It is dark. A man is submerged in a pool of still, stale water. He emerges from the pool gasping in the putrid air. It smells of fecal matter. He is wearing a wet coat and drenched trousers. He looks around in the gloom. Fulgin - dark as the moonless and starless night, he sees no reflections of light or the outlines of objects in the dark.

“Where am I?”, he says, but he does not hear his voice.

Still perplexed at his current situation he walks forward through the gloom to discover where he is. The sound of splashing water - the only sound in the dark.

“What is this place? Where am I?” he thinks.

However, head piercing migraines rack his brain.  His mind becomes a mess. 

He looks ahead.  There is only darkness with no shred of light.

He moves forward into the gloom.

He sees nothing and hears nothing.  There is no sound.  He can’t hear his voice or footsteps and can’t see his hands.  He can’t even hear the splashes of water his feet make. 

But he can smell.  A terrible smell permeates his surroundings.  The smell of decaying corpses.  He gags, but he holds it in.

The path goes on forward with no end in sight.  He then hits an object.

Clang!

“Ouch,” he says although no sound is heard.

He looks ahead and can only see darkness.  Feeling with his hands in front of him, he touches air at first but then - a metallic object.  On closer inspection with his hands, it feels like a key on a string.  Feeling it, he snaps the string connecting the key to the ceiling and puts it in his pocket. 

“This might be a clue to leave this place,” he thinks, “Luckily, there were no traps that killed me immediately.”

He continues moving forward.  The prospect of his death being imminent not phasing him in the slightest.  It continues to get warmer and warmer.  When he first woke up, the air around him felt nice and cool; however, the air now is now muggy and hot.  He is sweating.  He occasionally touches the key in his pants pockets with his right hand to alleviate his nervousness.

He stops.

He hears something where only the sound of silence is possible.

“Zowl… Zowl… Zowl… Zowl…”

A new sound permeates the area along with the new sound of wind.

“Zowl… Zowl… Zowl…”

The sound becomes more distinct and clearer.  It is coming from his right.

“Shit!”

The man books it to his left in order to avoid whatever is making that sound.

“Zowl… Zowl… ZOWL!!!”

An ear-piercing screech echoes through the darkness and a whirlwind of air can be felt on his skin.

He runs as fast as he can, splashing the water below him. 

“ZOWL!… ZOWL!… ZOWL!!!”

The sound becomes louder and louder.  He looks back.

Bright luminescent colors appear in the gloom in the form of a large flying creature. It is barreling toward him with a maw of red glowing teeth. Shocked and sweating profusely, he sprints away even faster than before.

“CCCCRRRRAAAASSSHHHH!!!”

He hits a wall.

“Fuck!” he swears.

“ZOWL!!… ZOWL!!… ZOWL!!!!!!”

The creature’s roar is getting louder. 

“Shit!” he says and hits the wall with his fist.

Then, a maddening script of fiery words appear on the wall.  A symbol that is both familiar but otherworldly.

 Then, words in English appear on the wall above the script, and the words read, “What Lies in the Abyss?”

The man then unconsciously responds with the answer in English, “The Forbidden Truth.”

However, the creature then bites the man shoulder.

“AAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!”

Violence and blood ensues.  He struggles, but the creature eats his other arm.  He is pinned to the ground bleeding out.  The creature then starts to eat his organs in his body like his liver, stomach, and intestines.  Parts of them now outside the body.

The man is dying.  The light fades from his eyes.

His predestined end has been fulfilled here today, but it was not to be so.  A great cosmic hymn echoes through the gloom killing the creature, the darkness, the water, and the world.  It even killed the man’s death.

It did not kill the man’s dreams however.

The man then dreams first of his childhood.

“It is a dark, overcast day with the fog creeping up the riverbanks and I look at four unmarked stones.  I place some flowers on them.  I am in a graveyard.  My mother died a few days ago, and I am at a lost on what I need to do. 

‘Mother is gone,’ I think. 

I look at the stones filled with words that I cannot read.  The other three graves house my father, my brother, and my sister.  I lean on my mother’s grave unable to read what it says trying to understand why this happened. Then, a man in a coat next to me puts his hand on my shoulder and says, ‘I am sorry for your lost, Mr. Davos.  Here is my address.   Come to my house for food and shelter.’ I nod at the man and look at the tombstones.  I am all alone on this world.  Mother is gone.  My family has left me.  I am all alone.”

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Then, the scenery suddenly changes.  Gone is the gloomy, rural graveyard and instead one sees the skyline of the big city.  Lights illuminating the night.  In the heart of a large steel skyscraper, a battle for the world’s fate takes place.

“I look at Agent Salinger in front of me.  ‘His leg broken,’ I think.

He says, ‘You crazy old man. Why are you doing this! Why did you kill her!’

I look at him and then look at the body of the dead woman hanging from a ledge.  I say, ‘I always planned to kill her, Agent Salinger.  You should have realized that by now.  I was never really aiming for your life in the first place.’

‘Fuck you and your Bullshit!’ he says, and he barely manages to stand up with his broken leg.

‘This world does not need heroes or villains anymore.  The world has no need for an Agent Salinger or an Adam Davos.  Why else would M.I.6 sell you and her out.  We will achieve a world where heroism is unnecessary where people out of their own free will choose the Technocracy. A world of safety without terrorism or religious animosity.’

‘You are insane, Adam!’ he says inching closer toward me, ‘What about all the people that will die!’

‘They will be grateful, Agent Salinger.  The people of today are nihilistic. They lack a transcendent purpose.  They only care for themselves especially in our part of the world, Agent Salinger.  I have gifted them a purpose greater than themselves. Although it pained me initially, I will now gladly sacrifice them for the cause. And they will love it!  Yes, there will be a great rejoicing of this day throughout the whole world. A day that will mark a new coming era!’

‘I will stop this whole charade, Adam, even if it kills me!’ Salinger says.

He is now a few feet away from Adam.

‘This plan has been in motion before you and I were even born, Agent Salinger.  Neither you nor I have the power to stop it.’

Agent Salinger then punches me in the face, and I fight back.  We tumble to the ground beating the shit out of each other as the building shakes in the background.

It is all a blur.

He is now on top of me and punching me in the face.  I see a swaying steel pillar behind him.  Using the last of my strength, I headbutt him and choke him with my arm.  The steel pillar falls upon us.

It is now dark.”

He wakes up in a clearing.

“Where am I,” the man thinks.

Although puzzled by his situation, his sense of self is stronger than when he first woke up in that Darkness.

He looks around the area.  It is no longer pitch-black.  The stars dot the black vault of the sky with the moon as its centerpiece.  Green moonlight shines on him with tall conifer trees surrounding the light.  He can hear the sound of the wind rushing through the forest; however, the smell of blood and burning flesh enters his nostrils causing him to involuntary gag.

He manages to hold his vomit in.

“What a terrible stench,” he thinks.

After relieving himself in a nearby bush, he decides to investigate the smell.  He puts his arm over his nose.  He notices that he is wearing a collared shirt with embroidery.

“It looks like I am part of the upper class here,” Adam thinks.

He then investigates his immediate surroundings.  Seeing only the image of the green moon high in the sky and various shrubs and bushes near him, he moves on.  Following the scent of blood like someone possessed by a demon, he finds a well-paved road lit by torches with blue fire.  The smell of death becomes more intense.  A small cloud then covers the moon darkening the land.

“I need more information,” he thinks, “this might be related to why I woke up in the middle of that clearing.”

He presses forward up the road.  He then sees a small mound in the darkness.  The light from the torches do not reach the black hump.

Wary, he tenses up and moves forward.  The cloud parts and the green moonlight falls down on the road illuminating his surroundings.

The black hump was a pile of corpses, disemboweled with their appendages ripped off.

Blegh.

He throws up again.  After getting his bearings, he approaches the pile.  He looks at the pile of corpses and sees that they have the same type of clothing.  They are wearing scarlet cloaks and robes with strange symbols and glyphs on their sleeves and on their body. They look like some weird occultic group back on Earth.  However, there was a man whose face was not covered and had a circlet atop his head.  His skin looked green and pale under the moonlight – a scar can be seen across his face.  His mouth is wide open revealing his yellow teeth and pale tongue.

“This looks like the leader,” he thinks.

He looks more closely at the corpses and sees red slashes on their wrists and necks.

“It looks like an execution or a suicide and looking at the messiness of the clothes it was probably the former,” Adam thinks.

He turns his head away and looks at the other bodies scattered on the road.  Some have metal plate armor like that of a knight while others are clothed in a variety of apparel from armor made from what appears to be great beasts and monsters to lighter leather armor and wizard robes.

“Wait, wizard robes?” he asks himself.

A pain-inducing headache grips him, but he then regains his bearings.  It was not as intense as before.

“These robes look like something a wizard in a fantasy novel would wear,” he thinks.

Looking at the various dead bodies scattered about, he notices something strange.  It looks like their arms and legs are twisted and contorted in unnatural directions and orientations.

“That doesn’t look good.” he thinks.

“Now that I think about it, why did I follow the scent of blood?”

Sweat accumulates on the back of his neck and a sense of dread overshadows him.

FLASH!

A bright white light pours over him followed by a loud voice,

“Kneel! Put your hands behind your head! Do not resist!”

Immediately stunned at what is happening to him, he unconsciously does as he told.  After a full minute, the white light dims, and he sees a man in uniform and armor in front of him.

“Since he is leading the group of soldiers and has a unique set of armor, he is probably their captain,” Adam thinks.

He takes out a long two-handed sword with one hand and says, “Kneel.”

Knowing that he is at a disadvantage, Adam obliges.

“What is your name, boy?” the man asks.

“Travis,” Adam says lying naturally as he breathes, “unfortunately, I may not be of much help, good Sir, since I lost my memory this evening.”

“What, you have to be lying?” the captain says.

Looking at Adam’s eyes which seem to be saying that he was innocent, the captain says, “Come over here, Ryan.  Bring me artifact B-27.”

A much younger man than the both of us comes forward and gives the captain what appears to be a cracked watch.

“I better be careful.” Adam thinks.

The guard captain then holds the watch in front of him and asks Adam, “Did you really lose your memory today.”

“Let’s see if that watch can detect me withholding information,” Adam thinks.

“Yes,” Adam says.

“I really don’t have any memory of my life here before today,” he continues.

The watch does not move.

“Okay, Travis, then how do you remember your name, and do you remember where you are currently,” the guard captain asks.

“Judging by his reaction, it looks like there were no obvious problems with my response, but I think he knows that I am withholding information,” Adam thinks.

“I admit, good Sir, that Travis is probably not my real name.  It was only a guess.  A name that you could call me by.  In reality, good Sir, I don’t know my name in this land, and I don’t even know where I am either,” Adam replies.

The watch does not move.

The guard captain stares into my eyes and sighs.

“Fine, ‘Travis.’ I will believe your answers for now,” he says.

“You are currently in the Kingdom of Baudren, ‘Travis,’ and we are only three miles away from the city of Merchant’s Rest which lies up this road,” the guard captain says pointing behind him.

“Do you at least remember why you are here with all of these dead bodies around you,” the guard captain asks his face appearing closer to Adam’s face.

“Maybe he can help me understand my situation,” Adam thinks.

“I do not know why I woke up in the middle of the forest, but I do know that I was unconsciously attracted to the scent of blood when I woke up,” Adam says.

The watch moves one tick to the right and the guardsman behind him start murmuring among themselves.

“Quiet!” the captain yells.

“Yes Captain!” they reply.

“Since I didn’t lie and he didn’t immediately kill me, then there should be no problems,” Adam thinks.

“Do you vaguely recall any of the corpses lying on the ground?” the guard captain asks.

Adam looks around and shakes his head.

He then freezes up.

“Wait, where is the corpse of the Cult leader?” he thinks.

Chills run up his spine and the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

The guard captain notices his reaction, but it is too late.

“AHH!” someone screams.

“Ryan!” a guardsman yells.

And where Ryan was there is now a man in scarlet robes with a circlet on his head.  His hand ingrained in Ryan’s face with vein-like structures pulsating the once human face.

He throws Ryan away and the moonlight reveals his hideous inhuman visage.

“Praise the Lord of Luminous Mysteries!” the man says.

“Kill the heretic!” the guard captain says.

The soldiers roar in anger and the clashing of swords with magic echoes throughout the night.