"◾◾◾◾◾◾◾"
"Wake up ◾◾◾◾◾◾◾."
I hear a voice calling out to me. A voice I remember, but I've long since forgotten.
"◾◾◾◾e◾◾"
…
"M… Mom?"
Something is wrong with my body, I struggled to get those words out, and my mind wasn't all there when I said that, perhaps it was my soul that remembers while I have forgotten. Her voice, her face, her eyes, her touch. Only faint imagines and distant memories resurface in my brain.
"You have to get up, you can't die here."
My body feels tired, as much as I struggle to move my body remains stagnant.
I have to get up.
The vision of my mother stares at me for a moment, maybe her goal was to give me a spark of motivation.
But why her?
Before I can even question that further she begins to walk away. Step by step I watch as she gets further away soon to be engulfed by some radiant light. What is this feeling that resides in the pit of my stomach? I believe it might be fear or terror. Sadness and sorrow, despair and longing. Little by little my mind is overcome with emotions I forgot that I had, with no understanding as to why.
My body moved… my arm stretched outward as far as it could, my mouth begins moving with no intention behind my words or actions.
"Mom… don't, leave me… again"
Step, step, one more step.
"Please… don't, leave me alone… not… again"
Why am I reacting this way, why do I feel this way. I thought these feelings were all gone. How… How did mom die again? Why can't I remember? Why did she leave me all alone? Why?
My pleads were to no avail. Her steps don't stop, soon she'll be gone.
Again…
None's mind is put into a state of panic. For unknown reasons, reasons that he did not remember. Step by step she walked away. And with each passing step those feelings of dread and despair crept closer and closer. His teeth began to chatter, his eyes began to water, his lungs fought to breathe. Perhaps while his mind may have forgotten, his soul remembers something dear.
Please don't leave me, please don't leave me, please don't leave me, please don't leave me, please don't leave me, please don't leave me, mom, please don't leave me again…
With one last desperate attempt I use all of my willpower, in an attempt to force my body to move once again. It feels as if moving a mountain. Like my body is being restrained with thousands of bonds, but little by little my body starts to move again.
"Mom"
I get closer and closer, gritting my teeth hard enough to crack them. And then, my body breaks free from those restraints. I stand to my feet and charge forward to chase after her…
"Mom!"
But when I reach her, she vanishes before my eyes. I look around to see nothing, nothing but the space of whiteness that surrounds me.
"Where am I?"
My mind is hazy. I look down at my body to see that I look perfectly fine.
"Shit, am I dead?"
Sigh
Damn it, I can't believe it. The last thing that happened was Aiden read the true name of the fallen god. Is Aiden okay? I can't even see anything from here.
I look around once more only to be met with the same whiteness
If I'm not dead, how do I get out of here? I guess I might as well start walking, better than staying here I suppose.
Step, ste-
Before I make my second step I feel a presence enter the space with me…
A bone chilling presence that's now close to me…
My body is reduced to that of a statue once more. I don't dare to move, I don't dare to even turn around. The coldness that I feel creeping down my neck, whatever this thing is, if it wanted me dead I would be. My life is entirely in its hands, and it maneuvers around my body like a python coiling around its prey. Only its presence. "Only" yet if "it" were actually touching me I fear my mind wouldn't be able to withstand it. That is what my instincts tell me.
Then it shows itself in front of me, a being that makes no sense. A creature shrouded in "errors" that shouldn't be of this world. It has the face of an owl with 3 heads and 3 eyes on each head. The only other thing that I can make out are the feathers. Covered in a mix of blinding whiteness and pitch blackness…
It spreads its wings for a moment, and the sheer vastness of its size is made even more apparent. It seems to exceed the very confines of the space around me…
My eyes, my brain can't comprehend how that's even possible. But, I'm witnessing it so it must be.
I pay closer attention I notice the whiteness of the feathers seem to be moving and screaming, unable to make a single sound. Like souls trapped in a prison. Everything else is shrouded in darkness and what I can only describe as errors. Things that should not be witnessed by mere humans, things I'm not meant to know. I'm meant to know, I'm not but…
I want to.
It's entrancing me, unlocking a craving to understand what they are. However something is blocking desires to an extent, I can only assume it to be the entirety itself. I want nothing more than to understand what concepts and complexity makes up such a being. I want to understand, I want to comprehend and I want to wonder. I want to slowly understand everything, slowly, slowly so I myself can form my own theories and possibilities before I discover what this thing truly is, yet the words of the author of the journal echo in my mind.
Knowing too much is a sin…
"child of the crow"
Its voice is powerful, coming from all around me. It radiates through my very being, speaking not into my ears, but my soul itself.
"Holder of a black soul, it must be fate that I've found you so fast. I've protected you and the other boy from the reign of madness. Had I not done this both of your minds would've shattered beyond repair."
My mouth feels as if it's sown shut, I can't even sa-
I'm an instant, it's as if this being gave me the "authority" to speak.
"You were looking for me?"
"The black souls are a rarity, some don't even reach the abyss. They are pivotable to changing the course of the future, however I cannot be sure you are the one that he referred to."
"He? Who is he?"
"That is something you aren't ready to know just yet."
That response is frustrating, as it only reminds me of my own insignificance, my weakness. However, "yet" is right. The secrets that this place holds. I desire to know, I'll get stronger as I search for what I'm looking for. I'll get strong enough to find out the answers.
"Take this, it'll make it easier to find you in the future."
I feel a burning sensation in my hand, I look down to see a mark engraving itself into my hand, burning itself into my very soul.
"The mark of the owl now resides in your soul, little crow."
That phrase again, at first he said child of the crow. So, crow must be a person right? Who is this crow, who am I to them?
"Seek the location of the black heart. Be ready young one, a holder of a black soul is doomed to experience horrid tragedy before they achieve their goals. Your journey hasn't even begun little crow, the things you know now, the "truth" you know isn't even the beginning. We will meet again, should you survive."
The area around me seems to be fading in and out. The whiteness dispersing and the world shaking as the entity appears to be leaving. There's so many questions I want to ask, so many things I want to know. How long has this thing been alive, who is the person it's referring to. Just what exactly is this thing? But there's no time for any of these questions to be answered. Maybe on the day we meet again, I'll be able to find out more, until then I'll discover what I can on my own.
The world around me breaks, and I'm thrust back into reality once more.