notice was his ginger hair, due to its bright tone. By the way he was standing, with his hands in his pockets and looking at the rest with slight disgust, he couldn't avoid picturing the oh-so-common and stereotypical bad boy from movies and such. He had white skin, although he appeared to be the kind to spend time outside, just like the black haired girl. From beneath his regular looking shirt, some muscles could be distinguished. He wasn't exactly buffed, but messing up with him would be a bad idea. Being as tall as himself, who was already fairly tall, didn't help much either.

To add up to his bad boy look, a black leather jacket and a chain around his neck were part of his attire as well. Something was throwing him off, though. Both the redhead and the black haired girl were in a mood that didn't quite match the situation. Were they hiding something? Or maybe they were too afraid to show what they were truly feeling.

Whatever it was, if it was anything at all, he ignored it and kept his analysis of the group. The next one was the girl next to the redhead, who seemed far friendlier than the others. In fact, saying that the girls in the room were different was an understatement. With brown hair, a ponytail, a slightly tanned skin and, well, some more “developed attributes” than the former, that second girl was a complete constrast of the other. The more he compared them, more differences would appear.

For example, now that he had someone to compare himself to, he realized that the redhead and him were taller than the girls by a couple of inches. Standing at slightly below 1.70 m, the ponytail girl was the shortest one, even shorter than the guy left to analyze. Going back to her, she had the whole look of an athlete: a comfortable shirt, running shoes, a pair of shorts and a body in shape. A runner, huh? That was one heck of a group so far.

He finally placed his stare on the last guy. The first thing that could be noticed was his apparent anxiety. The room was completely silent except for the sounds they made by moving and such, as well as the noise that guy made by playing with the stone structure in front of him while looking around. He was blonde, although the tone was so clear it was hard to tell at first glance. Also, at least in comparison to everyone else there, his skin was quite pale.

With those characteristics, his green eyes shined brighter than they probably would have in other conditions. Saying he looked a shut-in wouldn't be too nice, but it was probably true anyway. Constantly moving some part of his body and holding one of his own arms made really clear he wasn't too fond of the situation. Just to confirm his thoughts, the clothes he was wearing were the kind you’d wear when going out was definitely not in your current agenda; that is to say, he was straight up wearing a pajama.

Despite how long it took me to explain, he could identify all of those traits about them just by looking at the unusual group for a couple of seconds. Once he was done, he looked down to the podium-like structure in front of him. The carvings were different, but it was extremely similar to the pillars from before. Cautiously, he began tracing those markings with a finger, more curious than ever about their meaning.

Lines and curves were all over the stone, and some parts were lower or higher as well. His eyes couldn’t find an answer, so he relied in his own touch to find some sort of switch or something that he could understand. Before long, both of his hands were touching and feeling the stone panel, bringing the others’ attention towards him. Busy as he was, he didn't notice their stare.

Unable to tell how much time had passed since his inspection began, at some point he found a spot where the stone felt like it could be moved.

“I think I found it…” -he finally broke the silence that reigned among them since the beginning.

“…Found what?” -the redhead was the first one to question him about his discovery.

“That’s an excellent question. I'm about to find out.” -as vague as that answer was, it showed how little he knew what he was doing, but it didn't stop him from trying anyway. After finishing that last statement, he pressed the weird stone, and just as he suspected, it did in fact move.