How many licks does it take?

I awoke. Where was I?

Ahead of me a vast, symmetrical array of incalculably massive glass pyramids. Surrounding the faces of each of the pyramids, a staircase; the stairs at the bottom more worn out, the stairs at the top pristine and glistening.

There were stars, or what appeared to be stars, in both the sky above me and under the glass floor beneath me. From what I could see, an endless void connected the distances between the specks of light.

The transparent plane upon which I and the pyramids were laid upon existed on a two dimensional scale. I imagined it extended endlessly on the X and Y axes alone.

There was no sound but the sound of the blood rattling inside my eardrums.

I could not perceive a defined meaning for my being here, so I began ascending the staircase closest to me. Immediately upon touching the first staircase the world around me shifted – a flash of light on stair #1, seething pain on #2, then memory on the rest. Stair #28 showed me bashing in a man’s skull with a stone. It shone a shade of red. According to stair #57, I was the patriarch of a family, but stair #58 was black and when I reached it, I was engulfed in nothingness.

I awoke on a far smaller plane than before. A look around showed me where I was – I had been transported to the zenith of my pyramid. A beautiful woman appeared before me.

“What dost thou desire?” She asked.

I thought of the memory I possessed, of my family’s strength how I always wanted something more.

“Wealth and power,” I said proudly.

There was quiet laughter, then darkness.

I awoke. Where was I?

There appeared to be an endless array of glass pyramids surrounding me. The structures and I were suspended in a void by a thin glass floor.

Without seeing anything else to do, I began ascending the steps to the pyramid closest to me. As I stepped foot on the first step, the world around me collapsed. There was a burst of light and a seething pain, and then memory.

My dear Leyenna. I would have fought all the kingdoms of Christendom for her. She was captured… I saw myself, ascending the steps of the prison tower, sword in hand. I didn’t see the one behind the door… then I saw nothing.

I awoke on the roof of the pyramid I had begun to ascend. A woman appeared before me, her face worn with age.

“What dost thou desire?” She asked plainly.

I thought of Leyenna, and how my memory glowed red with passion and fervor whenever she entered my mind.

“To deny the impermanence of beauty,” I said firmly.

“Close, my dear…”

Close?

Then blackness.

I awoke in the midst of a mathematically-aligned array of what looked like glass pyramids suspended in a void. There were stairs surrounding the faces of each pyramid and, without any other apparent option, began the ascension of the stairs closest to me.

I stepped foot on the stair and reality faded. There was a flash of light and a scorching pain. Then memory…

I awoke a plane, smaller than before. I saw that I was on the roof of the pyramid I had begun climbing. In the corner lay a creature – it had the vague shape of a woman but the flesh was rotted and she lay in a heap, stinking and decaying.

Without moving her jawbone, a whispery voice creaked out, “What dost thou desire?”

I thought for a moment.

“Please, my dear, please…”

I thought a moment more of my life and uttered, “to deny desire.”

A thin wisp of wind touched my face as the creature’s body relaxed and my vision closed in. I thought I heard it say thank you.

I shut the monitor off. The experiment had been successful. Longer than expected.

The Pyramid Method was effective.