Celm slowly drifted into sleep, his thoughts still whirling from the day's events.
He stretched out on the ground, curling his body into a comfortable position, and mumbled softly, "I think I'll just sleep... for a bit. I need it."
His body ached from the day's exertions, but the exhaustion soon claimed him, and his breathing became slow and steady.
His limbs grew heavy, his eyes closed, and before long, he slipped into unconsciousness.
But when Celm's eyelids fluttered open again, he was not in the place he remembered.
The faint light that he had expected to greet him in the morning was absent. Instead, all around him stretched a vast, empty void, the white space stretching endlessly in every direction, with nothing to break the monotony.
Celm groaned, rubbing his eyes in disbelief. "What... What is this?" His voice echoed hollowly, bouncing off the blank, infinite nothingness.
"This isn't... where I was supposed to wake up."
His pulse quickened, and a sense of unease gripped him. This place, this endless expanse of white, felt eerily familiar, but also alien.
His body stiffened, his senses on high alert. He stood cautiously, muscles tense, scanning the vastness for any sign of life, any hint of a landmark. But there was nothing.
Only the empty whiteness. "What is this place? Why am I here again?"
Memories flooded his mind, the nightmarish world he had visited before, a place that was as close to hell as he could imagine.
A nightmarish place, filled with madness, where the light of hope barely managed to flicker. That space, filled with terrifying, unforgiving entities that stalked the edges of his mind.
But it wasn't just the horror that came to mind. It was also the sense of safety, the way this strange space had saved him more than once.
"Why... Why does this place always come back? Why does it keep pulling me in?" Celm muttered, his thoughts spiraling.
His stomach churned, unsure whether to run or stand his ground. Could he die here? Was he already dead?
His heart hammered in his chest. His pulse was erratic, as his mind spiraled into deeper overthinking. He couldn't make sense of it, but somehow, the feeling of being caught in a trap was inescapable.
He stood there, unsure of what to do, when his legs gave out. Crouching down, he lowered himself to the ground, unsure if the position was safe or if it would lead him to something worse.
As he sat there, muttering to himself, a strange sensation washed over him. A dark shape flickered in the periphery of his vision.
A faint outline in the white space.
It was hard to make out, like cracks in glass or shards of something much larger. Celm squinted, his mind racing.
He hesitated, a creeping fear slowing his movements.
Was it safe to approach?
What if it was a trick, another problem, like the ones before?
His heart pounded in his chest, reminding him of his past experiences. Anything could happen here. He could be dead in an instant. His mind tangled with uncertainty, unsure of whether he should be cautious or take action.
"I'm still alive," he muttered to himself, a bitter edge to his voice.
"But is it worth it? The uncertainty... everything feels like it's leading nowhere."
As he said it, the dark outline grew sharper, more defined, almost like it was calling him. A sudden urgency surged through him.
"What do you want?" Celm demanded, his voice tense. The outline didn't respond, but it darkened further, stretching and twisting.
It was as if the space itself was reacting to his presence, pulling him toward it.
Hesitant, but driven by curiosity, he took a few cautious steps forward. As he did, the shape began to shift, gradually forming a shard.
He recognized it—he had seen this shard before, back when he used it to hunt, to defend himself. But why was it here?
"Why... why is it here?" Celm whispered under his breath, unsure of what was happening.
The shard hovered just out of reach, but it beckoned him closer. As he stepped forward, the outline seemed to lighten, becoming less defined, almost as if it was dissolving into the space around it.
"It's going to disappear," he thought quickly. "I have to grab it."
Without thinking twice, he lunged forward and snatched the shard. To his surprise, it came away easily, as though it were paper, sliced through with the ease of a sharp blade.
Holding the shard in his hands, he examined it, his mind racing. It was the same as the one he had used earlier, yet something felt different now.
"Why are you here?" Celm repeated, his voice tinged with confusion.
He held the shard up, inspecting it more closely.
It seemed unchanged, but then, he noticed something, strange engravings were etched into its surface, markings he didn't understand.
"What is that?" he asked, his brow furrowing.
As if in response, the entire white space trembled. It was subtle at first, but then it grew more pronounced, as though the world itself were shaking.
Celm staggered to his feet, clutching the shard tightly.
"What's happening? What's going on?" His voice trembled. "Don't tell me... Something bad is going to happen again..."
Before he could process any further, the white space dissolved.
Celm blinked and opened his eyes.
The sun was shining brightly above him. He was lying on the ground, drenched in sweat, as if he had just awoken from a terrible nightmare. The warmth of the sunlight contrasted sharply with the eerie whiteness he had just been in.
The campfire beside him had long since burned out, and the food he had left before falling asleep was still sitting there, untouched.
Everything seemed so... normal, so peaceful.
But was it real?
Had it all been a dream?
Celm pushed himself up into a sitting position, his mind still racing. Something had changed.
Something about that shard and the strange space had felt too real to dismiss as just a bad dream.
As he sat up, he glanced down at the shard in his hand, now lying next to him. It had the same strange engravings, but now, for some reason, he could understand them.
"Fragment of knife..." he muttered aloud.
"That's a weird way to name a knife," he mused, turning the shard over in his fingers.
Shaking his head in confusion, he stood up and readied himself. "I need to check on that boar... and figure out if I'm safe or not."