I woke up from a void after sometime, that felt long yet short.
Thinking of it made my head spin but, then suddenly I felt a throe.
It was coming from my chest.
I was lying down, looking up at a rough stone ceiling.
My brain suddenly buzzed with a lot of things, and my memory was a bit fuzzy.
I remember getting shot.....
and dying.
The floor was rough and cold. It felt familiar. Above me the ceiling loomed with darkness, with little light falling on it. I was seeing spots of light spinning like little fairies.
The air felt damp on my face and it tasted bitter. hmmm....
I suddenly wanted to throw up and I would have but the throb in my chest had me pinned down. It was excruciating just to keep eyes open and not fall into slumber.
My whole body felt wet, either with sweat or blood.
I was still able to breath but it was suffocating me, like hundreds of tiny bugs were crawling inside my lungs.
I wanted to sit up but, each time I moved even a finger it was pushed back by pain that seemed to be spreading to each and every bone in my body.
It felt like was fighting against something that is within me and I cannot get it out.
After some time which felt like an eternity with the tribulation I was undergoing, the pain seemed to subside a little.
It was still making my whole body experience hell and but now I was able to breath a little easily. Though it was still a travail to move my body.
But I had to sit up right. I cannot be just laying down after what has happened. My hearing has become normal now. And I was able to hear voices of people talking. The voices felt same as before I got shot.
In time, I managed to sit with my back to the rough wall.
But I felt a sudden stab in my head. It felt like I was getting skewered alive.
My eyes started to get blurry and I was hearing a lot, a lot of screams in my head. Screams of people getting tortured, screams of people dying, screams of pain.
They were calling for me, asking for my help. They were blaming me for their agony and suffering. My body started convulsing and writhing in visceral distress and shooting pain.
And then my sight went complete black and I fell. The floor below me vanished and I was falling and falling through the space. My pain vanished, and was not suffering from nay fatigue too.
As I was falling through the void, I smashed into something head-first.
It seemed like a ground but it was smooth and fibrous. I was starting to get my vision back a little but it still was blurry.
It seems I am in a castle. There was no one here except me.
The room was filled with darkness and shadows. The only way to see things was with the help of moonlight which was shining brighter than it should be.
There was no ceiling above me. Only clear sky, a moon and white dots twinkling far above.
The room appeared to be gigantic. The pillars of the room itself were nothing less then sky scrapers. Some of them even had designs to it. But these pillars only rise to the sky.....but hold nothing.
Many chairs were aligned in opposing position to each other through the room. Like... in a court room.
In the front of me, were a flight of stairs leading to a platform where at least 12 high seats were placed. they were arranged in a peculiar manner with four of the big seats in the front and the remaining were arranged behind them.
None of them were occupied by anything. I wasn't able to make it out but each of them were very meticulously architected. The platform itself had linings and symbols of various types.
Two flags were flying, one in each corner of the platform. They had... some symbol in the middle and their flag was in black color. The platform itself was curved inwards looming over the floor below it.
In the center of the platform another staircase were leading to a smaller platform which was so high up it almost broke my neck. Along the way on a landing there were.... swords drove into the landing.
One of it had a glow to it. As if it was calling for... someone. It was broader and bigger than the other swords.
Further up there was a monolithic throne, which in itself was giving out the vibes, that it was used to oppress a kingdom. The throne's dorsal rose as a jagged spire looming over the entire room itself. It was so colossal that one could say it was piercing the very sky.
On the end of the dorsal was crest which was shaped in the form of two swords crossed with an spear skewering both.
This court or throne room was filled with cold silence of death and it seemed to be inhabited with long shadows. The walls were curved inwards forming a colossal dome.
Where in the universe is this place. It was empty and filled with.... hatred. But there was no soul in hear.
*boom
Suddenly a loud clang came from behind me. I turned slowly fearing something to be standing there but it was a long unending hallway, which was somehow even more terrifying.
A voice coarse and ancient spoke from the shadows.
"Let the sword be raised
The world set ablaze,
To raze the undead from the light,
To take the crown of the dark".
*After a brief moment of silence.
I was too petrified from the voice to speak or move.
"Forth shalt come thou,
To the war,
One Shall meet the king,
Long dead yet not forgotten,
One must fall,
For the other to rise.
To reap the shadow of hate,
By the sword or by fate.
And three shall succumb to the fear,
Two shall dread the unknown,
one shall prevail to rule them all,
In the face of death."
COME FORTH, TO THE RAVAGES OF WAR,
BANG THE SWORDS AND SHIELDS,
SING THY HYMNS,
FOR DEATH AWAITS ALL.
BEAR THE MARK OF LUCIFER,
AND COME FORTH TO THE WAR OF AZGOTH.
LET THE CRY FOR THE WAR ECHO THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS
AL-MUHARIB-Ul-DEVASA
AL-MUHARIB-Ul-DEVASU.
AL-MUHARIB-Ul-DEVASA.
AL-MUHARIB-Ul-DEVASU....
*The cry was echoing for a long time before the actual voice went away.
What?
"Who is there?" I tried to ask but no voice came out of my throat.
What is azgoth? What is the crown of dark?
To raze the undead.....the other to rise....mark of lucifer.
It felt like prophecy but why the hell it came to me?
And suddenly the floor below me vanished again and I came back to the cave.
aaahhhhhhh..... I screamed in my mind as the tribulation started again, with more ferocity. But it... it stopped soon enough.
The pain had sapped me of all my strength, but the suffocation has almost gone.
I moved my hand which was aching from the aftershock of whatever had happened, to the chest to feel the place where I was shot.
The pain was still there but it seems place has been healed partially. The skin was still jelly like and squishy, with sticky liquid coming out, but it seems the internal damage has been seared.
My vision was also back. The people in the cave were unchanged as if nothing has happened. Vedika and my other friends were also behaving normally.
None of them acted as if i was shot or someone was killed. Is this also because of the mist. But she said this mist only hides, it does not heal or clear other peoples memories.
She might be lying but one mist cannot do too many things now can it.
Maybe they saved me, if yes then why did they kill me in the first place? stupid thought.
Or did I travel back in time. But that to feels unnatural considering I was feeling pain where I was shot.
So, I was killed but somehow I.... survived and the hole in my chest healed up after a hell lot of pain. Did she kill me knowing I will survive? If yes who was she protecting me from?
She was talking to an old man with the same authority as before. Everyone around her were also talking and behaving same as before.
Everything feels repetitive like this has happened before and happening again.
If that's the case then I did travel back in time but in the same state in which I died, which is an inconvenient.
That means everything is going to happen again and this time i must get more information without dying. I never want to experience the same thing again, anytime soon.
And what should I do with the prophecy which I have been bestowed with?