_ _ _ _Suu Pov_ _ _ _
Life was never fair to me; in fact, it was mostly downhill from the moment that I was born. My mother died giving birth to me and, well, my father blamed me. Honestly, I think he just needed someone to blame, anything to blame for the tragedy, not that it made it right, but still. The fact that I ended up looking more and more like my mother as I grew seemed only to fan the flames of his anger and malice, so to speak.
My sister was far less disdainful of me; she was actually the only one who ever really paid me any mind. She even took time to teach me when she could, everything I know I got from her. She was always distant, though; I could see it in her eyes, and if I had to guess she probably couldn't help seeing me as a cruel reminder of the mother she so suddenly lost.
I had tried to escape it all on multiple occasions, but it wasn't long before I realized there was no escape, nowhere I could flee to. No matter how loudly I cried for help I'd just end up back where I started, and when I finally realized no one was listening I… something inside me just broke. That's why, when I woke up in another world, I was so shocked about the fact that I could actually feel things again, that I wasn't broken anymore. And yet despite all of that, a part of me, a whisper in the back of my mind that I tried so desperately to ignore, always believed it was all just a dream.
So, when my eyes fluttered open and I was met with a very familiar ceiling, I could only let out a hollow sigh. It had been a nice dream; however, it was already beginning to fade from my mind. I couldn't help but at least try and hold on to some of the pieces, even if I knew it was pointless. Of course, it didn't really matter what I may have wanted: the smell of alcohol staining the air and the hollow feeling that permeated my mind made it all too clear where I was. In the end, hoping that I could somehow escape into a fantasy was, well, just that, a fantasy.
I didn't bother to speak, to scream, to cry, what would be the point? After all, nobody cared; nobody would ever care. So as I lay there, tracing the familiar scars that littered my arms with my fingers, as the suffocating numbness slowly anchored itself back into my being, I could only await what was to come.
(I wonder if I'll have another dream like that?) I mused internally, although I couldn't help but find it a slim possibility.
Any further thoughts were interrupted, however, when an all-too-familiar voice came from below. It wasn't a shout; it came in the form of a relatively calm yet cold command that sounded from between the gaps in the floorboards. I couldn't really make out what it, what he was saying, but I didn't need to.
"The silence was nice while it lasted, I guess…" I breathed out ever so quietly as I got to my feet.
(Maybe things won't be so bad today.) I thought, the sound of the floorboards creaking echoing in my ears as I moved. (Not that I can actually bring myself to believe that, but still…)
The walk downstairs was relatively quick, even if my legs seemed to drag more than they usually would. The house itself was bleak, to say the least, resembling a rotting corpse more than a welcoming home. The moment I reached the bottom and stretched out my hand toward the living-room door, however, something stopped me. The wind around me seemed to pick up and, as if on instinct, my body jolted backward, much to my own confusion.
(Why... why did I move like that...? Also where is that wind coming from?) I thought, glancing around in confusion. The house was relatively decrepit, sure, but it felt different from the usual draft.
Just then something called out, a voice I didn't recognize at all. "Ekaw pu." It seemed to come from everywhere at once, and yet also nowhere.
"Huh?" I blinked, gazing around in confusion. Oddly, the moment the voice spoke the haze that had settled over my mind lifted slightly for a moment, a fact that only seemed to fuel the feeling that I was forgetting something.
"Who said that?" I asked, the words coming out louder and steadier than I expected.
It wasn't long after that, that my attention was pulled in one particular direction. Down the hallway, past the long broken coat rack, there was a another door, the door that led outside. And it was opening; the slightly rusted handle creaked down as the various locks undid themselves rather rapidly. When the door finally flung open, the sight on the other side was not what I expected at all.
Instead of the familiar sight of a wildly unkempt, overgrown garden, there was nothing but darkness. A darkness made of writhing clouds of swirling shadows that churned and twisted like dozens of waves crashing and merging into each other.
Within the storm, however, there was something: a silhouette that simply stood there, unbothered by the chaos that surrounded it. I couldn't make out its appearance; it was far too obstructed to see properly, though I felt a strange connection with it. Honestly, it felt like I was looking at a reflection of myself, one that seemed distant and distorted in a way I could not place exactly.
"Ekaw pu, uoy tsum ekaw pu." The figure hummed once more, but I still couldn't understand it. In fact, for some reason ever since I woke up, the sound around me seemed almost muted in a bizarre way.
"What did you just say?" I mused, tilting my head as the haze finally began to part.
Once it was fully gone, the figure spoke again and this time I understood clearly, and the words that followed had an immediate effect. "Wake up."
It was like someone had poured freezing cold water over my face. The memories that had been quiet and distant up until this point suddenly came rushing back to the surface, causing me to clutch my head. It wasn't painful, not in a physical sense anyway, but on an emotional level? It was agonising.
"They were… how could I forget…?" I asked myself, barely even noticing as the silhouette seemed to vanish into the darkness, disappearing from view.
(How… no… it was a dream… it was a… was it?) I thought, taking several steps back while a mixture of emotions assaulted my senses.
"I… no."
Before I even had time to process everything that was happening, it came again. That all-too-familiar male voice, his voice, commanding and filled with chilling malice. A part of me just wanted to do as instructed; if I was wrong then it would just mean more suffering, more pain… but I knew I wasn't wrong. What had happened hadn't been a dream; the memories of everyone I had come to care for were not a fantasy.
"You're not real… none of this is…" The words came out slowly at first, but quickly grew in both conviction and volume.
"No... I won't listen... I will not let this place haunt me anymore..." The voice grew louder at my words, more demanding as the desire to listen to it grew in the back of my mind, but I ignored it.
I breathed, the fear in my chest dying as flames began to spread out from my feet. "I…"
[Congratulations. The conditions have been met. The skill Isolation Resistance has evolved into the skill Mental Fortification.]
The information didn't even register to me; even his voice from beyond the door became nothing but background noise. All I could hear was my own voice and the crackling of the fire that continued to spread unheeded. "Said…"
[Congratulations. The conditions have been met. The unique skill Everlasting Hunger has evolved into the unique skill Sorrow.]
"No." And as the flame spread, consuming everything like a ravenous tide, I felt something new, something I'd never felt before. Hate.