What I know is that I must not sleep. I felt a wind touching my face; it was heading toward the starting point.
Following it without hesitation, I turned my head to look at it. It was beautiful, made up of stars and many lights.
"Look at the one chasing you. Now that you see us, you will be able to see its true nature," said several voices.
I turned my head to look at it and fell back to the ground. Its body was covered with many corpses clinging to it. It radiated a strong desire to kill; its heart was so intensely black that no light could pass through.
But the most disturbing thing was that the many corpses clinging to it... were me. Other dead versions of myself.
I feel it—these corpses are indeed dead versions of me, but how long have I been here? Am I even still Tony Morga?
"Follow us if you want to get out of here," said several voices.
What was speaking to me was the wind—or rather the aether. I got up and followed them. My other self on the ground watched me pass by and smiled.
Terrified by him, I hurried back to the start, and something happened: all my fatigue and pain gradually disappeared as I approached the departure.
Back at the start, someone was there—but it was another me. He was just wandering around, eating, and sleeping.
An idea came to me—something that could explain everything: had I left my body? Or at least, my consciousness?
That would explain why when I walked for barely five minutes, I felt extreme fatigue and pain—because in reality, I had walked all day nonstop.
But how to explain the other selves?
"Behind, take the path behind, and you will have the answers," said several voices.
Without hesitation, I set aside my thoughts and entered the back path—blackout...
On the side, instead of rocks, there were corpses... of me. A path was forming. I walked, looking at my corpses: there was the one who died of hypothermia, covered in snow, others looking dehydrated, and the rest—all had been killed. Some were cut in two, others decapitated. Only one person could have done that.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Hurry up and join me," said a voice.
From the tone, it could only be the man in black. I quickened my pace to finally get out.
"There you are at last. You took your time. Your corpses shocked you, didn't they?" said the man in black.
This room was strange. It was covered with that beautiful but untouchable wind that radiated so much energy.
"Incredible, isn't it? The aether is simply incredible—an unpredictable energy, but when well used, it releases such power. Come sit with me," said the man in black.
Before I could even move, I was already sitting opposite him. He hid his face, but I could see his smile. It was so kind that I wanted to kneel before him.
"My dear Tony, I see you haven't gone as crazy as I thought. Perfect. Ask me the questions burning on your tongue," said the man in black, still smiling.
I started, "How long have I been here?"
"In your time, you Earth dwellers, it's been a month that your real body has been wandering around, but your soul before me... I'd say a hundred years," he said.
"A hundred years?" I said, with a confused face. I would remember if I had spent a hundred here.
"As you've seen yourself, all these corpses are you. You were them, they were you. Do you think all this happened in a month? Impossible. It must have taken you a hundred years to see the aether," he said.
Staying silent, I asked him, "Is the self trying to kill me my madness? Does it have all the memories of my previous lives?"
"Well yes, it is the personification of your madness. In your fifth life, you remembered everything. You were crazy. Dark ideas poured from your head; your heart was black. You emitted such a killing intent. But you managed to contain that madness. Yet, by containing it too much, it took human form. Don't forget, you were in your consciousness, so you were hunted by your madness—you died again, and again, and again," he said.
"Then why am I here?" I asked.
"Because you have a strong will to survive. Every time you died, you came back by creating a new body, forgetting the previous ones. But you are the last. If it kills you, your body will be his. And it may be a mad you, but he is very intelligent. From his creation, he could already see and feel the aether, and above all, he learns fast. If he gets out, I'm afraid everyone on your planet will be killed," he said.
"But if I died many times, when did I meet you?" I asked.
"At the very beginning. I caused your first death, but to forgive myself, I brought you back to life," he said.
"Can you tell me why I'm in my consciousness?" I asked.
"It seems you were the victim of an attempted murder," he said, still smiling.