A searing heat surged through his consciousness as if branding his very mind, strange symbols began to engrave themselves into his memories before breaking down the foggy wall separating him from his memories.

Suddenly, it was all very clear.

“Caspian.” The name came to the forefront of his mind, it was so familiar and yet so distant – it was like meeting a relative for the first time in decades, so familiar and yet so different to what you remembered they were like.

To be more precise his name was Caspian Flynn, second prince of Arvelle Kingdom; he had lived in a world of knights and magic yet even he had to admit he was a useless person. He was not as talented as his elder brother, the crown prince, or as charismatic as his younger sister.

Average.

That was the word one would use to describe him, as ‘average’ as a prince could be that is, he was still admired by the masses but more so due to the status he was born with rather than his own personal actions.

He lived a luxurious life but a modest one, he kept a low profile and faded from the public eye. But his existence alone was enough for others to perceive him as a threat; the day of his twentieth birthday came and along with it came the assassin that stole his life.

“Ughh…” He moaned in muffled agony as he remembered the clear feeling of the knife stabbing through his chest. Slowly, he began to feel the heat increase as it began to burn. It began to sear his mind as a phantom pain pierced him. He could still ‘feel’ the wound and the blood dripping out, it was as if he was lying down once more on the cold marble floor of his mansion with his life gradually fading once more.

The pain continued to grow in intensity, his mind felt sluggish as he began to panic. ‘Stop it! No!’ But it was to no avail, he couldn’t voice his mind to the ‘System’ anymore it was too painful to do so.

It felt like his consciousness was on fire as the memory of every wound of his past life returned to him backwards; first it was the dagger that killed him, the sword that pierced him during training, an awry fireball that struck him in the back, an attempted poisoning and many others.

He didn’t just experience the pain of course: the pleasure, excitement, awe and sadness. He relived all of it as his memories returned to him. His mind screamed in agony and yet the space was silent, he was all alone in his suffering and all he could do was continue to endure.

‘God dammit! Stop it!’ He wanted to scream, like a movie he watched the death of his mother but in reverse.

He watched from the perspective of a toddler as the servant that had been with him till his death had poisoned the medicine that day. The lack of guilt in his eyes as he looked at the toddler Caspian and grinned before putting a finger to his mouth and mouthing “Shhh” the experience was agonising as he began to see the memories he had long since ‘forgotten’ but had simply been lost to a corner of his mind.

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

He watched on as he saw the corruption of the kingdom, he had called home, no one guards themselves against a small child after all…

He could ‘feel’ tears running down his cheeks only to try and wipe them only to realise he had no body to begin with. ‘Is this the true appearance of my home?’ He thought sorrowfully, remembering the words of the ‘System’ that this would be painful… it was, just not in the way he had first expected.

Finally, he came to the end or maybe it was the beginning. The first day he was brought into the world. His very first memory of the world. He wanted to sob seeing the joy on his mother’s face and curse his father now that he had seen the darker side to the man he had grown up admiring.

[System Initialization Complete]

[Hello Caspian]

“What was that…” he asked quietly seeing that his voice had returned to him, “Why did you show me that?” There was no rage in his voice, just confusion and sorrow; he didn’t notice that he no longer spoke on the calm monotone manner had had before, it was as if he truly had a body now as his voice trembled.

[It was to ensure our safety]

“Our safety? You made me relive all of that for our safety?” He asked, gradually raising his voice as he spoke.

[Yes]

“Are you going to tell me why it was for our safety?” He asked after a long period of silence.

He waited for another minute before muttering, “Thought so…” A soft self-depreciating chuckle escaped his mind, “At least I know who I am now… thank you.”

[If you are fine now, let us begin.]

The pitch-black space suddenly morphed into a spotless white square chamber with nothing decorating it. The chamber wasn’t large by any means and one would struggle to fit a king-sized bed within it without taking up most of the space it provided.

“Where are we?”

[The Control Space]

“I’m going to need a bit more than that, what happens here?” He said in irritation, although maybe that was just a side-effect of his emotional turmoil – his mood was still swinging like a pendulum as he felt anger, sadness then joys simultaneously for a moment.

[This room is created for the destruction of worlds.]

“Why the hell are we here then? If that show of wanting to create was a trick to get me to accept then don’t think just because I’m here now I’m going to do it.” He said suspiciously, he felt that it was likely that he wasn’t being lied to, but it was hard to tell when the other person spoke so mechanically without emotion.

[I was created for destruction. I can only cause destroy. You must find a way to cause creation from my destruction to achieve our goal]

“You’re not asking for much then are you… just that I find a way to bring about the apocalypse to the universe and somehow find a way to create from the destruction that we cause in the first place! Yep, saving the entire universe – should be a piece of cake.” He retorted sarcastically with a sigh.

[That is correct, but there is no cake]

“…”

“Anyway, can I at least get a body or something? This whole having no body thing is more uncomfortable than it sounds.”

[Just think it, this space will do its best to please you]

A few moments after it said this, black marble-like stones began to rise from the ground as they merged with one another forming a humanoid shape. Slowly, facial features and clothes began to appear on it as Caspian's human form appeared from it leaving no indicator that his body was anything but human.

“At least I won’t die so easily…” He muttered, accustoming himself to his body that seemed to be full of strength now.

[Please be advised, you must begin the destruction of a world within the next ten minutes or my core directives will force me to erase you as an uncooperative host]

“Guess I’m going to have to figure this out on the job…” He said with a sigh, “What world am I meant to destroy?”

[World#210; a world formed from elemental energy; the inhabitants can utilise the energy in the air to perform feats of ‘magic’ which they have used to improve their daily lives.]

[Advised Method of Destruction: Demons]