Veritas | Meditative Adventure | Mars Ep 1: An Old World

Welcome to Veritas…a meditative adventure like no other! This channel is for those who want go on a journey through story, and perhaps find themselves along the way.

This 4 episode series honours the symbology of Mars, often synonymous with Ares, the God of War. It is important to note that Ares is not a champion of war for the sake of war, but rather war in the pursuit of peace.

This series represents an intense amount of masculine energy. It is meant to be an adrenaline ride designed to ignite your fight or flight and make you react without overthinking.

In episode 1, you discover an old world...

But be warned fair traveler, this path is not for the faint at heart. Of one thing I am certain…on this path, dragons be here.

Transcript

So how we're going to begin is you're going to sit comfortably,

However that means to you.

It could be legs crossed,

Could be sitting in a chair.

Whatever it is,

Sit somewhere comfortably that you feel relaxed and comfortable.

And you're going to close your eyes and you're going to take three deep breaths.

Deep breath in,

Count to four.

Deep breath out,

Count to four.

And each time you exhale,

You're going to try and relax your body a little bit further.

So you're going to inhale,

Pause,

Exhale,

Pause.

So as you're doing this and you're relaxing,

It's in those pauses between breaths where we're going to go.

That is where your creativity meets your imagination,

Meets your subconscious.

So let's see what awaits you in the spaces between breaths.

Dryness,

Thirst.

These are the first sensations that drift into your mind as you slowly emerge from consciousness.

Where are you?

How did you get here?

You open your eyes and at first you are confused,

But then you realize you're looking straight on the horizontal ground,

Stretching endlessly towards the horizon.

The ground is a dusty red.

It looks dry and hot,

Just like you feel.

Blinking,

You lift your cheek off the ground and spit gravel out of the side of your mouth.

A quick brush of your hand finds more gravel collected and sticking to the sides of your face.

Absently,

You brush it off and this combination of sensations seems to kickstart your mind.

Pain,

Your hands are scraped.

There's an imprint in the dirt where you were lying as if you had fallen and impacted the ground.

There is a flash of memory,

Bright lights,

A falling sensation perhaps.

It is fleeting,

Then it is gone.

With a shake of your head,

You start a sanity check.

Name?

Check.

Address?

Check.

You know who you are and you know where you are from.

At least there's that.

But you have more pressing concerns,

Survival.

You need water.

Standing up,

You brush the red dust off your clothes and gaze up at the burning hot sun.

It is unforgiving and relentless.

For a moment,

You feel lightheaded,

So you pause to rub your temples.

The back of your neck feels hot,

Like the start of a sunburn.

You must have lain here for a while,

A few hours at least.

Again,

The hint of a memory is just beyond your reach,

Like the answer to a puzzle you can't quite see yet.

You slowly turn in a circle,

Surveying your landscape.

There is red iron rock everywhere,

Dusty,

Dry.

There seems to be a rock wall stretching off in the distance.

You squint,

But can't quite make out how far it goes.

Distance is hard to tell as well without a reference point.

If it is exceptionally large,

Then it's far.

That's when you notice the moon.

Its crescent sliver not so surprising if it weren't for the second moon.

For a moment,

Your brain can't comprehend this.

Earth has one moon.

Why are you seeing two?

Is it a trick of the heat?

Are you seeing things?

A faint vein of terror seizes your breath for an instant,

As you logically consider the fact that if in fact there are two moons,

Then this is not Earth.

You shake your head,

Refusing to digest the possibility of an alien world.

With a long exhale,

You rub your hands over your eyes,

Tasting the dryness in your mouth.

Your mind is slowly catching up to your body.

What to do now?

Where to go?

As you turn,

You notice off in the distance some sort of structure.

What is that?

Somewhere to go,

Which is better than your current situation.

It's worth investigating.

You take a step forward and fall flat on your face.

Your step has taken you far further than you expected.

Surprised,

You stand up again and again you step forward.

This time,

Although it is not graceful,

You catch your balance as your arms flail.

The vein of terror that you so expertly suppressed now bursts forth in a fully formed panic attack.

You are lighter here.

Your steps take you farther under two moons on a red dirt planet.

Could this be Mars?

You look at the two moons and decide that you are definitely not hallucinating.

Yet your short panic breaths are certainly breathing oxygen.

In and out.

In and out.

You puff up your cheeks and breathe out,

Attempting to calm yourself.

How did you get here?

What to do now?

These are the questions that burn in your mind,

But there is plenty of time for that.

Water.

Survival.

Nowhere to go but forward.

You take a step and sail forward across the ground.

And then another one.

You realize you can sort of hop-glide here with this gravity.

Your muscles have evolved to grow strong and useful in Earth's gravity,

So here you are somewhat overpowered.

You sort of half-hop and half-glide towards the structure off in the distance.

Absently,

You hope it's not a mirage.

You cover ground quickly here,

Which is good.

Off in the distance,

Clouds gather.

Were those there before?

As you get closer to the structure,

You realize it is certainly not a mirage,

But a dais of some sort.

There are four pillars,

One of which has collapsed into a pile of rubble.

It looks like perhaps at one time there was a roof,

But it has also collapsed now.

As you reach the edge of the platform,

You see there's a set of steps leading up inside it.

You travel the last few steps and pause before the steps gazing up at the monument.

It is huge.

The pillars must be at least two stories high,

And the stairs are wide and thick,

Like they were built for something a lot larger than you.

This in itself is concerning,

But for a moment it is the sense of foreboding which is far more of concern.

This is not a safe place,

But what choice do you have?

With a gulp,

You steel yourself and ascend the steps,

Two horizontal steps for every vertical one,

Until at last you reach the top.

It is magnificent inside.

Three pillars stand majestically,

With the fourth crumbled.

Definitely there was a roof at some point.

It looks like the walls may have been open,

And when you gaze up,

The two crescent moons are framed perfectly.

In the center of the room,

There are what looks like short tables placed symmetrically in a grid.

Some have collapsed either completely or partially,

But some are still standing.

Hesitantly,

You step forward towards the nearest one.

It is about as tall as you and caked thick with dust.

Whatever this is,

It has been here a long time.

Absently,

You run your hands over the side and are surprised to feel grooves.

Curious,

You blow lightly on the surface and rub your hand across it,

Revealing lines etched in the surface.

Some more rubbing,

And it looks like you have revealed a rune of some sort.

Its lines are etched with purpose.

It is beautiful,

But what does it mean?

Another wave of dizziness,

And you lean forward for a moment and rest your hand on the rune.

This is apparently exactly what you were supposed to do,

As it is suddenly filled with white light,

Which fills both the room and inexplicably your mind.

A flood of emotion floods your mind,

And an image of lightning flashing and storm clouds fills your mind.

Gasping,

You pull your hand back and stumble,

Once again surprised by the low gravity.

For a moment,

Your thirst and a sense of helplessness was gone.

For a moment,

You felt powerful.

It is as if you were the storm clouds themselves,

Casting lightning with reckless abandon.

Your eyes are wide,

But you can't help it.

You step forward,

And this time you place both hands on the rune and stand your ground.

Your sense of self falls away,

And you are suddenly looking down over the planet.

Elemental chaos and rage surge through you as you cast lightning and rain down with a gleeful sense of uncontrolled power.

It is only a sense of the two moons that bring you back to yourself,

And you pull away gasping.

The surge of power still courses through you.

The next table is partly crumbled,

And although you reveal the rune,

Nothing is revealed to you.

The third is operational and similar to before.

You dust off the rune and place your hands over it.

This time you see the dais.

You can tell by the pillars and the stairs.

A great beast stands atop the stairs,

Looking out over the red rock.

Its eyes survey the land,

And its head moves,

And its eyes rest on you.

Gasping,

You scramble back,

Chest heaving.

What was that?

That was no image.

That creature saw you.

You were sure of it.

A fourth rune calls to you,

And you step forward one final time.

You lay your hands on it,

And an image fills your vision that speaks to your very soul.

Suddenly,

A grating sound startles you out of your reverie.

A panel is pulling back from the floor behind you.

With a grunt,

You climb up over some rubble to investigate,

And sure enough,

A set of stairs is revealed to be leading down into the structure itself.

A welcome of sorts.

A small part of you screams to run,

And run fast,

And run far.

Perhaps it is the storm pulsing through your veins,

Or perhaps you are simply too exhausted to care.

Perhaps you just need to know.

Regardless,

You climb down and descend the stairs.

It is so dark.

Not just the lack of light,

But the dark of your imagination.

Where endless nightmares await,

Dark basement stairs.

Down you descend.

The light of the surface fades behind you until at last you reach for that last step that is not there and awkwardly stumble.

Amazingly,

As soon as you do,

The room lights up,

Revealing a circular chamber.

It is entirely empty,

And there is no dust here.

The ground is a hard marble,

And etched into the room are three smaller circles approximately three feet in diameter.

They are placed in a row with a line interconnecting them.

Above those is a fourth circle of the same size,

Which connects to all three circles,

Forming a triangle with a line down the center.

Dare you see what lies behind this rune?

Clearly it is the center of this place.

But you already know the answer.

Tentatively,

You step forward until you are standing just before the center of the middle circle.

Slowly you turn.

The quiet is eerie,

And there is nothing there to stop you.

You step into the circle.

Immediately you are lost in light.

You see the dais from days before.

The pillars are strong and majestic.

The animal you saw earlier stands by your side looking at you.

Your eyes meet,

And you feel its gaze peering into your soul.

For a moment it sits motionless.

But then,

Seemingly a decision is made.

It turns its head away from you and gazes out towards the cliffs.

A storm is raging like nothing you have ever seen.

Tongues of lightning light up the sky,

And dark clouds pillage the ground with rain.

But beyond that,

Only visible through lightning flashes,

A great shape hangs above the sky as large as the storm.

Two red eyes pierce the darkness,

And through each lightning flash,

A clap of thunder,

The shape of a great dragon is revealed,

Its wings stretching impossibly large,

And tongues of fire bursting forth from its great nostrils.

You don't know it,

But you are screaming.

Suddenly the animal tackles you and pushes you to the ground.

It leans over you and whispers something in your ear.

The vision fades and your screams grow hoarse.

Such insurmountable terror has left you trembling.

Your tears carve clean channels of skin through the dust and grime on your face.

Shaking,

You stand up.

A wall has opened to the outside world,

But you don't even bother to wonder about it.

A single word whispered in your mind by a creature you don't understand thunders in your mind louder than anything else.

Run.