The monument III (Course version)

Mike looks up and squints at the overgrown path cutting through the darkly forested cliff, feeling the cold stone of the monument he knows awaits him at its pinnacle under his hand already. As he stares, Mike suddenly clutches a hand to his temple as searing pain explodes through his mind, along with a memory, of sorts, a looming presence of something old, expansive, and malicious barely held back by a weakening ring of grey . A voice inside Mike yells “Danger this way, terrible, unspeakable danger this way. To ascend is to enter darkness!”, but as always, Mike pushes down this voice, trusting in his own cunning, experience, and preparation to bring him though. As he starts up the path, putting one heavy lug soled hiking boot on the trail, he pretends that he cannot hear the voice pleading with him to turn back away from this unknown and fearful path, and back towards the safety of town with its lights, humans, and cars all moving with predictable regularity and logic. Half way up the hill, and around thirty minutes later with his legs beginning to tire, and his mind unnaturally exhausted an opening in the cliff face appears on his right. A cave, about the size of his tatami room back home, with a few filthy trash bags and discarded appliances carelessly thrown into the cave, and again instinct cries out “the people here do not care for this place, they defile it as a warning to others”, and again Mike ignores this unnessiary and unasked for intrusion. Finally, his mind in a near constant battle to focus on the trail and ignore his worries, Mike turns a corner and the path opens up into a gravel right overlooking the ocean with more dark hills on the left, unending ocean in front, and the small beach town he came from on the left. The monument stands, a strange dark stone structure that seems to shift in color as he walks towards it, tricking his eyes. As his hand reaches out to touch the stone, in a last desperate effort the voice lets out a sharp yell, like what Mike imagines a crow might make if it flew into a wall, and goes silent. Finally Mike touches the monument, and a smile spreads across his face, but only for an instant. Then his eyes lock onto the horizon, his hand stiffens, and he knows no more.