Alan awoke, drifting through endless darkness. He thought that fall should’ve killed him, yet here he was, alive. Expecting to be in immense pain, he was relieved when the only sensation he felt was a permeating cold throughout his body. On second thought, maybe he had died. If so, there will be many upset people when they discover the afterlife is just an endless expanse of frigid darkness. Shaking his head to remove that morbid line of thought, he realized he wasn’t just drifting in darkness. He was floating on some viscous liquid.
“Where am I? What’s going on?”
His voice was barely audible, releasing a hoarse whisper due to his previous shouting over the winds.
“You’re safe, my child. Do not panic; everything will be alright.”
A beautiful melodious voice broke the silence following Alan’s question. Unprepared for an answer, who knows how far below the Antarctic ice caps, he began to do just what this beautiful voice told him not to do. He panicked.
Alan took in great lungfuls of the viscous liquid he was treading through in his panicked attempts to search for the speaker. Surprisingly, Alan didn’t begin to drown or aspirate from his intake of liquid. It appeared to act as if his lungs were just an oversized jar, slowly filling up but not affecting him in any other way. It was very unsettling. Startled by this realization, he began to calm down. He thought he was alive, but he wasn’t so sure now. A strange afterlife started to seem more probable as time passed. He was sure of one thing; something was wrong with him, and he needed answers. Luckily he had someone who could hopefully provide them.
“Where am I? Who are you?”
“Calm down, child. I can see you have many questions on your mind, but all in due time. Now we don’t have long, so come along and follow my voice and you will have the answers you seek.”
Alan proceeded to do just that as his lack of options forced his hand. Not like he could solve any of this on his own; he wasn’t even sure he was alive. ‘Nothing like following a beautiful voice in complete darkness. Yep, definitely not dead. Let's hope this voice leads me to the light; I’d hate to be stuck forever in the dark.’
Alan’s first few strokes were rough. It felt like his entire body was stiff and less responsive than before. The more he swam, the more responsive his body became. He wasn’t sure how long he had been floating on the liquid he found himself in, but something was telling him it wasn’t due to his body's inactivity that was causing the loss in motor functions. “I just hope this is all a terrible dream, and I’m not swimming towards Lady Death herself,” he thought.
“How am I supposed to do this? I say Marco, and you say Polo?”
Alan thought the voice was beautiful before, but the charming laugh was that and more as it filled the frigid darkness with a sense of warmth and tranquility.
“My apologies, child. I’ve been down here for so long that I’ve forgotten most species aren’t adept at seeing in the dark. I presume you shouldn’t have to worry about that for much longer. Just keep swimming in your current direction. You’ll make it to me shortly.”
It took a few minutes longer before Alan could finally see something ahead. It appeared to be a small, oddly shaped island. The closer he swam, the clearer the island became. It was an island made of translucent black ice, similar to dark tinted glass. It wasn't a barren landscape either. The island appeared to contain a grove, sliced and taken from a forest, only to be left in this abyss as its only sanctuary of life. “How in the world did this get here?” He whispered in awe.
Arriving on the island, he noticed that it wasn’t an island made of ice but an island encased in ice. It was a piece of history preserved in time. Who knew how long it had gone untouched; how long it had been since someone gazed upon its beauty. Alan walked from the shore towards the closest tree, captivated by its unique appearance. The trees were like intricately crafted glasswork, every groove and bump of the bark perfectly captured. The leaves dangled like crystal jewels hanging from the crown of the trees. He gingerly brushed his hand against the trunk. Expecting to feel the cold biting against his skin, he was surprised to feel a soothing warmth to it.
He reached up to pluck the nearest hanging leaf and cut his hand on the razor-sharp edge formed from ice. “Damn, that hurt.” Shaking his hand out, he carefully reached back up to break the ice leaf off. “Tink” He managed to cleanly break the leaf at the stem and brought it down to examine it. Even the ice leaves had the realistic texture of a regular leaf. It was truly remarkable but wasn’t something Alan could appreciate at the moment, as his eyes widened in disbelief. His eyes were focused on the edge that had drawn blood. Expecting to see the bright red color of his blood, what greeted him was the same black as his surroundings.
Alan's hands began to shake as he dropped the leaf. The sound of the leaf clattering against the ice caused his focus to narrow on the leaf again. He glanced at his palm, then back down to the leaf several times, confirming it was the same. His blood was flowing in black rivulets down his palm. All the remaining strength he still held on to fled him, causing him to collapse to his knees. Grabbing at his tightening chest, he grasped his shirt in an iron grip. His heartbeat was like thunder in his ears as his heart was frantic to escape the confines of his chest. Alan gasped for air, attempting to steal a breath that was ruthlessly denied to him. His eyes, never leaving the leaf, began to lose focus taking on a dazed glaze.
“Breath! Calm down and focus! You don’t have time for this right now!”
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Releasing his grip, he began rubbing his fingers against his palm, spreading the familiar sticky feeling of blood. It had the same consistency as the liquid he had woken up in. It even had the same color. Had he woken up in blood? How could there be so much blood down here? Whose was it? Why was his blood the same color? His thoughts began to spiral further and further out of his control before coming to a halt. An all-encompassing feeling of warmth and understanding embraced him, slowly bringing him back to himself.
“Calm down, child. Everything will be alright.”
Clarity slowly returned to Alan’s eyes as he looked down to see long slender arms wrapped around him. Peering over his shoulder, Alan was finally able to put an image to the beautiful voice he had been hearing since he’d awoken here. She contained an ethereal winter beauty like he’d never seen before. He was sure she was the aspirations of many women he’d met in life. Her long, silky snow-white hair cascaded down her back, framing a beautiful alabaster complexion. Her glacial eyes were a captivating blueish-white that contained streaks of deep blue when her eyes moved. If she were to tell him that she was the goddess of winter, he’d believe her.
Alan turned his head away, releasing a resigned sigh as he asked, “I’m dead, aren’t I?”
With a melancholic smile, she embraced Alan in a tight hug. “Not exactly.”
Alan jerked his head up to meet her eyes. His eyes were glistening, barely holding back tears but full of hope.
“You’re still alive, as I’ve tethered your soul to your body to allow you to remain here; however, since you did die on impact when you landed, your soul isn’t properly connected as it once was.”
Alan’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion, “What does that mean? I’m alive but have a limited number of tics left on my clock?”
“It means your soul is still intact, allowing you to live, but your body died. You’ve landed in an area with an obscenely high concentration of death essence, which is causing your body to transform into an undead.”
“Okay… so undead are real, and I’ll be turned into what? A zombie?
She turned away, unable to meet his eyes. Her arms loosened around him as she slowly retracted them to rest in her lap. Her previous persona crumbled, revealing a shy and lonely woman.
“I don’t know what you’ll turn into. I do know that you won’t be here when the transformation completes, not as the same person at least.”
There was a pregnant pause, one Alan couldn’t bring himself to break.
“You landed too far from where my focus of power resides; there just wasn’t enough time to properly reconnect your soul. If nothing is done to stabilize your soul, it will shatter. Only pieces of who you were will stay attached to what your body becomes…” Her voice had slowly lowered as she spoke, reaching barely a whisper. “You’ll die.”
Alan slowly rose to his feet, turning towards the beautiful stranger. With a sad smile, he reached down, offering his hand.
“May I ask your name?”
With a slight hesitancy, she accepted, slowly rising to her feet.
“Yes, it’s Gwen.”
“Thank you for trying to save me, Gwen. I can appreciate the effort, but I already expected to die.” He released Gwen’s hand as he turned to take in his surroundings. “At least this way, I was able to see something truly wonderful and unique before I go, and for that, you have my thanks as well.” Turning back towards Gwen, he asked, “Would you mind spending the remainder of the time I have left with me? I would rather not be alone.”
“Su… sure. I mean, no! I can still save you. Don’t give up on me now.”
Alan’s gaze turned pensive as he stared at Gwen. “Why?”
“What do you mean why!?” Why shouldn’t you live?”
“I mean, why do you want to help me?”
The pleasant aura of warmth and care she had been exuding since he’d met her slowly dissipated as she lowered her head.
“I… I just don’t want to be alone anymore. I’ve been alone for as long as I can remember. So if I can be here to help and ensure you don’t go through the same thing, that would be the best memory I have… It’s a selfish reason, I know, but no one deserves to be isolated and alone.”
“How long have you been down here? Why are you down here anyways?”
“For too long... I was born millions of years ago when this planet was flooded with mana for the first time. An organization outside this universe had arrived, deciding to run some tests without the system's regulations. They called themselves the Collective. They shrouded their activities with the use of formations on a global scale, which ensured the mana they released never escaped to alert the system.”
After a brief moment, she continued with a deep, shuddering breath, “I was born on the day this world artificially reached the system’s mana threshold. You see, when the mana threshold is reached, it causes change. A world spirit is born to guide and control these changes, ensuring the safety and equilibrium of the world they inhabit.”
Gwen paused, taking a moment to wipe away the wet streaks running down her cheeks.
“I never had the chance to… I was born down here, trapped away. They did terrible things to me in the name of their research. They said they were on the right path to escaping the system and that my sacrifice would free them all…”
Gwen began gasping for air while tightly squeezing her arms around her knees. “When they were done, they stripped the world of mana and discarded me. Leaving me sealed away, preventing me from using any of my powers to alter the world’s course so as not to alert the system. And here I have been, for all these years, alone.”
Gwen lifted her head, staring into Alan’s eyes, “I thought I’d be imprisoned for eternity. Then I felt the world began to change again. Mana was reintroduced to this world. At first, I was afraid, believing my tormentors had returned, but this time felt different. It feels natural.”
A slight smile slowly appeared on her face. “It means the system is arriving. I’ll finally be free. But before I am, I want to make sure you’re not stuck in a similar situation as I was, stuck down here alone. Now we have to hurry; I don’t know what the system will decide once it's integrated.”
Jumping to his feet, he asked, “Where to then?”
“There is a pathway a little ways off in that direction. It leads you towards the inner island, where my body resides. You’re not that far. You best hurry; there isn’t much time left.”
“Well, I guess I better be off then.”
Gwen’s form began to fade as if it had never been there. Alan's last look was of her smiling at him with a bright, happy smile.