Mark woke up with a look of confusion in his eyes. He was feeling aches throughout his body. His muscles were feeling as if they had been stretched, torn, twisted several times around the same point, and then rejoined. He felt like vomiting, and so he rushed to the bathroom.
Mark vomited a lot. He was feeling so nauseous that he had trouble standing upright. He held the sink for support, his hands trembling. He washed his face and looked at himself through the mirror. He was looking normal, but for some reason, he was... he was sweating? He looked at his body closely. Small veins were appearing, puffed up around his temple and arms. His neck also had a large vein.
He looked at the vein on his wrist closely. For some reason, they were green. A light green tinge was appearing on those suspicious veins.
Not sure what was going on, he started organizing his thoughts. Why was his grandfather in his room? Had he done something wrong? He wondered as he started to remember the last day.
"Yesterday I woke up, made lunch, and ate it with grandpa, and then I made dinner for him and left to have that party with Billy. I returned home early too, and then I went to rest up and read stuff. And then…" he thought.
"Wait, I was there in front of our garage. I don't even remember how I got here in the first place. Did I fall asleep there, and a worker carried me all the way here? Wait, does my grandpa think I drank yesterday and fell asleep there?" he said to himself, scared at what was about to come.
He walked to his room hesitating. His grandfather was still there, bearing the same suspicious expression and thinking something. Mark decided to start the conversation.
"Hey grandpa, good morning. I guess I woke up late, huh? Sorry about that," he said, trying to keep fear out of his voice.
"Good morning, son. Did you sleep well? Why did you sleep in the garage yesterday? Someone had to carry you here," he said in a suspicious tone.
"I swear I was not drinking, grandpa. I went there to catch some air, and it seems I fell asleep sitting on the chair," he said trembling.
"I know you were not drinking. You didn't smell. When they carried you here, I thought you were, so I checked myself," he said, chuckling.
"Thank God. I thought I was done for, and you wouldn't listen," he said, exhaling heavily.
"I know, I know. Now don't go sleeping out in the open like that. Even though it's not winter anymore, you still might get ill."
"Yeah, I will keep that in mind," said Mark, who was relieved that the situation didn't turn out as he thought it would.
"How was the comet?" said his grandfather, frowning at him.
"The comet… oh yeah, the comet that was coming yesterday. Guess I fell asleep before it appeared."
"You really don't remember? No talking fragments, no nothing?" asked his grandfather, who was frowning even more.
"What are you talking about, grandpa? I don't even remember seeing the comet," said Mark, who was confused about what was happening.
His grandfather continued to observe him for a bit more, touched, and whispered something. Nothing happened.
"So, is that how it is?" he said, chuckling, and then walked out of the room.
"Wh- Who is that m-man?" said a hoarse, trembling voice inside of Mark.
Mark raised an eyebrow and observed his surroundings to figure out where the voice was coming from.
"Hello??? I asked you something, Mark. Answer me. Who was that man?" said the voice again.
"Wha—wh—who a-are you?" said Mark, trembling.
"It's me, Drima. Did you forget me? We met yesterday. I am the dark one's fragment. I fell from the sky with the comet," said Drima.
"What are you talking about? I fell asleep while sitting and reading in front of the garage. I didn't even see the comet. And what are you?" asked Mark, who was completely covered with sweat.
The voice remained silent for a while. The silence was even more uncomfortable than when it was talking. Mark continued to get chills down his spine in the meantime. It was a few minutes before it finally spoke.
"Memory recovery," it whispered.
Nothing happened for a second, and then Mark started having a severe headache. It was as if his skull was shrinking and his brain expanding at the same time. He grabbed his head and tried to bear with the pain, not shouting so as not to get his grandfather worried about him.
"Stop, stop, stop this, whatever you are," he mumbled shakily.
"Oh, yeah, give me a sec. Spell termination," it said.
The pain stopped. There was silence for a moment, and the voice spoke again.
"I am sorry about that. We are not supposed to harm the host. I think it is because you were somehow exposed to a ruler's voice," it said in a concerning voice.
"A ruler's voice? What is that? And what are you?" asked Mark worriedly.
Mark rushed off to the washroom to get ready for his day while the voice talked. He was a bit uncomfortable and decided that he would see a psychiatrist that day.
The voice kept talking to him throughout the day.
According to the information provided by it:
"A ruler's voice is the voice of the supreme rulers of the verse. If someone of a very low level hears a ruler's voice, they will forget everything from the moment they were first exposed to the divine energy of the ruler," it said to Mark while he was eating his breakfast.
After that, when he was programming for a project, it told him what he was and what he wanted.
"As I told you yesterday, I am the second-largest fragment of the ruler of eternal darkness. We were dispatched to Earth in a group of around 8 billion. Our job is to link with animals and plants to fill this realm with ether and make our hosts able to use ether. In order to use ether, you need to have ether nodes, vessels, and meridians constructed inside you. The organisms of Earth lack these. There is going to be a war in ten years, out of which 5 years will be taken up in filling the realm with ether and constructing the necessary organs needed to use the ether energy. There is something important about you. You already have your ether path well-developed. It's just clogged because it didn't have any ether flowing through it. My best guess is that you will be able to use the fragment's stigmas in about 3 and a half years."
"But what is the reason behind me having them already?" asked Mark.
"…" The voice replied with silence.
"Also, who was that man this morning?" the voice said, changing the subject.
"He is my grandfather. Why do you ask?" said Mark.
"I mean, who is that really?" asked Drima.
"What?"
"Nothing. I will be watching him," said Drima suspiciously.