《HIgh King》A Power That...
Advertisement
A void... Deep and dark... I opened my eyes to look about, but saw nothingness, true nothingness. There was seemingly no light for me to perceive, and no absence of it to not perceive either. I searched instead for myself, looking down I still saw nothing. I moved my arm to touch my chest, but felt nothing. Not even the motion of my arm or the twinge of a finger.
Panic rose up from my heart as I wondered what was happening, was I dead? Was this what awaited someone who had been so faithless as I? Horrid nothingness? I fought, kicking and thrashing about in search of some sensation, anything.
Minutes seemed to meld into hours seemed to meld into days, into months then years. Time had lost all meaning in this void. My mind had begun to go numb from the lack of sensation, from the lack of anything. I tried to close them, to perhaps sleep, I felt so tired.
*****
A light. A small red light in the distance. How I knew of its existence, I'll never know, but I snapped my eyes open to see it there. I swam, if you can even call it that. Floating my nothingness of a body ever closer to it. Several times I wondered if I was actually moving with all this effort, but gradually the light got larger... Closer.
Finally I could make out an object. It was.... The light was a door! A single wooden door with ornate yellow stonework around it. It seemed familiar, but I had no idea why, nor did I care. I continued my desperate descent to the light and finally landed on its rough yellow stoned steps.
I could see my body now, and feet. With a bright smile I hugged myself, happy to have my limbs back, or at the very least the knowledge that they still existed.
Advertisement
"-ond.."I heard a voice call out to me. What is going on? I thought to myself. Inquiries long since discarded that were now resurfacing. Where am I, and how did I get here? What was I doing before this? All excellent questions, I thought to myself. Perhaps the other side of the door will tell me?
Turning to search the door, I could not shake the feeling that I had seen it somewhere before, though I could not pick out why. Rounded on the top, it had several metal hinges on the left side and a single black looped handle on the right. I gripped it and pulled, but it would not budge. Stumped, I pulled again. Then again, then ten more...
"What the hell?!" I yelled out in frustration as I shook at the handle.
Still getting nowhere, I finally gave up, turning instead to search my surroundings for another light. Perhaps there were other doors I could seek? Perhaps the exit was not within this door.
Finding no other obvious lights, I sat down on the steps under me with a dejected sigh. I was too afraid of the sensation of nothingness to try venturing out there into the void again.... at least not yet.
"-esmond!" The strange voice called out louder this time, perking my ears as I jumped to my feet.
"Hello? who's there?" I spun in a three hundred and sixty degree circle, searching for the disembodied voice.
"Desmond!" It finally sounded clear and like waking from a bad dream, everything came crashing back to me. Theseus had been taken; I had gone to scout for clues, Agreus, we had fought, I had... Died?
No. that could not be right. This could not be death. This had to be within my soul, within Arce Elymas Magus. The stonework was the same around this door, so it had to be one within it.
Advertisement
Upon understanding the revelation, the castle seemingly materialized around me. Yellow stonework cascading all around me, each stone brick rolling and setting into place like a puzzle being solved at superspeed, forming a long endless hall behind me.
"Ah ha! I knew it!" I shouted with a smug grin on my face. But why was the castle hidden in the first place. Why did my realizing where I was make it appear? I searched my new surroundings to find anything in particular that would clue me in as to my surroundings. I had searched every square inch of the castle previously, and nowhere was there a hallway this long, nor this endless. After fifteen minutes of endless walking, I turned and trekked back to the door, which stood waiting for me, silent and foreboding. It was then that I recognized the simplicity of it. This had to be the door to the Wizard tower!
*****
"Alright, so obviously now is the time. Now is the moment to enter this door and get the power I need in order to survive this encounter and save Theseus." I stepped forward to grab the handle, confident that this time, this time it would work. I pulled lightly, expecting it to open, only to find it annoyingly shut tight.
"Desmond!" The ethereal voice called out once more, and I grit my teeth in frustration.
"I know! I'm trying!" I yelled back.
Stepping back from the door I considered what I knew. First and foremost, the door would not open. Second the Moirai had said that I needed whatever was is in there in order to save Theseus and survive. Third, their message indicated that I needed the powers that only stars knew.
"Desmond!" The voice called out again, desperation seeping through its voice.
"I know! Can you just let me think!" I shouted back once more. I took a deep breath, collecting my thoughts.
"A power that only stars know... Think Desmond. What do I know about stars?" I continued speaking aloud, trying to work through the problem one step at a time.
"Stars are the center of a universe, their gravitational energy pulling everything into a circular pattern around them." I started, doing my best to remember fifth grade astrology class. "Is the answer gravity? Is that the power that only stars know? But everything knows gravity... Stars know heat and radiation too, they are super heated.... Is the answer heat or gravity?" I considered thoughtfully, glancing back at the door, wishing for a 'ding, ding, ding you got it. Come on down!' But it never came.
"Okay... Not heat and gravity. Think Desmond. What causes stars emit such large gravitation fields... It's got to be mass right? The more dense something is, the more mass it has, and thus the heavier it pulls on objects around it..." I peered back at the door for confirmation, but received none.
"Gah! Can't you see that I'm trying here? Give me a break!" I shouted back at the wooden door before burying my head in my hands... When suddenly a thought occurred to me.
"What if the answer is not an answer. But a change. What if I can't open the door, because I'm not a Wizard. Wizards can do magic, and I have not... Not yet." I sucked in a deep breath and peered down at my hands.
There was no time like the present... Right?
Advertisement
- In Serial108 Chapters
My Post-Apocalyptic Shelter Levels Up Infinitely!
As disaster was about to strike, a group of survivors transmigrated into a desolated world and were challenged to a game of survival. From terrifying acid rains, to endless natural disasters, the heavens burn while the earth scorches, radiation is rampant, and nobody is spared from the dangers of this hellscape. The only way one survives is by building a shelter and slowly upgrading it in hopes of surviving another day.
8 769 - In Serial31 Chapters
Pyramid of Dreams
On a planet like no other, there lies a mystery unsolvable through the eons. The Voyager, a being of nigh-omnipotent power, stumbles on to this planet to discover that there is much more in the world that he did not know.Ancient forces asleep since time immemorial begin to awaken as the universe is once more plunged into chaos.Will the Voyager maintain his role of an observer or will he decide to take action, altering the course of all existence?
8 74 - In Serial50 Chapters
Journey West 5000
With her parents murdered and her brother abducted, a trainee Monk of the Gun pursues the one responsible, the Bull Demon King, undefeated Warlord of the Crimson Army.Struggling to track down her enemy while braving the dangers of the wilds, she enlists the help of Sun Wukong, but 500 years under a mountain have taken its toll. Unstable and weakened, will he be more hindrance than help? Can he become the warrior he once was?A Monk and a Monkey journey across a world...... where the remnants of technology are seen as magic, while pockets of humanity strive to drag themselves out of ignorance.... where the descendants of animal-human hybrids, once created as instruments of war, now seek to dominate the world as demons.... where beings who call themselves Immortals and Gods preoccupy themselves with selfish pastimes, ignoring everything else. Among other things, a story about growth, grit, and being better than the person you were yesterday. Here's my rambling on why I'm writing Journey West 5000. Journey West 5000 is my crazy ambitious writing project to adapt a classic epic called "Journey to the West" for a global, modern audience. It's a sci-fi story disguised as fantasy, and has some road trip + monster of the week elements (as does the original Journey to the West). No system, definitely no harem, gradual power progression. Hmm, what else can I put here so potential readers know what to expect? My writing style for now is mostly "show don't tell", because I believe that readers don't need to have everything pointed out to them, and that they should be allowed to make up their own minds about characters based on the actions of those characters. I'm also trying to be less long-winded (a weakness pointed out by some friends) in order to write according to something Neil Gaiman said, which is to write as though I'm the one who has to pay for every word, not the reader. This will bring down my chapter word counts, and might drive away potential readers, but I believe there's value in learning to compress and be concise. All chapters posted here will have been edited. Constructive criticism, comments, and feedback would be very much welcome and appreciated. Please, please help point out any typos or grammatical mistakes, I'm striving to minimize those as much as possible. Above all, I hope you enjoy my story.
8 211 - In Serial8 Chapters
Faerwald - Rise Above
A tale of weakness and strength. Lewis is thrown into a world of pain when he loses everything, but what happens when he is thrown into another world altogether? A pauper in the first, will he become powerful in the second? A young boy turns into a man, uncovers the deep secrets of his new world and attempts to reforge himself in the fires of adversity. But in the process, he defies the rules of the Gods. Will he 'Rise Above' the challenges and uncover his inner power or be beaten down into a husk of what could've been?By Broderick//My first fiction so please leave me a review or comment.
8 80 - In Serial13 Chapters
A Misleading Shell
Noah has trouble showing emotions even though he feels them, which mislead people around him and caused them to have an unfavourable impression of him so he grew up isolated until the age of 18 where an incident took place. After he woke up from the incident, he noticed that he wasn't in a hospital, but on a bed in a small hut. huh? "Where a- why are my hands small?" Noah said with a blank face. Wait it wasn't just my hands!! My whole body shrunk! He sat up on the bed, is this a dream? He pinched his cheek, ouch! so this isn't a dream but why am I small? He glanced to the side only to find two corpses that have black bubbles on their skin. No this is definitely a dream, right?! Wake up! please? Suddenly, excruciating pain burst in his head and images started flashing, as if he was seeing memories. Magic? Elves? Fairies? Demonic beasts? Those exist here? So is this not Earth? It seems just like those fantasy worlds he's read about. Well my priority right now is to leave this village, everyone seems to have died to a disease and I don't want to catch it. Then he found out that he was in the middle of nowhere. Oh no. After some years... "Nice to meet you! my name is Amaris, what's yours?" Asked a beautiful girl. Amaris... Amaris? Aeyora? Bête noire? A fantasy like world with beasts and mythical races? !!! It's that dating simulator game!
8 167 - In Serial12 Chapters
THE LOUVRE (POETRY MUSEUM)
/GET FEATURED VIA DM/ 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖑𝖔𝖚𝖛𝖗𝖊 (𝖕𝖔𝖊𝖙𝖗𝖞 𝖒𝖚𝖘𝖊𝖚𝖒) museum for gorgeous poets and poetry that deserves recognition 🌙✨
8 84