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Darkness...
No color, no sound, no time. Only void.
Then... whispers.
At first faint. Then closer. Then more. As if they know his name. As if they know everything.
From nothingness, a shadow emerged. A weary body, covered in a torn black cloak.
Each step was heavy. As if the earth rejected him, or as if death gripped his heel.
In his hand a sword... no, half a sword. Broken iron, its end jagged like regret.
His other hand was on his chest. Bleeding? Perhaps.
Or perhaps the pain was much deeper than that.
When he turned back, there was no one.
Only void. But his eyes looked at something. Or at someone.
"Same power..."
He whispered.
"Same memories... same battle..."
He paused.
His eyes ignited with something like anger. Or fear.
"...but I am still one of the resurrected."
And with his last breath, he set off.
No goal, no path.
Only void ahead... and void behind.
But he knew one thing.
This was not the end.
But the beginning.
The Feudal Era. 9th century Before Christ.
Southern continent. In the region of the Dark Borders.
A poor rural village.
A bustling popular market in the middle. Hot weather crowded with people wearing old, simple clothes.
A clock's hand moving quickly from right to left.
A young man running fast, white-skinned with slightly long black hair mixed with some gray, one black eye and the other white, medium height, panting, putting his watch in his pocket...
He was running wearing dirty, worn brown clothes.
"Get back the meat sack, you thief scoundrel..." words from someone chasing him behind.
It was an older man, looking like a nearby merchant, probably because the young man had stolen...
"Oh, I'm sorry, I haven't eaten in a while," said the young man anxiously and jokingly.
He ran... slid under a moving horse carriage...
Jumped over a table full of apples...
Stopped, looked around the market to choose a path to help him.
He decided on a place and dashed off.
A mysterious figure stood from afar leaning on a white horse, staring at the young man from a distance, wearing a gray silk coat, a black scarf, black tied hair, and black eyes, with serious features.
The scene moved to a nearby narrow alley inside one of the buildings close by. The young man hurried there, unnoticed by anyone... it seemed like he had shadowed an old merchant.
Street Number 1 - Rin District.
In the late afternoon.
Near one of the alleys, specifically in a large house... someone opens a torn lower door beneath the house containing a bed and a wardrobe.
That was the young man, previously carrying the meat sack, beginning to prepare it in the kitchen, then eating it...
He looked through a telescope towards a small opening in the room toward the sky, noticing a change in the color of the moon.
A torn newspaper was shown lying on the Then he stares at an old newspaper lying around. Talk about the curse of death whispers, a strange phenomenon that has been occurring for years. So
Be careful of caution for those infected with it. "Ghosts" After seconds Larios ignored it.
Sitting on a bed trying to sleep... sounds hitting from above the walls.
"Get out, you rats..."
Sounds of noise from the homeowner. It was an old man, looking worried and surprised about the noise under his house, living alone...
He sighed... although I found shelter, I am truly regretful. Luckily, I knew the homeowner is elderly and suffers from dementia.
A hand appeared growing from under his shirt, a strange tattoo on his left arm started increasing slightly recently, he thought it was just a deformity on his arm.
He held a small book titled "Memories of Larius," it seemed his name, writing another miserable day in these dark circumstances.
Another miserable day in this village... and living here is hopeless, most of them are thieves, robbers, homeless, and prisoners.
For me, where do I start... since I knew that my family died of hunger and disease, I grew up in one of the nearby poor orphanages, then I escaped from it because of violence and bad food. Then I became homeless for 15 years, after that I turned to the way of dressing and stealing to earn my living, and I have not forgotten that until now. I still hear it bothering me in dreams and waking—voices. Always hearing whispers inside my mind, represented as:
"Wait, you cursed one, death will choose you... to enjoy destruction."
I think if only I found a new passion, this bitter life I live would improve...
Closing the torn lower door carefully and walking away...
Wandering near Rin district...
Larius strolls inside the district, passing a simple flower shop, a young blonde woman named Noya with short hair and green eyes, wearing a white skirt, standing holding flowers. He always saw her working there every day to help her family, giving him a light smile with a yellow flower, he kissed her hand and replied, "Thank you." She was the only person he felt comfortable with whenever they met. He then continued and left his district.
In the middle of the village's graveyard, near a large gathering, the village ruler Azog was near them repeating that these were just common crises, no need to worry.
Larius saw a commotion and interaction between people; they were revolving around placing the corpse of a dead young man who appeared to be a commoner. He approached the event hearing someone say, "I heard he had been hearing strange whispers recently inside his mind to the point of madness and suicide." Those whispers were not just imagined thoughts.
Larius approached the corpse nearby but was warned by the village ruler not to come closer. But Larius noticed a tattoo shaped like a crescent on his neck; he was astonished and remembered that he had the same marks that appeared on the young man.
He stood up and left.
At sunset, on a night, Larius suddenly continued his path into one of the forests near a pond. He sat down on the grass, placing his hand on his forehead, thinking to himself:
"I don't know anything about those whispers and that tattoo, but there is something...
If I am afflicted like that young man, then why didn't I die..."
Deep and distracted thinking, then returning to the present.
Rising...
A deep explosion sound in the sky of the land, shaking like an earthquake.
Moments later, he sees the moon has become blacker and deeper than before, a strange phenomenon splitting the sky, storms beginning to appear faintly...looked up to the sky .Blue light coming from the moon towards Larius He reacts to the tattoo on his arm... mild pain... small black veins appear.
light panting
Larius put his hand on his chest and repeated,
Have you really become one of those.....(ghosts)?
Is Larius one of the ghosts? Stay tuned for the next chapter to see what happens next.