It was dark around me, like I was hanging between two worlds. My body felt heavy, paralyzed, but a faint beam of light started sneaking through my closed eyelids. I opened my eyes slowly, only to find myself lying on dry ground under a pale gray sky. No sun, no stars, just this weird color stuck between dawn and dusk.
I tried to move, felt like my limbs were tied up, but I forced myself to get up. The air was weird, heavy, but it had this familiar smell... like earth after rain. The place was empty, no sounds, no movement, just this vast emptiness surrounding me.
While I was trying to figure out what was going on, I saw it. A lonely tree a few steps away, standing in the middle of this silent world. But it wasn't just any tree; its roots were twisted around the ground like it was hugging it, and its leaves glowed with faint pulses, like it was alive and breathing.
I felt this strange pull towards it, like something inside me was telling me to get closer. I took a step, and with each step, the silence around me got deeper, heavier. When I got to it, I reached out, and touched its trunk. It was unnaturally warm, like the tree was holding a heartbeat.
And then, something exploded inside me. A flood of images and memories hit me, but none of them made sense. Whispers filled the air, some calling my name, some muttering words I couldn't understand. I tried to pull my hand away, but its roots had wrapped around my feet.
The whispers grew louder, turning into muffled screams. I saw shadows moving around me, faceless figures getting closer, watching me in silence. I tried to scream, but my voice wouldn't come out. Everything was blending together; time, space, and even my sense of who I was.
Then, I realized... the tree wasn't just a tree. It was a being that carried memories and voices from another world, like a portal to something bigger than I could handle.
Desperately, I pulled my foot away and stepped back. With each step I took, the whispers died down, and the shadows began to fade. But the effect didn't completely vanish. The images and voices were still stuck in my head, like a permanent tattoo I couldn't erase.
I stood there, panting, staring at the tree from a distance. I knew I had changed. This thing wasn't just a tree; it was a gateway to madness, or maybe a truth I wasn't ready to face.
And then... I realized! It's the same voices I've been hearing! I looked at the tree again. It was beautiful, tempting to touch, but I noticed its roots were shaking as if it was scared of me getting closer...
I looked at my hand. At first, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. There was a dagger in my right hand, its sharp blade glinting faintly under the gray light. My fist was tightly gripping its handle, as if I'd had it forever, but I couldn't remember how I got it.
The dagger was strange. Its silver blade was etched with intricate symbols I couldn't understand, and its handle was made of some dark, warm material that felt alive. There was something unnatural about it, like just holding it carried weight.
"Where did this come from?" I asked myself, trembling. I tried to recall the moments near the tree. I didn't remember grabbing it, but I did recall feeling something heavy when the tree tried to grab me.
I raised the dagger toward the tree. The roots recoiled from me. I got closer, still pointing the dagger at it. Why was it scared?
I slowly approached the tree, the dagger shining in the gray sky, its pulses syncing with the tree's own. In that moment, I wasn't scared anymore. I knew I was in the heart of the battle now.
When I stood right in front of it, I could feel the tree watching me, waiting for me to make a mistake. But I had made up my mind. I raised the dagger, aimed it at the heart of the tree. Something strange stirred inside me, like I was reconnecting with something deep from my past.
And just as the dagger neared the trunk, a scream erupted inside me. Memories flooded in, images and scenes rushed back all at once, as if they'd been locked away in my brain forever.
I saw myself in many places, in moments I thought I'd forgotten. Faces of my parents, the laughter of friends in old times, and details I hadn't remembered in ages. Then, I was hit with a clear image, a person who had always been in the background of my memory, someone who had followed me everywhere, but I didn't understand who they were until now. It was him, the one who had been guiding me all along, the reason I had reached this moment.
In that instant, the dagger struck the tree's trunk. Light exploded, like it cracked time itself. The tree shook, then fell to the ground, its leaves slowly drifting away. When it finally collapsed, the blade in my hand began to glow with an intensity I didn't expect.
As the tree fell, the whispers faded, as if everything was finally taking a deep breath. After a moment, silence took over, and I felt it deep inside me. The memories were clearer now, like the tree had carried a part of my mind, and the dagger was the only way to release it.
Was the tree feeding on memories? If it took memories, why couldn't it keep mine? I looked at the dagger in my hand and knew the answer. That's why Sheikh Abdullah gave me the dagger?
Ughh! I grabbed my head with my left hand.
My head felt like a thousand nails were stabbing different parts of it. I was hearing memories of people I didn't even know. It felt like my head was going to explode, but before it got worse...
A white beam shot out from the dagger, erasing as many memories as it could, and I felt warmth spread through it. My head became clear, filled with warmth and stillness.
I opened my eyes, and they were clear but confused.
The memories were trapped in the tree, and I wasn't the only one who had faced it.
I raised my hand, and the dagger was still glowing. It helped me again. I thought to myself, "Thanks, dagger, you're really good at this."
I pulled my eyes away from the dagger and looked around.
Slowly, I lifted my head. The sky wore a cloak of gray clouds, like it was hiding something. The ground around me was covered in dry dirt, but beneath my feet were strange markings, like invisible lines mixing with the shadows of time. I felt like I wasn't alone here.
I moved cautiously, trying to understand this place I hadn't seen before. In front of me, there was a small hill covered in dry grass, and in the distance, huge rocks rose like they were guarding a sacred place. The rocks were interwoven with each other perfectly, like an ancient network with mysterious magic.
I carefully approached the rocks and noticed some markings carved into them. These symbols were intricate and intertwined, like threads weaving through time. At first, I thought they were just random designs, but something deep inside told me they were more than that. They held some kind of ancient power, like part of a puzzle that needed to be solved.
I turned around and saw the place more clearly.
A desert with no life, sand covering nearly everything. There were rocks, mountains, and dunes buried under the sand.
I kept walking, even though I was anxious and not doing anything that made sense. I needed to keep going. I couldn't stand there, crying about something that wouldn't change. I wanted peace, to get married. Is that so much to ask?
Around me, there were rocks with strange carvings.
I found a black stone in the middle of the rocks.
The black stone was huge, dominating the place with its heavy presence. Its surface was rough, dark, like it was made of something unbreakable. Its deep black color reflected faint light, but even that light looked distorted in its presence. The stone seemed like it carried a ghost of deep sorrow, like time itself had stopped at it.
Its edges had small cracks, tinged with red, like remnants of ancient fire still burning inside it. Every angle of it was filled with heavy shadows that gathered around it, making it look like it was swallowing any light that came near.
When you got close, you felt something off. The air around it became a bit harder to breathe, like it was pulling you in. The stone seemed like a mass of sorrow, carrying ancient pain that couldn't be erased, and buried secrets that refused to be uncovered.
There was something about this stone I didn't understand, like it was a being trying to figure something out. What am I doing here?
I moved closer to the stone and noticed carvings similar to the ones on my dagger. I raised my hand and touched the surface of the stone, tracing the symbols with my fingers.
As I traced the surface of the black stone, the air around me grew heavy, as if something invisible was watching me. I felt something strange leaking out from the stone, like I wasn't just touching a regular rock, but something much deeper. Suddenly, my hand began to pulse, like the dagger in my hand was starting to beat. The dagger, which I thought was just a weapon, began to glow with a strange, dark color, as if there was hidden power inside it.
It was the dagger, cold metal at first, that triggered something unexpected in the stone. Suddenly, the stone shook under the touch of the dagger, and strange cracks appeared on its surface, slowly opening up. It was like an ancient power was trapped inside, and when the dagger touched a mysterious symbol on the stone, that power exploded in a faint but powerful light, making the place around me shiver. The cracks widened, and the symbols on the stone lit up with glowing lines.
The more the light grew, the thicker the air became, and the sound around me deepened, like an old voice moving through the stone, urging me to move forward. The cracks were clearer now, and the stone began to collapse from within, opening up like a flower in bloom, surpassing time and space. And so, with my heart racing, the stone opened its doors, like the dagger was the key to unlocking the ancient lock.
As the stone opened, a strange beam of light filled the air, and shadows danced on the walls around me. Yet, I felt like there was no turning back now. This path was the only way, the only way to what awaited me. This wasn't just a new place; it was a crossing into another world, a world that had been trapped for so long and was now waiting for me. With steady steps, I crossed through the opening the stone created, feeling the dagger in my hand guiding me toward what was next.
As I kept walking, the narrow paths started to open up into a wide passage. The dark walls slowly moved away, like they were backing up, and eventually disappeared completely, like I had stepped into an entirely different world. It felt like I'd walked into some ancient, untouched realm where time had just... forgotten to show up. Then, suddenly, a cool breeze brushed against my face, and a soft voice whispered in my ear, almost like it was saying, "Welcome."
I stepped out of the tunnel into a world that was impossible to even imagine. In front of me, a jaw-dropping scene unfolded: towering mountains covered in sparkling snow, their peaks lost somewhere in thick clouds, but the clouds? They weren't just normal clouds; they looked like something out of a magical dream. The trees around me were massive, towering so high it felt like I was standing in a forest from some epic fantasy. Their trunks were thick, and their leaves were dark green, almost like they held the secrets of ancient stories. The branches curved in weird, mystical ways, as if they were reaching for something up in the sky.
And the sky! Oh boy, the sky was unlike anything I'd ever seen. There wasn't a sun like I was used to; instead, there was this magical light spilling over the horizon, glowing in colors that didn't even make sense. The sky had this bluish-silver glow, like it was pulsing with energy, and in the far distance, there were these strange, flickering lights in the clouds. It looked like invisible creatures were zooming around up there. I swear, it was like I'd just stepped into a world from a dream, a world that was so different from anything I'd ever known.
While I was busy taking in this unbelievable view, the mountains around me started to shimmer in soft, glowing colors, reflecting that same magical light that was filling the sky. The mountain paths led into lands covered with thick, massive trees, and there were streams flowing down from the mountains, like water straight from the heart of this magical world, bringing it to life.
But what really caught my attention was the air. It smelled... weird. It had this strange fragrance, like ancient flowers and unfamiliar wood, something you'd never find in the regular world.
-_- Damn...