The Awakening

I was born in a dark, wet and cold place.

The first thing I had ever felt was anger.

I did not know what the hell was the anger at all. But I felt it with every part of my being.

Then I realised the cold and unwelcoming dirt under my shapeless body. If I had more articulated thoughts I would have believed that the earth did not want me almost like a mother abandon its own child.

My body trembled with cold and hunger. I tried to move. It was both difficult and surprisingly easy to do it. I walked and float at the same time searching for something unconsciously. After some period of time, I have reached some water and drank it almost like I had done it before. Found some plants and ate them. Moved a little bit more and continued this newly discovered practice for some unknown time.

At one moment I picked up a fragrance in the air and I started to chase it without knowing. I was aware of every part of the environment. I had felt every rock, every drop of water already. So, I could not have stopped myself when something unexpected like this happened.

I moved through the passages I have already past countless times before, feeling every rock on the way.

Then suddenly, I was able to see.

I was looking at the cave that I had been living for the first time, petrified with astonishment. It was huge. It looked like it wants to eat you whole and chew for eternity.

I tried to look at my body. But there was nothing to see. Then I saw something completely different, almost the opposite structure. There was an entrance now between the rocks. Some kind of door to an artificial tunnel at the distance. Its walls were sculpted delicately with figurines of countless creatures which I figured that out later.

The light was moving away. I followed it.

The tunnel was long. Despite that, it seemed none of the figurines on the walls was repeating themselves. I tried to move faster to reach the source of it. Then I heard some noises. They were harmonious and somewhat repetitive. And after I finally reached, they were coming out of two peculiar creature.

Two humans were standing before an intersection. Obviously, I did not know what they were. But all of a sudden I felt the anger again. as strong as I first experienced it. Without knowing what to do I hid in the shadows when they stopped moving and started to build some more light before they lay down near it.

I watched them for hours. One was looking bigger than the other but they almost had the same shape. A pair of limbs were making them move and stand, with the other pair they were interacting with almost everything else.

The most intrigued part they had was the round shape on top. It was mysteriously doing lots of things. Apparently, they were making the noise with it, more capable of doing thing while they turn one side of it towards them. They were eating, drinking and breathing with it.

As I watched them an unexplainable feeling took possession of my whole body. A whirlpool of experiences rushed through my thoughts. There were images, sounds, ideas, emotions. Not like memories. But, something more pure and complete.

"Genna, what is wrong?." a young male voice echoed through the hall.

"It's nothing." An elderly woman answered. "I thought I heard someone's talking".

I opened my eyes. It was humans.

"Not possible. Not even monsters can reach here." The taller one said and tried to make his sleeping bag comfortable again, just as he had seconds ago, "Try to get back to sleep.". He was quite muscular and had a sword standing beside him, long as his legs.

The camp was modest. Since they never thought to spend much time here, they'd made it out of a pair of sleeping bags with a small campfire which was not making any smoke thanks to the woman wizard.

"Yeah. Probably was just a bad dream." She answered and put her glasses away before whispered something the fire. The light weakened a little bit. She had short white hair, long nose, wrinkled skin and lots of trinkets attached to her robe.

I was stunned.

I knew what they were, what they do and say.

They were adventurers, some kind of treasure hunters even. They were looking for something. Something they thought the most important thing in the whole world. I did not have the memories. But I knew how they feel and think.

-What am I- I thought for the first time.

I went out of the shadows just a bit to see.

Hands, I saw first. Then a naked lower body of a bulky man. With the help of my hands, I examined my body before I realized that it was the same as the guy who is camping over there with his companion.

-I was some kind of being for many years. But now I have become another- a human?- There was a bottomless confusion inside my head.

Then I heard a scream.

I looked up and found the camp empty.

-What happened? How long has it been?- I asked myself when I'd finally snapped out of my inner thoughts.

The two were gone, when I was dealing with my first existential crisis. The fire that they built was about to die. But, it shouldn't have been long they left.

As I got closer to the camp, I've noticed that they were left in some hurry. Even the food they had packed for the journey was still there. I grab and took a bite of their bread.

-So, this is what a taste like. It is a bit dull, isn't it?- I sulked disappointedly.

"How does he look just like-" she was stopped before she finished her sentence.

Following that, I heard the sounds of two people running away through the left tunnel.

What I did next was done with pure instinct. But the instinct that had been separated by two. First one made me take a piece of cloth from the camp and cover my body. The second wasn't that naive and drive me to pursue the escapees.

I was running with some sheer focus. Without thinking properly I was chasing them like a predator running after its prey. The primordial feeling that I had for all these years was in total control.

The tunnel wasn't that long compared to the earlier one. It led everyone to a wide area sealed with walls. There was a high platform in the middle of it. And a huge crystal hanging in the air. Shining like bright daylight.

On the halfway of the stairs, there was a blue circle, big as a grown person. It was a portal.

And before that, the humans were standing idly. The man was facing me while the woman looking at the source of light.

But they were looking at something else completely.

I saw glowing letters in the air, just on top of their head. They were surprised by the message written. I read it and tried to understand the meaning. No one moved, talked, not even breathed.

In a few seconds, they vaporized in the air without a warning. Not a sound, flash or anything.There was no evidence that they were there, to begin with. They were gone, so was the anger inside of me. Not just the one that I felt strongly while chasing them, but the whole impulse was gone.

Then I fainted. For the first time of my life, I had a dream. A dream that lasts forever.

I was a blacksmith spending his life making tools for destruction. I was a prince who killed his own brother to inherit the throne. I was a murderer who had a horrible childhood and acted like a monster ever since. I was a soldier who followed orders and felt nothing when he crushed his enemies, burnt down houses with innocent people inside.

I was an adventurer, hunting hideous monsters threatening people. I travelled every part of the world as a rich merchant. I lived as a dancer and escort of nobles who was more powerful than any man in the world. I was a painter who sees true beauty but only in her canvas. I was an alchemist, a wizard, a lonely scholar looking for the true nature of life. I was a beggar who did nothing wrong but trusting people for his entire life. At the same time lived as an influencial noble everything I needed and more was served on a silver platter.

I was a priest who pities every folk that live on the planet dearly, but also another priest who takes advantage of the weak. I was a child who was blaming herself to make her parents cry while she was dying in her bed. I was her mother and father as well, loving each other deeply, crushing on the inside watching their daughter slipping away. I was an old woman who lost every member of her family, waiting for her turn sitting beside a fireplace.

I was every single one of them. I lived their lives over and over again through their eyes. I knew how they think, what they know or feel. And in the end, I knew how each one of them was confused about the letters appeared on the air.

Then I woke up. They were gone. And I was the only one left behind with the burden of their memories. The memories that are fading as I was trying to recall them all at once. I tried to remember what was the message. There was no luck. It was also gone just like them.

"I can't remember it!" I cried to the nothingness with an identical voice of the swordsman.

"That message wasn't meant for you" some deep voice answered.

That was the first conversation I had. And the owner of the voice was the crystal itself.