Dawn- An age of Darkness

My consciousness didn't fade. 

It was dark- but I could see myself. 

I was glowing with a faint white light. 

The darkness was all around me and there was nothing here but the darkness. 

"Anyone there?" My words traveled far and echoed throughout the medium.

I remembered everything for once and I didn't feel like a floating spirit or something like that. Meaning, this was real and I was awake- not dreaming. 

"Why do you seek power?" A voice ran through the medium. It was just a single voice, not masculine and not quite feminine either. I'd never heard such a voice. 

It almost felt- divine.

"To change my future and break through the set destiny. I've had enough. I need this sword to kill that monster and get out of this curse."

I had no idea if that was possible or not but I was going to give it my best shot. 

"So you'll defy the gods? You'll defy what is set for you?"

"Not sure what you mean by that but the gods are already dead and I have no reason to follow the dead. I have no reason to defy them either, after all, they don't mean much to me."

I had no idea where the voice was coming from and I couldn't see anything either. It was almost scary in a sense but since the voice didn't show any signs of hostility I just stayed put- with my guard slightly up.

"Then why do you carry the blood of that snake?" It hissed. "Why do you possess its sword? It's soul?"

I thought my left arm was empty but it wasn't. I had the mystic blade- I held it firmly. "Because Trerortra trusted me and because I gave him my word that I'd return this to him, once I'm done."

"Such foolishness. Humans would never throw their greed away. You are greedy, you are weak and you are foolish."

"Fair enough but I'll die soon and I have no reason to break my promise. Whether it be god or just a mortal, I'll try to keep my promise. And I know I'm all that but- but that's why I struggle, that's why I'm still struggling and that's why I'll keep on struggling. Even if I have to pretend to my death, even if I have to do this forever, I'll do it. I'll achieve what I set out to do, even if I have to lie to myself and the rest of the world."

The voice remained quiet. "You are not worthy, leave."

A felt a strong wind press against me, trying to blow me away.

"I don't care if I'm worthy or not, I don't care if I'm good enough or not. But- I need this strength and I'll take it whether you like it or not!" 

I had enough of gods and their selfishness. It was time, I become selfish as well. I wanted to win and for that, I sacrificed the rest of my time, I wasn't backing down.

Backing down wasn't an option, not anymore.

"Is that so?" The voice came close, it came close and it stood right in front of me. A face-in the dark- fair and eyes that looked like eternal darkness: beautiful. I couldn't make out the features because of the darkness but every single part of that face looked like a piece of art: otherworldly beauty that I couldn't comprehend. "Then show me!" 

A sword appeared in my right hand and it burned with a bright red flare.

And now I recognized the voice as the darkness gradually faded and I saw those gemlike eyes. I could never forget those eyes. Those eyes had saved in the forest of death and those eyes were the reason so much shit happened. 

"Ashirnae." My voice grew deep as the darkness crept to me and my consciousness started to fade. 

***

"WHoah!"

I woke up, wailing my hands around. I breathed hard and it was almost like there was no air in my body or something. 

I was actually on top of Alisa's lap. And I couldn't move my body around. "Looks like I kind of messed up."

Alisa looked a bit grumpy. "You think?" She was in tears.

I chuckled dejectedly and tried to get up. She shoved me right back in her lap. 

 I guess getting up was a no-no.

I looked around and my companions were surrounding me. The whole place was emptied and only one or two soldiers were in here. 

But everyone had some sort of over-the-top sad look. 

"SO, what happened?" Ve asked. 

"I met him, I met Ashirnae."

"I see." She let out a bit of air in relief. "Well." Ve sighed. "At least you got the sword."

"Wait, I did?" I looked down and I was holding the mystic blade with one hand and the Mythic one with the other. Both of my hands were attached and I was still wearing the glove. "That's good news I guess." It even had a handle- a very not so comfortable handle. 

"Not quite. As you can see, it's not as sharp as it was even just minutes ago."

Now that she mentioned it, it was clear that this thing wasn't even as sharp as the sword I gave Lianne.

It wasn't curved anymore either. It just looked like a one-edged, straight, dull sword. 

"Well, that sucks." I sighed and tried to remember what he said. "He said something like, 'then show me' and worth and all that stuff."

"He's probably thinking of testing you before actually allowing you to wield the sword. Ashirnae was said to be unable to use this sword, and the demigod your friend spoke of- died trying to use this in battle too." Ve reminisced something. "This sword was basically useable but it wasn't impossible to wield. Legend had it, Ashirnae used this sword to cut the soul of Trerortra. So, maybe you'll get better with this as you progress. After all, now you can't be killed."

All these legends were all over the place. One legend said Ashirnae couldn't use the sword, the other said, he could cut god's souls or something. Seriously, why couldn't anything be accurate?

Wait, what did Ve just say?

I got up on my hands and gradually stood up. "Come again?" 

Alisa also stood up. "Your curse- it's fully activated and you just came back from the dead."

"Wait, what?"

Huh?

Me?

Dead?