TBATE-A New Chance

31. Blackness

ARTHUR

Where am I? Wasn't I just in the Floating Castle...

Where I hurt Tessia...

Why did I do that? Am I an Idiot? This sucks, she probably hates me right now. Virion surely thinks I'm some ambitious creep who only got close to her for the throne...

I'd known it was going to he difficult, and I hope I can work this out with her. To be honest, I think I probably would've told her even if Mordain didn't advise me to do so. I can't keep any things hidden from her, no matter how painful they may be...

Still...

I found myself in a pitch black landscape, a realm of boundless nothingness. All around me, the void stretched out endlessly, a black abyss devoid of any light or sound. The silence was deafening, the darkness oppressive, and the absence of any tangible landmarks left me feeling lost and disoriented. But, strangely, this black void felt warm, not like an oven, but like a mother's touch.

Why am I wet?

I looked down to spot that in the midst of this infinite nothingness lay a 10-centimetre deep pool of water, spanning out as far as the eye could see. The water appeared to be shallow, barely covering the ground beneath it, yet it extended into infinity. Its surface was eerily still, giving the illusion of depth and distance that made it difficult for me to gauge my surroundings.

Standing in this abyss, I couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity, as if I've been here before. The shallow water seemed to resonate with me, the static I had when trying to remember was greatly reduced, but a great part of my past life felt alien, misplaced and weird.

"Promise yourself." I heard, not from a particular direction, but all around me. It sounded as if a million voices said those words as one.

As I stood up and turned around in the familiar void, I noticed something that stood out amidst the blackness - a glowing white light in the far distance. The light was small, but it was the only thing visible in the featureless landscape, and it seemed to be beckoning me forward.

There was no ill intentions emanating from the light. It looked like it was a beacon, leading me to further answers. The water rippled and churned as I started walking. I walked, and walked, all to reach that light, that light that I suspected was some sort of hope in my mind had manifested. I reached it and-

What the?

It's... me?

The source of the light, it's a person... that looks just like me, down to the smallest detail. Except, my, or rather, his hair is glowing white, and his skin is a milky color, radiating a warmth that propagated through the entire black void. It's eyes were glazed over, and the visages of pupils that it had were staring directly at the ground.

The thing, that looks like me. It's chained to the ground, black chains that emitted a wisp of familiar, dark energy were pinning him to something below the shallow water.

"Promise yourself..." The glowing version of me said, without warning, it's multiple voices echoing through the darkness.

"Promise myself what?" I asked.

"That you'll protect her." It said, and a single tear that flew out of it's eye, it quickly evaporated before reaching his chin.

"What?" I said, confused.

"PROMISE YOURSELF!" The figure yelled. The sound being so intense that I could feel it reverberating in my bones, sending chills down my spine.

The force of it's words momentarily cleared a large area of the shallow pool of water. It revealed something that send another pang of fear through me.