He was dead....lying in a puddle of blood. Eyes popped out of their sockets, strands of meat and blood trailing the floor to the location where his individual eyes lay.
His nose was...dead, rotting in real time. A decay like transformation taking over it in a matter of seconds. His mouth laid partly upon a small puddle of blood that it had released.
His trousers were soaked in a dark gluey substances, mixed partly with his own blood. Reddish green veins popping out of his skin to give it a dying color.
It was instant and yet it was not, to them it was forever...years even. Yet at the same time, to them it was but an instant amongst others, a single second experienced. Unexplainable and futile, unfeeling and unreal.
"ThedeadspeakandthelivingscreamsinpainThedeadmovesandthelivingbegsformercyCanyouhearit?theirsweetscreamsofagonytheirlongingtobemadeanewtheirhateandenvyfortheliving" a voice muttered, words moving so fast that one couldn't make out much sense of it.
It kept muttering and muttering, speaking as if gone mad eons ago.
Nark was awake, he had been for a few hours now. But he hadn't moved from the building...if you could call it that.
He could remember the halls, the finely made drawings that livened up the place. The paintings and lights that screamed nobility at one.
Now, there was only decay....and death. He wasn't sure what happened, he wasn't sure if he was even alive anymore.
All he remembered was the book opening and their blood being dropped unto it, then suddenly, Rex began to twitch then he well as he began to convulse.
Before he knew it, he was dead but then everyone one was. The inquisitor, the guards, the maids. He had gone around the building and saw nothing but death and bones.
The building itself was half alive, already falling apart from its own weight. Broken pieces already on the floor or hanging around in places.
At first, he thought there was a battle because he saw a lot of swords, shields and broken bones scattered all over the places. There were some conflicting banners in places, their emblems already fading off.
But you could still see that there was a difference, some skeletons had weapons within them which could only mean death by fighting.
"Maybeyouweresaved,maybeyouwereabandoned. Doesitreallymatternothingevermattersbutpower,ifyouseekanswerstoyourquestionthenfollowthepath.Seethewayandcommandyourfateforonlythroughyourhandscanyougainyourrightfulpower." The muttering voice continued, changing its words that had been repeating for hours.
Nark was at first surprised and distrusting of it but as he looked around here, there was nothing else to lose for him. He might as well go and check what those voices were saying.
Speaking of voices, he felt satisfied that his abilities to discern it meaning so quickly had meant his training was paying off.
Once more, he truly felt that he was meant to be the savior of this world. Why else would the book not only spare him but also show him this?
Could be glimpses of the future since the inquisitor clearly wasn't dead when he left. Not though, his corpse seemed desecrated with only his clothing and sword being used to discern who he was.
This could also be a totally different dimension, maybe a place he was brought to fully become the master of the cursed book.
He was to his embarrassment looking forward to it, his mind drifting to stories where the protagonist would claim and master this mysterious power or living object.
Sometimes even having them turn into his waifus and become part of his soon to be growing harem.
But just as those thoughts came, others accompanied it. Like what if he was the sacrificial lamb for some other lucky bastard or maybe meant to be the villain of the story?
For now, he needed power and part of that needed to be an army. With an army, he could claim some land or kingdom and then work on himself to become even more powerful.
With an army, not many in this time would dare to go against him...especially since this world even if having things like magic, seemed...nerfed.
"Fasterfaster, walktomecometome. Excitingexciting,comeandholdyourfateinyourhandswieldyourowndestiny. " The muttering voice pushed as Nark made his way through a path that seemed to have survived all this...destruction.
He winced as it seemed to not respect the privacies of his mind causing him to feel really annoyed.
"Quiet down or I won't come " He shouted into the air, not really expecting anything from it.
But then, the muttering voice suddenly calmed down. It wasn't gone but it also wasn't so intense, it seemed like just a scratch at the back of ones mind now.
While still uncomfortable, Nark was smiling like a man whose mental bet had played out as he imagined multiple times.
To him now, this only meant one thing. This would be his power soon and he looked forward to the challenges the world would bring to him in the coming days.
---Months Later---
Neverending, that was how my journey had been. I had been going for what seemed to be days when I decided to sit down and do some counting.
To my...surprise. I counted far more than 48 hours, the light hadn't gone by even once. At first i thought I was insane, counting over and over again.
But each time, the results were ever damning. You can't tell the difference in the time of the day based on the sun.
I didn't feel hungry nor thirsty, my body didn't feel tired but...my mind. My mind was taking a toll, that I found out when I realised I was talking to not just the bones but the voices.
Weeks passed by and in between that period, I knew not the exact date...the voice multiplied. Became louder and more chaotic, yet it was always so...quiet.
So still, so unending, so quiet, so unmoving, so unreal...so alone.
By the 4th week...I think since I began a correct date keeping. Using some materials I took from around, I forgot why I was originally doing this.
I knew it had to do with power, but I knew not what it was or how I was meant to retrieve it. Only having the voice to trust , to direct me forward.
Around 2 months after I began a controlled date keeping, I tried to eat, sleep or urinate. I could do nothing no matter how much I tried, I needed to do something....something....what was I saying?
Doesn't matter, what matters is that I think I don't bleed here or maybe more than that...I can't die.
So..day...week..4..7..Month...3....yes, Month 3 after I began correct day counting...date counting...I tried to make myself bleed.
It worked but the voices didn't like it, no no. They hated it, screaming at me, shouting in my head...they won't leave us alone.
Month 6 after I the great one arrived in this kingdom of hell, I led my cohort of people through the trials of this hellscape.
For the first time since my arrival here, I saw something...I saw a path. A destination, a place.
Up up up to in the sky, forsaken and abandoned yet shinning like a beacon of hope to a frail one.
Up up up up, gleaming like the red darkish glow of ones own blood. Surrounded by the screams of the dead and the bodies of ones dead companion.
I climbed, climbed far and wide. Didn't trip, never did nor fell. I climbed till I saw it, I could feel it past my tattered clothing which exposed my bare skin.
I felt it past the comfort of the voices, the shackles of my weakened mind, I feel it past my flesh and blood. Through my bones, its crevices and cracks.
It was wrong, dying, laughing. It was something never to be, never was, yet always been. It was madness and consolation.
The voices intensified but became more focused, less mumbling and chatter. More words...words of wisdom and grace.
I knelt before it, knelt before its grace and beauty. It showed me a vision, a goal to achieve. It showed me the truth of this wretched world, the reality of death.
I saw it, the sky littered in white and black. Colors raining down in gracefully disgusting cries, it shifted...to an altar.
A small tablet of stones and ruins, marked by the scars of blades and fire. On it lay an angel...one of grace and beauty, soaked in the most beautiful color ever imaginable.
A glowing light blinding to his eyes, the radiant color became a pain and blessing to him.
It changed once more, he could see it. A being trapped in chains, hidden in the dark. Obscured and abandoned by the light, with wings as vast as the sky.
She stared, right into his eyes. Facial features hidden behind the metal mask that bind her, leaving only her dying eyes.
She stared, seemingly into nothing. Yet to me, it was a stare that asked for me.
Then it changed into...nothing. It showed me nothing next, I could feel a certain wrongness with the darkness. A certain pain and anger within it, but all I saw was nothing.
Then it emerged, a plain looking book from the grasp of the shadows. Then I returned, drawn from the abyss, eyes wet from tears at the glorious vision I had seen.
I look upon the book, the lord of all. The future, present and past. I stretched my hands towards it, towards it calling.
It was mine, my power. I would be its shepherd and its master, its student and its follower. My path is its path, for it has given itself to me.
Once I touched it, I felt bliss and heaven. I was the main character of this story, this world. I will be its savior for I have been chosen.
Then I returned, staring upon the familiar face I had once forgotten. A face that I had not know I would miss, having nothing but its skull accompany me for months.
" Well...hello there, Inquisitor " I said to him as a wide smile grew upon my face.