– Aeryn –

“Am I fucking dead again?!”

I frantically studied my surroundings.

It was dark, but not the pitch black darkness from that void before. There seemed to be a light coming from somewhere.. everywhere..?

“What the hell..?”

Suddenly, my head felt heavy, sick. I struggled to keep my eyes open as something forced them closed.

I felt… tired.

I struggled; a moment passed. Open.

I struggled; a moment passed. Closed.

I fought a repeated battle of open and closed, with more time passing between the two each round.

I gave in, the slow motion of my shutting eyelids seemed to gloat its victory.

--~~~~--

As I crawled out of unconsciousness’ hold, my heavy eyes grew light enough to open.

“… Huh..?”

I stood up as I took in the landscape that lay before me, although as the blood rushed to my head I found myself blind and stumbling around.

As the rest of the haze faded from my sight, a massive structure filled the foreground.

It was made out of a black… substance… with streaks of cyan flowing through it.

It didn’t appear solid; it shimmered and seemed to flow along its walls, but the arcs and hanging parts didn’t fall or drip as a liquid would.

It was shaped like… a library?

Were those bookshelves behind the windows?

I edged towards it, drinking in the alien sight like a dehydrated horse, my curiosity outweighing my caution.

I drew closer and closer.

Closer and closer.

The structure loomed high overhead… Was that ten stories or twelve?

One step.

Two steps.

Three steps.

Had I been walking for minutes or seconds? With no visible sun or stars, my sense of time had halted… or had it skewed?

Another moment passed; I found myself underneath an arched doorway. It was… smaller than it looked from afar.

It was like space and time were completely irrelevant in this place.

I caught myself admiring the structures, I couldn’t name the feeling, or the reason why, but it was so satisfying to watch those swirls and shimmers.

I reached out my hand, slowly, and watched as it sunk slightly into the shimmering liquid, before being stopped by a force that didn’t quite feel natural.

I pulled my hand out. My body told me to feel disgust at the weird sensation, but all I really felt was awe.

I walked further inside.

I laughed at my previous guesses on the size of this place, did I seriously think there were only 10 stories?

My eyes lost all focus as I tried to see the roof above, my vision combining the infinitely rising floors together in some strange, spiral illusion.

I pulled my eyes away from that optical mess and began to study the floor I was on.

There were four rooms in the middle of this floor, and burning red runes were engraved into them, labeling them as; World, Mind, Blood Body and Life. These rooms connected to a multitude of other rooms that stretched far off into the distance, so far that a fog had developed in the background, obscuring my view from wandering further.

I ventured into the room labeled world. It was much, much larger on the inside than the outside. Bookshelves lined the room; the first few were white in color, but empty apart from a few thin books. The bookshelves after the first row grew darker and darker, and had more and more books the further back I looked.

I walked heedlessly among the shelves, and lost myself within the monochrome maze.

‘Aaaeryynn…’

I spun with inhuman speed and accuracy towards the sound of the eerie whisper, yet I only barely caught the flash of a white robe before it disappeared around a far off corner.

I pursued it.

“REVEAL YOURSELF!” I yelled in its direction, locking my fists and preparing to fight.

‘Aaaeryynn…’

“WHO ARE YOU?!”

The voice seemed to come from both behind and infront of me now, but I caught the white robe disappear around another corner to my side, closer this time.

Terror flooded through me like a drop of poison spreading through the body. There was a haunting emptiness to the voice, like it came from the husk of a person who had had every emotion, feeling, everything human about them sucked out, leaving them as an empty shell.

‘Aaaeryynn…’ It repeated again.

It came from both sides, front and behind, echoing off the shelves and amplifying in volume until it suddenly died again.

The robe vanished around a corner, closer.

‘Aaaeryynn…’ The voice repeated.

‘Aaaeryynn…’ It repeated again.

My fists were gripped so tight my hand had bled and paled.

‘Aaaeryynn…’

My fear had risen to levels that overpowered any rational thought, and my flight-fight response had sparked, yelling ‘run’ with all its power. Yet I continued on.

‘Aaaeryynn…’ It repeated again.

‘Aaaeryynn…Aaaeryynn..AaaeryynnAaaeryynnAaaryeeAyareAnryyAnyn…’ The voice continued, its echoes merging themselves into an ungodly chorus.

I turned a corner.

‘Aaaeryynn…’ It repeated again.

I turned a corner.

‘Aaaeryynn…’ It repeated again.

I turned a corner, it repeated again.

I repeated the corner.

‘Aaaeryynn…’ It turned the word again.

I repeated the corner.

‘Aaaeryynn…' I repeated.

‘Aaaeryynn…’ I repeated, my name rolling off my own tongue with a haunting unfamiliarity.

I turned the corner, repeat.

‘Aaaeryynn…’ It repeated.

It grew louder.

It grew louder, louder.

Louder.

‘Aaaeryynn…’

Louder.

‘Aaaeryynn…’

‘Aaaeryynn…’

‘Aaaeryynn…’

‘Aaaeryynn…’

I turned the corner and all sound died.

There, at the end of the hall stood... something, not the robed figure, but a person. He was translucent, made of shades of glowing blue, but he emitted no light like a spirit would.

“Aeryn..?”