It seemed like weeks to Anak as he just drifted in darkness, completely unaware he was being watched. But the current battle was not with those watching, it was inside Anak himself. A fight with who he was and who he became without those memories.
"I'm a good guy, I save people." Anak thought.
"I've been living evil, doing as I please, is that really all I am?" he reflected.
After internally confronting himself Anak came to a decision. He is who he is. Meaning now he lives his life the way he wants to with the people he cares most about. His old life was dedicated to living the way society taught him was best. Living life now as how he sees fit, even though he's undead, is the most fulfilling way.
"I'd be crying tears of joy right now if I could." Anak humored to himself as he drew this conclusion.
As the battle within Anak began to subside, he began to arouse back into reality and the situation at hand. He noticed how thick the air felt.
"I imagine it would probably be hard to breathe in here, if I had too." he thought. With himself and his priorities in order, Anak knew it was time, he needed to leave the current situation.
"Found yourself, you did?!"
"Found yourself, he has!"
The mystery pair of voices called in step.
"It's too late now!" their voices rang in chorus.
The words rattled in his head, echoing louder and louder. Anak dropped to the floor clutching his head wishing for the noise to stop repeating. It seemed like an eternity as the noise grew louder and louder. Until… nothing. Dead silence filled the air accompanied by a soft breeze. Anak hesitantly looked up, he was in the forest, where he initially left his men. He was dazed and confused. How did he get here? He had little time to consider this as an unnerving realization quickly set in on him, he and his men were fully surrounded by their enemies from the fortress, the very enemies he had set out to capture.
"Men! Fear not, we will win! Fear will only lead to our own demise!" Anak shouted out.
Only silence returned his exhortation, it was as if no one heard his calls. The earth underneath began to shake and rumble, the enemy was closing in on them. The oppressors marched forward, Anak prepared himself. "What?!" They passed right through Anak; it was then he realized he wasn't there in physical form. They advanced on Anak's men. The clashing of steel and gurgled screams of agony filled the air. Anak could do nothing, forced to watch as his men were slaughtered before his eyes.
"This isn't a war; this is just an execution..." Anak said into the silence.
Suddenly two tiny imps walked up beside him.
"Not yet happened."
"Sad future that is."
They spoke in turn, one after the other.
"Use your past for a better future." they urged him as they faded back into the darkness.
The world began to grow dim as darkness advanced on him, consuming him. Anak was back in the absences, the dark place once more. Another breeze shifted through his skeletal body. As it left him, torches began to appear and ignite on after the other, their light exposing a long hall. Anak set forth down the hall, new determination was set within him.
"Defeat the creature to be rewarded." the imps rang out from an unseen place.
As Anak passed the last of the lit torches, he was welcomed by a glowing magic circle on the ground. Anak stepped forward into the ring. Immediately it began to glow, the light growing brighter and brighter, until Anak had to shield his eyes. Just as he had covered his eyes, he was sent flying down the hall with a mighty blast.
Collecting himself from the blow, Anak stood up, bracing for another, but there was no one to be seen. Within one instant of letting his guard down, he was lying face down in the old moss-covered cobblestone. Remembering his past and former abilities, he began to shoot flames from his hands where he suspected the summoned creature to be. The flames missed, but the light exposed a massive, cloaked skeleton wielding a scythe.
"The Grim Reaper!" Anak gasped.
Slapping the floor, a magic circle appeared under Anak. Chains suddenly started flying from all that remained of his tattered robe. Hitting their mark, the chains clasped themselves around the Grim Reaper and began to emit a faint, dim light. The glow from the chains illuminated more of the Grim Reaper's body. Cracks, gouges, and holes covered every bone.
"Now you're mine!" Anak shouted.
Launching balls of fire at the reaper, Anak was self-assured victory was his. In one swing of his scythe, the reaper broke the chains and dispersed the flames hurling toward him. The reaper suddenly threw his scythe, sending it spinning at extreme speeds toward Anak. Reacting quickly, chains flew from Anak, grabbing the weapon midair, barely saving his life.
Taking ahold of the blade for himself, he dashed to end the reaper. Anak slashed, swinging the blade left and right, but his inexperience with the weapon made it all too easy for the reaper to evade every swing. Thoughts of his men dying filled his mind, he grew impatient knowing that their lives were on the line. Anak griped the blade with an intensity that could be felt projecting from inside him. Instantly the scythe was encompassed in flames. Anak advanced again, still missing his target. He was able to bind his legs once again with chains and the reaper fell to the floor. Raising the scythe high above his head, He swung down with as much strength as he could muster. His jaw dropped in astonishment as he looked up to see the reaper had grabbed the blade mid-swing with ease through the fire and flames.
Exhausting all his methods, Anak only had one final option to try. Chanting words of prayer, a light began to glow from inside himself. The small light began to swirl inside his chest, growing brighter and brighter. Shining brightly from his exposed core, the light flew to his skull and disappeared. In that moment, the reaper flew at Anak to end it all with one final blow.
As the reaper drew back the scythe for fatal slash, the light began to emit brightly from Anak's palms. The reaper, frozen in place, was being obliterated from bathing in the purity of the light.
"Holy magic is the undead's worst nightmare!" Anak yelled out as traces of the Grim Reaper were leaving their realm.
The Grim Reaper was no more, the ancient prayer worked. It came with a drawback though, just as Anak had finished his words, he looked down to see that the bones in his hands were left in a decrepit state.
"Great work."
"You work well!"
The imp voices rang.
"Faith we didn't have!"
Their voices carried the sentiment of being impressed and shocked by the outcome.
All at once, the room began to shift around him. A pillar rose from the middle of the room. Looking closer, something could be seen glowing on top of it.
"A grimoire!" Anak shouted.
He ran hastily towards the light of the book. As he took hold of the book, the room began to rumble, boulders were falling, crashing all around him. The room was beginning to fall apart.
"Hope to see you soon!"
"Meet again, soon we shall!" the voices cheered out.
As the room caved in, Anak panicked, searching for the exit where he came in from. Running back into the dark room, he realized the exit was gone, he was trapped. Anak looked down at the book he now clutched feebly in his hands. He opened the book, letting its pages spill open softly. He searched the grimoire for a spell to protect himself, scanning each page carefully yet quickly but couldn't seem to find one. A few pebble crumbs wrapped in dust tapped on his shoulder. Anak looked up just as a massive boulder fell on him. Feeling nothing, he opened his eyes, he was back at the tombstone, the grimoire still in his battered hands. Its inscription had changed.
"Destiny is in your own hands now."
Looking around at the few men he brought with him, he rallied them up hastily.
"There isn't much time! We need to get back!" Anak shouted.
He knew based on the position of the sun that it was almost the same time as when he witnessed his men get slaughtered on the battlefield. Hastily flipping through the pages of the grimoire, he found a spell that would allow them to leap quickly through large amounts of territory, so long as the user has been there before. Anak began mumbling a few words to himself, a dark aura began to swell, opening a black window in the middle of the forest clearing.
"Get in! We must save our friends!" Anak commanded.
Stepping through the portal, they were greeted with the rumbling earth. The battle had begun.