I awoke on top of a large pile of rubble. Looking around, I found I was in the center of a church.

Destroyed pews with their splintered wood littered the room around me. The remains of large stained glass windows, some shards still in place, others were strewn haphazardly across the room.

Destruction of all types could be found everywhere. It wasn't as if it was old, something happened here.

As if a battle raged all throughout the room.

Looking closely, I found remains of many different weapons I've never seen myself, only in pictures or movies.

Although most were shattered and completely unusable.

[If I remember correctly I was on my way home when I got caught up in a storm... I don't think I ever made it home. Was the storm that bad?]

Standing up, I slid down the large pile of rubble until my feet found purchase on the dusty, scratched marble floor.

"Gah! Fucking hell!."

My arm was on fire, igniting a mind-wrenching pain, something I wasn't used to enduring.

Crouching, I held my arm in my hand. Trying to see through my shaking vision and arm alike.

The crimson red leaking from my wound. Leaving a screeching sound in my head.

If the wound itself could make a sound, it would surely be similar to the sound rattling around my brain.

Just the sight of blood is leaving my mind weakened.

A new wave of fatigue wracked against me, drowning out the surroundings in a sea of black and red.

-

Waking up somewhere like this for the second was just as surprising as the first.

Pain shook the sleepiness from my mind. Sitting up, the stinging pain reminded me once again of the situation I'm in.

An unknown location, with a large bloody gash still fresh on my arm.

Time has passed, as to how much I could not tell. The stress and terror that hadn't really hit me yet begins to settle.

The first thing I should do is look for a way out of here. I couldn't be that far, It hasn't been that long since he was coming home from the storm.

Then it hit me.

[I don't remember a church like this being near me? or even in the whole city...]

Meaning I'm not anywhere near where I used to be. Was I kidnapped by someone?

Pulling my undershirt off, I begin to makeshift a bandage across my arm. Although, I'm not sure if it'll do any good.

Standing up with shaky legs, I start looking around for anything that could give an idea as to where I am.

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I begin by walking towards the large wooden doors at the front of the room.

Leaning my entire weight into the front and as if bolted to the ground they don't seem to budge.

Looking around me, I can't come to an immediate solution to open the doors.

Which prompted me for my next course of action.

My gaze and body moving as one towards the large stone walls. Which previously seemed to be adorned by many decorations, cabinets, and shelves.

The more I familiarize myself, the more my frayed nerves seem to relax. As if a rope that's been pulled taught with too much weight has finally been relieved of its duty.

Walking along the outer edges, a large pile of wood and scrolls were mixed together.

It seemed to be a destroyed shelf with intriguing designs and partially intact drawers.

Pulling open the closest scroll, a rough parchment filled with unfamiliar characters unveiled before my eyes.

Darting and dancing across the paper, I couldn't find anything recognizable.

Doubts I had previously shoved away in the corner of my mind began to resurface.

Evidence began to stack more and more in favor of what used to be one of his largest wishes.

The weapons and pieces of armor scattered everywhere, unfamiliar banners and language.

Hell, even the church alone is something that shouldn't exist to my knowledge.

Past images of my usual lifestyle continued to flicker by me.

The time I had that I didn't spend helping my uncle, was spent wasting away.

A constant siphon that would pulse through my body and soul.

Each day wasting away, playing games, reading novels. Sometimes even participating in forum boards, anything to ignore the emptiness that was soon becoming the majority of my life.

And every waking moment spent in that haze had a demon tearing into my heart.

Starting as just a pain, a constant reminder of the past lived and the future lost. A shock to the system that would hit me when I least expected. Pulling me from my sleep, for many sleepless nights.

It is so much more now.

With the parchment crumbling in my hands as they squeezed tighter. The expression was one that couldn't easily be identified.

One mixed with doubt and fear was the two evident ones that seemed to be the main emotions in control.

My eyes shone with my true feelings. Unworthiness.

Why should I be free from my previous life of pain and torment, but he isn't given the same release. If he wasn't given freedom, then neither should I.

Everything I have ever wished for has been laid out before me.

And now that it's here I don't want it.

So I must go home.

Of course, anyone else in this scenario would be thinking the same thing.

The reasoning would be the largest difference in this case. As I plan on returning to repent.

I want nothing to do with this world that I don't deserve nor belong to.

Dropping the paper, I continue to look around the room with a new perspective.

With the knowledge that this world has something much different than mine.

The same very thing that must have been the culprit in bringing me here in the first place.

Magic.

I look back to the large pile of rubble.

[That is where I landed when I was summoned here.]

I spend an ample amount of time clearing out the debris from the floor.

[It is as I thought]

The result of my work gives an answer to my previous speculation.

Drawn out on the floor, etched into the stone ground was a large pentagram with several symbols around the edges.

Towards the front of the circle stood a rather plain monolith.

The only noticeable feature it exhibited was a large smooth stone set into the center.

Oddly enough, it didn't seem to have any color. As if someone stuck a straw into it and sucked all of the contents out.

Stepping closer, to my surprise there was something in there.

Although it'd be a push to say that.

Pooled together at the bottom of the stone was a single droplet of black liquid.

A look of shock takes over my face.

Because not did I find the best clue to getting home, but also for one more important factor.

My literacy here is even lower than a kindergartner, but my instincts and prior knowledge of fantasy settings tell me that's the 'Fuel' for the circle.

I step closer to the gem and press my hand against it after taking a wide stance.

[Really if anyone saw me doing this... No, let's not think about it for now]

Concentrating extremely hard, as if I was pressing my brain against it.

All I succeeded in was giving myself a headache.

Looking forward, there doesn't seem to be anything I can do.

I mean if this really is magic, it wouldn't make any sense if I would be able to use it.

[Yet.]

An unnatural thought for me to have.