The voice was calm. The voice that raged through my ears, begging me to remember them, was now gone. The only sound that rang through this abyss-like place was a humming noise.
This place was clearly the one from my nightmare, but now it looked a bit different. At my feet, I stood in shallow water while stars ran in the sky. Around me, there were white, pale rocks, and from those rocks came ripples. The motion of the ripples was calm, almost peaceful. Then, in the center of this place stood an altar.
'What is happening?' I thought.
Was this still a nightmare? No, that doesn't make sense. I was wide awake. The only way this could be a nightmare was if I passed out, and even then, I still began to wonder how that would have happened.
Did I by chance have some eternal bleeding? Did I tire myself out without realizing? Was I sick? Maybe I was still infected? Maybe Ael didn't properly cleanse my wounds? I asked all these questions, but none of them would have made sense. I would have noticed one or the other, but here I stood in this place I was in not even a few nights ago.
I placed my hand on my heart to check it. Even though last time I was here, I panicked, now my heart stood calm, at peace. My heart hasn't been this calm in a while. The constant anxiety I built up, my heart felt like it was almost always racing, but now it was slow.
I stopped for a moment and looked around.
'This place, is it a hallucination then by chance?'
Maybe my subconscious mind clung to that nightmare and had me going hysterical. But to this degree was insane. Everything around me looked so real. Somehow, maybe even more real than the world I was living in.
As the water rippled, I bent down, cuffing my hand, and dragged it through the water. Even with the disruption of my hand, the ripples in the water did not change. It just moved past my hand until it collided with another ripple.
As I finally made my way through the water, I brought it closer to my face. The water didn't act any differently than what I know it to act like. Still cool to the touch, still fluid as ever.
I thought about drinking it, but the eerie thought of what this water was, or even if it was real, began to dawn on me. So I just uncuffed my hand, letting it drop back down.
Curious to learn more about this place and what was happening, I walked up to the altar at the center of the abyss-like place. My foot dragged through the water, and the ripples continued without disruption.
As I walked closer and closer to the altar, the rocks around me started to glow. Even with this newfound light, this place did not illuminate. The water down below still looked like an endless void. To be honest, I wasn't even sure if there was a floor.
I was standing on something, but from what I can tell, there was no ground that I was standing on. Almost as if I was walking on water. Well, on a layer below the water. It made my mind boggle a bit, but I tried not to worry too much about it.
As I kept walking, I finally made it to the steps that led me up to the altar. The altar stood on this rock like a mount, with steps on all four sides, only to plateau after the tenth step. Getting close, I noticed the altar was made of dark, grey stone.
It had a weird design on the sides, one of a four-legged star, that would pop out, making it almost 3-D. Other weird designs surround the star. Walking around the altar, it was the same on all four sides as well. But that wasn't the end of it. On the altar, words were carved into it.
"Offerre, et accipies virtutem"
Reading it, I drag my hands through the groves of the carvings.
'What the-'
The words and design reminded me of something, I didn't know what, but after thinking about it for a few more minutes, it came to mind. The officer. The star was the same tattoo that he had on his ankle. When making this connection, I reach into my coat for his notebook, which I keep on me.
Staring at the notebook and the text written on the altar, they were the same. I was able to "read" the words, but was unable to comprehend what they meant. I have never even seen this language. To be honest, I wasn't even sure if I was pronouncing it right. But just then, the voice that disappeared when I got here rang again.
"Remember me." The voice was calm. Not in a chaotic screaming like before.
"Remember me."
As I looked out at the world, I asked the voice a question. Maybe they will answer this time since they don't seem to be having a tantrum.
"Hello?" I wait for a reply, but nothing. Just to ask another question after.
"Who are you?" Waiting a few seconds, the world went quiet for a few moments, then their voice rang again.
"Remember me. Remember me. Remember me."
'What were they? A broken jukebox?'
Clearly, they were not going to answer my questions. I don't even think they had the capabilities to say anything else.
Ignoring them, knowing I was wasting my time, I look back at the altar one final time, "'Offerre, et accipies virtutem,' What did that mean?"
As I spoke this phrase out for the final time, I heard the cracking of glass. It sounded like it came from the sky. Looking up, I see a tear through the world, almost like it was being ripped open.
"What's happening?!" Not knowing what to do, I crouched down as the world began to shake. The cracking started to spread. A piece of the sky then began to fall.
The voice continued with the same phrase. "Remember me." But the time the voice—the voice, it was cutting off as pieces fell from the sky. Just then, the floor below me cracked as well, causing me to fall into a deep, dark abyss.
I scream, falling down into a deep world of nothing. As the world became dark, I blinked, and color came back to life along with the ringing of bells.