GREY'S POINT OF VIEW
The deep sounds of pigeons rang out in the sky above the forest. As if singing an anthem, a promise of freedom. Beneath the soaring birds, in the forest of onyx trees, was the sound of snow crunching, muffling my hurried footsteps as I ran frantically. The haunting, uncanny, humanoid faces decorating the leafless trees blurred with black at the edge of my vision.
"Bastard!" A strong, deep male voice echoed through the uncanny forest from behind me.
I didn't look back, fearing that if I did, I would have to slow down. But there was no need for me to, since I already knew whose voice that was. It belonged to one of the two awakened guards, dressed in intricate armour with the crimson insignia of the House of Oath etched onto the chestplate as the centerpiece of the decorated armour.
They were accompanied by a fifteen-year-old girl, which would make her a year older than me. She was Amanda, the niece of the current lord of the House of Oath, and the daughter of the late sovereign of the fallen Oath domain. But more importantly, she was the daughter of my slaver.
Not for long, though.
Indeed, my freedom was near. So, so near. The nearest it had ever been.
Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain, and an arrow flew past me, scratching the edge of my right ear and landing on the forehead of one of the many uncanny, humanoid faces decorating the onyx tree in front of me. Keeping the same pace, I grabbed the arrow from the face's forehead and turned, passing the tree. The snowy ground beneath my feet moved treacherously, and I slipped, falling face-first into the cold, soft snow.
No, no, no. Panicking, I tried to get back on my feet and continue my escape. But it was to no avail; I stumbled again and again. Until a deep shadow fell on me, blocking the light of the blazing sun. The pigeons' calls of freedom stopped, as if knowing the absolute horror I felt looking up at the bulky figure of the armored guard.
"You wretch, did you really think you could escape?" He said, raising a hand ready to strike me down with the full might of an awakened artist.
"Enough." Amanda's calm voice resounded from behind him. Walking up next to the guard, she extended a hand to him.
"Give me the shackles." She commanded the guard, without sparing him a glance.
To me, she said almost sorrowfully. "Why did you try to escape, Grey?"
The guard threw the slave shackles at me. The hard iron hit my body, and unnatural pain erupted in my body. Instead of crying aloud or complaining, I just smiled darkly.
"Damned idiot!" The second guard shouted from behind the other, moving to protect Amanda. "Dodge!" He commanded.
But it was already too late. The tree swayed as if it had a soul of their own. Human-like arms shot forward, embracing the horrified guard. The guard groaned and grunted, trying his hardest to resist the tree's embrace. But, how could a mere Awakened Artist resist the might of a Corrupted Monster? The only reason he even lived to this moment was due to the fact that the Onyx Trees could only perceive the world with Taqa signatures. That was one of the reasons I chose this place for my escape, since I was a Mundane human, I didn't have a Taqa core and therefore did not have a signature.
His biggest mistake was augmenting his hand with a tiny bit of Taqa to make the pain of the shackles hitting me greater than it should have been.
I feel bad for your newly born daughter. I thought, taking the chance and getting away from them.
It didn't take long before my destination was in sight. Like a white, pure flame of hope in a vast, endless black, the great ivory tree stood tall, dwarfing the onyx trees. Unlike the onyx trees, which were decorated in uncanny faces. The Giant Ivory had only one face, above the crack that led into the hollow inside of the tree. The face wasn't even uncanny. Instead, it gave a sense of calm and belonging.
Inside the hollow inside of the Giant Ivory, was a black blur, a Rift torn through the fabric of reality like a glitch in the world, an error that shouldn't exist.
The Recording.
My freedom.
Stopping just in front of the tree's opening. I looked back only to be met with the sight of Amanda charging at me at full speed. Without much thought, I entered the tree's lush interior. My vision was drowned in black as I was swallowed by the first recording.
***
Darkness. Complete, utter darkness. I was drowning, drifting in a sea of absolute black. There was nothing else. I felt as if I was both infinite and irrelevant at the same time. An insignificant, yet the single most important being. Even my senses ceased to exist, giving me a sense of strange pace and tranquility.
Time passed. I wasn't aware how much; it could've been a millennium or a mere fleeting moment. But eventually, the vast darkness started to fracture, and different-colored light started slowly creeping through the cracks. Until the once vast, impenetrable darkness was completely shattered, consumed by the magnificent light.
A shadow fell on me, swallowing the light. The shadows stirred upwards, forming a great black sun, emanating a faint yet unmistakable white light. The shadows stirred once more, this time forming a basin and then another smaller one above it. Until there was a fountain consisting of four basins stacked atop one another, each one smaller than the one below, yet I was sure that if water was put in each one, they would hold the same amount.
I walked over the shadow-covered ground, stepped over the black stone of the fountain, and into the first and largest of the four basins. When my bare feet touched the golden specs flowing endlessly from the highest to the one I was inside, I felt a strange sense of relaxation as Taqa entered my body. I felt the painful yet bearable sensation of getting a tattoo underneath my sternum, my right chest, and the right side of my back, then around my shoulder, until the intricate symbols reached my palm, ending with a symbol of a snake eating its tail.
Suddenly, the light crept inside the shadow, now even stronger. Seven great, antique, golden-framed mirrors rose from the shadow-covered ground, making the world shake. When they settled, the shadows completely dissolved, and light assaulted my vision once more. The light fell on each of the seven mirrors and reflected, converging on the surface of the once black sun, and turning it white.
The knowledge etched into my mind changed as the symbols shifted colors from black to white. Looking at my palm once more, the once black serpent was now replaced with a white mirror frame. Falling to my knees, tears welled up behind my eyes, and I couldn't help the smile from tugging on my lips, as I muttered, my voice echoing through the mirror hall.
"I'm…free."