My dreams found me floating in a black void, or at least I hoped it was a dream, as with the current state of my reality I wasn't quite sure. I looked around and found myself hurtling directionlessly through a black void. Then suddenly from a point far of in the distance light exploded outwards in a psychedelic rush. Exploding outwards with points of dazzling brightness and smears of glowing nebulas. It was the most captivating thing I had ever seen and was brought to tears by the splendour that played out before me.

That was when I felt a tugging on myself, not dissimilar to what I had felt back on that mountain but instead of it being focused to a single point the sensation was dispersed out across my entire form. Before I could so much as blink I was hurtling violently through what I assumed was the universe, shooting at a truly unimaginable speed toward an unknown destination.

It started as a small pocket of orange light glowing in the distance, nothing setting it apart from the other stars, but as our approach became more and more rapid I soon realised that this was my sun. Not from any defining feature of its own however but instead from the planets that surrounded it. Most specifically Earth.

I was left orbiting the planet for several long moments, moments in which I had naught to do but take in the breathtaking sight that is earth from space. I could see the swirl of storms and the azure blue of the ocean. It was a spectacular vista. But once more I was cruelly torn from these amazing sites and rocketed down onto the surface of the planet. From the scene, I had entered into I gathered that it was still the modern day, yet still a little in the past. It was a familiar scene as I remembered the house in which I had entered. It was mine.

I stood as a spectator, however, a visitor in my old family home and I could see the small form of younger me cowering under his bed. I winced as I remembered this moment. I saw the rhythmic flinches in my younger self as he heard the ponderous sound of approaching footsteps. I saw how he covered his eyes and drew his knees closer to his body. I crossed my arms over my chest as the door to my bedroom burst open. There stood a powerfully built silhouette. Light shone from behind the figure from a ceiling fixture and his features were obscured. Before I was torn away again I could see the outline of a drink in his hand.

I awoke with a panicked fluttering of lashes, the last thing I could recall of the dream was leaving the room that held both my younger self and my father. I shuddered bad memories. I stood up and began to pace around the room I had picked at random last night. It gave me a time to ground myself and think about what the fuck was going on.

I slumped into a sitting position on the far side of the room near a window. I grabbed the sides of my head and let out a wordless scream of frustration. I choked back tears, I wasn't going to see my family again. This registering of this detail took some time and even with the baggage that came with being around my parents leaving was still a bitter pill to swallow.

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I stood up and rested my shoulders on the window sill, looking out over the forest tops and the dirt plain. My blood chilled as I saw the black dots of dead bodies carpeting the path to each of the castles. That's not going to be me, I thought.

It was then that I noticed a small flashing light in the corner of my vision, and on my notice of it, it began to explode outward until it covered my thoughts with a flood of information. It told me of completion of the task, and also informed me of several of the castles fixtures. There were weapon stores and places to buy armour and other things. Places and directions forced themselves into my mind with the brashness and disregard for personal space of a 'hands-on relative' and in a brief time, I somehow knew each and every place of Castle North intimately.

Next was a fleeting notification about task completion rewards, asking me if I wanted to access the shop. I blinked as the request lay waiting for confirmation. Access the reward shop? Is like some fucking sick game? I shook my head, damned if I don't. I thought the affirmative and the shop opened up before my eyes.

It was like an online shopping screen, starting off with lists of categories such as implants, augmentation, abilities, weapons, vehicles before descending into subcategories for each. At the corner of the screen was a number, I assumed it was the amount of whatever currency this went by that I had earned. I sighed, something to think of later. I spent a couple short minutes scrolling through the weapons sector before coming to the realisation that most things were far too expensive for my meagre funds. I closed the window without buying a thing and stared at the ceiling for a time. It was stained with a light smattering of moss and lichen in places as if liquid had long ago been spilled on the ceiling.

I stood and rolled my shoulders, feeling them pop satisfyingly I then proceeded to flex and stretch my body, feeling the annoying ache in my legs caused by the death march the day previously. I winced, more memories to internalise. I then proceeded with a ponderous gait to walk toward the rough-hewn arch-shaped door. I clasped the handle firmly for several seconds. Grounding myself for the ordeal of facing a large crowd of people. Before this day I had never found this prospect daunting, in most cases, I relished the attention. But that was after a mirror and stable emotional state. Both of which I was fresh out of.

So I was understandably annoyed when the first thing to be visited upon as I left the confines of my room was someone being thrown bodily against me. I flew back into the centre of the room feebly gasping for air to replenish my empty lungs. The first thought to come to my mind when I was back in a place of coherent thought was. Some shit is about to get fucked up. I would later lament just how right I was in that moment.