I had the same dream where I stood on a still ocean.
It's so quiet that I could hear my heartbeat, if I had any in this dark dream.
I held my luminescent sword, whom I've come to call Captivum, in front of me. It serves as a super torch light. If there were anything around me, I'd surely spot it.
I ventured forward endlessly, knowing I'd wake up at some point.
Walking alone for so long bound me to my thoughts.
I don't have any good thoughts, and if I did, it'd be hard to imagine them when the picture of my father stabbing me lingered about.
He killed me in a maniac outburst, so why do I feel so sad for him?
He wasn't always such an asshole. When mom was alive, he actually would be the one to spoil me the most. He was still mean, and sometimes he hurt me, but it felt like he would love me through anything.
Then again, I've always been terrible at understanding people, so maybe I was wrong.
Each day that passed after mom's passing, he became less capable of controlling his emotions. He resorted to temporary outlets, but as his tolerance became stronger, it seemed like he became progressively worse.
We stopped talking for years after I got him a birthday cake. Something as little as choosing the wrong flavor was enough of a reason to cut each other off. We got into a serious argument, and I decided to just stop talking to him.
Every conversation I had with him up to that point after mom's death was just feeding negativity, I just couldn't stand it any longer.
As I begin to take my next step, I freeze. The very next moment, I fall to my knees, and my wrists lock to each other.
Why can't I move?
The more I try to break free of my invisible constraints, I hear distant sounds of chains rattling come closer.
In a last ditch effort, I close my eyes, trying to wake myself up.
"The church must have their hands on this boy." A deep, rumbling voice sterns ahead
As I open my eyelids, I'm immediately met with bright lights pinned on my face.
"Tsk!" The light is burning my retina!
"I know that you more than anyone hate to see generational talent go to waste, Captain Valens." This voice, it's coming from the man from the alley!
"To a degree," I can hear his mighty fingers tap against each other, "But this is an anomaly beyond my rank's capacity, and especially a Class 3 Knight such as yourself, Remus."
My vision is beginning to come to, just in time to see Remus, the man from the alley, to drop on all floors and beg to Captain Valens, whom I assume is the behemoth of a man sitting behind a well decorated desk.
"I will owe you in this life and the next!" He pleads, but the captain makes no noise. "Hell! Add an additional life to that, then!"
Captain Valens curls his already curly hair with his meaty finger before letting out a massive sigh.
"If he can show any sign of Numen in the next minute, I won't turn him in."
"Gah!" Remus sounds defeated, his head lower than it already was. He crawls to me and whispers in my ear, devoid of his previous emotion, "It's up to you now."
He pats my shoulder and stands behind me.
Show any sign of numen? I barely even understand it! And what's wrong with the church?
Captain Valens coughs in his hand, clearly losing patience.
I form a fist in both hands, digging my nails deep into my palms.
"Why is my life so fucking difficult?" I mutter to myself
If numen is the soul, a source of spiritual energy, should I try tapping into that? But how would I do that if I don't even know the first step? Maybe if I just focus really hard in my mind I might be able to find something…
I bite down hard on my teeth as I nearly pop a vein in my forehead focusing so hard. After maybe half a minute, nothing happens.
"30 seconds left before your life is practically over."
"What do you mean?"
"The church will probably run tests on you, then you'd wish you were already dead!" Remus humorously taps my shoulder with a grin, but I don't see anything funny about that.
Tests? Death? I've come this far, and I absolutely refuse to go down over something stupid like this.
I bite down harder on my teeth until my gums bleed, compulsively itching my already scarred palms.
Do something!
Remus counts down my final seconds, "10… 9… 8…"
My skull is pounding, and my nerves are telling me to breathe.
Nothing I'm doing is working.
As the final seconds crept closer, I feel a chill run through my joints and muscles, getting progressively colder every millisecond.
I fall face first on the hardwood floor as the frigid pain takes control of any stability or mobility I once had.
Then my muscles begin pounding against my skin.
When I try to scream, my vocal chords feel stiff and dry.
Foam from my mouth pools on the floor where my head rested. I can feel every sensation in my body all at once.
Captain Valen rises from his desk, his eyes goggling my hunched form spasming on the floor.
"See, Captain Valen?!" Remus opens his arms towards me. "This boy is too special to give to the church!"
Captain Valen's heavy footsteps shook the floor, ceasing only when he stood above me. From down here, this boulder of a man looks like a tall tower.
Although the pain remains, I'm able to turn my attention from the floor to Captain Valen's beardy face.
"Although you have very little numen, it's impossible to gather any more numen than what you're born with." He strokes his long, curly beard, his eyes appearing to peer beyond my body.
He sighs before finishing with, "Take him to an empty room to recover. He seems to be… out of shape."
Remus nods before heaving me effortlessly on his pointy shoulder-piece of his armor set, which would hurt more if all my muscles didn't feel like crawling out of my skin.
"Oi! I want to see this boy's pactsword you were speaking of earlier." Captain Valen calls to Remus.
"About that… the sword's light quickly dimmed until it disappeared." Remus half-heartedly laughs, which appears to cause Captain Valen to furrow his brows before grunting.
Remus starts walking again, turning a knob on a massive bolted steel door.
The intensity of the lights become warmer as he moves into a wide corridor, chandeliers hanging on the ceiling. The walls look hand-painted, tapestries are neatly arranged along them revealing art of men.
The sound of Remus' footsteps stifled on a red carpet embellished with gold at its ends lining. At the middle of the carpet were large emblems of a red-gold decorated lion in the center of a dark-steel shield crest.
Remus made multiple turns, though each corridor appeared the exact same as the last.
He came to a stop in front of a tall wooden door. It moaned as he pulled it towards us.
Inside it was a modestly sized room with a spring-bed, a small dresser with few cabinets, and a window porched just above the bed. The room's emptiness is a stark contrast of its lavish exterior.
"Right, this is where you'll be staying for now." Remus drops me on the bed.
I curl into a ball as the frosty pain continues to sting throughout my entire body.
He turns to stand in the doorway, leaning on the door's frame.
"If you can still hear me, there's two things you must know." He points his finger to the door across the hall, "Firstly, don't enter any of the doors until you know the layout of this building. Trust me, you'll regret it!"
Remus pushes himself off the doorframe before standing above me.
"Secondly, and most importantly, if you tell anyone about what you saw in the alley, I'll kill you and whomever you told." He demands in a hushed tone before turning tail and closing the door behind him.
I claw at my bedsheets, hoping to distract myself from the pain.
Everything around me feels to be moving too fast, and I think my brain is already reaching its limit as my consciousness begins to fade.
I notice that losing my consciousness seems to be a common theme in this world so far. If this continues, how much longer can I survive in this new world?