Alber

You were already a sculptor at school and as soon as you got your training you became a sculpture restorer. You worked in castles and sometimes clients would bring you statues that needed repair. You made your own sculptures, but only when you had time and an idea that was worthwhile.

But now you wanted to get to work repairing a statue that had been brought in a few days ago. It was an ancient statue that, to everyone's surprise, retained all its limbs. Actually, it was relatively well preserved, as it had been found recently in a cave that had been used as a temple to the god of the underworld. Or so they told you.

The scientists had already completely excavated it, and now they wanted you to return it to its former glory. The statue was overgrown with moss, and a piece had been chipped off here and there, nothing you couldn't handle.

You walked into your studio, where in the middle of it, on a heavy pedestal, was a black marble statue, several metres high, covered with a white sheet to keep the dust from falling on it. To reach the top of the statue, you had to take a stepladder.

You took the sheet off the statue and sat on the ladder for a while, looking at this unique piece of art. You've always admired how in ancient times they could make statues that looked like sleeping people.

You were struck by several things at once with this statue. For a statue of a god or king, the figure had almost angelic wings and his face was covered in a strange mask. The crown placed on his head looked like spikes and behind the wings you first thought it was a halo but then you realized it was fire.

You stepped down from the ladder and many questions ran through your head as you looked. Was it the king of the underworld? What if it was an angel first. A reference to the Bible? What could be hiding under the mask?

You were walking around the statue when you noticed the strange text on the base. It was quite illegible. You wiped it carefully with a rag and thought it said a name. But you had trouble deciphering it, even with the alphabet of the language the scientists had given you. So you'd know what font was used and not accidentally change it.

There were other strange words next to the name that made no sense to you. You ran your hand over them and read them aloud to yourself. To your surprise, the letters glowed with a fiery light.

Everything around you went dark and all you could see was the fire writing that grew and formed a circle around you. You had no idea what to do when the ground caved in beneath your feet and you began to fall. You'd been in the apartment below you before, and it looked decidedly different.

You were now in a large room of black marble. There were torches on columns at the sides, illuminating the room. You felt like you were in a palace.

You turned around to take in the entire room when your eyes fell on a massive black and silver throne, upon which sat a man who looked like a reanimated version of the statue you were supposed to be repairing.

Dressed all in black, with a white shirt, a black mask covering his face and a silver crown on his head. Large black wings stuck out of his back and a bright flame burned behind his head like a halo. Did you hit your head and this was just a dream?

Only his eyes were visible through the mask. Eyes with a look so cold it chilled you. And though you must have caught him off guard, he didn't show it. The king strained to look at you.

"What are you doing here? No mortal is allowed here," he said sternly.

"Where am I?" You asked, still not knowing if it was real or a dream.

"The underworld. Realm of the dead," he replied bluntly, as if it were obvious.