magisternihil's 100-word story for January 8, 2026

magisternihil wrote the following micro-story on Hectalex on January 8, 2026. Each story on Hectalex is inspired by a daily visual prompt and must be exactly 100 words.

It’s the same place every time—the opening in the rock, the uncertainty of what waits on the other side, the roiling fog making the pathway treacherous. Every time I get closer than the last, almost able to make out shapes, hear sounds from the there that I desperately need to be my here. Of course that’s when I wake up, groggy and unsettled, my mind grasping at the memory. Every time I think I have it held firmly it dissipates like the fog that so effectively obscured my path Now I long for the next sleep, the mystery beckoning.

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