Without stopping, Shi ran all the way to her home practically barging into the door; only to draw the attention of her mother that had finished washing the dishes a while now.
Coming out of the back room, her mother saw her in a heated state— still tired from running, panting as she tried to calm down. Worried, her mother got closer and spoke to her, "Is everything alright dear? Did something happen?"
Shi could not answer immediately; instead, she had to take a deep breath in order to catch herself properly. While also using this time to try and figure out an excuse to tell her mother.
She naturally couldn't tell her about following after a strange man, and almost getting herself kidnapped and sold— that would be bad in so many ways. Not only would it worry her mother, but she would also get a scolding for basically going against everything her mother thought her.
Shi didn't want to think about the punishment she might get for something like that, she mightn't be able to go outside for her entire life! No, she couldn't tell the truth, at least not the full truth.
Before her mother could get suspicious, she quickly pulled a smile over her face like a mask, and loudly exclaim, "Mom! There's someone here! Daddy's home!" Her voice filled with excitement— real excitement since she never fully got to enjoy his arrival due to the situation before.
Now, she was free to be happy that her father was home. 'Odd; why do i feel like something wrong, it's been getting worse and worse.' She thought to herself, as a stabbing pain kept aching across her head.
"Oh, he's back so soon? I thought he was coming later. That's quite the news!" Her mother was clearly happy; Shi could tell from the tone of her voice, and the smile that plastered her face. She could also tell she was trying not to show just how truly excited she was.
Shi knew her mother always missed her father whenever he was working; he worked for most of the year and only came home for around a month or two each year. This left her mother alone for the rest of the year, not including herself that is.
"Yep, i met him while strolling through the market, he told me he had something to do and that he will come in a bit. He wanted me to tell you!" Shi said happily as she walked past her mother and went into the kitchen to get herself some water.
Thankfully they had a well relatively close to their house due to how close the forest was, allowing them to have water stored almost always for use. Her mother didn't question her further and instead went to her room to prepare.
Shi assumed she was going to change and get all dressed up before her father came, 'So weird,' she thought to herself at the idea of getting all dolled up for someone else.
==========
Shi had finished getting some water to drink, and was resting in her room; laying on her bed of hay— when she heard a loud voice from the living room, "I'm home! And i come bearing gifts!" The voice of her father was loud enough for her to hear easily, and so was his loud chuckle that followed after— clearly proud of his actions.
Shi didn't even wait for a second longer now that her father was finally home and better yet with gifts.
Jumping off her bed, she rushed out of the room and into the living room. Literally jumping into the arms of her father, who proceeded to spin her around playfully and laugh.
While her father was laughing, and Shi was also trying her best to laugh, the painful ache that previously assaulted her mind returned upon getting into contact with him.
This pain forced her to pull away a lot earlier than she would've wanted to. Thankfully this action wasn't noticed by her parents who simply assumed she was being shy.
"Now dear, why don't you check out what i brought for you first?" Her father said, reaching into his pouch and pulling out something. Extending his hand— he held it out for her, "I got you a pretty interesting book. I knew you like to read." He finished off, causing Shi to glance down at the book in his hand.
It was a black leather book, it wasn't thick in the slightest, in fact, Shi's doubted how many pages a book so thin could possibly have in it. However, what truly caught Shi's interest though was the image that was carved into the black leather cover; a moon and sun interlocking, with bright red beastly eyes shining down behind them as if looking down on the world.
'Wait, isn't that the book from the market? Did he take it from the merchant, but, how did he even know i wanted to see it?' She thought to herself, perplexed at the sudden revelation of the book.
"Um, thanks? What is it, it looks odd dad." Shi said as she looked up at her dad for an explanation, only to be met with the same burning feeling of inability to view his face. Looking away, she rubbed her eyes trying to ease the pain— awaiting a reply from her father.
"Well, it's a choice." Her father said, his voice seeming less joyous than how it was previously, catching Shi's attention.
Looking back over at him, this time avoiding his face so as to not be affected, she frowned her brows and spoke with an unsure voice, "What do you mean dad?"
"I'm sure you know what i mean, you've been feeling it for a time now, you just don't want to think about it because you know what will happen. It's about time you make a choice, take the book or leave it as is." Her father replied.
This time his voice was dead serious, everything around them seemingly stopping in time, her mother motionless, sound stopping. At this point, it was just her, her father, and the book.
The feeling within her only grew stronger. Eventually, it erupted from her chest and linked with the aching in her head. Her mind was assaulted with thoughts; as her eyes blurred for a brief second.
She staggered, almost falling but catching herself before she could, the spark in her eyes returning— but this time the confusion was gone, replaced with a new sense of vigor.
"You're not my father! I never met my father. He left home when i was born, i thought he died." She muttered to herself, but her voice was loud enough for the figure of her 'father' to hear it, paying no heath in trying to hide it— not that she could.
If this being could tell that her memories were suppressing themselves subconsciously, purposefully allowing herself to be dragged along in this play, all because she wanted to feel at home again, she knew it could tell that the suppression was gone.
"None of this is real, i was in the cave. I touched the orb!" Her memories came flowing back to her— her real memories, the fake memories that were forced into her mind being purged by her own consciousness.
Like a fog that was cleared by the breaking of dawn; she felt refreshed. Her mind was no longer that of a mere 10-year-old girl, it was that of the 16-year-old Shi that had gone through the trial of death.
"I am inside the orb?" She questioned to herself, unsure of how that would be possible. But she knew it was the most likely reasoning behind all of this.
With this thought in mind, the only thing she couldn't figure out was why. 'Why am i inside the orb, why would i show me this?' She asked to herself. Why would the orb go through all the trouble of creating things from her memories, even implementing fake things? Just to make it seem like she had a happy, fulfilling, childhood. It was weird.
It was at that moment that her eyes lingered down and landed on the book in her father's hands. A deep—burning desire filled her body, and the need to grab onto it filled her senses.
She wanted to take the book; she wanted to read it, know what was inside. Then she understood what this was about, she understood why her 'father' asked that question before— it was about this book.
It was why the book looked so detailed. It was the only thing not from her memory that she could see; everything else was just parts of her memories mismatched to make new scenes.
"What is it?" She asked her 'father' with a hint of hesitating in her voice. She was fighting everything in her that said to take the book— she had to know more about it first— she couldn't just grab something that could prove dangerous.
"As i said, it's a choice. Will you choose to stay in this perfect place, living out the rest of your short life with the family you wished for— or— will you take this book and face the truth. Find what you want to find, gain power you can use to achieve that." The figure said once more; this time his voice was more fanatic sounding, tempting her to grab the book.
Shi wasn't stupid. That didn't explain what the book was or what it would do if she did grab it. But at the same time, she knew that questioning it wouldn't get her anywhere since this was all the figure was saying.
She could either grab the book and gain whatever power it offered— or— she would stay here forever. 'There was no option to leave and ignore the book. So it's not really a choice, it's either, get the book and get out, or stay trapped here forever.' Shi thought to herself, realizing the trick in the wording of the being.
"Alright fine, I'll take it," Shi said. She had no other choice; she had no way out of this place on her own, nor did she want to be stuck here forever. So she had to take the book.
She only hoped that the power it gave her was something worth it and that it didn't bring more trouble to her than it was worth.
Extending her hand, she grabbed the book.
As she did this, the space around her shattered like a mirror, the illusions of her childhood that didn't happen— of her sweet mother, of her warm home— breaking apart as if it was nothing.
Soon, all that remained was Shi, and the book, in a pitch-black room. Shi didn't even have time to pay attention to the room because as soon as she entered it— a suction force was felt from the book, sucking her mind and body into it.
She couldn't resist— she didn't even try to— she gave herself into the book, as it gave itself into her.
Unraveling like cloth the book broke into words upon words that flowed in the space around her; floating in a bright hue. It was a language she had never seen, a language she didn't even know could exist.
The words didn't seem like they were normal at all, they were not in 2D, nor in 3D, but in some weird complex form that Shi couldn't come close to comprehending.
Staring at them felt like staring at the very fabric of knowledge, bottomless, and limitless. Shi wanted to stare at them longer, but she couldn't.
Just like the words unraveled out from the book and into existence— they raveled into her body and out of it once more.
They didn't tattoo themselves onto her— no, they entered her very body and mind. Engraving themselves on her.
Her body ached from the overflow of the new source of power, her soul burnt from being tampered with, and her mind fazed in and out of consciousness trying to bare all the feelings at once. Her everything changed.
Before Shi could move— before she could find out what this new power was— the darkness of the void she was in collapsed, waking her to the real world. To the ruin under the desert she was in before.
But she wasn't like she was before.