The Wizard – The Wizard: Air, Sound and Urine

Warm and soft fabric, pleasant sensation. He was comfortable, about to get out of bed and regretting that fact. He opened his eyes and saw only darkness. He froze for a moment, then felt panic, rubbing his eyes thinking, “I can’t see! I can’t see!” He placed his hand on the floor, ready to jump, but felt the coarse and rough floor of the cave, and memories came flooding in; the panic subsided, and then he was left with nothing but his wooden stick.

Then he heard the noise, he remembered where the water was, so he didn’t feel so disoriented, but still, he was in quite the dire predicament. Worse still, his stomach was beginning to rumble, which meant that he was going hungry, not catastrophic right now, but lethal soon enough. He knew that the worst he could do was to lay down and do nothing, but what could he do? He felt tempted to repeat the fabric trick with his friend, the stick, but doing so would consume his only tool and damage his only protection for his body. He racked his head thinking.

Once again, the warm and friendly feeling of giving up and laying down approached the limits of his mind. So tempting, so inviting. Alluring and beautiful the feeling, much more now that he had a water source by his side. Why make the effort? Why try? The little voice in his head sounded so mighty and powerful in the echoing void of the cave. There was nothing there; he was nothing there. He couldn’t even use his eyes to see. The robe is filthy, but it still is warm and inviting, just rest some more.

Why not?

He ignored the question and decided to try and use the one landmark he had available, the water. He approached the edge of the… lake? He was going to call it a lake. And started to follow the shoreline. It was larger than anticipated, but both sides ended in a sheer wall. Disappointing.

He briefly considered swimming but discarded the idea; he didn’t know what kind of creature lived there, which reminded him of. Yeah, best not. Standing as tall as he could, he sniffed the air; other than his own smell, there was nothing save the fresh and clear note of clean water.

He rested his hands on his wooden stick, using it as a cane. Thinking, then his mind hit on it. There was no smell at all, no staleness, no decay, no stillness. Same as light, there had to be air filtering from somewhere. But how? He tapped one of his fingers on his stick and heard the echo ripple through the cave.

Yes, sound.

He knelt and felt the floor for a few rocks, gathering a few, he stood straight again and proceeded to throw them at random, hearing the echoes bounce on the stone. The sound revealed a vast and open space. The very definition of cavernous. A sad and solitary bead of sweat went down the side of his head. He stood there and thought a bit more; he didn’t know what else to do.

It was strange, very strange, so long had he stood at the top of the tower, alone and one with the universe. The what he was feeling now was the same. Alone in the middle of a vast nothingness just… why am I letting my mind wander again? He refocused

After a short while, he decided to start, pick a direction at random, and just go. Before going, he turned towards the pool, or lake, or large pond, whatever it was, and drank his fill again. He was getting ready to march when he felt the need to relieve himself. Going some ways away from the pond, he did so. Then he turned to leave, but he stopped; the smell of urine, the smell… He had an idea. He went back to the lake, drank his fill again, and waited.

When he was ready, he walked farther away and repeated the same thing as before. Only this time, he started to circle the puddle in an outward spiral pattern. Yes, there was a very, oh so very faint air movement. The smell was stronger and went longer on one side than the other. The last thing to decide was what to do, go with the flow and go against it. He stopped again and tried not to think; he tried to feel. The books, everything that he studied, cold air was heavier than warm air, so it tended to go down. There was the chance that it was natural cave air flow, the place was big enough for that, apparently but. It was all he got. Trying to feel the imperceptible air current, it felt fresh, cold, though it was hard to discern in the cave for everything was cool. He decided to go against the air current. Using his stick to feel the terrain, he began to march.

Where does the air flow come from?