Prologue
What is this? Where am I? Why is it so dark?
I asked myself these questions continuously as my body floated in what seemed like outer space, except with a lack of stars.
The absence of light was so intense that it almost felt better to shut my eyelids in a gesture of sleep.
The unknown stretched out in front of me like the view of the ocean from a deserted island; daunting and daring me to try and challenge its depths.
Attempting, in a single, pathetic endeavor to muster the courage to try and explore this seemingly empty void, I discovered that I couldn't even feel my body, let alone control it.
It was as if every single muscle in my body had stopped functioning.
There I floated, in this black abyss, void of all matter, patiently waiting for a change. As I waited, I tried my best to study my surroundings.
The human body is indeed an enigma that doctors, scientists, and even famed old magicians of its time have tried to decode; my human eye, which would normal adjust and adapt itself to darkness, have failed me. No matter how long I waited, no matter how hard I tried, it failed to adapt to the blank darkness, yet alone to allow me to decipher where I am.
After a couple of minutes, I decided that I could derive no information from the area around me, simply that it could be likened to a vacuum, wherein it was impossible for light and sound to exist.
The silence was eerily unnatural, like dusk without the noise of crickets or dawn devoid of the beautiful singing of birds. I've watched old Creepy Pastas, and learned how darkness and silence were used as torture devices by the Nazis, and wondered if that's happening to me.
Suddenly, light as bright as the sun exploded in front of me, likened to a solar blast.
Immediately squeezing my eyes shut, I could feel control over my body slowly flooding back to me. The warm flow of blood surrounded me, combating the cold feeling radiating around me.
As I cautiously opened my eyes, I could hear a loud voice saying, "Look into your heart, and show me your one true desire." This voice was one of authority and power, yet it was calm and soothing to the ear.
It was the type of voice that could make you obey it, not forcefully, no, but willingly, comparable to the request of a loving mother.
Hesitantly, but obediently, I closed my eyes and tried to "look into my heart".
What is my desire? What do I yearn the most? While I was deep in thought, the light started to flicker, and a strange feeling started to envelope me.
The feeling tingled with warmth, and was vaguely similar to a hug from a human being.
While I was enjoying this feeling, the voice returned.
"I have seen what your heart wills for the most, and I will grant it to you, in a manner different from what you have imagined. Behold your power! The Gift of the Roleplayer!"
After that loud voice, the intensity of the light started increasing.
All of a sudden it disappeared, and I was once again alone, left to float in the darkness of the void.