Pain.
Blinding, crushing and neverending pain.
Everything comes from pain, and everything shall return to pain.
It's almost comical if you think about it. We are born in this world through pain. While living and growing, pain is always a constant. And at the requiem of our existence we fade away with pain...
'Jesus, how can I sound so edgy?' He thought in daze.
Still, it was appropiate considering the state his slef was in. He couldn't attribute the pain to a place in particular, everything hurt, but the pain was different every time, sometimes it hurt as if it was burning, then as if he was being cut, and then some different completely creative new ways, but by not being able to discern where he was being hurt the pain came everywhere at he same time.
He struggled keeping his mind in as little control as he could exert, he tried to make sense of his situation but-
'Ahhh! my head hurts so bad, is it my head? I think it's my head, but it's also not? it's deeper, more... ethereal? Dammit! pain is pain, how can pain be something that it shouldn't be'.
This state of his continued, he attempted to mantain control, but the pain, the pain was neverending and everlasting, still, weirdly enough, he was scared, scared of the pain ending.
In his confusion and vague sense of self, the pain was the only thing that proved and anchored his existence, he wanted it to stop, but he was afraid that if stopped, something utterly wrong would happen to him.
The pain was the only thing that he was able to make sense inside the nothingness he was in. In this everlasting and paradoxical situation he heard something.
[Aspirant! Welcome to the Nightmare Spell. Prepare for your First Trial...]
The pain began to dim, and he began to feel something different, first a heartbeat, then another, then heat.
His body.
He felt his heart beating rhythmically, he could imagine the blood flowing inside his arteries, traveling from his heart to all parts of his body, irrigating every distant blood vessel, then making its way back to his heart through his veins, being reoxigenated by his lungs only to begin all over again.
He felt his lungs breathing, it was such a normal action, not being noteworthy in the slightest, yet, for him who had being in such a neverending sense of pain, this mundane action was a fresh breath... pun intended.
He felt his hands, and a slight tingling in his fingertips, his mind was at last free of pain.
'finally, something different than pain, but wait! did it said Nightmare Spell? Like in-'
But his thoughts were interrupted... by more pain.
He opened his eyes with surprise, realizing that his body was back to its normal functions, trying to make sense of his situation, his eyes looked around, allowing his sight to adjust to his surroundings.
He was laying on the cracked floor of an ancient pale chamber, he was surrounded by tall columns that were supposed tu support a majestic dome.
The thing was that the place where there was supposed to be such a dome was empty, making way to a vast dark sky, countless stars were shining granting the chamber a mysterious light.
And in front of him stood a tall and taciturn man, his hand still extended as if he had finished delivering a punch, and by the pain his face was in, it appears that was exactly what had happened.
"Are you going to keep laying there fool?" The man suddenly spoke, looking down at him.
"Pathetic, the ceremony will be held in 3 days and here you are, making a fool of yourself" The man spat with poorly contained contempt.
He tried to make sense of the situation he encountered himself in, but apparently that last punch still had a toll on him.
And yet, he could still catch a glimpse of a subtle emotion hidden beyond the contempt, but what was it?
"Get your act together, if you keep acting like this tomorrow we will need to take drastic measures, we may even seek another one to take your place."
The man turned around and looked at the sky, he couldn't see the expression the man was making.
"You're dismissed" With those words the man disappeared in mist.
He tried to stand up but a sharp pain coming from his whole body made him reconsider, he stayed still catching his breath in an attempt to stand up. When suddenly a subtle glow emanated from the cracked floor and enveloped his body, gradually lessening the pain.
With his mind finally escaping the pain he was able to start pondering the situation he was in.
'Man, what the fuck is going on, I was just finishing my dissertation, I remember being quite proud of it to be honest. It took the absurdism concepts proposed by Camus, followed by an inspirational approach of Kierkegaard's existentialism and exploring oriental and Middle Eastern theologies with the hope of concluding a new approach to the Postmodern Depression...'
He quietly mustered a hollow laugh.
'Honestly... Totally useless sophistry, as all philosophy without a doubt, but extremely awesome nonetheless, I was studying that for a reason after all. When I decided to take a break and read some chapters of this novel that has been going around-'
His train of though was interrupted as the door to the chamber opened and a woman made her way in.
She had a medium build, her proportions were covered by an ornamented tunic that reached her shins and her feet were bare, her ebony hair was braided over her shoulder and her face was covered by a simple black veil.
"Witness Candidate, I'll accompany you to your chambers" she said calmly as she stood by the door.
He looked at her for a few moments without saying anything, before standing up and making his way to the door.
"Excuse me ma'am..."
But his words were suddenly interrupted by the woman's hand.
"Don't speak to me Witness Candidate, you should remember that your initiation shouldn't be contaminated by mundane experiences, the things you witness must be strictly controlled"
With those words she turned around and began walking through a faintly lit corridor.
He followed after her, quietly attempting to assemble any kind of information he could grasp. The corridor was quite spacious, the white stone was cold and reflected the light coming from the torches sparsely placed on the walls, the corridor was sparingly decorated, but still emanated an air of grandeur.The few windows they passed overlooked a sea below that stretched into the distance, palely illuminated by the moon.
It appeared the place he found himself in was located pretty high.
'Man what a bore, how am I supposed to make sense of things if there no one to ask of.'
He thought, clearly feeling the lacking information he got from the corridor.
'First things first, I need to keep calm and think rationally, It appears I'm in the Shadow Slave novel by the voice announcing the Nightmare Spell and the Trial, I can think at a later time about the how's and why's when I find myself in a much safer place... firstly I need to find such a safe place, and that's obviously not in this Nightmare, how was it supposed to work? I believe I needed to think of my state or something similar wasn't it?'
As he began to ponder his situation strange runes appeared in front of his eyes, but with a weird feeling he was able to make sense of them.
Name: Zachary.
True Name: ----
Rank: Aspirant.
Soul Core: Dormant.
Memories: ----
Echoes: ----
Attributes: [The Fool] [Usurper] [Soul Companion].
Aspect: [Mundane Prisoner].
Aspect Description: [You're a prisoner of the ordinary, you're but a mere pebble in the infinite grand river of things. Yet you yearn for the unordinary].
He was suddenly struck with shock. 'Wait a fucking minute, Zachary? who is Zachary? My name is ... Wait a minute, my name is... What?'
He found himself supporting his weight with the wall, a deep sense of vertigo overwhelmed him, his legs grew weak and he was close to fall to his knees. 'What is my name? I'm certain it not being Zachary, but if it's not it should be ...'
A sentiment of wrongness clouded him, if his situation was already complicated enough, now he couldn't make the tiny little bit of sense of it.
'But the Spell claims I am Zachary, in that case should I refer myself as such?'
He stopped thinking all of a sudden and shivered, cold sweat dampening his back, he was invaded by a sudden and grotesque sense of dread, fear gripped around something deeper inside him, the sensation of wrongness grew stronger, his head began to throb and his eyes grew teary, he instinctively knew that if he continued with this train of thought something irreversible would happen.
"What are you doing just standing there? We're already here"
His turbulent emotions were suddenly interrupted by the voice of his escort, he deeply thanked the distraction from the depths of his heart, he gave her a faint nod and with shaky steps made his way to the room.
"Your meal is on the table, you should rest, tomorrow you'll begin early" with those words the door closed behind him, he could hear it being locked from the outside.
He turned around and gave his room a quick scan, it was quite opulent but strangely vacant, there was a bed in the center of the room close to the wall, in the center was a small table with a single chair and a steaming plate atop of it, and in front of it a large window that let the moonlight in the room, it gave something of a mediterranean vibes.
But he couldn't care less about his room, neither of the food in the table, with tired steps and a cloudy mind he made his way to the bed and sat on the edge of it.
He stood in this position for a few minutes, controlling his breath and regaining some clarity.
"ok, whew... I think I'm fine now"
He looked around the room and murmured to himself "let's keep calm and try to make sense of things, first; I was a philosophy student going by the name of ... and I'm sure I'm not called... whatever the spell refers me as, I'm the son of ... and ... , the brother of ... and am friends with ..."
His hardly calmed heart suddenly dropped.
"Shit! what the hell is this! What kind of sick joke am I being made? I'm able to remember their faces and who they are but not their names? My family, friend's, teacher's, and even random people like some store clerk's faces are there, but their names always escape me!"
He screamed with newfound sense of fear, and something else, something he couldn't particularly recognize, but he could vaguely name as melancholy.
Now he could make sense of the sudden emotions he felt moments ago, the feeling of losing something important, something intrinsic to oneself, something that it should be impossible to lose, his name.
The pillar of ones existence, what he felt was just that, the lose of his ego.
By a stroke of luck, that loss was interrupted, if not...
He shivered at the thought of what would have happened.
Trying in vain to not think about not being able to remember his name and the ones of the people he considered invaluable he forced himself to keep himself together.
"Lets gather the rest of the information first, I wasn't able to see the rest of the runes because of the shock of... everything".
With that he summoned his runes again, forcing himself to ignore the name.
Attributes: [The Fool] [Usurper] [Soul Companion].
Aspect: [Mundane Prisoner].
Aspect Description: [You're a prisoner of the ordinary, you're but a mere pebble in the infinite grand river of things. Yet you yearn for the unordinary].
Ok, his aspect was strange to say the least, yet it always seemed to evolve at the end of the nightmare, so he didn't remain in it a lot. What he was most interested in was in his attributes, they were unique to say the least, and maybe they could give him the clues to his equally unique situation.
[The Fool] Attribute Description: "It appears you're new in this world, you're an innocent child who hasn't met hardship, yet because of that you're open to a big number of opportunities. Your naivety makes you equally bearer of infinite potential, fate will follow you and shower you with events so you can grow into The World."
[Usurper] Attribute Description: "You have taken hold of that which doesn't belong to you, yet your action hasn't being completed at the moment. Lay down your pointless endeavor before you experience it's consequences."
[Soul Companion] Attribute Description: "You're a unique being, two souls sharing a single body is unheard of. This unique existence is able to give birth to new and limitless possibilities, depending on the way you carry yourselfs your path may differ."
"...Fuck"