Chapter Nine: The Lost Balance
When Elias awoke, he was not the same as before. Breathing was a struggle, as if every breath he exhaled represented the deepest battle he had ever fought. He opened his eyes to find himself in a dark room, faintly illuminated. There was no one around him, only soft sounds coming from the corners of the room. He felt something strange within his body, something entirely unfamiliar.
"How did I get here?" he whispered to himself, but the voice that escaped his lips didn't sound like his own. The voice in his head echoed once more, as if answering his question before he even asked it:
"You are not in the world you were in, Elias."
The words grew clearer, as if coming from a distant place, yet so close to his mind. Elias hurried to get up, but he felt a heaviness in his body, his mind was confused. He was unprepared to face this disarray.
"Where am I?" he asked weakly, but the voice in his mind responded as if it had read his thoughts:
"You are now in a world between worlds, where shadows meet light."
As those words filled his mind, Elias tried to focus. He had been facing unknown forces before and now found himself at a new turning point. A sense of alienation overtook him, as though something deep within was changing. He knew this change wasn't a fleeting effect, but the beginning of another journey.
He gathered his strength and exited the room, finding himself in a long corridor, dark and crowded with shimmering images dancing on the walls. These images showed moments from his past, but in a strange way, as if they had passed through an alternate reality. He began to think about what he saw, the memories intertwining with his thoughts.
"Are these my memories?" he muttered quietly, approaching a distorted image. At that moment, he heard a strange voice in his ear, as if everything around him had become part of a dream:
"Not everything is as it seems, Elias. What you see are mere shells."
Elias turned to find a strange being before him, not human in the conventional sense. It radiated shadows, its eyes like windows to another world. Elias felt the power of this entity, coursing through every part of the place.
"Who are you?" Elias asked nervously, but the entity merely smiled, as though it knew more than he could comprehend.
"I am the one who watches you, Elias. I am the one who will keep you here." The being replied calmly.
Elias's heart raced. It felt as though everything around him was collapsing, as if the world itself was suddenly facing him with an inevitable end.
"Why am I here?" he asked, his voice reflecting his vulnerability.
The being answered, "You are here because you have always been part of this balance. But everything has changed now. The forces you control today are not what they once were."
Suddenly, Elias felt a tremendous headache filling his head. Everything was crashing down, as if the world was collapsing upon him. But in that moment, the voice that had been with him from the beginning, the voice that had nested in his mind, spoke again:
"You are no longer just a human, Elias. You have become part of something greater. You live between the worlds. You live in the void."
Elias was in complete chaos. His head spun, and his body could no longer withstand the confusion. Then, suddenly, in an instant, he discovered the truth. He was the missing link. He was no longer the person he had been at the start. He had transformed into something else.
"You are not just an experiment. You are the power that seeks domination."
Elias finally awoke, opening his eyes to find himself surrounded by shadows—the very ones he had once thought to be mere myths. There was something in the air that made his body connect with all that power, as though it was flowing through his veins.
But he felt it wasn't enough. He was searching for something greater, and he knew he was in the place where his destiny would be determined. At that moment, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to find the shadowy being he had encountered before, smiling a mysterious smile, and said:
"Now, your true vision has just begun, Elias. Are you ready to rule the world you once knew?"