"I do not know what I am. Am I a soul, or just a reflection in a broken mirror? We walk, we breathe, and we bleed, yet we never know if the hand that moves us is our own or not"
From my high perch on the window ledge, I looked down into the belly of the church. The air inside was thick and smelled of old silver and cold stone. Far below, the statue of the False God Mortius stood like a mountain of metal. It was beautiful, yet it made my stomach churn with a feeling of deep wrongness.
Suddenly, the silence was broken. The believers appeared.
They moved like ghosts, their faces hidden behind dark hoods. They began to pray, their voices rising in a rhythmic, chanting hum that vibrated through the very glass I was leaning against. I held my breath, pressing my body into the shadows. I was completely helpless. If they looked up, if they saw the glint of my armor, I was dead. They wouldn't just kill me; they would turn me into an offering. I could almost feel the cold blade at my throat, my blood spilling onto the altar as a gift for their silent god.
Then, the world shattered.
One moment I was in a stone church; the next, the floor was gone. I wasn't falling, but the environment had changed instantly. I was trapped in a different dimension—a void filled with a thick, choking black fog. It felt heavy, like I was underwater.
Through the darkness, a massive shadow appeared.
It was a figure so large it made the church feel like a dollhouse. It sat upon a dragon that moved through the fog without a sound. In its hand was a gargantuan, double-sided sword, its edges glowing with a sharp, cruel light. I felt like a tiny ant staring up at the end of the world.
My mind screamed. *It's him. It's the statue, but it's alive.*
I tried to run, but there was no ground to push off of. There was only fog and the crushing weight of that shadow's gaze. I felt a terror so deep it felt like my heart was being squeezed by ice. Was this real? Or was I finally losing my mind?
**"I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE."**
The voice was a physical blow. It was deep, loud, and hard, echoing not in the air, but inside my very bones. It was the voice of something that had never been human.
*SNAP.*
The world returned. I was back on the window ledge, gasping for air. My hands were shaking so hard I almost lost my grip on the stone. Cold sweat poured down my face under my helmet.
"Was it... a dream?" I whispered, my voice cracked and dry. "A different dimension? How is he alive?"
Panic began to claw at my throat. *'I know what you are.'* What did that mean? Did he know I was a stranger? Did he know that inside this knight's body was a boy from Earth who didn't belong here? I felt like a target. I was a trespasser in a world that hated me, and now, its god had noticed me.
My heart beat louder and louder—*thump-thump, thump-thump*—until I thought it might burst.
Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of white.
Something was flying up from the stairs below. It moved with a grace that was almost blinding. I pulled my knife, ready to fight, but I froze when I saw the light. Feathers. Pure, brilliant white feathers.
An angel.
It landed on the ledge just a few feet away from me. Its wings were huge and soft, glowing with a light that made the purple darkness of the church retreat. I stared, my mouth open. *An angel? Is this a sign? Am I safe?*
The figure turned its head, looking at me with eyes that seemed to see right through my armor.
"What are you doing here?" the angel asked. Its voice was calm, but it made the hair on my neck stand up.
[USER: RIAN]
[09 YEARS | 362 DAYS | 19 HOURS | 55 MINUTES]