He did not know how much time had passed, but it felt like he was in a time past infinity, in a place void of time; he could still feel them gnawing at his body as he lost his senses one after another, and the pain subsidized as there were less body parts to feel from. He found himself or a body that he thought was himself made up of pure energy floating in space as he steadied his thoughts, detaching them from his body and more on his mind in the place he currently was.
It was weird, it was the first time he had tried something like that. It was a beautiful and weird experience, but he had a sense of familiarity like he had been doing something like this for a very long time. Maybe he did, he was not just conscious of it. After taking some time to appreciate the beauty of his surroundings, he started to wonder how he got there as he inspected the area, but all he could see was a wide vast of nothingness in all directions, from above him, below him, his sides.
"Why do you always ask the wrong questions?" A low voice rumbled and echoed all around the area. He quickly spun around to get the person who spoke, but he saw no one. He was alone in Nothing! He quickly gave up.
"All I want right now is sleep." He thought to himself and heard the echo reverberate through the area again. "Where exactly am I?" He questioned just to hear the echoes repeat themselves in a very irritating manner.
"Why do you always ask the wrong questions?" The voice questioned again.
"What are you?" Zephyr asked losing his patience.
"Wrong question."
"Can you just give the fucking answer? I have had a hell of days his the past weeks; I don't need a riddle, puzzle-giving butch to ring out nonsensical bits in a play of wisdom. So if you don't want to say anything just fuck off and let me wake up from this hell of a dream." Zephyr said everything in one breath.
A long, calm silence followed; there was no breathing, confirming his thoughts on this was not being his body, maybe spirit or soul, who knows. These past weeks had not been easy for him; he was sure many people who went through the ritual did not go through so much formality.
"Maybe that is why many of them die along the way." He thought.
"What is your name?" Zephyr asked as he stared into the void.
"Kaelan." The low voice mumbled.
"What are you?"
"You do not want to know," Kaelan replied.
"Then, who are you?"
"That too, you do not want to know," Kaelan answered shortly.
"How come you know everything about me and I know nothing about you?" Zephyr asked with distrust evident in his tone.
"I do not have any knowledge about you. We share a body, and your memories are locked in your soul and that I have no control over," Kaelan answered.
"So why can I not know what or who you are?" Zephyr asked as he looked around the space.
"Because you would not understand, your mind and body are currently weak. You need rest."
"That we both agree on," Zephyr said as he let out a sigh of relief and slowly batted his long eyelashes. "Where you with me back there?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"You did not ask for my help," Kaelan stated.
"I would have called you if I knew you were there, dimwit. Tch." Zephyr defended himself. But what was that all about?"
"You killed someone."
He fell into silence and got lost in his thoughts. It is true, he killed someone.
"She was hurting Mom."
"But she could not kill your Mom," Kaelan stated.
"She would have if she stood a chance." Zephyr defended his actions as he swallowed a hard bitter lump in his throat. "I took that chance away."
They were silent again for a longer period of time. He expected Kaelan to bash him and reprimand him for his actions but he was just silent.
"Would you have done the same?" Zephyr asked as he contemplated his actions.
"I do not have the authority to take someone's life away from them; it is theirs, not mine."
"So would you till have done the same?" Zephyr asked again but Kaelan was silent.
"Everyone is different."
"You are right," Zephyr said as he bit his tongue. He knew he was talking more to himself, reassuring himself more than he was speaking with Kaelan. "So why did that happen?"
"Your consciousness? A sent mental attack? Your fear?" Kaelan listed. "It could be from you, from the aura of the surrounding where your body is right now, or a sent attack. There are many factors to consider."
"So how do I conquer it? I still feel the pain." Zephyr said.
"Go with the flow and stop trying to control it."
Zephyr's eyes widened as he heard that. "Go with the flow and bear the pain as they eat me away?"
"Are you not doing that right now?" Kaelan asked making Zephyr sigh.
"How do I wake up then?" Zephyr asked the question that he had been trying to do for a long period during these tormenting moments.
"Just do it," Kaelan said, like that was the simplest thing he could have done, and it did sound simple. Zephyr wanted to argue, "What do thing I have been trying to do all this while?"
"Escape..."
Kaelan was right. Out of spite, he tried to wake up, he squinted his eyes to wake up in a dark space AGAIN!
"Wake up my ass!" Zephyr said as he sighed again pushing himself against a soft substance under his head. Scared that he was drowning in some kind of fluid again, he quickly sprung up and a chain reaction followed. He heard some muffled footsteps, and a bright light turned on and assaulted his eyes in the harshest way possible like the light grew needles and was piercing through his pupils right into his nerves, giving him a headache.
"Fuck it, man!" He muttered under his breath and fell back into his pillow. He had not been this happy to be assaulted in such a manner. He quickly sat up again and examined his body, touching his body with his hands with a large smile he did not know was plastered on his face. Joy was emanating from him in large currents. He was happy to breathe again, he was not dead! Not stuck in the body of a young boy with a dwarfed mind!!!
He was extremely happy.
As he was engulfed in his thoughts, happy to have woken up, he did notice a thin blonde woman kneeling on his bed and reaching out for his head as her hands cupped his face. Tears rolled down her eyes as she brought his face closer. It had been nine days since the ritual. He was supposed to wake up after a week, seven days at most, but when the time passed, she was scared. Scared that she has lost her only child to the ritual as per the fate of many others. She wanted to ask if it was successful but she was happy he came back to her. Her son was back.
She planted a long kiss on his forehead and hugged him before quickly sitting up and wiping every trace of tears from her nose leaving her leaking nose as a testament. The Priest entered some moments later and stared at the two of them before taking a seat next to the bed.
"It has been nine days after your ritual, soon ten." He said as he stared at the young man examining him with a very scrutinizing gaze. "Who were you bonded with?"
Zephyr stared at him, looking at his reaction. He was gone for nine days, they surely thought he was dead, 'Had he started the burial arrangements.'
"Was there a pulse?" Zephyr asked in a hoarse voice, which was to be expected; he had not spoken for nine days.
His uncle stared at him before answering. "None. You were not breathing too."
Zephyr sighed as he buried his head into his pillow. "Kaelan, that is all I know about it."
'A long silence followed after a week of fasting and preparation. Talk less of the countless purification rituals before that and nine days of DEATH; all you had from the entity was a NAME? A name that is most likely made up of what is Kaelan in the names of the gods of Jupiter and the Realms!!' The Priest thought as his mind went bonkers with how calm his sister and nephew were. 'I refuse to believe that this is the end of all the effort I put into this. All the time, research, information, blood, and tears I put into this development. I must observe him for a longer period, there has to be more!'
The Priest wanted to question him more but he could not push him further in the presence of his devastated sister. So they just stayed and stared at each other in the silence collecting their thoughts.
A series of heavy footsteps were nearing the room and a lot of commotion with it. There was only one person who could cause this sort of ruckus in the house. Zephyr stared at the carvings on the ceiling. His mom wore a blank expression, and the Priest stood up to take his leave. There was no good in associating oneself with such a man.