-Cronus >Dark Rank< 1 of 1,098-
I stared in shock at the orb in my palm. I even felt my heart begin to beat harder as I read it over again.
And again.
Cronus.
'What is this…?'
I held onto the ball a bit more firmly, its contorting shape almost coming to a stop as I gripped it. It seemed to even hum a tiny bit.
It got louder.
"...!?"
I grunt as it began to shake in my hand, I attempted to jerk my arm away, but tendrils shot out of the orb and wrapped around my wrist. It gripped me tightly. The black orb's color looked like it began to swirl.
"Ah-!" I open my mouth to shout.
My hand joined the black orb in swirling, and got pulled into it.
"Gh!"
My hand vanished! It consumed it! I can't feel my hand anymore!
The swirling didn't stop, either, it ate up to my wrist, and continued climbing.
Eventually, my entire body was pulled into the black void.
…
I found myself bracing against insanely strong winds. It was like I was falling, but I couldn't tell what was happening at all.
It made me nauseous.
I couldn't tell left or right, up or down. The world around me was pitch black as I fell, but through the darkness, I could see countless stars.
Each one was a different color.
They shined brilliantly in the black void they were consumed in. Though it looked like there were millions, they consisted of only a few colors I could make out.
Green, cyan, blue, purple, red, then white and grey.
"Gah! Ahhhh!"
I couldn't help but scream as I fell. My body spun in all directions as I attempted to correct my course.
I found a green star in the direction of where I was falling. I dropped faster toward it as I noticed it.
It got closer, and closer.
I fell faster.
Soon, the pitch black void was overtaken by green as I fell into the shining star.
…
…
'Ugh… my head…'
It was throbbing, I could feel the blood pumping through my skull, much to my agony.
I open my mouth to speak….
"..."
…?
Everything felt off.
My limbs felt too long. Too skinny. My arms felt different. My face felt off.
I couldn't speak, either.
'What the hell?'
I try to stand up, but tumble over almost immediately.
'Where am I?'
I couldn't recognize anything around me. My eyes were used to the darkness I was surrounded in.
I blinked rapidly, trying to adjust my vision properly.
I soon began to see, bit by bit.
Stone floor, stone walls.
I began to hear the distant clinking of metal.
Clang! Clang!
It sounded like a hammer.
I looked down at my arms.
What greeted my sight made me jump back.
'What the hell!?'
My arms weren't my arms at all.
I looked down further at my body and it only got worse.
My hands had sharp claws, scales that seemed to move up and down until the point of my forearm. There, it gave way to fur, and my entire body was covered in fur. My feet were hooves, trembling as I held myself up against the wall behind me.
"Kh… agh… uk…"
I opened my mouth, but all that came out was garbled groans despite me knowing how to speak…
I couldn't speak at all, like my body wouldn't allow me.
The scales on my arms had a couple of dark purple stripes, not too easily seen since the scales are also a dark color.
The worst part, though…
…was my head!
It was throbbing!
"Gh… agh…. Kh…"
I groaned miserably as my claws flew to my skull, gripping it like it was coming apart.
I closed my eyes as the pain pulsed through my brain.
Soon, a light shone through some bars to my left. I automatically jerked backward from the orange light.
An instinctive reaction.
"Hah! Look at 'is fucker 'ere, huh?"
A scruffed voice with a heavy accent rang out from the other side.
"Ain't he an ugly bastard?" A second one with a sneer responded back to him.
Two people stared at me from the other side of the bar.
"Oy! Ugly! Get your arse over here!"
I shivered a bit, and didn't dare to move.
But… my body began on its own.
'...!? No! Don't!'
I tried my best to pull away, to not step toward the two men.
A moment later, as I stagger on the floor toward them, they unlock the bars and chuckle.
"I been needin' this now." The first man bends down toward where I was crawling and grabs one of my horns.
"Y'see, ugly, I lost quite a bit a money earlier today, and I'm fuckin' pissed about it, yeah?"
Before he even finished, a fist delivered toward my chest.
BAM!
"Cough!" I groaned and let out a strange, inhuman noise as he hit my ribs.
I swear I felt, no… heard one crack.
I coughed up saliva and mucus after he punched me, and it splattered just on his shoe.
"Fuckin'! Ew!"
I doubled over and he kicked my stomach.
'AH!'
It hurt so much!
My eyes watered, I felt many hints of tears beginning to welt. Six of them.
I was in a daze.
'That's why my vision felt so off…'
I could count six different viewpoints. I had six eyes.
"Oy, don't pass out just yet." He snickers as he walks over to my limp body.
He grabs one of my arms and smirks, "Here…"
CRACK!
A sickening crack echoes as he bends my arm in a horrible direction.
"Agh!" I let out another scream. A mix of some animal noises come out as well.
The pain burns, like he was making it feel worse.
'Stop! Make it stop!'
"If you can stay awake for all of this, maybe we'll let ya run free- AFTER!"
He kicks my jaw, I felt some of my teeth break as blood spits out of my it.
"Hey, HEY! Leave the damn thing alone!" An older voice booms from the room outside of the bars.
"Ugh, and why in the hell should I do that!?" The man beating me calls back.
"'Cause I'll burn you and everyone you love to ashes!" The voice roars back.
The second man next to the one beating me snickers at him, "Shit, Cap' sounds mad this time."
The first one scoffs and drops me in my pool of saliva and blood.
"Shit… c'mon." He waves for his friend to follow, and takes a few steps toward the exit.
Then, he turns back to me with a scowl, "I'll finish with you after this."
With that, he slams the bars shut and locks it, running off with the other man.
…
"GASP!"
Air! Air!
I shot backward from the orb. The grey world being infinitely brighter than the dark cell I was just in.
I heave, my breathing labored as I grip my chest.
I feel like I'm drenched in sweat, gasping for air as I crumple to the grass, doubling over and checking my arm and stomach.
'I-I'm back in my body… I'm back…'
I lie down on the grass some more, slowly calming myself down.
"Haah… hah…"
My panting slows to deep breaths as I close my eyes.
I look up at the orb, and it slowly begins to go back to how it originally was. A sphere shape that looks like it's barely holding itself still.
I look up at the sky, and I could feel the color drain from my face as I stared.
The black orb finishes, and soon goes back to its original sphere shape.
But now, new words are written on it in white.
-Cronus >Dark Rank< 2 of 1,098-
The one changed to two.
Something flicks underneath the orb. It draws my eyesight to it…
One word is all it says on the bottom of it.
-Memories-
I felt sick.
It made me nauseous.
I was about to vomit.
I crawled backward, away from the orb, and it soon began to float higher into the air, joining the rest that were plastered in the sky.
I looked up at them.
All of them.
So many of those black stars filled the sky in this grey world.
My thoughts rushed as I looked at the one that just floated back up.
Then the next.
The next.
Another.
All… all of those black stars… are memories.