Reforged (Lorepost)

He was floating, numb and thoughtless as nothing but darkness surrounded him. He stayed like that for an eon, until something caught his attention, a barely visible thread of off-black. He instinctively went to follow it forwards, but something held him back, a feeling of purpose. Instinct made him look at what the thread led to, and he saw a faint light radiating life. He so badly wanted to go there, to reach that light, but that feeling of purpose forced him to look in the opposite direction, to where a speck of deep darkness was.

Instinct made him flinch away, but Purpose drove him forwards, and with it, came coldness. It started gradually, so subtle that it took Instinct looking back to the light after an age to notice that the cold vanished, and when Purpose forced his attention back, it was like being dunked into a frozen ocean. He hesitated as the two feelings warred against each other, Instinct pushing him to go to the light and be warm, while Purpose told him that he needed to go to the darkness for a reason none of them can explain. After eternity passed, Purpose won and he went forwards, towards that cold abyss.

The cold grew stronger as he traversed the timeless expanse of darkness, until it felt like he was an ice sculpture barely able to move, then he reached the darkness and the ice became fire. He had no mouth, yet he screamed into the blackness, Instinct forcing him back until the cold returned. Again Instinct and Purpose fought inside him, and again Purpose won. He went into the inferno, Instinct begging him to stop, but he continued, Purpose guiding him to where the off-black thread connected to the now seemingly infinite expanse of abyss. Instinct kept fighting, but this time, he fought Instinct and forced it into line.

Instinct then informed him of what to do, and he reached out to the connection and touched it. A presence became aware of him and Instinct almost made him flee, but he fought back again, facing this presence with Purpose strengthening him. It happened in both an eye blink and an eternity as an understanding passed between him and the presence when it fixed its attention on the point where the thread and the darkness met. Instinct told him that it will destroy him, but both he and Purpose knew that it must be done, so he grabbed the thread and pulled. The thread snapped and nothingness overtook him.

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“Ynsa… Ynsa!”

Ynsa woke up in his bed, confused from the dream he just had.

“Come on slowpoke. It's almost time for us to leave for our vacation.”

He looked at his sister, a strange feeling of deja vu overtaking him. Alia then pulled the blankets off his bed, a custom they had when one or the other was taking too long to get up.

“Come on, the ferry will be leaving in just under an hour. Hurry or you'll be the reason we won't get to see the Island.”

Ynsa leapt from his bed and pushed Alia out of the room so that he could change. After finding his travel bag, staff, and sword, he rushed down the hall to see his family waiting for him by the carriage that'll take them to the docks.

“You really need to stop staying up late.” His father gently scolded him. “I know that you are excited for your second year at the Academy, but sleep is just as important, even more so in all honesty, than practicing spells or weaponscraft.”

“I know,” Ynsa replied, hearing this same lecture for the umpteenth time. “but I almost got Fireball down.”

His mother let out a small, musical laugh.

“You know that you can ask your sister for help, right?”

It was Alia that let out a small chuckle this time.

“I asked him if he needed help, but noooooo… he wanted to do it on his own.”

Ynsa stuck his tongue out at her, causing their parents to laugh before ushering them onto the carriage. They managed to arrive at the docks with enough time to grab some food to take on the ferry, and as they traveled to the Timeless Island, a sense of unease overtook him.

Ynsa

He jumped at the whisper, looking around for whomever, or whatever, had said his name. Finding nothing, he looked back at his family who seemed to haven't heard it or noticed his search. Ynsa tried relaxing into his seat, but the uneasiness grew until his mom let out a soft gasp.

“It's even more beautiful than people have described.” she whispered in awe.

When Ynsa went to look in the direction she gazed at, he saw only a wall of darkness.

“I can't wait to get to the top of that waterfall!” Alia exclaimed.

Ynsa looked at his family, not understanding what was happening.

Mokarith

The hair on the back of his neck stood up as the unease turned into dread.

Who are you?

The ocean started tossing and turning, as if they had just entered the heart of a huge storm, but none of the other passengers seemed to have noticed, including his family. The boat started to capsize, and yet they still didn't notice, even as the waves poured over them. With a series of sickening crunches, the boat tore into pieces, casting him onto a thin plank of wood. When he looked to find his family, he saw them on a large section of the now destroyed deck, still oblivious to their surroundings.

Are you strong enough?

He clung onto that strip of wood, fighting to keep his head above water.

Will you die?

His family continued sailing on their broken ferry to the darkness.

Or will you fight?

Instinct forced him to reach his hand to the side and… call out to something. A bright, pale beam of light exploded into his hand as wings burst from his back, and he flew to his family, who were still mystified by the vision they saw. As soon as he landed on the destroyed boat they were frozen on, he slammed the light into the deck, halting its progress and snapping his parents and sister out of their stupor. They screamed as the waves grew more intense and threatened to plunge the lot of them into the now pure black ocean.

You know what must be done

Instinct and Purpose united to give him the strength to do what came next. With a final, sorrow filled gaze at his family, they looked back at him.

“Go son.” his father whispered, somehow heard over the storm.

“We are so very proud of you.” His mother said in that same loud whisper.

Alia said nothing, but the look in her eyes told him everything he needed to know.

He turned to the wall of darkness, and flew into it.

—------------------------------------------------------

Mokarith woke up in darkness, the presence watching him. They stared at each other as another understanding passed between them and he turned to look at the life-filled light in the extreme distance, and yet somehow very close. Mokarith spread his wings and took flight, reaching it in mere moments, the pain he somehow expected never showing up. Just before crossing the threshold, he took one last look at the darkness then stepped through.

—------------------------------------------------------

Mokarith burst from the center of the Well, his wings extended and black smoke trailing from them. He hovered there for a second before drifting to land next to his Lord and knelt.

Rise Mokarith, Champion of the Umbral Realm.