I left home in earnest seeking freedom and the world – and not simply because my hard-headed father evicted me. It was a great day to start my new life too: the rays of the sun were smothered by a dreary overcast and a chilling wind stabbed at me with every step I took. I considered taking a moments reprieve and rest as it was the godforsaken-early-morning-hours where nothing living should be awake, but the pangs of hunger prevented me.
It was a great day to start my second life, and it all came to an end so very fast. My heart felt like a bulging bag of water ready to burst. The throbbing sent me to my knees as the fiber of my being flared with searing pain. The earth rippled like waves in the ocean and the trees were twigs in a tornado. And the world stopped, frozen like a painting. I had nothing to lose except the clothes on my back, yet fear overcame my pain. Time stopped. And time… time stopped for no man.
From the heavens descended a voice. It could not be understood. It could not be comprehended. I clutched my ears in pain as it reverberated and hissed and boomed. And then it said, “Rejoice.” Its words commanded the world. Once more it said, “Rejoice, Ilm, you shall be my vessel in this war.”
It spoke beyond my existence again. My throat cracked and constricted. Air struggled to pass through. I writhed on the floor in agony. It felt as I was being stretched and split like a child playing with threads.
“Soon,” it said, “Your suffering shall end.”
Its words meant nothing between my suffering and fright. But those words were true. Pain was replaced with paralysis. I could not move, I could not breathe. I could not see, I could not hear. My heart did not beat. The weight of an ocean crashed into me. The pressure weighed on reality itself. It was permeable and seeped into me through every pore and orifice.
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And so the world ended. No sensations. No sights. No sounds. My consciousness drifted in the black sea.
-
The being lifted his vessel, cracking and popping the joints throughout it. It methodically tested out the motor functions, opening and closing the hands to kicking and stretching the legs. “This will have to do,” it muttered in the voice of the man. Viable hosts were few and far between in realms such as these; during the summoning process, beggars could not be choosers.
However, having a capable host was always well received. It calculated the man’s skills and physical parameters. Underwhelming was all it thought. However, all things considered, this host was optimal. Good physical condition. No economic or social status or attachment. The host was clearly lacking: no experience, no skills, no inherent abilities. But this was only a minor annoyance; cultivating the vessel was unavoidable in any scenario. A clean slate was fine by it. This Ilm would do just fine.
There was not much time to waste. Dispatched intelligence officers have been gathering data for a while and it was time to act. However, the body was still adjusting and developing. Powers and abilities will take some time to emerge during the integration process. So it decided it would wait. First, he adjusted its clothes and snapped its fingers, unfreezing the chaos.
Reality stitched itself back together and time began to flow. Trees re-rooted and the earth churned back into place. The black sky cleared and the sun broke through over the horizon. The being basked in the gross incandescence of the sun. Another sunrise. Another world. Another battle.