I dreamt of memories that weren't my own. Memories of a ruthless conqueror, slaughtering millions of people - civilians, nobles, soldiers, entire villages, entire cities... entire countries. It's not something I could describe, it's a feeling that couldn't possibly be put into words... but somehow I knew that these horrific thoughts were mine, or, they used to be mine. They were glimpses of a past life. So much needless bloodshed, so much pain...
The memories faded away, leaving me floating in a void of nothingness, in the body of an older man. I blinked, and suddenly I was standing in a room. The room was made up of barren metal walls, with no entrance or exit, and no windows.
A being stepped out from the darkness, revealing an all too familiar sight. A sense of terror engulfed my existence as I gazed upon the form of the ungodly creature that had destroyed my life.
"You have... been busy... I see."
"Tsk. I was wondering when you lot might get involved... what is this? Some kind of illusion magic?"
I felt an eerie sense of detachment as a voice that was not my own resonated inside my head and left my mouth. My hands begun moving of their own accord, weaving strange patterns and symbols in the air.
It was as if another consciousness had taken the reins of my body. Or, more accurately, I had become a passenger riding in someone else's consciousness - experiencing a long forgotten memory first-hand.
"Reveal!" More words escaped my lips that I hadn't spoken.
The atmosphere bristled with anticipation, and a moment later, a crescendo of arcane power erupted from my outstretched hands. A torrential flood of mana burst forth and engulfed the room in a blinding, radiant light.
The light quickly faded, and once again, the room was almost in total darkness - with nothing but a flickering candle in the centre to provide luminance.
"Tsk... tsk... tsk... Sit down, Elder's chosen."
It had no mouth, and yet its voice reverberated within my skull - telepathy?
I blinked again, and in an instant I had become bound to a chair by cold metal chains. The creature paced back and forth in front of me, blood trickling onto the floor from its not-so-internal organs.
"I am... a fan... of your work... but..."
The creature placed its huge claws on my chest, cutting through my thick plate armor like butter and piercing the soft human skin hidden below.
"Your existence is now... obsolete."
With a single motion, the creature's colossal claw sliced through my shoulder, severing my right arm. Yet, the creature's grip on my mind remained unbroken, denying me the mercy of unconsciousness.
I was now floating above the room, in my own body, peering down at the horrifying scene below.
The man's wound opened like a vile maw, and a gory fountain of crimson blood erupted forth. The blood shot out in pulsating jets, each beat of his heart propelling the crimson torrent with increasing force, creating a grotesque spectacle that painted half of the room in a morbid hue of red.
The man's agony, instead of numbing with the loss of blood, intensified with each spurt.
The creature snatched the detached arm from the floor, and with a soul-chilling cacophony of bone snaps and the squelching of flesh, it fused the limb back into place. An unholy reattachment that defied sanity.
An eerie seam traversed the creature's visage, opening like a door hinge, unveiling a row of razor-sharp teeth that led to an abyssal void within. It, for the first time, spoke out loud.
"We're going to have... so much fun together... for such a very... very... long time."
The creature's head tilted upwards directly towards me. I awoke, startled, in a frantic sweat; gasping for breath and desperately clutching my right arm.
I was still in the kitchen, laying on my side in a pool of blood. I did my best to steady my breathing, but I had already started hyperventilating and convulsing. My body was in a state of shock, but somehow my mind felt intact. Perhaps my infantile brain was failing to comprehend what was happening, or... maybe somewhere, deep down, I was just used to the sight of merciless slaughter.
A floorboard outside the kitchen groaned with a loud, sudden creak. I tried to sit up, but my body refused to comply.
Another floorboard creaked in the doorway of the kitchen. I couldn't move. I couldn't turn my head. I couldn't even speak. Was this it? Has the creature returned to finish the job after haunting my dreams?