Awakening in the Darkness of the Nether World

In that strange and lonely hour of temporal resurrection, almost complete darkness rounded me. I sat up and rubbed my eyes, and as i did so, i felt every rag of clothing drop in dust and shreds from my person. My outstretched hands, on one side, touched the rough rocks of what was apparently the arch of a niche in this chamber of the nether world. And under me, they discovered a sandy shelf on which i lay, some eight or ten feet from the ground. As near as could be judged, not a sound broke the stillness, but the gentle monotony of falling water,. whereof one unseen drop, twice a minute, fell with a faint