A Iow thrum resonated through the cavernous space Rael existed in, the strange vibration climbing up his spine. He was faIIing not through time, not through space, but through something much more elusive. It was as if reality itself was dissolving around him, twisting into shapes and colors that his mind could not quite grasp.
The feeling was sickening he was weightless and unbearably heavy, it feels to him like his body stretched thin and compressed simultaneously. His lungs ached as if starved of oxygen, yet he continued to breathe. Is this feeling is real? He attempted to shift his limbs, but there was niether the ground nor the air only endless, fluid nothingness.
And then, he heard them.
Whispers.
Not one voice, but infinite whispers reverberating in the empty space, covering and conflicting as many unpleasant thoughts in one's minds. Some spoke words that were alien, archaic, while others spat out clipped sentences that brought shivers down his back.
"The lost one returns....."
"He walks the path of the forsaken."
"Does he recall?"
A full, rumbIing Iaugh shook in the distance, edging its way closer. Rael's heart raced. Each and every part of him yeIIed that he had to get up and get out, but there was no place to go. The blackness around him shifted, moving, until it cracked—broken like fine glass.
A searing light burst from the crack, completely enveloping him.
The instant his body struck firm earth, agony surged through his limbs, the impact shook him to wide alertness. His eyesight was getting blurred before he slowly started focusing. He lay on chilly, black stone under an unnatural sky. The horizon throbbed, distant buildings shifting as if they were not quite solid.
He had struggled to stand, his protesting muscles screaming in pain. Then, a harsh gnawing sensation tore at the back of his mind. Someone was watching him.
Rael spun around his fists hardening. On the periphery of his vision, shadows slid unnaturally, morphing from shape to shape. Their movement sent a shivering terror through him, but the worst was y3t to come.
Out of the darkness two silver glowing eyes appeared—his own face looking back at him. But it wasn't his.
It sneered, the look was somewhat unnatural.
"Welcome," it replied, its voice sounded like a tapestry of many voices.
A crushing weight flooded the air, and Rael's gasp caught in his throat. This was no dream.
Something much more eviI had awaited him.