At Death's Door - Legacy
Chapter 0.1
What Was Once There.
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"No...No no no no. Impossible. This isn't right, what is with this? What is going on!?"
He knew that something was wrong. Very wrong.
'What the fuuuuuuck!'
A high-pitched scream came out through the window, from the inside of a large tower, placed in the middle of a certain forest. Bears would join their prey and run in fear. Men and women alike would TREMBLE on the spot! DRAGONS WOULD SCREAM IN AGONY! GODS WOULD WAIL WI-
*cough*
...
Of course, if there would have been anyone around to actually hear the faint little cry that came from within the abandoned tower.
Letting out another whimper, the panicked person in question ran with tiny steps towards the window and looked out. He didn't like where this was going.
"Oh my god! What the hell!"
His breathing grew heavier.
'What is it with this situation!?'
The tower itself, 20metres high, was built in a square formation with dark bricks -often used around the magic formation of a lengthier ritual to absorb surrounding magic that could potentially disturb the delicate process- that seemed to have been witnesses to many battles and sieges, yet stood proudly intact even after centuries of forgotten maintenance. All alone in the middle of a lush forest. Abandoned.
Apart from the trees of said forest, of course. Good for you, tower!
Backing away from the only window within this tower with haste he was back at the same corner of the room as before. Trying to calm himself down and find out more about his situation, he inhaled and exhaled two deep breaths, and then looked around the room made of stone.
The room to which the screaming window was attached to -not that it was actually the window screaming. Windows don't scream... Often...- was decorated with a simple bed made of stone, a bookshelf filled with books and ancient tomes, and a wooden desk with even more tomes on top of it. All nicely rounded up with a COMPLETELY normal and harmless circle -that looked like a circle with two lines, one going from north to south, and the other from east to west- painted onto the stone bed with the color blue.
'Just where am I? This can't be... Right..? What? No! Really!?'
The poor desk was in a bad shape, as carved onto it was inconsistent and weird old symbols that indicated that nothing but a mad scientist had been here long ago. Further proved by the content of the tomes, containing various experiments and old text that he couldn't understand. It was all gibberish to him. It was something that no one but a madman would manage to read, or even dare touch for that matter. And who knows how sane the person that wrote them still was, if even alive.
He had his doubts.
The books held within the bookshelf was also connected to this madness, containing more documented walls of gibberish, but he knew they were linked to the tomes that showed drawings of experiments on living beings. And, of course, the blue circle that covered the stone bed -more often known as a stone floor- too, must have been the work of this madman, whatever that was used for.
The real bed, made of oak, was somehow scattered in thousands of small pieces in the corner next to the bookshelf because of who knows what,or why, for that matter. He had his pointers though, if the place he woke up at was anything to go by. It was most likely the result of the experiments written in the tomes and books, all linked together in some twisted way with the blue circle underneath him.
He too, felt some connection to it, as it then struck him just where he had seen it before.
'This is impossible after all! No way! No!'
"Not with this! And that! Yes! No! No... And those!"
'What the fuuuuuuuuuck!'
Standing within the circle while rambling to himself incoherently, he looked down on his own body, and for a few seconds, his mind's processing ability was lost before he regained what was left of his sanity. Looking up to the stone-covered ceiling, he laughed at the same time as tears came to say hello to their new world from the corner of his eyes.
"Ah.. Ahaahaha... Jus- Just what in the world did I do last night?"
Broken down, his mind fled to the safety of his past memories, trying his best to recollect just what had happened in an attempt to understand.
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~Flashback~
On the road that led up to one of many buildings within the vicinity of the campus, a sluggish creature slowly but surely made its way forward with its own two sophisticated legs. A magnificient sight.
"Good morning..."
Having stayed up the other night, John groaned out a sorry excuse towards a familiar blur in the corner of his deprived eyes while dragging his feet barely above ground as not to stumble and fall on the hard concrete.
"More like good night! Did you stay up and play games all night again, you idiot?" the friend retorted jokingly while slowing down his pace, -letting John walk next to him- already knowing what the answer would be. They had been friends and attending the same schools for almost eight years now. He knew how his friend reacted to certain things at this point and there was little he didn't know, whether he wanted to or not. This time, however, he was wrong.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
"Ah! There you go again. But no Max..." John yawned. "I played games all day yesterday, forgot the assignment, and spent the whole night until a few hours ago to finish it."
'That was an unexpected order..' Max thought as his left eyebrow raised just a little bit, surprised. His guess was not completely wrong, but in the wrong order.
Max, willingly forced upon the job as childhood friend, have kept John company ever since grade school. His curly dark brown hair and 190cm's tall, well-trained body as well as the light-green colored eyes that blessed his well-proportioned countenance made him a sight to behold. If not for his incredibly straight personality, unable to hold most thoughts in, -which mostly ended up being unnecessary remarks that would be better off being hidden deep within ones thoughts, never to see the light- he would be quite popular with the ladies. The female students, of course, knew otherwise at this point and made an effort to only gaze at the man from afar.
Honesty was a sin, in his case.
"Right... Well I didn't expect to live to see the day where the great time-lord John Erissé would neglect his duties."
Max smirked over his chosen words, then looked over to his oh-so-great childhood friend.
John, with a normal height of 175cm, -which looked rather short in the presence of Max- had black spiky hair that was easily mistaken as a generic hairstyle from anime -well, except without the whole standing up part- and a pair of hazel-brown eyes, together with his slim but untrained body, -damn you, metabolism!- he looked like an average person at nineteen years of age.
Now frowning, with a hint of embarassment in his raspy voice and a tinge of blush on his freckled cheeks, he uttered as silently as he possibly could to his dear, tall friend:
"Don't call me that. 'Time-loord'." John emphasized the word. "It's embarassing to have that nickname follow me all the way to university, man. Just because I can somehow balance my hobbies and school doesn't mean I make everything-"
"Somehow balance your hobbies and school?" Max interrupted and laughed for a second before making an even wider grin. "With the amount of assignments we get nowadays i'm surprised- no, BAFFLED over how you can so easily stay online, gaming the whole day, and yet seem to always get a passing grade that would make even our dear project leaders fluster if they would compare their grades with yours. You really must be jumping back in time in order to pull that off! Time-lor-pffffahahaha!"
"..."
John was not amused after already explaining his reluctance towards the nickname and he didn't hesitate to show it in his expression.
"Alright, alright! I won't call you that again, oh great ruler of the t-ahahHAHA! I just can't! No! What the hell were you thinking back then?! Going all 'Imma be the immortal ruler of-'Ouch! Alright! I'll stop! ahaha! It's just too funny not to... Hey, we're here."
'Real smooth...' John never said, already satisfied with the damage caused by his elbow and fueled by the desire to also drop the conversation.
Rubbing his left rib cage while trying to change the subject, Max glanced at a sign that was placed on the right side of the door to the white building they were just about to enter.
'Lets see what John will show the SunSpark University this time'
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Meanwhile, a completely harmless and a not-suspicious-at-all book was in its place in a bookshelf at the university's library. Unmoving -because, it's a harmless book after all!- and helpless, fearing the next predator that would dare to reach out with filthy hands and consume its content. Knowing that no one would do so, the book mentally sighed.
Maybe, just maybe! It was feeling a little bit lonely, but it couldn't say that, no. It would be a disgrace as the self-proclaimed master to feel lonely. It would proudly stand and intimidate anyone not worthy enough of its presence.
Maybe just a little bit lonely.
Then the tremors came! Shaking its whole foundation, the book wouldn't dare to look around. What was going on?! Slowly but surely the book scurried unwillingly to the outer edge of the mass of heaven it stood upon. Looking down, the horrors below would mentally scar any book for eons to come! Down there, some unknown mass of land was scattered across the self-proclaimed's landscape! The book knew that would it fall, only death awaits! Moving closer and closer to the edge because of the ground-shaking vibrations that reached heaven itself, the book started panic. It was so high up!! -well... for a book. They have it pretty tough up there.
That day, within the library, the scream of a certain harmless and not-at-all-suspicious book could be heard -if one concentrated hard enough.
...
What really happened was a student lightly bumping into the bookshelf. The student decided it was a good idea to do ballet inside a library for some reason. But the self-proclaimed master couldn't have known.
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Right, so... If you've gotten this far. Hi!
Thank you for bearing through the first part of the prologue. It turned somewhat long so I gently cut it into shorter lengths.
There are more tags to come, but I am unsure whether I should add them already, or as they turn relevant.
Any feedback as you read along is appreciated, I'm not that confident in my Writing and wish to grow. So go ham! =)
Once again. Thanks!