[http://i.imgur.com/sL4cP81.png] 

A Voice in the Dark

Location:

Time:

It's dark.

I can't see.

I can't feel my body!

I'm scared.

I scream but my voice won't come out.

I'M SCARED!

[[*******]] (?)

I hear a sound.

No. I'm not hearing it. It's inside my head.

I'm calm now. Weird.

[[***********]] (?)

Again, the sound. But it's not a sound. It's an... an image. A thought. But not mine. Someone is inside my mind. It feels wrong. But whenever I feel agitated, something soothe me. For some reason I'm fine with that.

[[What is your innermost desire?]] (Voice)

I can understand the voice clearly, now.

What is my desire it asks. My desire?

[Memories.] (Me)

Images of my life fly before me. It's like my mind is answering on its own. It feels wrong to not be in control of my own mind, but I'm okay with it anyway. It's the strangest feeling.

Wait, my life? I had a life! Somehow the idea feels strange. I was alive, and I died. Now I'm here. Wherever here is.

Images from childhood keep flashing.

[Memories. Pain.] (Me)

I had no parents. I died of starvation. I was ill. I died forgotten and abandoned in an alley. So much pain! Is there no happy image anywhere in my memories? I feel sad for my past self.

I want answers! I focus. I try to make a thought as clear as voice was. Voice... Yes. That name will do, for now.

[Who are you?] (Me)

[[]] (Voice)

answered with my own thoughts about it! So cheap!

Well, at least I know that can see my replies. Creepy, but not unexpected. It's really weird that I can keep calm in this situation. I know I shouldn't be calm, but I am. Also, for some reason 's answer satisfies me. I'm no longer curious about their identity.

[[What is your innermost desire?]] (Voice)

asks the same question again. Did my memories not satisfy them? Well... I guess it's only natural. I knew nothing but suffering, the very thought of happiness never touched me. Until now.

I know more than I used to. I'm sure of it. Did my consciousness grew to a point where I can understand ? This feels like the right answer. Different images fly trough my mind.

[Memories.] (Me)

Someone else's memories. It's me. But it's not me. I understand that it's a version of me that came from somewhere else. I was a kid that died abandoned in an alley, but at the same time I lived many different lives in many different places. In those places things went differently. That's who I am now. A sum of many possible versions of me.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

[[What is your innermost desire?]] (Voice)

[A rich family. Loving parents. Warmth. Food on the table. Clean clothes. Healthy. Happy.] (Me)

My mind finally answers with clear thought. And what a nice thought it is! Everything I never had! But... that's what one of the many me wanted, the one who never had anything at all. Other versions of me would not be satisfied with just that much.

Let's find something else.

[[What is your innermost desire?]] (Voice)

[A boat. A vast ocean surround me. An unknown land can be seen over the horizon.] (Me)

I never ever dreamt of exploring! I would like that very much! But not every me agree.

[[What is your innermost desire?]] (Voice)

[A teacher. A medic. A saint. One that helps other.] (Me)

This way nobody will suffers like I did. I really want that. Almost all of me agree. But still that's not enough.

[[What is your innermost desire?]] (Voice)

[A power that didn't exist in my world. Magic. The world is what I want the world to be. Bad people use magic to make the world a bad place to be in. I use magic to heal the world.] (Me)

Yes. This is it. All of me like this thought. A magic user that helps other people. I wonder why cares.

[Why do you want to know?] (Me)

[[You can be reborn in a world where your desire can be fulfilled.]] (Voice)

[Do I have a choice?] (Me)

[[Darkness. Nothingness.]] (Voice)

[[My baby self in a strange world]] (Voice)

I do have a choice! Disappearing and never suffering again is one of my desires too. The me who only suffered wanted that. But if I'm given a choice... Then I chose life!

[I choose life! You'd better not be tricking me !] (Me)

[[ **** Possibility ****** Hardships * Willpower ***************]] (Voice)

Wow! This is one complex thought! But I get the gist of it. I'll have the potential to make my desire come true, but I will have to do it on my own. will not give it to me straight.

Can I have a little help at least?

[[A unique power. *********** *** ************** * ************* One **]] (Voice)

Another complex thought! I feel like is trying its best to dumb it down for me. I don't know what's worse. That I'm being treated as dumb, or that I need to be treated as dumb to understand.

Uhm... Let's get to it. is offering me something unique to me. Something nobody else has. Let's see... What power could a mage need?

[Understanding of forces and heat. Great spells. The power to destroy.] (Me)

No! A part of me is angry and want vengeance, but most of me doesn't! I want to help people, I don't want to level mountains! I know how it feels to be at the bottom, I don't wish that upon other.

[Understanding of human body. Illnesses cured. Limb regrows.] (Me)

That's more like it! ... But helping like that is like treating the symptoms, not the cause. It wouldn't makes things better at all. I could cure all day long over a whole lifetime, and still people would suffer.

[The ability to see. Near and far. Small and big. Past and present. Possible futures.] (Me)

Wow. That sounds useful. A version of me who was into science thought of that.

Wait, that's not just useful. That's totally broken!!! I could stop bad things before they even happens!

But I somehow understand that my mind is not big enough to make use of such power.

That amount of information would just break my mind. I need either a bigger mind or...

[An interface. A virtual agent. .] (Me)

That is an interesting answer... a version of me who was into games came up with this.

Large games have too much information to be displayed all at once. Skills, quests, maps, way points, stats...

Bigger games have Virtual Helpers. The player just needs to ask and the system would sift trough the game data for them, doing the micromanagement instead of the player. My gamer self remembers an RPG that was as deep as the real world itself.

But how would all of that work in practice? I don't want to have a computer chip in my head.

[Magic. The power to overwrite reality. If I can imagine it. If I have the power. It will be.] (Me)

Of course! I have magic this time! HUD can be a continuous type magic. An enchantment.

[************** ***************]

[******* *** ** *]

[*****************]

[*** ******************************* ** *]

[] (Me)

Such a complex tough! I feel proud of myself.

And I did it all on my own! Maybe? All versions of me worked together after all.

Ah. I feel dizzy.

Forming this thought pushed my mind to its limit.

Still, I succeeded!

The image of my unique power is now clear as day.

I hope got it.

[[Surprise. ***** Amusement. ******]] (Voice)

Rude! I thought was a good idea!

Don't laugh at me !

[[*************** ************** **Farewell. ****** * ****** **]] (Voice)

Wait! I didn't get any of that! Why am I here? Why are you doing this? Who are you?!?

And why I didn't think of asking those questions earlier?

...

is gone.

I'm tired.

I'm so very tired.

Darkness descends upon my world.