Elias Valor
Elias felt a sharp pain course through his head like a cold needle, making his brows twitched as he grimaced. Narrowing his eyes because of sudden exposure to light, he shut them back, his body still not listening to his call — it was as though a chain strapped him to a mountain.
He felt dead. Every bone and muscle begged to be released from the pain, and his murky thoughts shadowed all rational reasoning.
With a chilling pain rasping through his body, he remained like that for several minutes despite being awake. Yet, his body and mind felt empty.
As time went by, the gaps in his memories started connecting, and his muscles spasmed with dull, throbbing pain.
"What!" As if stuck by a lightning, Elias jumped up, staggering momentarily, his hands going for his guns on reflex.
His pupils shrank. He tightened his grip on the rifle, scanning his surroundings with quick, sharp glances.
'Where am I?'
That was the first question that came to Elias' mind, seeing that the ground wasn't wet, and neither were there the two suns nor the thunderous rain droplets that hit him some moments ago. Rather, he found himself in an eerie building.
"What happened earlier?" Elias' face creased, his eyes darting across every angle as he remembered the strange moment before his supposed death.
'Heart attack?' His frown deepened, his gaze locked on the surroundings.
The floor sent cold wisps from his feet to every vessel in his body, making him shiver. If he hadn't seen the sprawling wooden floor himself, he would have argued that they made it from a thin sheet of ice.
The paper windows allowed scattered lights into the large hall, basking him in soft translucence as he took slow steps towards the closest wall. His finger locked on the trigger, ready to fire.
Every step he took felt like the passage of an era as he approached the wall with sharp, furrowed eyes, and his left palm soon touched the wall, grazing it.
It was smooth, carved from a black wood that seemed to absorb light, leaving a gentle dark glow on its surface.
To his nine o'clock, a giant iron door met his view. It had different carvings, mostly those of monsters, ones that Elias had never seen before. The kinds one would imagine in myth and legends.
Shifting his gaze, he looked in his right direction. There, the wall held enormous sets of weapons, each snarling at him with a dangerous glow.
As if he felt a pull, Elias took a step forward, and then another, his soft footsteps ringing in his ears like a lullaby at the dark hour as he approached the cold weapons that glared at him.
'It's a training hall.' Elias raised his brows, his ears perking up to pick any uninvited sound.
His footsteps echoed across the vast, desolate hall, the only sound in the eerie silence, which cascaded the atmosphere in an austere symphony.
A few breaths later, he was standing before the cold weapons just an inch away.
Tum!
A drop of sweat trickled down Elias' face, dropping on the cold floor that now gave Elias frostbite. He spared the floor another glance, wiping his sweat off as he reached for the Katana on the first shelf.
"Argh!" Elias screamed as he felt a sharp, burning sensation strike him inside out.
He lost the grip on the Katana as it hit the floor with a clang, making him stagger backwards, panting in apprehension.
"Ne'er lay hand upon that which is not thine. "
Elias swirled towards the source of the voice, firing three bullets in an instant, his stony gaze masking the chills that crawled in his heart.
His grip even tightened further on his gun upon discovering no one in the direction he fired. He could swear that he heard a voice just now, a familiar one at that, but-
"Dost thou seek me?"
Elias felt a gentle pat on his nape, his heart skipping momentarily before turning to fire his gun. Yet, to his dismay, nothing came out of the bullet.
"What?"
For the first time in a while, Elias' face lost colour, his eyes trembling as his weapon, his partner, failed him. However, it didn't end there, just a few inches away — he could see an exact copy of himself standing before him with a grotesque smile that spread to his ears.
Elias took a step back. His breath caught. The reflection… it wasn't just smiling, it was wrong. The lips curled too wide, his teeth glistering like wet glass. The eyes held something ancient, something that knew him better than he knew himself.
"Trouble thyself not, for that shall avail thee naught." The insidious silhouette chuckled, his guttural tone screeching in Elias' ears.
"Who are you?" He asked the most logical question that any sane person would ask in this situation.
"Who art I?" The reflection laughed, his jaws moving at unnatural angles.
"I am thee, thou art me." The reflection added in a bizarre accent and metallic voice that made Elias want to vomit.
Elias fell into silence, wondering what he should say. He still didn't know where he was. What happened to him earlier in the deserted alley, what followed, and how he even got here?
He had so many questions gnawing his brain, but the oddity before him sounded like bad news, kick-starting his survival instinct.
''Thou art lost, Otherworlder. Welcome to Cursed Paradise — thy lineage is but a whisper in the void. "
The gritty voice of Elias' esoteric reflection attacked his ears, making him grimace. He tried to make sense of what the eerie entity just said, but they all sounded like what would come out from a broken radio. Cursed Paradise? Is that some sort of new joke? And why wasn't his damn rifle working?
"How did I get-"
"Argh." Elias fell on his knees, grabbing his head, his face distorting in unbearable pains.
"Thou asketh not questions whilst I yet speak." The reflection said, his tone curt.
With a thud, Elias collapsed on the cold wooden floor as the pain ceased like it never existed. He tilted his head, his gaze meeting the apparition's as he felt his heart momentarily stop.
The apparition gave him a long look, before retracting his gaze, not hiding his contempt.
Pointing his finger at the wall adjacent to Elias, the apparition spoke once more. "Now choose a Domain from those here listed."
The apparition's voice was final. Icy.
Elias gulped. He turned to the wall where inscriptions gleamed in cadaveric glows. He didn't know where he was. He didn't know what he was any more. But something told him this choice would change everything.