The Unknown

[NOX]

A novel I'm writing. Hope y'all enjoy.



He cast his shadow upon me, connecting his shadow with mine. Time seemed to freeze outside the shadow: it was like we were in a different time zone. My friends who were battling his allies and his allies who were battling my friends looked as if they were statues. His lips moved, and then he repeatedly whispered words of dark magic. The aura of the sky changed from cobalt to the color of death. The stars vanished one by one from the sky: like bubbles, disappearing into thin air; like speckles of dust being erased from the blackened blue-canvas sky; and like candle flames extinguished of their lights. The sky was torn into two, slowly revealing a void, a black hole that looked something like an entryway to an alternate dimension: a dimension all dead and no life. The sooner the hole in the sky was completely revealed, it turned, it swirled and it sucked everything in his shadow—everything including me. It was a sudden farewell.

“Welcome to the world of darkness.... welcome to Oblivion!!!” he smirked, and then laughed like a mad man, signaling his one step closer to victory. “Farewell...“

The ground seemed to fall, seemed to drop from the sky as I began to be pulled away into the hole in the sky. It felt like somebody, something was pulling me. I felt sudden jolts of electricity prickling my skin, like thousands of needles pushing into me, when I was forced across the hole in the sky. I felt surges of power way beyond mine as I went in and it felt like it was tearing me apart from limb to limb. The painstaking agony lasted for almost infinity inside darkness until I—until I opened my eyes for what seemed to be almost eternity…

As I opened my eyes, I found out that I was nowhere in the void anymore, or so I thought, or maybe the void and this place was just the same. I realized I was in a dark, secluded room where no light, not even a hint of light, could be seen. I stretched out my hands, feeling my way through, for there was nothing I could see. I stretched out my arms hoping to find a wall or something else to hold on to, but there was none. I bent down and reached for the floor, where I can lay or rest, but there was just nothingness beneath me. I walked forward, straight forward as I extended my arms in front, so I would not bump anything unexpectedly. I walked forward, little by little, one step at a time, hoping I would not trip over something and stumble endlessly on emptiness. When my eyes were finally getting used to the dark, I saw something else: something that glinted at a distance. I ran towards it, towards what I thought it was, towards what I knew it was, towards light but it didn’t seem to get any closer even though how hard I tried to run. I stopped, losing a bit of hope.

I stood still at the same distance where I initially was, away from the light, looking straight ahead, never losing the light from my sight when suddenly the floor, or whatever it was I was standing on, shifted and moved towards the light. It seemed that way, but it also seemed like the speck of light was moving towards me. Either way, the light was getting closer and closer and closer and then it stopped.

Right in front of me.

It was a ball of pure light, illuminating itself on me. But no matter how powerful this source of light was, the darkness still overwhelmed. I was going to grasp the ball of light when all of a sudden, it flashed… it flashed all of my memories, projecting them on the walls made of darkness. This, I believed was my soul containing my memories especially those of my world. Without further thinking, I grabbed it, holding onto it, hoping it won’t slip away from me but then all of a sudden, it exploded. Particles of light flowed from the ball and onto everywhere. For a moment, my eyes ached as the blinding particles scattered everywhere. Then, darkness was erased.

I opened my eyes once more, to see that I was in a different place, or maybe, I thought it was a different place when it could be the same one as before, only darkness was not overwhelming. There were people all around, walking from different directions, crossing each other’s paths, like ants, like traffic, like shooting stars. These people were similar to the people from my world, maybe I thought, these people are the same as from where I came from, maybe this is the future. I walked towards them, hoping to find an answer. I held out my hand and tapped one of them on the shoulder and asked my question but when he faced me, he moved his lips about and words came out. I listened to what he said but all I could understand was sort of like murmurs and grumbles. Then later, one by one, each of the people turned their heads facing me, mumbling the same words the first one said, then followed by another, and another, and another.

I covered my ears with the palms of my hands and crouched down, then for all I know, I was later laying down on the ground, curled up in the fetal position. I closed my eyes and when I opened them once more, they were all gone. I was back in the darkness.

Was it just a dream? A nightmare?

Then, everything was happening all over—all over, I saw the ball of light and I was walking and running towards it but I didn’t move from my position, and once again, I stopped and waited. Shortly, twins of light, opposite each other, lit the hallway to the ball of light. Twins of light were lit, second after second, closer and closer to the light at the end of the hall. When the hall was finally lit with candle-like lights at the walls of the hallway, the first set of lights transformed into the people—people that I saw before. All of them lights transformed into the people that I saw. They were staring at me with eerie glares as they pointed towards the direction at the end of the hall, towards the ball of memories, towards my soul.

“The Librarian” they chanted all at the same time. This time, their words were clear; their words weren’t noises in my head—then again, those were all they said.

“The Librarian.”

I ran towards the light, seeking refuge, passing each person holding balls of light before their chests as they chanted the same words over and over again. Blinded by the light as I reached the end, I covered my eyes and turned away when suddenly the hall behind me wasn’t there anymore. I looked back, in front and saw a huge, ruined structure sitting at the edge of a cliff. I looked around the place and saw scaling candles growing from the ground as high as the trees. The building before me was the only place I could go and decided to go inside.

“You are blind.. you are deaf.. you are mute, my friend." ..an unknown voice said to me in my native tongue. "..but more importantly.. you have nowhere else to go.” And as I walked towards the ominous construct, it beckoned me.. “Enter my library and learn..”