Chapter 2: The Void
Alatar expected death to be the end, he expected to not be able to see, feel or hear, but here he was in an endless void like darkness.
He looked left and right but all he saw was darkness, eerily quiet, he tried speaking but couldn't hear his voice, curiosity and confusion swept in, he tried moving his arms and leg and realised he couldn't or perhaps didn't even have them. He decided to try going forward, perhaps he was floating somewhere and to his realisation, he moved forward.
In the void like space, alatar kept on moving, which direction he was going, he didn't know. He had no idea, he was just moving, and he kept moving.
Had it been hours, he didn't know, had it been days?, he couldn't tell, months, years ..... he was blank, devoid of all thoughts and emotions, except the single instinct to keep moving forward.
Alatar started keeping track of the time in his head, he'd count the seconds till they made minutes, the minutes till they made hours, and the hours till they made days, and he kept on doing this till months passed and years.
Alatar never realised or wondered how he could count coherently for so long without losing track of what he was doing.
He' d never wondered how he was moving in the flow, did he have a body or was he a soul, or just the metaphysical representation of his will.
Realistically he didn't care, or perhaps he couldn't. Like someone in a trance he had only been moving all this time, only the one act he had realised how to do early on.
And moving he did. He hadn't spoken, he had slept, he kept counting and he kept moving.
It had been 55 years since alatar started keeping track of time whilst moving, he had not questioned it, he had just kept on moving, towards a direction, what was there he had no idea, but all he felt deep down was something was there, and so kept on moving.
10 years after this, alatar noticed a light, it was dim but he noticed, the light was moving, slow, but moving and he moved ever closer to it.
Alatar kept moving forward, getting closer and closer to the glowing light, deep wthin him, whatever he now was, all he knew was that he needed to get close to the light and so he moved faster.
Eventually, alatar got close to the light, he observed it, he was curious, it was the first thing he had seen while wandering the void like space. He circled it, and decided to touch it.
The moment he did, the light vanished inside him, and an elation he never knew flowed through him. It was like giving a man stuck in the dessert a chilled bottle of water.
It was euphoric and then memories and intent flowed through his head. They weren't his, but they did something exquisite, something that shouldn't have occurred, they unlocked his own memories and then everything went dark again.
Alatar's POV.
Groans.... Ughhhhhhh, what was that. It felt like my head was splitting apart. He sighed....
That light what was it? A soul! alatar questioned, wondered, is that, what i currently am?!. Is that how I look, alatar wondered again.
He tried to check himself, tried to raise his arm, to look behind, even if it's just a little bump, but realised he couldn't see himself or anything else aside from the darkness, and the dying embers of tdhe light he had now devoured.
So I can't see myself .... he sighs again. Well there's no point thinking about it. Tho I'm certain that was a soul, alatar continued with his inner dialogue.
I can feel his memories, it feels like if I decide to read them I could. Hmmmm if i devour more of these lights, would I end up losing myself, forgetting who I am, sheesh that would be bad.
I would have to be careful, maybe I should try and devour these memories first, alatar thought to himself.
But if he was soul like me why didn't he resist when I came up to him, or could he not resist alatar wondered.
Maybe we aren't meant to be aware, perhaps I'm a little different mutated even.
Hmmmmmm maybe I'm a monster like those novels I read back on earth.
Huh, and then alatar realised he wasn't on earth anymore.
Wait, wait,he screamed but no words came out, only his internal monologue. I died he said and paused, and I woke up in this pitch-black space yet I didn't realise till I swallowed that light.
Hmm..... He thought again... this is like those fantasy novels is it not hehehe, he chuckled to himself, maybe I'm losing my mind hahaha haha hahaha.
OK I'm alright now. I can't speak and I can't see but yet why does it feel like I should keep moving forward hmmm, well what's the worst that can happen, alatar thought to himself and decided to move forward and deal with whatever happens later on.
Well I can't sense anymore light near me, maybe I should try devouring these memories, they may just have information about where I'm currently at.
So how do I do this, alatar thought for a while.... then he just decided to say devour and then it happened.
Darkness.