Prologue
As my eyes opened and the blurry world in front of me began to sharpen, I came face to face with human destiny: I beheld the sight of a throne room. The all-seeing moonlight shone on the grand throne as blood flowed from it mercilessly, endlessly, relentlessly. A dry, humourless laugh, high-pitched, only a few notes short of a complete cackle pervaded the room; it was mine. After all, immortal beings did not need to care much or fear the absolute truth of mortal existence. Death, to us immortals, was merely a word, just like any other.
Travelling back to memories or seeing visions always leaves one a little hazy, somewhat confused, especially if the memories and the visions are not theirs. I looked around myself, trying to piece together the events unfolding into some sort of a logical explanation. Many humans lay dead, blood coming out from their sides; ashen faces in a peaceful pallor, having embraced the ultimate tranquillity of death. And then, my eyes shut as I was rapidly transferred to another vision.
There was some conversation going on behind me, in the same throne room. Only, this time, the blood and the dead humans were missing. A deep voice said, "They must be compensated for their loss."
"There's no need." said an old human.
"But they might cause unrest in the Lands Beyond."
"They'll come looking for her before they do that." I could hear a youngling being passed around the humans gathered. It gurgled softly. "Then we'll take care of them."
"But what we've done is morally wrong!" The same deep voice said. "I've had enough of this discussion." The old human said angrily and left the room.
My eyes shut close again. Perhaps another one, I thought and grimaced. Why did he have to send me into all these visions? And then, my eyes opened in another vision. Looking around on the snow,in a clearing of a forest, surrounded by mighty pines, I saw a man lying on the snow on his back, a spear through his heart. Beside him, swaddled in warm clothes, seemingly unaffected by everything, was a human youngling, perhaps the same one I had seen before.
Some humans came running towards it, panting for their breaths as they stopped. A male and female, from what I could see. When the female picked up the youngling and took it in her arms, it picked up a charm from her neck and began to play with it. The youngling gurgled with glee, and so did the humans. My eyes closed again and transferred me to yet another vision before I could even fathom why I was seeing so many dead humans. Three more to go. Patience, my dear. It'll be over soon, his voice chuckled, and I sighed.
This time, I beheld a battlefield. A young female urged the huge mob of humans gathered there to attack a tower, perhaps, a fortress of some sort, surrounded by olive-orange flags, while a young male sat beside her, disliking the entire scene in his heart, but unable to convey the same. Just as I was observing the peace in his heart that reflected on his face, I was rudely transferred to another vision.
I opened my eyes this time to face a man walking somewhere when a sharp rock hit his head hard. The man gave a sharp cry of pain, and fell down, bleeding profusely. Then, a boy came there, crawling rapidly on all his fours. He looked closely at the man's body, examining it closely not to miss even one aspect of it. He searched the man and retrieved some scrolls from his robes. Civilisation flickered for a fleeting moment in his cerulean eyes, but hunger and the quest for survival quickly took over. And then, everything was black again.
The next one will be the last vision for a long while, don't fret, he said. We can wait for a little while if you're exhausted. I smiled at the prospect. That would be quite pleasant, I remarked. There was no conversation for a while as his form floated into sight. Why are we even doing this? Nothing makes any sense, let alone all those dead humans I'm seeing. I don't know the context of anything, I don't know what's happening. All I know is that I hate going into these visions.
He laughed. Well, I admit these visions won't make much sense to you right now, but, like I always say, patience, my dear! You're not even done with your training yet. I promise you everything will be clear after that. Now, let's get this done. You can take the rest of the day off after this.
Ha! I thought. Good riddance! I was glad to be done with this strenuous activity. Seeing dead humans all day wasn't making me any happier. I prepared myself. Blackness followed by blurry vision. I was accustomed to it by now.
A faint, distant sound of a painful wail. A jolt. Shuffling of bed covers beneath me. A ringing sound, followed by silence. I looked around, and as I came face to face with a mirror, I stood transfixed to my spot: it was me, but why was I looking like a human?
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