Chapter Two- A Rude Awakening
Mark was no longer had a body. Mark was, but he also kind of just… wasn’t. His consciousness had left his body, but hadn’t entered anything else. His consciousness was, but it wasn’t anything. No size or shape. He had no emotions or feelings , despite his recent death. No confusion about how something like that obelisk could possibly exist, despite the fact that he had seen nothing like it ever before. All there was was vague acceptance of his current existence, general awareness of the energy-filled nothingness around him and memories of a past that meant little to him now.
As time passed, and Mark somehow knew that it did pass despite the fact that nothing was happening, little changed. The one thing that did change however, was his awareness. First, it gained clarity, and he could detect the amount of energy around him. Then it grew in range, and he gained the ability to detect places where the unknown energy collected. Soon, he became aware of himself. And then he gained a sense of direction. By comparing the positioning of his amorphous self to various energy hotspots around him, he found that he was going in a straight line. Where? He wasn’t sure. But eventually, he came to find he was not the only shapeless mass of energy floating through this seemingly empty void. At some point, be it seconds, days, years, even centuries into his strange journey, he observed a being much like himself simply appear alongside a nearby energy hotspot. Then, just like him, the blob started out at a similar constant speed towards… something.
Some time later, another appeared. And another after that. And eventually, there were many. But in time, the hotspots ceased production, and something new came into Mark’s ‘view’. He could tell it was far off, but it was instantly and obviously different from anything he had come across thus far. As he grew closer and closer, Mark could feel the ambient energy around him increase in potency. With it came certain elements of himself, foreign after all this time, but familiar all the same. Like a warm hug from a parent, or a greeting from a friend. Sadness at his untimely death. Intrigue as to what could be occurring. Confusion, then Anger, and then a return to a acceptance. May as well ride this out, he thought.
Soon, Mark could make out the shapes of more beings, approaching from the other side of what appeared to be some form of arena, much like the coliseum in Rome back on Earth. Never thought I’d say that. Mark mentally laughed. Back on Earth. The return of inane thoughts such as that one had returned shortly after emotion. With emotion had come boredom, and it had become second nature for him to think about things other than what could be sensed around him. Before, he recalled, it didn’t matter that all I thought about was what I could ‘see’ around me. I didn’t care, because I couldn't.
Now, Mark thought about many things. Most of those things, of course, were questions: What was the energy that everything seemed to be made of? What was the thing that had sunk the Sea Hawk? What was going to happen once he reached the arena? All these mysteries and more had crossed his mind. Right now though, as the flock of beings finally approached the floating coliseum, all Mark was thinking about is what kind of insanely powerful entity could have summoned them. Was it friendly? He wondered. Looking for a midnight snack? Apprehension, however, was not enough to deter the steadily growing feeling of excitement within him. I’m ready, he thought, for whatever comes next. It seemed he would be finding out sooner rather than later too, as a new, more powerful force took hold, and he and every other blob were drawn up and over the walls of the arena and deposited into a seat.
It feels odd, he thought, not to have any sense of touch. Before, it had made more sense. In the whole of his time in this strange void, his presence had never touched anything. The straight line he had followed avoided impacting any of the many strands and hotspots of energy that were scattered, seemingly at random. Now that he was actually in contact with something, he felt weird. His ability to sense the shape of the energy around him showed that his form had begun swiftly bending and reforming itself, from a shapeless blob, to the shape of something vaguely humanoid. This was mostly the case for the beings around him too, although all had minor form differences, and a good number appeared straight up alien.
As forms solidified and became more clear, things began to change within Mark. The ambiguous blob form of Mark’s energy began to solidify, transforming into slightly altered versions of familiar features. Energy compressed to create bones and muscles, and skin covered it all. Organs formed inside, and soon a heart of pure energy began beating. Energy made liquid flowed through energy blood vessels and veins, and then Mark began to feel. He could feel his new weight pressing him down where his skin touched the seat, felt the small pains as his new bones snapped together to create a skeleton. A mouth formed, and a nose. Then skin split open to allow air to access his newly formed lungs, and with it came strange scents, and the taste of ozone. Hair grew on Mark’s new head, and little buds of flesh grew to become slightly pointed ears. The air was filled to the brim with a cacophony of strange cracking and popping noises, as well as startled outbursts in unfamiliar languages. Finally, eyes formed, and Mark opened his brand new eyes for the very first time.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
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Holy shit. Mark couldn’t believe his eyes. Before him was a grandiose stage constructed from what looked like pure, solid light. The seats in the arena spread out in a half circle around the front portion of the stage, two rows deep. He himself was in the back row, slightly to the left of the center. The seats were all oriented so as to have an unbothered view of the stage, but it was the things, perhaps the people in those seats that really got his attention. Creatures of every size and shape imaginable were represented in the audience, and though he never saw more than one of the same kind, they all seemed to glow with the same faint ambient light. A quick glance at himself confirmed to Mark that he was no exception to this. Many shared other similarities too. For example, he thought, roughly three quarters of them are bipedal. Quite a few even look almost human. Many could even be broken down, at least visually, into a few groups: Mammalian, most of which shared most of their basic form with humans; Reptilian or amphibious, which tended to be more animalistic, and so on and so forth. That said, the variety was endless, and quite a few were still undergoing the process of inception. Amongst those like him who had gained their new forms, though, it seemed only one thing bound them together. Confusion.
What followed would likely be considered by most to be utter chaos. A vaguely humanoid reptilian being with small scales and a whip-like tail started screaming. Very, very loudly. Some covered their ears, whilst others joined in. Mark cringed, gritting his teeth as he clapped his hands over his ears. An orchestra of strange screams, grunts, howls, and yells crescendoed through the arena. they may be glued to their seats, but they weren't immobile. Limbs started thrashing, tentacles flailed wildly, tails cut through the air, and feathers flew as wings fluttered in a desperate attempt to escape the insanity. It was, in essence, mass hysteria. Something bumped into Mark from the right, and he turned to look at the individual next to him for the first time.
They were a little shorter than him, with near human proportions. Semi-feline ears were nestled into the long, light brown hair that adorned the top of their head, and thin coating of tan fur covered muscled arms and legs. A long fluffed up tail, reminiscent of a cat backed into a corner, extended from the base of the being’s spine. With many of the species Mark had never seen before, it was a little difficult to deduce gender, but as the being appeared to be mammalian in nature, certain features made him guess that they were female.
She had leaned into him seemingly by accident, trying to increase the distance between herself and the utterly huge scorpion-esque being next to her. Which, Mark thought, was perfectly reasonable given the circumstances. The enormous creature was currently demonstrating its ability to spin its spiny legs like a helicopter, creating an awful clickety-clack noise that was not unlike the sound of a passing train. A quick glance to his left somehow left him even more flabbergasted. “Is that a chicken?” He exclaimed aloud. It sure as hell looked identical to one. Odd, but not too odd, he supposed. Surprisingly, the bird seemed rather unbothered by the whole situation. Finally, before things could get too out of hand, a loud bang emanated from the center stage, where a figure now stood. Mark could only watch in awe as all heads snapped forward to look upon the figure, and the arena fell silent.
The immense being stood alone on the stage. Larger than any of the admittedly huge figures throughout the room, it stood at about 40 feet tall. It had the basic body configuration of a centaur. It stood on four legs, with a vaguely equine lower body and a nearly human upper body, but that was where the similarities ended. Instead of skin, it appeared to be formed out of some sort of living obsidian. It had no facial features or hair, but it did have two massive, curling horns extending out and up from its head. The stage, once carrying the appearance of pure light, had now dimmed ominously as tendrils of shadow seemed to extrude out from its skin at random, wrapping around it and darkening the room even more. A sense of dread settled in the pit of Mark’s stomach. Maybe it really does just want a midnight snack, he thought miserably. In its hands, it carried a jet black, heavily ornamented scythe, which it suddenly slammed into the ground, the loud bang resounding once more. Then, it spoke.
“WELCOME, ONE AND ALL,” It roared, “TO THE 712th BICENTENNIAL SPIRITFALL!”
Mark knew, then and there, that he was in for the adventure of a lifetime.