[Voyager]

After that man had disappeared, silence once again returned to that abandoned world, only broken by the soft hissing of the shifting sand dunes beneath my feet. I circled the pyramid before me, and other than its immense strength and the disfiguring scar, everything else looked completely normal. There was no sense of a mysterious presence that often accompanies powerful relics.

Leaving that pyramid behind, I picked a random direction and walked forward, shielding the sun from my eyes with the hood of my cloak. Subconsciously, I felt the inside of my cloak, feeling the worn leather and the soft feather of my quill. These are the only two things that I have kept for as long as I can remember, the only signs of stillness in an everchanging world.

Before long, I reached another strange structure. This one looked like it was in much worse shape and seemed less like a pyramid and more like a castle of some sort. It was constructed of a grey stone that looked unnatural amongst the sand all around. There were signs of four turrets at each of the corners, yet only one remained fully standing, the others having crumbled long ago.

Peering through the gaps where the stone had cracked and crumbled, I could see partially inside, but before I could get a clear view, a stabbing pain assaulted my eyes.

Even to this day I am not quite sure what I saw: swirling colours that seemed to bypass my eyes straight to my brain and glass-like reflective shards that seemed to be able to cut directly to my soul were floating around, causing eddies and whirlpools. I blacked out and the next thing I knew. I was a few hundred metres away, lying face towards the clear blue sky.

I learnt my lesson from this and realised that the secrets this place held would not be so easily uncovered. However, I had already gleaned some clues from my experiences. Firstly, that other people knew of this place and had been here long before this universe was even created. Secondly, that there is no sense of uniformity in these structures, except that they are indestructible and hold a hidden treasure within that cannot be forcefully looked at or taken away.

However, I was still left with more questions than answers, for example how was this place existing within such a comparatively fragile universe. I was barely able to scratch those stones, yet it was contained within this tiny candle of a universe I could blow out with a sneeze. It went against all common sense and logic to have one exist inside the other. Getting up, I pushed all unnecessary questions out of my head and continue to forge ahead.

Over the course of the next few days, I encountered several of the structures, some in pristine conditions, others with barely a foundation left. One in particular looked to be a cube of an unknown material only about 3 metres on a side. It had a creamy white colour that had an iridescent tone where the light touched it. This only reinforced my theory that these structures come from all types of civilisations, humanoid or not, ancient or futuristic.

Just as I was about to turn back, I saw a figure on the horizon staggering towards me. His form was hard to make out due to the heat haze of the ever-present midday sun. He took a few steps and seemed to reach out an arm before falling forward, unmoving, kicking up a small cloud of sand into the air.

I ran towards him as quick as I could and as I approached him I began to make out more details of what he was wearing. He seemed to be a knight of some sort, as he was clad fully in a silvery armour. It looked to be quite advanced as instead of seams, smaller plates interlocked to create a fish scale-like pattern. His right hand was stretched forward as he fell, as though he was reaching for something and his left lay parallel to his side. He appeared to have no weapons on him other than a cracked blade half fallen out of its tattered sheath at his side.

I rolled him of his front and onto his back. His face was partially covered by a helmet, revealing only the top left part of his face where the metal seemed to have been ripped away. His eye was closed, and his face appeared to have no blemishes. His dark hair hung just above his left eye.

Despite this place dampening my powers, I put my hands over his body and began trying to sense the state of his health, while old memories resurfaced in my mind.

***

"Run my child! Live, so that I may live through you!", a woman shouted as she was torn away by faceless soldiers. Her own face was blurred and her features were unable to be made out, except for her brown eyes, that seemed to be filled with the warmth of a cosy hearth, capable of encompassing the world world.

She slowly receded into the background, no-one around noticing the child sitting in the middle of that crowd staring up silently at the sky, that darkened abruptly and let down a downpour of heaven's sadness.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

The woman's cries echoed infinitely in that child's mind until he locked it away in a deep part of himself, and with a will of steel, stood up while the throng of people in that market-place parted around him subconsciously, leaving him an island of calm in an ocean of chaos.

***

I was not always powerful enough to place universes under my thumb. I, like all others, was once weak and helpless. However, through the countless years of voyaging across a sea of stars, I did not just record mindlessly.

I experienced almost every facet of existence: from the highest technological civilisations that had transcended mortal bodies to live forever in the ether, to ancient mageworlds where dragons and elves co-exist among the humans. I have travelled the depths of the Abyss and confronted the Eldritch Ones on their origins. I have seen myths born and legends die.

Therefore, it is safe to say that I may have picked up a skill or two along the way.

Moving my hands over his body, I could sense that he seemed to be from a world of magic and swords, judging by the method through which he absorbed energy and condensed it within his body. He looked to be almost as strong as myself in terms of the raw power within him.

However, where energy should have been circulating, it was still, as though it had been frozen like a waterfall in winter. It was almost as though he had purposefully put himself in this state where his body would be frozen in cryogenesis in order to survive something.

'But, what could make someone with such raw power take such intense precautions?', I thought to myself.

I decided that there was only one way that I would ever find the answer and placed both my hands over where he had condensed his energy, a spot just above the sternum. I concentrated and tried to feel the universal energy.

I did not know what to expect since this was the first time I had tried to use any of my powers other than flying, which did not require the energy of the universe, on this planet.

Many civilisations had many words for this energy: Aether, Mana, Spirit Qi and more, but it was fundamentally the same thing.

If I were to use this power in a normal place, that flame would go out in an instance as all of its power would have been exhausted. However, on that desert, the place seemed impossibly rich in this energy. It would take millions of years at full capacity for me to even put a small dent in the supply of energy that I was feeling.

It had been a long time since I did not have to suppress my powers, and it felt good. Anywhere else, I would have to walk as though on eggshells for fear of completely obliterating that universe by accident.

The power flowed through me smoothly, and I directed its flow through my arms into my hands. I did not allow it to escape however, and let it build up in the palm of my hands. When I felt a suitable concentration had built up, I released it like a wave directly into his energy core, revitalising it.

Its previous, luminescent blue light was infused with small golden particles that I forcefully rotated around the pathways he had built. If anyone else were to do this, it would most definitely end in a catastrophe: only I, with a vast knowledge of almost all arts and techniques was able to circulate this energy using the same technique the knight would have used.

Circulating it in this way, I got a glimpse of the power the knight used: it was like an unbridled thunderstorm, filled to the brim with energy and capable of exploding at any moment. It almost seemed raring to go as though impatient of having been frozen for such a length of time, so it barely took much effort on my behalf until his energy began to circulate naturally.

Some colour returned to the knight's pale face, but his eyes remained shut. I figured it might take some time for him to fully awaken, as I had no way of knowing for sure how long he had been frozen for.

Realising that the sun was close to the horizon, I sat down cross legged and closed my eyes, not quite asleep, but in a state of half-consciousness such that my reflexes would not be dampened to any potential danger.

***

[???]

The morning in the forest was always the most lively. The ground was wet with dew while all manners of wildlife began their morning routines. The sun having just rose gave the sky a pinkish hue. The twittering of birds filled the air with noise.

A pile of twigs and leaves began to rustle and move, and a human hand revealed itself. It brushed away all the leaves revealing a child of about 12 years, sitting up with its back against a tree. Despite the child's young age, something about him seemed off: perhaps the look in his eyes that reminded one uncomfortably of being stared at by a hungry wolf, or maybe it was the jagged, stone knife in his right hand he had clutched subconsciously while asleep.

Rubbing his eyes, the child got up with surprising agility, and stretched, clicking several bones in the process. His eyes looked even more alert now as he moved with a purpose, checking several snares he had left overnight.

Not many had a catch, but the last held a struggling creature with grey fur. Approaching, its doe eyes looked at the boy pitifully as it wagged its long, saggy ears. The child had no change in expression as he grabbed it by the ears and pulled its head up, exposing the white of its neck.

He slashed abruptly and cleanly, and the rabbit was killed without so much as a squeal. Its blood dripped, staining the leaves and soil below a dark maroon. The boy, feeling a tingling feeling down the back of his neck, glanced warily around himself, not noticing anything out of the ordinary. Putting it up to paranoia, he quickly undid the snare, taking the rabbit in one hand and moving away, lest the smell of blood attract the more predatory residents of that idyllic forest.

As he returned, a pair of eyes watched him from far away with an interested gaze.

*************************

"The eternal dream surrounds us all. To Awaken is to realise that we are simply ants in a jar, trapped for unfathomable reasons. Only two options lie before us: escape, or death"

- From the inauguration speech of Emperor Tinvalir,

Third Dream. Archive file #P9103D3*****