GEIST - BOL - CHAPTER 2 - MONOLITHS

The monolith stood on the edge of the desolate plain, black and smooth as a raven's wing. Its surface swallowed light, turning the sun’s feeble rays into cold, mocking shadows. No one knew how long it had been there, not really. Some said centuries, others millennia. It didn't matter.  

Martin Cole trudged across the cracked earth, a scarf wrapped around his face to keep out the dust. He was searching for something, though he wasn’t quite sure what. A relic of the old world, maybe, or a sign that things could get better. People in the settlements whispered about treasures left behind before the Fall, technology that could save them from the slow death creeping across the land. But Martin had stopped believing in saviors a long time ago.

As he approached the monolith, he felt its pull, an almost magnetic tug that drew him closer. He'd heard the stories, of course. Everyone had. They called it the Pillar of Shadows. It was said to grant visions, show you things you needed to see, though the outcome was seldom pleasant. Many who visited never returned. Those who did were changed, hollow-eyed and haunted.

But Martin was desperate. He had nothing left to lose.

The air grew colder the nearer he got, and the world around him seemed to grow dimmer, as if the monolith was draining the life from everything. He reached out a tentative hand and touched its surface. It was smooth, like polished stone, but cold, so cold it burned.

And then the visions began.

He was no longer standing in the wasteland but in a city, one he recognized from old photographs, before the Fall. Skyscrapers reached for the sky, their glass facades gleaming in the sunlight. People bustled about, their faces full of purpose and life. Martin watched, an invisible observer, as the scene played out before him.

A young woman walked towards him, her auburn hair catching the light. She was beautiful, and she was crying. David felt a pang of recognition, though he couldn't place her. She stopped in front of him and looked up, her eyes wide and pleading.

"Save us," she whispered, her voice a ghostly echo.

The vision shifted, and Martin was back in the wasteland. But it wasn't the same. The sky was darker, the land more desolate. And the monolith... the monolith was glowing. Its surface writhed and pulsed, as if something within was trying to break free.

Martin stumbled back, his heart pounding. He wanted to run, to get as far away from that cursed thing as possible. But the vision clung to him, the woman's face burned into his mind. Save us. 

He fell to his knees, the weight of despair crushing him. He had come looking for hope, for a sign that things could get better. But all he had found was more darkness.

In the distance, a low rumble echoed across the plain. Martin looked up and saw a storm approaching, a wall of black clouds that seemed to move with purpose. The air crackled with energy, and the ground trembled beneath him.

He knew then that the monolith was not a relic of the past but a harbinger of the future. It was a beacon, calling forth something terrible, something that had been waiting for a long time.

Martin got to his feet, his resolve hardening. He couldn't run. Not anymore. He had to face whatever was coming, to stand against the darkness. For the woman in the vision, for the people in the settlements, for himself.

The storm was almost upon him now, the wind howling like a banshee. Martin took one last look at the monolith, its surface still glowing, and then turned to face the coming darkness.

He didn't know if he could save them. But he had to try.

And as the first drops of rain began to fall, Martin Cole took a deep breath and stepped into the storm.