*click*
*-ick*
What is that?
*click*
That sound....
*click*
*click*
*click*
What?
What is it?!
Soft whispers echoed in my ears like a chorus of secrets, their delicate dance of hidden melodies blending with the occasional bursts of loud noises. It felt like a screech of a banshee's call, piercing and bleeding through death to warn the living.
Some voices were like a shout from the top of their ghostly lungs, uttering a word that left me disconcerted and bewildered.
"Death."
And as if to compete, there was a similar strong declaration, echoing in unison with the other voices; "Life." The word resounded with power and purpose, adding to the disconcerting and bewildering chorus.
And amidst all of that, there was an incessant clicking sound that left me spinning into utter confusion and feeling agitated. It was like a maddening rhythm that disrupted the harmony of the voices and added to the chaos.
The jumble of dissonant sounds engulfed me, plunging me into a swirling abyss of madness. It was a feeling I detested, as it gripped my heart and lungs, leaving me bewildered by the eerie cries and mysterious voices.
Yet amidst the chaos, I could discern a peculiar coherence in the words. They formed a semblance of logic, with sentences and phrases that aligned, albeit somewhat. It was a strange juxtaposition amidst the cacophony.
Almost as if in prophecy....
"Sworn to truth, even in the realm of death's grasp,
The Originator's descendant takes his final gasp.
And from the ashes, they shall emerge anew,
Embracing life's essence, with purpose imbued.
In a world shaken by strife and chaos untamed,
Their destiny unfolds, a prophecy unnamed.
To the realms ephemeral and eternal, they'll stride,
Unveiling mysteries, as life and death collide."
I had no idea what these words meant, but they resonated with me... I could sense some strange affinity with the mysterious prophecy. As if it was important to me, or at least that I was aware that this was important to me.
Though the feeling was nebulous, and I had no way of confirming if these sensations I had were even real or just a dream...
I knew, strangely confident in fact, that these words were important to me. No. Not just me. The importance of these words belong to not only me. But is destined to intertwine with the fates of others...
Why did I feel that? How did I know of this?
All these disjointed, unconfirmable thoughts of mine left my mind spinning. These voices didn't help the slightest, in fact, even exacerbating the waning of my sanity.
After an unknown period of time, I could not hold on any longer and strained myself to push out the voices. I repeated in my mind memories of the past in order to cloud the voices.
The echoes of my life were recalled one by one. I remembered my days out looking through the window during the spring rain. The chill that pricked my skin in the winter. The scenes of wilting leaves in the autumn. And the scorching heat of summer days.
They were days gone by, the cycle of the seasons that refused to break.
Then there were memories that made my heart pound. My first kiss. The fun days with my friends. The scenarios of romance envisioned in my head as I walked through life as a teenager.
They all stitched together to form a coherent tapestry of my life. A book filled with chapters that encompasses all that I have lived through.
As the memories began to suppress the voices. Another memory surfaced. One that I had no recollection of. And yet it shone with the most clarity of them all.
It was a dark night. Out in the rain. I had called for a taxi to take me home. I had just been in the public town library, renting out a book that interested me.
Yes. I remembered it all so clearly. The book itself was nothing special, it was one of those old, leather-bound books that were filled with outdated information. Browned and yellowed by weathering and age.
But the moment I had issued it and brought it out of the library, it had changed. The leather brightened and the pages were gilded, strangely gleaming in the soft artificial lights. Silver-soft it was in the lamplights, but shadows caught it as golden pages.
Impatient, I took a read of the first page once I was safe from the rain and inside the car. And at first I could not believe my eyes, the gilded pages at the start were seemingly nonsense. Just a poem or incantation of sorts. I wondered if this was some Book of Shadows a Wiccan would use or a story.
But I couldn't help but feel entranced by it. A lump formed at my throat as I parsed the words, and instinctively I felt compelled to speak them out aloud.
"Illuminators of this world from beyond.
It is I, your humble supplicant.
I pray to you, children of the Holy Originator.
Render me in awe of your power.
Show me the path towards your light."
Then, all of a sudden. The gilded pages shimmered resplendently and the light that shone from it swallowed me whole.
And then, from the light, came this darkness....
How strange.
I wonder what would happen if I repeat that incantation. After all, If those words brought me here, could they not bring me back?
I had nothing to lose at this point. There was nothing else I could do but try. I had no desire to stay within the confines of this dark void....
Despite my reservations, I pushed on ahead with the incantation and repeated them over and over in my mind.....