"Welcome again" the storyteller spoke in their countless voices, "are you here for the usual exploring stuff?"
The very next day August was standing in the eternal darkness perceiving the surroundings only by his senses other than that of sight. His eyes were closed, his fists clenched.
There were many regions of the conscious realm that he had not yet explored. The dark forest, the eerily quiet ocean, the silent raging volcano and many more. But this wasn't the reason August had entered the place today though.
The storyteller greeted him like everyday.
Today, however, August was silent— just like the realm itself. Like he was hiding many secrets within his heart, maybe he had finally become a part of this realm.
The voices in the dark also grew silent, maybe the storyteller had also sensed something unusual about him today.
"Storyteller" he said in a suppressed tone gritting his teeth, "I am ready."
The voices stayed silent for a while and then suddenly burst into laughter as soon as they came into realization.
The joyous laugh of the ancient being sounded so sinister, if it was someone other than August they wouldn't have been able to endure the sheer intensity of the countless voices laughing at the same time that belonged to an ancient being on top of all that.
An ordinary person might have gotten an attack of seizure on the spot at the least.
August however stayed indifferent, never showing anything on his face.
He stood silent, calm, composed.
Due to his mental resistance thanks to echoes assaulting him from a very young age he was able to endure the laughter.
The sinister laugh of the countless voices faded out slowly and the storyteller finally spoke, not bothering to hide their excitement,
"Ah.. finally the moment came," they laughed in amusement, "I thought you'd never break. I have to ask though, what made you think you are ready at last?"
"Why are you asking me that?" he replied with the same indifferent tone, "don't you know everything already?"
Indeed, the story teller claimed to be an all knowing being. Therefore the reason August suddenly felt ready for the first story couldn't possibly have escaped the sinister being.
The storyteller laughed in their countless voices again,
"That's right I do know. I know everything. However, hearing the reason directly from you would have been great. Don't you think so?"
"Ah… I don't know" he replied with an aloof expression, "does it really matter?"
"It does not" the voices laughed again, "very well then Augustus I will now start my story. But firstly, I have to warn you again. Just a formality you see. There are two things you need to know."
The voices grew fierce,
"The first lesson: Lost and Found,
These are the tales I've gathered by getting lost for eternity. I wandered into the depths of countless realities. I flowed in the eternal darkness of the formless abyss. I tore through space, gravity, singularity, reality and the eternity itself. The pain and agony I've gone through, the limits that I've crossed —your human mind cannot even try to comprehend that. After ages of formlessness I was finally found. By me. By myself. However, oblivious to my own self. Even now."
"And the second lesson: Price and Consequences.
You can't even imagine the prices that I've paid to collect all these stories. But I am not as evil as to ask you to pay the price of course but there will be consequences, keep that in mind."
The voices suppressed the excitement and asked in a calm voice,
"....so let me ask you for the final time. Are you ready?"
August heard the voices but today he was in no mood to step back. He wanted an answer to one question desperately. When he spoke his voice sounded confident devoid of any hint of doubt,
"I am"
"Excellent, I know you were an excellent human specimen," The storyteller said with amusement. Suddenly the darkness around the seemingly source of the voices grew deeper. Countless stars suddenly came into existence around him, the next moment position of the stars seemingly changed, then the process repeated itself, again and again,
"This is my prized collection, you see. It won't be easy for me to pick a perfect one just for you. I'll try nevertheless."
The position of the stars in the dark space changed many times, the stars were all different. Some were small, some huge, some gave off a specific colour and some just stood there with their blinding white light. Some stood alone, some in a cluster of many, some were faraway, some in a denser area.
In simple words, the universe of these countless nebulas and constellations was vast, very much so. In fact August wouldn't have actually comprehended its vastness if he were to witness all this directly.
"Ah yes, found it," the voices exclaimed in amusement, "this …this is perfect."
Suddenly all the space around him became blurred as though his focus was forcibly shifted on a single star burning with the green essence of light. The voices seemed to grow distant and nearer at the same time as they spoke,
"Okay then Augustus, what will you show me, I am excited. Show me …show me everything, show me the truth, show me the fact, show me your will, your hope, resilience, diligence, belief, desperation, grief, sadness, disparity. Show me to what extent a human mind pushes its emotions, show me the limit, the endgame."
As the green star grew closer the size of it increased steadily. August felt like suddenly he was falling in it?
"Show me what you can do Augustus, in this ancient sacred land of sacrifice."
At last his mind grew dizzy from the sheer velocity of the emotion happening before his eyes. Not his eyes exactly, it was his perception that was completely exhausted. The pressure of the vision was too much to be put on his other senses.
His vision went blurry, his mind was aching.
Finally when the mental pain became unsufferable, August fell unconscious.
— — —
August woke up in darkness. His head was hurting a lot. He rubbed his eyes, the vision although he wasn't able to see anything now, he still felt dizzy.
As his mind stabilized August remembered being with the storyteller just a moment ago. He recalled telling the strange being that he was finally ready for their first story. It was because August had a question, a very important one. For what he needed an answer to desperately.
Therefore, regardless of not knowing clearly what the stories of the storyteller contained, he agreed.
The main question in this state was where was he now? August knew that the darkness surrounding him wasn't part of the conscious realm because he was able to see with his eyes and feel his physical body.
Though what does that mean really? Was he still sitting on the wooden bench in the depth of the forest beside the clean water pond? Was he dreaming? Was all this just an illusion?
In that moment August did whatever the most logical decision he could come up with. He sat cross legged and concentrated. A minute passed, then another. August was confused when nothing happened even after concentrating for half an hour.
He had a feeling about where he was as the last thing he remembered was he felt being sucked into the green star. The Land of sacrifice, he recalled.
So what does that mean? Where was the story?
He thought maybe the storyteller had made a mistake but in reality he knew well the strange voices who claimed to know about everything could not possibly make a mistake.
August thought maybe it was the conscious realm after all. He closed his eyes and spread out his senses. Surprisingly his perception answered. His senses washed over the surroundings providing him with information about where he was.
However, there was nothing in his vicinity aside from a weapon on the ground a few metres away from him. August knew the weapon well, it was the fallen star, his sword.
As it turned out wherever the storyteller had sent him, they thought he may need the weapon here. Which meant only one thing. The place obviously contains danger. August concentrated more on his perception, trying to break his concentration in the hopes that it could lead him back to the physical world.
However August already had a bad promotion about this place which he felt reluctant to think aloud fearing his thoughts may come true. Spreading his senses more wide almost up to the extent August was finally able to locate something like a wooden plank at the corner.
He stood up immediately as he realised,
"A door"
August picked up his sword and started walking into the direction of where he had sensed an exit. Suddenly a whisper sounded in his ears and he stumbled onto something causing him to fall on the ground.
'How can it be?'
August was surprised, he was damn sure about not sensing a thing around him but what was it that he suddenly stumbled on to? August stood up continuing to walk towards the exit.
This time after taking a few steps, the floor beneath his feet felt like changing its form. In the darkness it was very difficult to know what exactly was happening. Therefore August without trying to make any assumptions, kept on moving forward.
Everytime he took a few steps he would stumble onto something, or the ground beneath would become liquid.
However August paid no attention to the strange phenomenon, every time he fell, he would stand up and take a few steps forward.
August refused to think anything about this place that could make him feel anxious.
Now when he thought was nearing the exit, he started to fall more quickly than before. August came to know that there were some beings, some unnatural entities around him which were the cause of it.
He knew for a fact when one of them laughed in a screeching voice when he fell on his face.
However August did not pay any mind to them. He wasn't the one to be terrified of the voices. He had endured the torrents of echoes all of his life after all. Therefore whatever these strange entities were, August wasn't afraid of them in the slightest.
Now the entities weren't even bothering to hide their presence by remaining silent.
They were taking to one another in whispering voices,
"Oh my, what do we have here?"
"A human? Can I devour him?"
"No, the eclipse is only a few weeks away, it can't be. How did he get here?"
"Come on, what does it matter? Human flesh. Soft. tender. Let me feed upon it."
Countless entities began to speak at a time. August was able to differentiate them from the voices of the storyteller because these voices didn't say anything in synchrony. They were neither simultaneous in the pitches nor did they seem to be in agreement with each other.
Some talked about devouring August and some debated against it while talking about some rules.
Well, as long as there were enough entities to speak against eating him, August thought he could escape.
The dark spacious room suddenly became a hall of debates and August was trying his best to look for an exit in the meantime. Considering there were countless, formless entities trying to make him fall on the ground every time he made a try to escape.
In the loud noises of the debating hall, laying on the ground August called for storyteller but not even one voice of the myriad responded.
— — —
Back in the physical world, in the moment when August was falling into the star with the green essence, the sacred land of sacrifice — sitting on the wooden bench in a lotus position August's physical body was unresponsive. Like he was alive but there wasn't a soul in it.
Suddenly he opened his eyes, August stood up awkwardly with no emotion on his face. His eyes looked completely dark, like the abyss itself was gazing back at the world. He looked at his arms and legs in a completely inexplicable emotion.
Suddenly a corner of his lips curled upwards and then another stretching out his facial muscles, forming a ridiculous face.
Then he turned his gaze and started walking awkwardly.
It was as though he wasn't his own self at all.
— — — — —