From the void to a badly lit room he awoke, gasping for the damp air around him. A terrible headache heightened in pain as the sluggish blood in his veins began to rush throughout his body.
Looking straight up at the ceiling the boy simply laid still, and unmoving. The only truth in the world is the pain in his head at that moment.
Minutes passed, and the pain slowly dulled itself, only remaining in his left arm which he felt was likely to be broken. Having finally gained the strength to move, his first thought was to look at his surroundings.
A scene straight out of the deepest pits of hell waited for him. The limbs, and torsos of others laid strewn around him. Some bodies parts appeared to have burst leaving nothing but gore, and strands of flesh across the floor. Very few bodies remained completely intact, however the way the necks and bones were bent he knew they were all dead.
“Someone... help please...” Subconsciously he began to call for help, yet it came out raspy and lacking in energy. Terrified he weakly began to struggle to try to free himself from the pile of corpses that he laid upon.
Pushing away an arm to his side he rolled off the pile claiming freedom, falling on a flat cold stone floor, sticky from the blood of all the corpses around him. Exhausted from the half meter he had managed to move, he laid still on his back trying to catch his breath slowly resisting the urge to vomit because of his immediate surroundings.
After what felt like hours, he forced himself to stand, feeling weak, and clumsy. Barely keeping his balance he looked around the terribly illuminated room, which ironically seemed to be the only bright side to this nightmare.
From his standing position, he was able to finally have a better look at what was before him. The bodies were of children that couldn’t have been more than 3-5 years old. They were all starting to swell as they absorbed the dampness in the air into themselves. The faint sweet scent of rot could be detected beneath the overwhelming iron smell of blood.
“Who were all these people, and what did this to them? Actually, why am I here?”
He instantly went rigid, as the chaos of emotions, and thoughts all scattered as he tried to remember anything about his life before this moment, only to find it all blank.
“Who am I?” The child's voice was heartbreaking. His tears fell for the first time from his eyes. The death, and cruelty before him terrified him, but the unknown condition of his identity sent him over the edge as he fell back to his knees crying for someone to help him even though he knew no one would.
Half an hour had passed yet everything was still a mess in his head, and nothing made sense, but he knew he couldn’t stay surrounded by all these bodies without going crazy.
Standing back up with some effort he began walking forward at a snail's pace, avoiding the piles of flesh on the floor, and stepping over random limbs that seemed to have made their own escapes as he had. Time seemed nonexistent as he slowly trudged forward only stopping to rest for a bit before continuing on.
The room turned into a tunnel as the temperature slowly began to rise, and he felt the tunnel gain a decline. Time crept on without meaning as he finally saw a bright light at the end of the tunnel. The thought of finally escaping this nightmare spurred him on to move faster.
Exhausted and about to collapse he broke through into the light to find himself before a vibrant and beautiful scenery.
Two bright suns in the blue sky warmed him to his bones as the emerald expanse of untouched woodland went in all directions, only being obstructed by a mountain range to the south, or at least what he believed to be south.
The air seemed to reinvigorate him as he regained his strength even faster than while in the tunnel. Finally feeling somewhat relaxed after all that had happened the small boy fell to the floor, having the spring weather wash over him as he felt himself absorb a formless energy that was all around him.
He hadn’t noticed prior, but it had also been in the tunnel before, just extremely thin compared to what was around him now. He didn't know what it was but it seemed to fill him, as he felt warmth enter the bruises all over his body.
His broken arm began to fix itself before his stunned eye’s, even the pain it caused couldn’t take away from what he was seeing. Fifteen minutes later the badly mangle limb was completely healed.
“That definitely wasn’t normal, and I’m pretty sure 2 suns is also not normal. But why does it feel this way to me? The number of suns doesn't just change. Massive celestial bodies don’t just suddenly spring into existence.” Where is this information coming from!?"
With so many problems and questions, in the end, he decided to just ignore everything and think about it later, as he felt the encroaching grasp of sleep. He let his mind wander, falling unconscious soon after and leaving these worries to his future self.
It’s been 2 weeks since he awoke for the first time and since then he’s learned a lot about himself and his new environment.
Strangely enough, it appeared that he couldn't starve, which relieved him of some of his worries. Whenever he got close to starving his body would begin to absorb the invisible energy that seemed to exist all around him.
It provided his body with an alternate form of sustenance that kept him going, but it wasn’t a perfect replacement for food, so he ate the berries he would find surrounding his camp near the entrance to the cave. A stream nearby provided him with fresh water which he still needed to drink normally like anyone else.
His next discovery was that of his appearance, after a rainstorm he was able to see his reflection perfectly on a large still puddle that formed in a crevasse.
A child around 4 years old stared back at him with sharp features and high cheekbones that seemed to enhance his expressions. Light silver hair fell to his shoulders making him look a bit androgynous in appearance.
He bet unless someone looked hard enough they would likely mistake him for a girl. He also had a pair of piercing violet eyes which caused him to smile brightly at himself. Besides the odd colored features, and his thin body he looked just like a regular child.
Now when it came to his environment he didn’t venture out very far from his camp, he was simply too scared of being attacked by a wild animal. With his tiny body, he wouldn't last very long.
Though he had yet to spot anything larger than a squirrel and some strange birds. He could tell it was nothing but forest for dozens of kilometers in all directions. The thought of having to travel with his small weak body petrified him, and because of this he never strayed far from his camp hoping someone would eventually come by and rescue him.
What was he going to do? Was he really going to wait here until someone found him? What if no one ever did? These thoughts filled his head every day only increasing in intensity as the weeks dragged on.
He had almost picked clean all the berry bushes nearby and knew he was going to have to move from this location or die from lack of nutrition even if his body would still contain the energy to move.
The days past by, and as he picked the last of the berry's he was out of options. He was starting to get so desperate he decided to see if he could find any food in the cave he had climbed out of.
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While the pit that birthed him was a terrifying place, but the thought of heading out into the wild only to die to a beast without even being able to fight back frightened him even more.
Making his preparation he went into the cave the next day which coincidentally marked a month since he first came out of it.
As he made his way down into the pit full of energy unlike before, he managed to cut the trip to a short 30-minute walk. The rotting smell he expected to hit his nose never came through which confused and scared him.
It wasn't long before he arrived at the room that he awoke at and, was shocked to find it completely empty. Even the blood that should have stained the stone floor was gone.
“What's going on?!” It took all he had not to run out of the room that moment as thoughts of a monster having eaten all the corpses filled his mind. Thankfully he managed to force himself to calm down once he realized no beast could remove blood stains from the stone regardless how hungry it might have been.
Compared to last time he was able to now give the cave a more in-depth look. The moss growing on the ceiling and walls was a lot brighter than the last time he was here allowing him to see a lot more.
The room was unadorned, and barely more than a cave that had its rough edges cut smooth. On the ceiling, a few holes, almost like laundry chutes were the only other features that he could spot.
While shivering from the cold, he noticed a door that was partially left open. It seemed part of the wall, and he was sure if it wasn't left open by accident he would have never found it.
While feeling the blood pump faster in his veins, he made his way over to the door carefully as he could, afraid of stepping on a trap despite how stupid it might sound. He had long ago come to the conclusion he was a cautious coward, he wasn’t ashamed though, but simply glad that he wasn’t a carless idiot instead.
He tried opening the door further, but being unable to budge it at all he chose to squeeze his thin frame through it, grateful for his lack of baby fat.
Once inside he found himself facing a spiral staircase seemingly going upwards without end, making him groan in frustration. Why couldn’t anything just be easy he thought as he began the long climb up.
It took him an hour and three breaks to go up all the way to the top. He estimated it to be almost 35 floors, a challenge even for an adult let alone a child of 4 years.
His breathing rough, and legs aching almost as much as when he first woke up he laid at the end of the spiral staircase dripping in sweat and already thirsty to the point where the inside of his mouth felt like a barren desert.
Taking a few more minutes to prepare himself he noticed that the weird energy in his surroundings was even denser here than on the outside. As though sensing this change his body began absorbing the energy intensely, trying to reduce its exhaustion.
Once again he stood before a large door, though this time it was closed shut. Afraid that after all this he would only find the door locked his spirits began to fall.
Shaking his worries off forcibly he put his small hands on the large doorknob and turned it. A soft creak was heard as the door open, and the smell of candle wax, dusty books, and rusted blood entered his nose. A bright light floated in the air illuminating the entire study a soft yellow.
An eerie silence pervaded the study with only the sound of his heavy breathing audible throughout the room. The old looking test tubes were strewed about shattered into pieces, with some of them even containing what looks like blood. Shelves which might have once been full of books laid splintered across the floor with random pieces of paper strewn about.
It seems the owner had left in a hurry though that didn't stop him from being a little more cautious than before. His mind might understand things like an adult, but sometimes it flowed like a child's, making him have to focus extra hard to prevent it from happening.
Only a few books here or there could be spotted but it excited him, the books could be sources of knowledge for him, or at least a way to drive away the boredom, and fear in his heart.
He continued moving around picking up a book here and there. “Alchemical Ingredient Encyclopedia V. 1, Anatomy of the Human Body Fifth Edition, A Shallow Description of the Soul By Lacron Fellwood.” He didn't understand how he could read them but he could which was a lot better than not being able to.
His subconscious was full of useful information that only seemed to make itself known in random bits sometimes. The books, on the other hand, was knowledge he could learn, and retain which filled him with a powerful obsession to mentally consume all their content.
Having gathered the 3 books, he chose to leave them in the middle of the room as he continued to explore the ransacked study as they were too heavy for him to lug around easily.
His bare requirements for food meant that as long as whoever had been living here ate like a normal person, he was sure to find enough to last him for a while.
In the corner of the study was a massive wooden desk that was in an even larger mess than the rest of the room. The chair was shattered, and unusable, while the desk had seen better days, looking as though a wild beast mauled it. Whatever had done this he sure didn’t want to meet it.
Behind the desk, he found a black curtain that he slowly moved aside to find himself gazing at dozens of large empty and shattered cylinders. This room behind the desk was easily 4 times larger than the room before, but having a lot more stuff inside it. Making his way inside he avoided the broken glass that littered the stone floor. Without shoes, having his feet sliced open wasn't something he wished to experience.
The deeper he went into the room he found even more signs of a struggle, with the floor containing deep claw marks every few feet. Once again he really didn’t want to meet the beast that could leave 4 inch deep cuts in solid stone.
While in thought about that he tripped just barely managing to catch himself with the nearest object. Soft cloth completely unlike the thick leaves he used to cover himself was felt in his petite fingers. Looking to what he had grabbed on to he barely held in a scream, as his heart began to pump blood furiously throughout his small frame.
A dead old man with brownish-gray hair stared back at him with the same violet eyes as his own, only these lacked that same shine that indicated the presence of life.Trembling softly he let go of the body and stepped back to look at it properly at a distance.
Deep gashes could be seen on its chest and neck. Seems the beast had gotten this old man, whoever he might be. Though skittish he slowly poked around the old man, hoping to find something he could use. He quickly found a red stained knife in his left hand. It looked like whatever had done this hadn't gotten away completely unscathed.
Wrapping his small fingers around part of the handle he tried prying it from the dead man, only to be met with the resistance of rigor mortis letting him know the murder had only occurred a few days prior. How he knew what rigor mortis was, was beyond him, but he made sure to memorize the new information.
Eventually, with enough effort, he got the knife out of the man's hand but the body began to move spooking him and causing him to jump backward. The body fell face first into the ground and releasing the sharp sound of metal on stone. He sighed in relief as it was only his efforts to retrieve the knife that unbalanced the body.
Looking around to see what had made the noise he eventually spotted a ring on the floor amongst the remains of shattered teeth. Covered in thick blood, and saliva, it seems the old man had kept this ring in their mouth to his disgust.
Taking the old man's sleeve he picked up the ring and wiped it down revealing a simple and unadorned iron ring. Once he felt it was clean enough he grabbed it with his bare hand and received a strange shock throughout his body.
“Why does everything have to be so weird.” He questioned as he felt the ever-present energy begin to circle from the outside into him, and then from him into the ring. It lasted for another 15 seconds before his senses expanded.
A connection had been made between him, and the ring as strange as it might sound in his head. A large area of around 10x10m existed within the ring, it almost like a different room.
All he had to do was focus and everything within the ring was accessible, and boy was there a lot of stuff. He was also able to pull stuff out and put it back in, it was almost magical he thought. His issue of food was solved as he found hundreds of loaves of bread, eggs, water, and even what looked like jerky.
He also found some spare clothing, which is what he had been hoping for the most besides the food when he came here. Running around with leaves covering his privates like a savage wasn’t something he wanted to keep doing. Plus he had been lucky to have escaped during spring if it had been winter he would have frozen to death the moment he left the cave.
Besides a small hatchet that was left the rest of the items in the ring, he had no idea how to handle so he decided against doing so.
Returning to reality he looked back at the body that had given him all these gifts and bowed, mentally thanking the dead man.
Afterward, he quickly left the room, his previous thoughts of fear dissipated in the excitement of the what the ring would do for him. His childish brain for once helping him.
He quickly gathered the books he left in the first room, as well as anything of interest including the desk. Quickly making his way down the stairs he returned to his camp.
He changed into what looked like adults boxers and a shirt which he cut the sleeves and bottom off. After that, he continued examining the ring leading him to discover that time seemed to flow a lot slower in the ring than on the outside so his food wouldn’t spoil at all!
Happy that he wouldn’t have to venture into the wild, and with plenty of food to last him for years thanks to his special body, he let himself feast for only that day, learning the feeling of being full for the very first time in his life. Bliss was all he knew as he wrapped himself in warm blankets experiencing the best sleep he’d ever had.
Despite not knowing who he was, or what he was going to do, life was good at the moment, and he would enjoy it while he could.