The Temple

I sank to the bottom of the river, frantically waving my arms and legs to force my way back to the surface. The more I struggled, the tighter the hand gripped my right ankle pulling me ever more deeper into the dark abyss. Never have I felt so vulnerable and as close to death before. Panic threatened to force my mouth open and breath deep the murky water. I took one last glance up at what should have been the surface. Now so far deep my only sense what once was "up" is the opposite of the direction of where I was being pulled. The fear, the strangulation, even in the complete darkness I can see the spots dancing around my vision. No longer can I hold it back, my lungs has won this deadly tug of war, and I gave in to the evolutionary involuntary response that humans have been doing for thousands of years...I opened my mouth and breathed deeply... ...expecting the liquid that once sustained my life to now take it away, instead a rush of sweet delicious air filled my insides. Despite the burning sensation from holding back breaths in an eternity of sinking I gulped up more and more. Once the elation of the simple act of breathing faded, I realized I was on my hands and knees, kneeling on a stone floor. Slowly I looked up, hands still planted to the ground, and took in the cavernous tomb I was now in. The walls were lite with evenly placed torches well up to the pointed ceiling. jaw now agape, it dawned on me that I was inside what I can only describe as a pyramid. I pushed myself to a kneeling position, unconsciously wiping the grit from my hands onto my jeans, and continued to swivel my head about taking in the tombs intricacies. A dripping noise from behind me captured my attention so I turned around to investigate. At this point I was already forcing my aching body to a standing position, but what I saw next forced me back down to one knee. The entrance of the tomb was large square opening, possibly ten feet wide and twenty feet tall. What I saw though was impossible, instead of the night sky I gazed upon a vertical wall of water, held in place by, what? Nothing! Just a wall of water subtly rippling as the surface of a calm lake would without a care in the world.