Silence was all Ren could hear. Darkness enveloped him like it was a warm blanket being wrapped around him.
His eyes twitched but refused to open as he levitated in the void. He couldn't really tell if he was floating or falling. The dark fluid flowed from his chest, down his sides and dropped into the void.
"Ace Renora." A voice, void of humanity, rumbled like the sound of thunder rolling underwater.
Just then he was sucked downwards.
"Ahh!!" He screamed as the descent continued, pulling him through darkness at a speed that made everything disappear.
"Augh."
He landed on a hard surface with a loud thud and tumbled five times over fine, golden yellow sand, till he finally came to a halt with his face buried in the hot sand.
Ren lifted his head up, choking and spitting out the grains of sand that had forced their way into his mouth. He touched his body and gasped.
'It's gone? Did I make it?'
He glanced around again, "Where the hell am I?"
"Welcome, Ren," a voice that was neither male nor female and dwindling between being human or robotic, said.
"Welcome to the Scorching Pilgrimage."
"What?"
A slender, pale hand reached out to him.
"Rise up."
Ren shifted away. Sitting up, he could see who the hand belonged to. She was as fair as an angel, dressed in a golden tunic that radiated the sunlight. Although he could not see her face because of the veil of light she wore, he could tell she was the most beautiful woman, or thing, he had ever seen.
Ren hesitated, then took her hand and she helped him stand with a strong yet graceful pull.
"Follow me."
With that, she turned around and led Ren down a path that wound down between a row of large sandy hills. He had not taken full cognisance of where he was until now. There was nothing else around except the towering golden dunes.
The sand crunched under his feet as he rushed to catch up with her. The path bent round a relatively large hill and disappeared.
Ren couldn't believe his eyes. A large crowd stood under the scorching sun, all dressed in nothing but white tunics. Most of them looked as lost as Ren was, while others stood like it was just a normal day on the beach.
Yet, there was something off about them. Although they looked real, they also seemed like mirages in the sunlight.
The golden lady vanished before Ren could ask his intended question.
"The Divine One has favoured you," her voice echoed from amongst the crowd like the vast desert itself was just a crowded hall.
The crowd compressed to one spot where the golden lady stood in front of a wide sandy path.
"You stand upon the path lit by the Hand that made all things. You've been called to walk as Pilgrims in his name. Your journey awaits you."
Ren stretched, trying hard to see her veiled face again through the multitude of shifting heads.
"What awaits you on your journey is yours alone. The Path is one... one for many, yet many for one."
The people murmured in confusion, yet no voice was heard... Like they were all on mute. Ren couldn't help but frown.
'What does that even mean?'
"Fire burns, fire consumes, fire liberates, fire births. When the flesh decays and the soul darkens, this fire is the only road left. Walk it, and your corruption may be burned away. You will rise from the ashes renewed."
"The pure waters of the Pool of Rebirth shall give you life and redemption."
"Woe to those who fail!" The sand beneath their feet glowed like hot coals and the air thrummed somberly.
The entire crowd hopped, touching their feet.
'She is scarier than I thought,' Ren muttered as he tried to rub the sting from his feet.
"They shall fade like ashes in the wind, to where no name is remembered."
She raised her hand, "May the Light guide you."
The sand in the wide path behind her shimmered like bits of silver glass and the golden lady disappeared with the light.
Not waiting for a command, the crowd shuffled into the path immediately. Ren followed behind them, not sure of what to expect.
Once his feet touched the sand of the path, the rest of the crowd behind and in front of him vanished. It was like they were never there.
He stepped back, but that changed nothing.
"What the hell?"
Ren could feel his heart thumping within his chest.
'You've got this, Ren. There's nothing to be scared of.'
He exhaled and stretched his shoulders up.
"It's not even real," he repeated the words of his inmate to boost his morale.
He took one step. Two steps. Three steps.
The air shattered like thin glass and he was pulled by an unseen force that sucked him into nothingness.
Ren tumbled over a hard surface and landed face-first, smashing his nose. A loud crack echoed. Bits of wood rained on his back letting a ray of sunlight shine on him like a spotlight.
"Ow!" He cried out in pain, cupping his palms over his nose. He tried standing up but his entire body felt numb.
He felt a thick fluid drip out of his nostrils. He wiped it with the tip of his forefinger.
'I'm bleeding?'
He smudged it between his fingers.
'Why is it mixed with black?'
"Hey, isn't that him?"
He raised his head at the sound of a hoarse male voice that made a terrible attempt at being a whisper.
His eyes caught the cold stares of some men at a table. It was then his hearing came alive, picking up the murmurs and little whispers around him.
He flicked his head to every corner of the room. It looked like a local pub. All eyes were fixed on him, sprawled on the floor.
"It is him," someone else said in a hushed voice.
'What are these people on about?'
He could finally feel his legs since that violent force had sucked him. Slowly, he pushed himself up to his feet.
Everyone reacted to his standing up. Some even stood up from their seats, ready to act. Ren frowned in confusion.
His eyes caught a middle-aged woman reaching for a circular brass object with dials and numbers, her hand trembling. Her eyes were on him and he could see the fear in her eyes.
A spear drove into her temple the moment her hands touched the dial. Blood splashed along with some milky substances that Ren figured were part of her brain. Her hands dropped, her body slumped, but didn't fall as the spear pinned her to the wall. Her face slanted down, lifeless, with her eyes wide open.
Ren's eyes ran in the direction he suspected the spear to come from, and there he spotted a broad-shouldered man with a group of two men carrying identical spears behind him.
"I'll be the one taking that royal bounty on your head," he smirked, raising a poster with an exact image of Ren drawn on it in grayscale.
The words "MOST WANTED" were imprinted beneath his picture with bold black print.