Darkness. Darkness is all I can see. It's wet too. My limbs are tied up behind me, my body feels numb and wet.

I... Don't know where I am or even... Who I am.

Fuck! It hurts goddamn it! How can water hurt? Is this even water? Phew... Calm down, I need to think.

The ground feels like stone albeit slimy. Probably from all the water. My body is cold and shivering, I'll probably fall victim to hypothermia and die sooner or later if it stays like this. I can't wriggle myself either. It's hard to breathe too because my lungs are under stress and can't expand. I can't open my eyes either, they're shut tight by something.

There's... Nothing I can do goddamn it! Am I going to die like this? I don't have any memories about myself or how I got here either... Are the next few hours of agonising pain and cold my whole life? Damn it!

Creak

A low creaking sound emanated from the corner of the space he was in accompanied by heavy footsteps and sloshing sounds of water around it.

A person?

Then, he heard a man speak. He sounded old yet gentle and polite, calm and unperturbed by the situation that was infront of him.

"Hello there, sorry if the rope is a bit uncomfortable for you but it's a necessity. Do forgive the tight knots."

The sloshing sounds came closer until drops of water fell on him. Some to his face, ears and his right side.

"Ng.. mng" he tried to tell something yet only random noise came out from him.

I can't speak! My mouth is shut tight too? Fuck! What is happening here?

The gentle voice spoke again, "Your eyes and mouth are covered with a layer of wax so you will not be able to convey your thoughts or see anything. But do not worry, I came here to pick you up."

Pick me up? What am I, your fucking mistress? Goddamn it!

As he was cursing at the mysteries voice, he suddenly felt the thin layer of water under him dissipate. No, it was him that was being taken away! He was being hoisted up by the man!

Swoosh!

A gust of wind went through him, sending shivers down his spine as he fell back down to the wet ground.

Thud! Splash!

"Nnnng! Ngrrr!" His voice reverberated through the space.

Tear!

The wax coating on his eyes and mouth were torn off and he weiled on the ground in pain.

"Ahhh! Fuck! Ahhhhhh my-my fac- ahhh! Fuck! Goddamn it! Fuck! It hurts!" He had a rather young voice, slightly coarse and in pain.

Suddenly, a dim blue fog came to his view. It enveloped him and rushed through his body. It had a cool, welcoming feeling unlike the bone-chilling and morbid feeling of the wet space he was tied up in just a second ago.

"What... Is this?"

"Power." The voice replied.

He looked over to the voice, forgetting everything that was happening to him at that moment and his eyes met a man, no older than forty standing to his right. He was tall, over 6 foot and with a sturdy build. His eyes were a deep shade of blue. He had short gray hair parted 7-3 and wore an ironed blue shirt with a checkered pattern which was accompanied by his brown pants looked off in the eerie and dirty background of the space that he recognised as a dungeon of sorts. Mossy stone all around with a small rusted gate that was halfway open.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

"Who are you? Where am I? What is happening? What- what is all this?" He screamed at the man.

"Look at yourself first. Feel the change." The man replied with a cryptic answer and without anything accompanying it.

What? What does he mean? As he was thinking, he realised something. The pain and cold were gone. His body felt normal as if before being trapped inside the dungeon.

What? Wait... "The fog? It healed me?" He asked the man beside him.

The man looked at him and smiled as the turned around to the rusted gates. "Yes. This is 'power'."

Dumbfounded, he asked the now 'powerful' mysterious man a question as he slowly backed away. "What do you mean power? What did you just do?"

What was that fog? Magic? Witchcraft? Or some sort of trickery? I have to get away from him and somehow escape.

He slowly backed away as he tried to come up with answers.

"You can also recieve these powers. Afterall, that is why you're here. And escape is futile. If you try it, you will die."

Fuck! He's dead serious! This man is dangerous! I- I can't escape from here! His tone and mannerisms... I don't know what it is but... My intuition is telling me he's telling the truth!

He stood still before walking towards the man slowly while keeping his guard up. It was natural to him, like a subconscious response from deep within him.

"What do you mean I can also get it? And... Why was I tied up here?"

The man didn't look back as he started walking.

"Follow me, I shall explain."

It felt more like an order than a heartfelt request. An almost ethereal power forcing him to follow the man.

The two walked out of the dungeon and entered a wide corridor made by the same stone and illuminated with dim lanterns on either side. Although the passage was lit, he could only see pitch darkness on both ends of the corridor, causing him to shiver from just looking at it.

They walked for a few minutes but neither spoke. The only sounds to break the eerie silence was the reverberations of their footsteps that echoed through the corridor until finally the man spoke; with the same gentle and polite voice.

"You must not have any memories am I right?"

"Yes..."

"It is natural. Do not worry about it. I shall Introduce yourself to you."

Introducing myself to me? That's just... Off!

"Alright."

"Your name is Nephin. Your family is still alive as well as your friends, though you may not even remember them. Anyhow, you are their 2nd born of 4 children. And you are a 21 year old male of light complexion and 5 foot and 9 inches in height. Weighing 64 kilograms and 302 grams."

As the man finished speaking, a door came to their view. It was a large double door with the engravings of a giant fish flowing through it, enveloping it's surroundings in a fog as it passes through. The fish did had only a single scale in its body, below it's eyes which were painted a Lavender hue. The only colour on the doors.

"That is a manifestation of it's 'Will' it is not a simple fog" The man spoke, as if reading his mind.

Nephin was taken aback for a second before he asked another question, seemingly forgetting what had happened to him and who he was next to. "Then the fog that I saw earlier, is it also a 'Will'?"

Hearing this, the man suddenly burst into a fit of laughter, his previous self unperturbed by the dark and suffocating feeling radiated by the dungeon surrounding them were nowhere to be seen. His laughter seemed genuine. A tinge of mockery present ever so slightly in it.

"No, that was simply a fog, a manifestation of my 'power'."

"Then- what is a-"

Before he could finish that sentence, the doors suddenly opened. The doors crept backwards, slowly as winds gushed through the two of them.

The wind was unnatural. It felt like it had a mind of it's own, trying to envelop him. He could feel a surge of emotions inside him as the winds flew past, unsuccessful in its mission. Anger, fear, regret, sorrow, despair and above all, envy. An outlier in the emotions he felt.

"Let us enter. She is waiting."

She? So there's more people here...

He walked forward with the man, this time however, his curiosity was kept at bay. The more he saw, the more fear he felt. And the unnatural, almost supernatural rise of emotions within him made him certain. Certain that whatever that is happening here is not something he could ever fathom.

As he placed his right foot past the door, the scenery had changed almost entirely. A tranquil night. Stars littering the sky and the moon a tinge of lavender. The land he was on had become a meadow with a small pond and a fishing hut next to it. Fireflies flying over the pond and near the fishing hut. Ever so often, a frog eats one. It was a drastic difference to the damp and dark 'dungeon' he was in just a second ago. The man was also nowhere to be seen.

When did I reach here? I didn't even feel a change until everything changed!

Can I escape if I run away? No! This place was just a room just now! This might also be a part of whatever 'power' that old man has. I'll definitely be killed if I run away... Then, is that hut where I am supposed to go to? Fuck! Just what have I gotten into!

He stood there. Reluctant to make a decision. But there was no other choice. There was no decision to make. Only the option of going inside the hut did he have.

Fuck it!

Nephin slowly walked towards the fishing hut. His hands slightly trembling. It did not take long to reach there, a couple of steps and he was infront of the hut. He saw a bell connected to a rope and instinctively rang it.

No going back now...

A few seconds passed and the old wooden door of the fishing hut opened with a creaking sound.

"Come in"