Lauri drifted along a river, his body miraculously kept from sinking into its inky waters by a thin piece of wood—the trunk of a small tree, barely a year old. Around him, on the banks of the river, countless creatures watched him drift alone in the dark. No, not just creatures. Men, women, children, countless humans were mixed in with Fiends of all shapes and sizes.
They all watched him drift alone in the dark.
Lauri felt cold, he could feel his shattered body, broken bones, the tears in his skin.
'Is this… Is this, what it means, what it means to die…'
Meekly, he strained to open his eyes. Seeing the watchers, Lauri would have been frozen by fear, had he not been drained of any and all vigour.
The watcher's bodies were a light translucent blue. Some drifted across the riverbank, some stood motionless, some with knees sat on the floor curled into a ball. There were hundreds of them, thousands of them. They lined the riverbank and as far back as Lauri could see.
As Lauri passed the watchers by, they turned to stare at him, although their eyes were empty and their faces blank, showing no signs of recognition regarding the lonely boy. Lauri felt something within his body began to stir as he looked at the watchers. It was a pain, a pain unlike anything he had felt before.
It wasn't physical, Lauri had become well acquainted with the pain of his broken body. The pain emanated from the same place inside his body as the feeling of warmth Lauri had felt when dismissing Luminescent Helper.
'What is that, why does, my head hurt so much...' Lauri squinted, gripping the sides of his head as he turned away from the riverbank. His eyes caught on the small piece of buoyant wood. When Lauri had first opened his eyes, he had seen that the small trunk was a healthy brown, but now something was wrong with it.
The bark on its trunk was peeling in places, blotchy pale spots dotted its surface. It seemed almost sick.
'What is, what is happening?'
Looking up from the trunk, Lauri gazed down the river. It seemed to go forever, stretching on and on until becoming obscured by a deep fog.
A thought crossed Lauri's mind, causing him to wear a dry smile. 'I wonder, is this the land of the dead.' Looking up, Lauri stared into a black void, empty of light, no stars, no sun, just black. "Did I… Die? It has to be." Lauri's eyes slid to the ghostly figures. "How else do you explain that…"
Lauri had to shift his eyes away from the watchers as the dull pain inside his body returned.
"Which means that fog is what… The gateway to the underworld? Hell?"
Tears filled Lauri's eyes, "But- but," His lip quivered. "I was promised- promised I would be back home, I was supposed to help Laurence protect everyone. What happens if I die, in the last hundred years, there's only been three awakenings. Myself, Laurence and his master… So if I die, then the burden of protecting everyone will be left all to Laurence and if anything happens to Laurence…" Lauri fell silent, his gaze filled with replenished determination.
Gritting his teeth, Lauri reached out into the water, cupping his fingers, Lauri scooped at the water. His body slightly turned, scooping again and again and again. Lauri stopped as his body fully turned around, facing the stretch of river he had just been calmly floating down.
Unlike the smooth surface of the river, Lauri was anything but calm. With as much strength as his failing body could muster, Lauri kicked against the river.
How could he just give up, give up? How could he entertain such a thought!?
Slowly, Lauri pushed back against the current. He would indeed truly die, of course, he would die. But whilst Lauri still had the strength to fight. This would not be his last day.
It was slow, ever so slow. With what little strength he could pull up on, Lauri seemed to only just be making enough forward momentum to not be immediately pushed back. A constant battle of two steps forward and one step back. At least this time, Lauri could take solace in being able to breathe and not having to worry about sinking into the calm waters due to his source of safety, the trunk that kept him afloat. Lauri swam with his eyes closed, not wanting the pain within his being to return. Occasionally opening his eyes to ensure he didn't swim into the riverbank, not wanting to find out what would happen should he reach the grey sand.
After an hour, Lauri spent a second looking at the surface of the trunk to check its condition. The trunk had seemingly repaired itself. The peeling bark had returned to the correct position, the only way to know it had been damaged was the sickly patches that dotted the bark. Although now there were far fewer patches of sickness and the few patches were now much smaller.
The trunk's revitalisation seemed to coincide with Lauri's state, not having paid the watchers much attention since the first time he saw them. Lauri was now feeling a lot better, although a pain still existed within his being.
'I wonder… What the connection is…' Wanting to muse on the connection between Lauri's health and the health of the trunk. His thoughts were quickly replaced by that of focusing on the task at hand.
"Lauri…"
Lauri's actions froze as a voice drifted across the calm, almost mirror-like surface of the water. Opening his eyes, Lauri slowly turned to see what had called his name. What could call his name on the shores of the land of the dead?
His eyes fell on the visage of a man and a woman. Unlike every other watcher he had seen, these two watchers held each other.
They seemed familiar, where had he seen these people before, they looked like somebody he knew.
They both wore the same white cloak every watcher wore, it covered their bodies from the collarbone to their toes dragging in the cold sand. The fabric flowed in a wind that never seemed to reach Lauri's body.
The woman's mouth moved, her words reached Lauri's ears a couple of seconds after the woman's mouth moved, seemingly delayed. "Lauri, run." The hairs on the back of his head stood on end. "Run baby, we'll be right with you. Run to Savy's house, her parents will take you in."
Lauri's hands rushed to his head. Something within his mind hurt, not a physical pain, not the same pain that he felt whilst staring at the watchers – that isn't to say this experience didn't hurt that part of his being – no, this was something different. It was similar to the feeling of trying to remember something, something you had forgotten a long time ago.
This time the man's mouth moved, "Lauri," Turning his head, Lauri flinched at increasing pain inside his head. "It's okay baby, just keep running, daddy and mommy are right behind you."
Lauri could see it clearly, his home was destroyed, his parents trapped beneath the rubble and above them. A large Fiend, no, this was no mere Fiend. A large monstrosity stood above the wreckage, its entire being was armoured with thick black scales. On its head a dozen horns the size of cars stuck out at varying angles, some pointed up, some down, to the sides. From out of its serrated mouth, seven large tendrils waved about in the air, lifeless bodies hung, coiled in the ends of the tendrils. It was held aloft by six legs, all ending in horrifying blades.
A pair of red eyes stared straight into Lauri's soul.
The last thing Lauri saw before turning tail and running was the monstrosity pulling back, lifting its front 2 blade legs into the air.
Lauri's attention snapped back to the lonely river, as the woman – Lauri's mother – spoke again.
"Go Lauri, this, this isn't your time."
A bright light shone down from the sky, carrying with it the same warmth as the sun. Looking up, Lauri reflexively put his hand up to shield his eyes from the bright light, but as he looked into it. Lauri's eyes weren't harmed. Instead, the light flowed through Lauri's body, filling him with relief.
Relief as the pain, both inside and the outside of his body, began to calm. The cuts on his skin began to close as the light pulsed, the pain of his bruised skin began to fade and even the mysterious pain inside his being began to subside.
Glancing across the river, Lauri felt tears roll down his face as he looked upon the man and woman.
The two people from the memories, his memories, the memories he could not recall.
His mom and dad.
His mom's lips moved, but before Lauri could catch their meaning. The lone boy vanished from the lonely river.