> Quote:You are the true master of death, because the true master does not seek to run away from death. He accepts that he must die, and understands that there are far, far worse things in the world than dying

> -Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

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hello, da lazy author here with another update. sorry bout update times, I redo everything about three time before it's finished, and add a whole bunch a stuff. hope everyone likes the story. please review :sparkle:

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As I fell deep into the dark shaft I thought to myself: NOT AGAIN! this is the second time in how long, minutes, hours? i settled on a day. the second time I find myself falling down a deep, dark hole. now all I need are the visions.

as if on cue, all different voices flooded my head.

"only one, scion and partner..."

"He shall come deep from within..."

"A warrior."

"not a hero..."

"a judge..."

"an avenger."

"a warrior of..."

"death."

"death"

"death."

"the darkness and death"

"he shall face the coming storm, no more powerful"

"than any before..."

"or after."

with a start I realized that I was hearing a prophecy, one that described a warrior, a judge, and one who dealt with death in all it's forms.

"animist." the word was the last to echo through my head. from what I knew, there was a future waiting for me, one in which I could avenge others and perhaps let go the memory of my mother. 

I don't know how long passed in that time after the prophecy, it could have been eons or it could have been only an instant. one tends to lose track of time in the darkness when I hit the bottom of the mineshaft.

as my broken body lay there, I thought about the wind, It's feel on my face, the way it both helped us survive and destroyed our buildings, sowed seeds and toppled trees.

inexplicably, I thought of the other three elements in turn, fire, water, and earth. then my thoughts turned to death, was it the mere absence of life or something greater? was I dead or something entirely different? when one died, did their consciousness become separate from their body or did their consciousness fade and be replaced by something else? who could truly answer these questions but the dead?

I don't know how long the dark cloaked me in my own thoughts, it could have been centuries. as I thought of that I started singing a song I remembered from my days on earth

Some legends are told, Some turn to dust or to gold, but you will remember me_. remember me for centuries_.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

just one mistake, is all it would take. we'll go down in history_, remember me for centuries_.

D da da da, daaa. Da da da da, daaa. Da da da da, daaa.

chuckling to myself as the words faded into the gloom I wondered what would happen now. would I lie here until my limbs mended or just... fade? no I wouldn't fade. I would go on to that world that was promised to me.

some amount of time later, a glow appeared. not like the glow of a lamp, more like the aurora borealis. "Beautiful, isn't it?" said someone to my left. I tried to turn my head to see who was trapped here with me. To my surprise,I could. it was a man sitting cross-legged on the ground looking up at the light show above us. "only occurs once every five thousand years." he chuckled at that. 

"how long have..." I asked as I tried to sit up, and succeeded.

"I been here?" the man responded. "hundreds of millennia. I simply don't want to go on."

"then how long have..." I paused, not wanting to say any more

"You been here?" he finished. "at least five centuries, you tend to lose track of time, and everything moves slowly here."I nodded, slightly confused. "you should get ready. you'll be moving on shortly." I nodded, taking this ancient beings word for it. "before you go, I would like to give you a gift." he said, stretching and standing up

"why?" I asked him.

"I'll fade into solitude soon, I want you to inherit some of my knowledge and power." he said as his reason. then he concentrated, much as those men in my visions had. behind him, a majestic creature stalked out of the gloom, it's black fur even darker than the darkness that surrounded us, with piercing yellow eyes. "take my hand, the hand of the king of solitude." the ancient man said, stretching out his left hand. I reached out my right and clasped his hand. He smiled and leaned back, the animal behind him touched it's muzzle to him, and dark winds swirled around the two of them. when the winds cleared, a single black obelisk stood where they had been.