Dean's eyes snapped open, a raw haunted light sparkling within their depths. Shadows clung to the corners of the room like living phantoms as he inhaled, chest heaving with a dread, panic and desperation so potent it threatened to drown him. He glanced around, the same bitter realization twisting his gut. The reset. Again.
He had lost count of how many times he'd been here- trapped in the never-ending cycle of trust, hope, crushing despair, Garren's betrayal even, and yet he couldn't seem to break free from the endless loop. He couldn't break free from the endless cycle of trust, love, hope to despair once again.
It kept on going and going for what felt like a lifetime and he was tired of it all.
He was tired.
Dean felt a cold, fiery knot clutching tightly onto his heart as he struggled to keep his sanity.
He f-elt like he was really losing it.
His hair at this point was beyond dishevelled, eyes staring into the endless darkness before him as he tugged at the corner of his long, frosty hair.
What am I missing?
The question gnawed at him like a disease, a splinter buried too deep to pull out.
He seemed to be missing something. Something small, yet it could be the clue to change the tides to his favor. And the more he thought and pondered on it, the more it slipped from his hands. Floating into the endless darkness and the void beyond.
It was almost as though an invisible force, a strange entity was stopping him from remembering.
Dean's trembling hands tangled in his long, frost-bitten hair, a futile attempt to claw the answer from the depths of his fragmented memories. Yet the harder he tried to grasp the thought, the faster it slipped away, like smoke dissolving into the void.
A sickening pressure wrapped around his temples, veins bulging as he pressed harder, the pain a symphony in his mind.
Yet no revelation came. Only the relentless pounding, the migraine that wrapped itself like iron chains around his skull.
No matter what he did. He failed miserably, the set of information refused to be found. Bound and shackled within layers of forgotten memories.
What the fuck is going on!!!
Why can't I remember?
...Why!!! Dean's mind grew desperate, crackling with despair and desperation.
Yet he had learnt from the endless cycle of death, agony to the unending layers of torment to always be calm. Take things slowly, think harder, and faster but calmer. Else, it would be too easy to fall into the clutches of despair and desperation.
Amidst the weight of desperation that clung tightly onto him, Dean managed to let out a sharp exhalation.
His eyes darting to his surrounding.
He had revived to just moments before the battle began and moments after - moments after what?
And just when desperation was beginning to creep in, a flicker of understanding ignited within his blue pair of eyes.
There and then, he finally knew the blinding block.
...What had been stopping him from progressing.
"Fuck! Should have known."
Dean muttered through gritted teeth, dashing out of the room he had slammed into after falling from the towering building. He ran along the cobblestones as the endless darkness encroached upon his mind.
Darkness slowly inched closer and closer onto the walls of his mind.
Yet he kept running.
Making what seemed like zig-zag patterns as he dashed into alleyways, barely avoiding horrifying monstrosities that defied human's comprehension, barely avoiding red zones and worse - the fluidity zones as he ran further into the distance.
He didn't care where he was running to. All he knew was he had to get away from the Amaraith's range of influence. The positive mask of the Amaraith was extending far and beyond. It wasn't allowing him to hold onto that thread of memory. And he had bet a hundred Taels that there was a damn good reason for it.
For it to try so desperately to stop him from remembering.
There had to be.
And this realization only pushed Dean to run even faster.
Harder even.
His lungs felt like they were on fire, his legs slamming onto the hardened cobblestones beneath him. They felt like ice, slick with rain and an unknown viscous substance that seemed to hum with energy.
Yet he still kept going, refusing to fall as he moved with every ounce of strength contained within him.
Minutes clocked by. Hours perhaps.
He didn't know how long he had been running for or where he currently was.
But it was all worth it.
There and then, clarity hit him. Hard and fast, brutal and unforgiving even. It slammed onto the walls of his mind and he desperately held onto it.
The memory jolted back, sudden as a bolt of lightning. The paper.
The one he had gotten after escaping from the monstrous supernatural creature before performing the daring leap of faith. He had in every single reset, clutched it to his hands.
He always felt he could check it out later on. That he should first escape from the clutches of the supernatural creature before thinking of what was to come, next.
But all those thoughts weren't under the influence of his mind, they were all under the positive aura of the nearby Amaraith. They were the one's feeding him with those thoughts. The Amaraith had always whispered insidious lies that dulled its importance.
As realization dawned on him, slamming ruthlessly onto the walls of his mind. Dean almost broke into despair, the thought of him dancing and wriggling to the tunes of the Amaraith sent a cold chill running down his spine. Along with it, a faint surge of emotion threatened to burst forth, like a volcano on the verge of exploding forth.
Tears threatened to fall from his eyes. The thought of being controlled all along sent a strange icy cold feeling down the depths of his heart.
It was painful!
Hellish painful.
He couldn't even describe it in words just that he wished it would never happen.
Never again!
He bit onto his lips, forcing the tears in as he breathed and exhaled continuously. Trying his best to shake off the dread and desperation slowly settling into his bones. He couldn't allow them in.
He couldn't give in.
He didn't want to.
His breath came in shallow, searing gasps. With every step, he felt a monstrous aura closing in, a suffocating weight that promised annihilation. He dared a glance over his shoulder- but there was nothing.
Nothing but the dark, pulsing with a life of its own.
With hardened resolve, Dean prepared to head for the towering abyssal like building and go through the traps once again.
He had to get the paper. It was the only clue. The best hope he had in defeating the Amaraith.
With a newfound resolve, he urged his muscle to bolt forth into the endless darkness.
But then
A tremor quaked through him as the air stilled, and then, it thickened. The world darkened, shuddered and then, it descended. A force more ancient and lethal than the Amaraith.
The aura it brought with it was indescribable and indiscernible.
It was horrifying! More terrifying than anything he had ever felt! Even the beautiful horrifying monstrosity had paled in comparison.
T-his...this felt supreme!
He felt insignificant before this force.
Suddenly, his lungs ceased to work. The air surrounding him ceased to flow.
Endless darkness swarmed over his vision. No- not just his vision. It stretched forth through the very corners of the cursed land. Moving towards him with terrifying force.
His heart tightened, almost leaping to his chest as it pounded hard against his ribs. His eyes flashed with fear and horror as he gasped for breath.
His cell, organs, and bones.
Everything disintegrated into dust within the blink of an eye. A horrifying force slammed onto the walls of his mind, in an attempt to invade. Yet it seemed something fought against it, or at least it seemed so.
Desperation and despair soon found their way into the walls of his mind.
...Just when he had finally found the way.
Why did he have such bad luck.
Why couldn't things just go his way, even if it was just for once.
...Just once!
Why can't it go my way...?
He questioned no one but himself and perhaps the endless void within him.
Tears slowly streamed down the corner of his eyes. Well what remained of him as he floated into the familiar, eeirely warm yet icy cold embrace.
The world soon turned black completely as his mind got overwhelmed with an endless darkness so profound, it haunted the very corners of his mind.