I felt power, surging like an enormous river. I felt the current of the Umbra pulsing through my veins and far beneath them I felt the very essences of something undefinable.

‘The cost is paid, but the toll is divided.’ my mind spoke for itself as I tried desperately to disregard the euphoria that sought to control me. My movements were slowed by what unfolded before me.

“I see now, this was no script nor path more true. Atlas… you came here without purpose, only to flee, but now you serve as a final test.” The ragged man spoke through wet sobs emanating through his throat.

I struggled to my feet, watching Arthur do the same although fatigue was heavier on his shoulders.

“A vessel from the lord himself. I know him now as he knows us. We were the last he meant to create. A lineage he holds to such a high regard that he would sacrifice all to keep contained, ever fed through our suffering.”

I felt the ground beneath the water begin to sink as if decaying before my eyes.

“What the fuck are you talking about? The only truth you see is the one you want to see.” I shouted at him, as Arthur studied his black rippling flesh as if it were a marvel to behold.

“We came to be the last as he was the last. That’s how he came to our world. The Lord over Crimson, our true god. I see you now and hear my plea.”

Arthur raised his hands to the sky, the air around them began to shimmer like the heat waves from a hot summer road.

“Come forth, rend us for our transgressions.”

The ceiling overhead began to crack and crumble, the whole of this place was shuttering to the calls of the monster before me.

Suddenly I felt hungry eyes on me, hundreds if not thousands waiting in the dark as each crack summoned more to await a feast. I turned my body fighting against the current now rushing past me as Arthur chanted a pleaing warcry to the heavens of this place. Searching the room, I saw nothing in the means of escape.

“I failed you mom, I’m sorry.” my cry and tears reverberated throughout the umbra, and through every fissure developing in the chamber. A shifting from beneath my form pulled me from my trance, terror bolted through my body as I was pulled through the earth. My hands shot desperately as the edges of the hole, tears replaced by screams as Arthur stood to smile at his work. Before my eyes met with the black undercurrent a figure appeared that I did not recognize. She was dressed sharply in a tight white dress, tendrils of light sprung from her body, wrapping Arthur so swift that the movement was nearly instantaneous. I watched with bated breath as she turned her eyes towards me.

“Wake.”

She spoke a single word no louder than a whisper, but with such force behind it that the quaking stopped and the ravenous eyes retreated back into the darkness that birthed them as I choked in the devouring grave my body lay trapped in. The ceiling my eyes now forced to watch, their patterns now devoid of energy were strangely calming as I lost the energy to fight.

I awoke gasping for even the smallest amount of air and coughing an imaginary filth from my lungs and throat.

“Oh fuck, oh fuck.” I cried into my hands as I wept through great heaving sobs. I laid there for hours, in this place I hadn’t even dared to peek at.

‘I fucking died, I fucking died.’ I repeated over and over again in my mind. The cold was beyond real, beyond even a pleading doubt. My skin irritated by the tears was burning, screaming red. The gusts of hurricanes and tornadoes were second to the breaths I stole from the place I laid curled, preserving whatever heat I emitted. It felt like days passed before I managed to stop and see where I was. A great plain sat before me like a still image, every blade of grass sitting still as I wondered where I was. It was a painting that sat before me. My eyes remained focused, unable to even turn my head to see the rest of the room I sat in. In my peripheral vision, I saw nothing, but the gray of the Umbra. Fear flooded my chest as a voice, the same that banished the cowardly shadows and one belonging to the one who incapacitated Arthur.

“Arthur was always going to take the Moraband, and always will pay the price of such corruption. His life was forfeit the moment his corporeal form left the rotting womb of his mother. You saw his life and lived only a brief portion of a single day, but you knew all along what his purpose was. Even from a young age as yourself he brought the chaos of his dreams to the waking world. You brought some of your own, but I have been here to guide you as I do with all of my children.”

My jaw seized as I struggled to speak even a single word. Every veins in my body struggled to even push a drop of blood to assist.

“I need you to listen Atlas; I have helped on more than a thousand occasions with your bloodline, but now I need your help as well as Layla’s. I have spoken to her, only feeding a handful of information at a time of course, but now is not the time for games.” The words flew through the air, but my mind struggled to keep them in place long enough to understand them. “There is something awakening across the bounds of my power and the very edge of certain reality. Our creator is long gone, but his children remain. Not simply made from clay like the toys of our past, but made from the essence of God, almighty in their own right. The Lord over Crimson, the Eldest of the nine, came here long ago during the peak of your depravity for war.” The words formed and reformed in my thoughts etching themselves like a memory of dread against the walls of my skull. Each letter carved expertly through gray matter and neurons as the degradation of the voice became more apparent. This thing isn't human and the charade was failing every moment it spent trying to emulate humanity where none existed.

“Who are you?” I almost didn't recognize the voice until I felt the vibrations leave my throat. The restraints on my limbs began to loosen and muscles relaxed only enough to turn my head as it instinctually faced the being staring intently at me.

“I am Iyan the Dreamer and you are Atlas the Mantel. I was given many names from the Infinite and divine, the great builder of all things unseen, and my favorite theory in the dreams of humans Soul of Ymir as I came to be when the world was created. I have no spoilers to the means of creation, but why must one thing be correct when the plausibility of more is equally valid when the starting point is everywhere at once.”

I watched as the figure shimmered and shifted like the vision of my mother before.

“Mom… but you were gone, taken by the ragged man.” Although formless and featureless aside from the shimmering, it was clear that its expression changed; It was hesitant at first, but its assembled humanity faltered as the truth made way through.

“I am not your mother, I took form as I saw fit to push you forwards. You stagnated for years in the cell of his design, losing piece after piece of your powers, you finally awoke when I saw fit to place the note in the diner as a warning. It would be only natural to let him take everything you have, but when I saw the influence of the Lord of Crimson. I had to take action.”

Those words shook the very foundation I rested on, forcing tears back into my eyes at the thought of losing my mother to the Ragged man.

‘A convincing lie, but it was necessary. I could not have escaped without her, and now I have the tools needed to escape again.’ I thought to myself, logic weighs heavier than the experience of loss.

“You mentioned I was the Mantel. What did you mean by that?” I questioned Iyan, it was obvious it wasn’t going anywhere until Iyan gave me the request, I might ask while I can before Iyan.

“It’s ironic the name Atlas, the original was given the punishment of holding the sky and the heavens for his transgressions against the gods, but some would say that he would hold up the world. I don’t have the literal sense to do this, but the suggestion I gave to your mother was more than she needed. She had the secret passed by your family and with the others in disarray with themselves at the loss of Anne to the Ragged man’s hunger. You are the name you hold, meant to carry the burden of humanity.”

“What else have you done? Why are we continuing this when I saw you capture Arthur?” My throat burned with the frustration growing from this conversation.

“A memory, one you changed only enough to get a second chance in the real world. You hold a piece of the Moraband, the only piece that would matter in the coming days to the years until your final trial. The piece of myriad lost truths, a portion forged over ten thousand lifetimes and the deaths of trillions before the moment your life came to be.” I watched as the being recounted this as if it had explained it countless times before.

“The past was forgotten, but you rewrote the very lives that come after. Some for the worse, but many for the better. The present is changed, but the outcome of your path is still to be determined. The task I give you is the one I am not capable of outside this place. Destroy The Ragged Man and the army he controls. Restore the lives of those he stole for conquest. Don’t take the offer.”

The being spoke these words, although the meaning was not lost on myself, I did struggle to comprehend what must be done as the flashes began. Lives stolen away over generations and the terror deeply contained with their puppet bodies. I have only a piece against countless others remaining of the Moraband. The Umbra’s everlasting expanse began to close as Iyan disappeared without a trace. The gray walls forced their way towards me, although nothing was in their path; the movements remained slow as I searched around me for the exit, but I was not stuck here. I was only trapped in the way they existed laterally. Instead I called forth an escape, the painting I stared at once before began to advance toward me with a breeze pushed from its image. The grass began to sway and the clouds ran across the sky. I had no need to jump into it, but it felt right in the moment. The feeling against my skin made goosebumps form on my arms as I took in the grass and the low warmth of the sun streaming down from the sky. I realized after the comfort of fresh grass was replaced with chilled wet dew now soaking into my shirt, that there wasn’t just one sun. they were so close that they could be barely told apart, but after a glance or two the shape was wrong. One was smaller than the other.

“Hello there.” A voice called from the distance, I tilted my head up to see a man waving in the distance. I placed my hand across my brow to capture the details. The realization struck me as soon as I saw that shirt. He always wore it, no matter the weather or occasion.

“Will?” I called back to him as I rose to my feet. The figure approached with a bead of caution in his step.

“Sorry man, Do I know you?”

Finally they were face to face. This was Will, his face was unmistakable, although it wasn’t the face I wanted to see, this was a surprise I welcomed.

“It’s Atlas, I’m Mike’s roommate.”

Will’s face shook as I adjusted his hat to better cover his eyes from the now piercing sunlight.

“I don’t know about any roommates, at least none that I met. Come on, let's get out of the sun and get something to drink. I’m sure you have questions.”

I was confused, but more surprised that he wasn’t beating me down like he normally does. I followed him for roughly 3 miles to a little farmhouse, nothing like what I assumed it would be. We sat on the porch as I spoke to him. Trying desperately to find a single detail that would force him to remember, I got the many things about Mike right, but his expression changed when I spoke about Layla.

“What do you know about my girlfriend?” His tone dropped as I slowly took a sip from the glass of lemonade that waited on the porch step.

“Well she has a tattoo, super nice, and umm…” I trailed off, deciding that this was too much. Maybe my memories were false enough from my perspective, but the others were true. I didn’t exist to them.

Will eyed me carefully before speaking again.

“She is out there you know, fighting to find you. I wanted to help, I really did, but that place was just fucking creepy from the get go. I left, but killed the damn car when I tried to leave again. I walked to the closest house to get some help.” Will’s face turned stark white as his eyes shot open.

“What happened next?” My senses sharply rose to nearly superhuman as the weather turned from a sunny breeze to a bitter cold overcast.

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“There were so many warnings, and I ignored them all. The family was wrong, so wrong. I should have tried hard to escape.” The tone of Will’s voice dropped to a whisper, his chest shuttered as he held back a scream. I noticed that agony in his eyes and decided to place a hand on his arm. Memories rang like a gunshot as they flew past me. The Drive, the rundown mansion in the East Texas woodlands, and the wick smiles of the family as they held him down for the ragged man. I pulled away with such force that I collapsed only a few feet from the step and expelled bile with the disgusting citrus bitterly clinging to my lips.

Will pulled something from behind his back and pushed it up to his chin, but for I had a chance to react; he pulled the trigger of a small pistol. Everything went black suddenly extinguishing the light of the sun eagerly pounding the clouds.

“Hello there. Can I help you?” I heard Will shout from behind the screen door of the farmhouse. I forced myself to sit up, but I only managed to stare with my mouth agape. I stared as Will closed the door behind him and came to offer a helping hand.

“Sorry, the heat is getting to me. Do you have any water?” I knew better than to press the subject, whatever was happening I knew it was to keep Will subdued for the time being.

“Yeah come on in.” Will pulled me up to my feet and guided me inside. The walls were littered with posters and the standard crappy art I knew Will couldn’t resist.

“I don’t have any bottled water, but the tap is good out here. I have never seen groundwater so clear.” I grabbed the glass he offered, I was eager to rid myself of the taste of lemonade and the stomach acid.

“Where are we?” I asked as I swallowed the remarkably clear water.

“I’m not too sure, I guess it’s some rehab shit. I know I needed it since my drinking took a turn for the worse.”

Will leaned on the counter and crossed his arms.

‘This place is meant to occupy him, why make him seemingly content?’ I asked myself as I finished the tall glass.

“Well I have to get to work. Make yourself at home for the time being. I’ll be back in a few hours.” Will pulled his hat from the hook by the backdoor.

“What do you do for work?” I ask, only curious since there wasn’t a car by the house or anything for miles around.

“I don’t know yet, don’t even know the pay, but compared to the other stuff I did. I’ll take this over being shot at or beaten.” He left with a smile, I decided to watch him as he marched across the fields towards nowhere specific.

“This is weird.” I said to myself, already thinking of ways to get out of here just short of running to the edge of this place. “There has to be another way.” I placed my glass on the table and began to ransack the house, pulling open everything that wasn’t locked or screwed down.

Finally I came to his room, or what I guessed was the master bedroom. The Room was filled to the brim with heavy metal posters and various different items ranging in lethality from an electric guitar hanging by the door to pocket knives and guns shoved deep into drawers or laying out in the open. Hours of searching through every drawer and box only to find nothing more than stray condom wrappers and the occasional broken MP3 player. I howled in anger and frustration throughout the house as I uncovered the contents of the last box, which turned out to be merely a pair of new shoes.

I picked the tv up from the dresser and heaved it against the wall. The drywall didn’t stand a chance as the sharp corner pierced it. I pulled everything to the floor and stomped many to pieces as I filtered my rage through destruction. Finally I collapsed to the bed panting heavy breaths as I reap the nonexistent rewards of the rampage. My hands covered my eyes as the sweat dropped from my brow and invaded my eyes. I felt the flicker, something unknown hiding in plain sight; my vision, although darkened by the salinity I desperately wiped away, fell upon me as if hinting at its own discovery. The gray of the Umbra acted as a nightlight before me. After my blurred vision was restored, my eyes searched along the sharp edges of the room until something in the periphery of my sight caught the jagged hole. A corner of a briefcase stuck out from the drywall where I had thrown the tv. I lurched forward from the bed and ripped it from the powdery remains. I recognized it vaguely as I remembered it to once be in my grandfather’s study. The lock was busted beyond belief, but a simple prying with the help of one of the many pocket knives revealed an enormous stack of papers. I combed through them with little regard for their order.

A red envelope eventually appeared as I tossed the documents from the case frantically searching beyond the hastily scribbled words and the neat font of a typewriter. I hastily ripped at the seal, but paused as the clatter of footsteps came from the front porch. I turned the envelope in my hand, waiting for Will to come bursting it. In the quiet I sat, silently willing him to think I had left, but it was pointless in the place. I thought of my words, how meek I might have sounded if this was before I escaped the cell and resided in the floating dream before. The steps were already filled with the tyranny I often associated with Will. The very moment he swung the door open I saw the fury in his eyes, burning brightly as he fought back the tears, like a child watching as his favorite toy was destroyed.

“What the hell do you think you are doing?” I heard Will say before he even stepped into his room. I glanced at the writing on the folded scarlet envelope.

‘You are what matters, a victory is only worth its weight in consequences if lost.’ I knowingly stared at the handwriting… grandpa’s handwriting.

“I came here to help you I think.” I said without looking at Will, holding my eyes away as if a single look would be my end.

“I don’t think I want to be helped, Atlas. I’m happy here, don’t you see?” Will waved his hand around the room, but gestured out towards the house and the surrounding fields.

“It’s all a lie.” I whispered beneath my breath; as if his hearing was escalated by rage alone, he tackled me to the floor and landed the first blow.

“No no no no no!” He screamed in my face as he pummeled me endlessly, I fought to raise my arms to protect my face. My thoughts rushed with the adrenaline as each blow landed in perfect succession.

“It’s not a lie, all of this I worked for tirelessly and now you show up out of the blue and try to take it all away. Fuck you man.” He bellowed out as he grabbed my head and slammed it down with the full force of his body. My ears rang with an intensity so furious that all sound seemed to disappear as the muffled blows continued. I felt powerless as the energy that tried to return my arms to guard was all, but dissipated. The punches slowed and were replaced with a heavy heaving of his breathing. I felt the tension of his legs and his coarse breathing reverberated through my torso as he still held me down. Through one eye, I peeked out as the other throbbed with a burning wet swelling, he was reaching for the knife I felt open on the floor. Once he closed his grip on it, I knew it was all over.

“I make the rules here… I decide what livestock live and …what dies.” He seized my head by the hair and pushed my head back to expose my throat. I felt the warm blood trickle down from my wounds and the beating of my heart fade to silence as I watch him bring the blade to my jugular. I willed my body to move with every ounce of strength I had left, but it outright refused. I closed my remaining eye and prayed for whatever power I had been given to help me. The faintly cold blade pressed into my skin, but I felt a small change of heart pulse from his body to mine. A mercy if anything.

“Any last word you little shit?” He grumbled out triumphantly before taking another deep breath. My mind was slowed by the wound I sustained and the beating in my chest shakily quivering in fear. A voice spoke for me once again, a little voice so quiet that I could barely hear it over the ringing still present in my ears.

Burn… Burn bright. This place listens to you, young Atlas.

I swallowed the blood filling my mouth and choked back the tears arising from the pain as I pushed the words from the deepest void growing in my soul. Malice brooded hopefully from the darkness growing in my heart as I tongued the words before putting breath and sound behind it.

“I figured you would be a coward in the end, after all I admit I never thought you would be anything else.” Will spoke, smiling like an insane man.

I, myself, hoped it didn’t have to end this way, but the path of peace became an afterthought as I spoke the word echoing inside my head.

“Burn.” I managed to whisper, Will looked at me confused as he appeared to not have heard me.

“What did you say?” He asked, although his expression changed little, the tension in his body seemed to relax.

I gathered the breathe I needed, and forced the words through my bleeding and missing teeth.

“Burn!” I bellowed with the full force of my breath, the words themselves were hot as they pushed out of my chest and through my lips.

Will shrieked in terror as his body burst into flames, he leapt up from my chest as ran blindly through the room before finding the door in a hurry. I watched with one eye as he forced himself from the room and listened carefully. I heard his body as he fell down the stairs, seeming to hit every step on the way down. His screaming stopped in sync with the last step. I sighed with relief as I realized it was over. I struggled to stand, even with the aid of the bed I fell once again, before I decided that walking might be more difficult than anticipated. I crawled my way towards the bathroom at the end of the hall, I gagged at the stench of the flesh and hair I knew burned freely at the bottom of the stairs. I managed to open the door to the cool respite of the bathroom and rose to the mirror to inspect the degree of my wounds. Deep gashes streamed blood down the contours of my cheekbones and chin, as well as, a heavy bruising bubble of swelling surrounded my right eye, the pain was still there thrumming away, but the sharpest of them faded with the cool water I splashed on my face.

I glanced down the hall and was surprised to see that the flames had not spread far from the body as the smoke died down. I expect this whole place to go up in flames after seeing the full extent that they had burned Will. I turned towards the mirror once more to inspect the deeper of my many cuts and wondered quietly to myself as I pondered what the voice was saying.

‘If it’s all a lie and if this place really listened to me. I assume that I can make it work to my advantage.’

I spoke the only word I could think of as I stared deep into the wounds.

“Heal.” I said calmly to the mirror, but nothing happened. No scabs form instantaneously nor the flesh suddenly closing on its own.

“Shit, um.” I thought harder for another word, imagining the wound taking the initiative and doing the work based on demand, but remained defiant.

I began spouting words that even related to the issue, focusing deeply on it, even touching it to force my supposed command of this place.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I said aloud. I turned to shower with an old fashioned faucet at the end of the bathroom.

“Turn on, rotate, water.” saying one after another. Water seemed to do the trick, but not the way I thought as the bath filled with water, but coming from the drain instead of the spout. The bath began to overflow.

“Stop.” I commanded, luckily enough it obeyed. An Idea emerged as I suddenly thought of the word that might work. I took a deep breath.

“Reverse.” I slipped across the word, as if it were the first time I had used it.

I heard a crash outside of the bathroom and turned swiftly to investigate.

“No no no no no!” A scream emanated from Will’s room. I approached slowly. There he was, alive once again over a body. I recognized the feet, most specifically the shoes that body wore as I looked down at my own.

“Stop.” I whispered quietly, but the response I expected had not happened, the beating continued. It dawned on me; I was powerless, not because of the word, but because I did not have the mantel. I saw what I needed to do and slipped into the room without a sound and cautiously lifted the electric guitar from the pegs on the wall. I held by the neck as if it were a mighty axe and approached Will from behind, knowing full well of what I had to do. I brought the guitar down to the side of his skull with as much force as I could manage and heard a sickening thud as his body went limp and fell to my feet. The body I recognized had such fear in his eyes I almost didn’t realize how shocking this might be to him. I dropped the guitar and reached a hand out towards him.

“Hey there, good looking.” I cringed at the cliche I had only seen in movies.

“Is this another trick, another fucking trial or what?” My doppelganger asked.

“From my guess, this is a test drive. I don’t see the trouble in it, seeing that this place is nothing more than a trick with some strings.” I surprised even myself as I spewed the word out as if I even knew what it meant.

The Atlas stared at me unblinking as he probably didn’t know what it meant either.

“Is he dead?” He asked as he reached down for the envelope.

“I don’t think so, not this time anyway.” I shrugged off the implication.

“What do you mean this time?” Doppelganger Atlas spoke as he fingered the envelope with anticipation.

“I’m not going to explain it, but we need to be sure. As much as we don’t want to do this. I don’t like the idea of there being two of us. Give me your hand.” I said, he followed my instructions.

“You heard the voices, but I’m going to tell you what to do and you are going to do it.” I demanded as I looked into his eyes, my eyes. The blues and greens blended perfectly like the waves of a calming sea with an imperfection of an early autumn hazel near the center of the iris. It was both beautiful and unsettling looking to them.

“Focus and point your anger towards him.” I said, pointing both of our hands towards Will as the example demanded.

‘I admit I'm guessing at this, but this has to work.’ I thought as I gave my next prompt.

“Burn.” I called forth from my lips. Nothing happened.

“What, we’re going to burn him”” His voice was filled with uncertainty as he turned to face me again.

“Do it, say the word.” I repeated as if the instructions were unclear before.

I saw the hesitation, but I knew he would do it.

“Burn.” He said in a defeated voice, but unlike for the body burst into huge devouring flames, but the torching of his flesh was nearly instantaneous with no smoke or scent of burning flesh. The body was reduced to cinder and ash in a matter of seconds.

I felt my own body begin to fade as the realization struck like lightning in my doppelganger's eyes.

“I was nothing more than an outcome, changed with a single choice. Don’t worry about it, at least you don’t have all the cuts and bruises.” I assured him as I felt the last of my image fade.

I awoke as if I dozed off with nothing more than a headache pounding away in my head. I watched myself disappear without a trace, but I still kept his memory.

I touched my eye where the cuts once were and couldn’t help, but to speak aloud.

“Wow that hurt, goddamn it.” Although nothing truly hurt at the moment, the memory alone seemed to permeate across my face as if it were there for a moment. I looked down at the charred corpse.

“You were going to fucking kill me?” I knew it wouldn’t answer, but still I left the room and the house altogether envelope in hand. I felt power and a certain calmness as I marched towards the brooding dark on the horizon.