"Don't leave," a voice called out to Alaric. "Don't... go," the voice repeated.
"Who's there?" It was Alaric who spoke.
He was standing alone in an endless, pitch-black darkness. He tilted his head toward the voice, but this time no sound came. He waited for a moment before a cold, yet warm hand grabbed the nape of his neck.
"I won't let you go," the voice growled. The voice slowly and gradually began to turn Alaric's head.
"Aaa...aa!" Alaric screamed painfully. He tried to hit the hand, but nothing worked. With the sudden sound of a snap, Alaric's head was turned 180 degrees.
His vision started to blur. He tried to see the source of the voice, but his vision was turning crimson.
Alaric's vision went black.
A blue-colored room with windows open, sunlight radiating brightly beside the window. Alaric jerked awake, sweating heavily.
"Not again," he mumbled under his breath. "I'm tired of this damn nightmare."
****
Alaric was sitting at the dinner table. Adjacent to Alaric, his butler was standing. He looked at Alaric. "Any problem, sir?"
"Uh... yes... no, nothing, just get me an orange juice."
The butler didn't follow the order Alaric gave. He leaned forward to look at the nape of Alaric's neck. His expression immediately turned solemn. Returning to his original position, he spoke, "Si-sir... your neck."
Alaric looked at the butler, and his eyes twitched. He touched his nape with his hand. "Is something wrong? Is soap foam still there?"
"No... sir, your nape has... the mark of a huge hand!"
Alaric jumped from the chair. "What? It has never happened before."
Butler, controlling his urge to touch Alaric's nape, spoke, "Sir, it's an omen. I have read somewhere that these types of marks are an omen of hard times to come."
"Can you just shut up and don't speak your nonsense conspiracy to me."
The butler looked down, ashamed. Before he could do anything else, Alaric spoke, "Now go and get me a damn orange juice, and arrange a carriage. I'll be going somewhere."
"Yes, sir... are you going to the cathedral?"
"Indeed."
When the butler finally walked away, Alaric sighed. "I can't let myself be terrified by this stupid Kale. Why does he believe in so many damn conspiracies? I should go to the cathedral before something terrible happens."
Alaric stood up and walked toward the mirror. He looked at his reflection, his black hair long enough to cover some part of his brown, ordinary eyes. He turned on the faucet at the sink and washed his face with cold water.
When he came back to the dining table, his butler was standing there with an orange juice in a glass cup. Alaric didn't say anything; he took the cup and finished it in one breath. "Have you arranged the carriage?"
"Yes, sir," the butler replied truthfully.
****
Alaric was sitting inside the carriage, looking out of the window. A car passed his carriage at high speed. "Another noble's son."
Alaric glanced at the shining red car. "How different this world is."
The driver of the carriage looked at Alaric and spoke while lowering his head, as he had wanted to say something for a long time, "Sir... thank you."
Alaric raised his brow and asked, "Why?"
The driver didn't say anything immediately. "Sir... because of you, I can drive a carriage. If it wasn't for you, and if I had been found driving a carriage, I would have been sentenced to death."
Alaric raised his chin proudly. "Well... this is one of the reasons I hate this hierarchy system. You know, if you are a laborer, then you don't have access to phone booths, carriages, and so on, but it is what it is. Now, I am in a hurry; drive a little faster."
"Yes, sir."
It only took five to six minutes before Alaric finally reached the cathedral of the Goddess of Nature, St. Order Cathedral. Alaric swung open the door of the carriage and walked out calmly yet rapidly. He took out a silver cent and tossed it to the driver. The driver grabbed the cent and bowed deeply.
Alaric was standing alone outside the cathedral, where a priest, acting more like a bodyguard, was standing. The priest walked towards Alaric and asked softly, "Are you from the Western Sector?"
"Yes."
"Can you show me your identification and the documents for your house and assets?"
Alaric, as he expected this question, put his hand in his left pocket and took out two thin papers. "Here."
The priest took the papers, examined them carefully, and read some details aloud. "Alaric Xyle, age 21, owner of Glow & Shine Private Limited, and a major stockholder of Red Bamboo, resident of the Western Sector."
The priest gave the papers back to Alaric slowly. "Sorry for the inconvenience, Mr. Xyle. You know, some laborers also come here sometimes, stating they are this and that."
"Don't worry, it's okay. It's a procedure at the end; don't blame yourself."
The priest opened the gate of the cathedral for Alaric. "Please."
Alaric nodded and walked inside the cathedral. "I need to meet the high priest as fast as I can."
The cathedral was extraordinarily large, built completely of stone.
Stone carvings of pilgrims surrounded the enormous statue of the goddess at the center of the building.
A huge statue of the goddess was built, an indescribable monument, where the only describable feature was the name of the statue: Incarnation of Goddess.
Only a few stone chairs were filled, and the atmosphere of the cathedral was silent, the smell of nature moving with the air. Alaric walked toward the statue where the high priest was sitting, the sound of Alaric's footsteps echoing through the entire cathedral.
Alaric stood in front of the statue for a minute with closed eyes. When he opened his eyes, he bowed deeply and looked at the high priest.
The high priest looked at Alaric and asked in a low tone, "Any problem, son?"
Alaric leaned forward and replied softly, "Yes. From the day I turned into an adult, I mean the day I turned 19, I occasionally started having a strange nightmare. And just like that, today I had the same nightmare."
"Then?" the high priest asked in a calm tone.
"But today, when I was at my dining table, the butler noticed that there were fingerprints forming on my nape. Is something wrong?"
The high priest stood up. "Don't worry, son; may the goddess bless you. You probably got some bad omen from someone. I will pray for you; come and sit beside me."
Alaric only nodded. He was a believer in the Goddess of Nature and the God of the Sun. Alaric was going to sit beside the high priest when suddenly the nape of his neck started to hurt. It was a deadly pain, a pain that Alaric had never experienced before. He screamed, "Aaaaaa....aaaaaa!" His voice turned more inhuman and hollow.
*What's happening to me... what am I becoming? Surprisingly, it's giving me relief. How? And why? I hope nothing terrible is happening there.* This was Alaric's thought while he was screaming.
It felt as though the connection between his body and consciousness had been cut. Alaric's body started changing, not physically, but like it was forming an outer layer. His body started enveloping with a purplish, liquid-looking substance, but it was not liquid; it was energy.
Everyone who was present in the church, including the high priest, started screaming out of fear. The people who were sitting on the stone chairs rushed toward the exit door of the cathedral.
Alaric finally went silent, his body completely enveloped in purplish energy that started taking the shape of his body, but it was definitely not Alaric.