A boy with deep ebony skin and short, tightly coiled black hair was running around frantically. The boy looked like he had been running a five-day marathon without taking a break, but in reality, he was looking for his sister.
"Where the hell is she?"
Eubin had disappeared four days ago, and Yves didn't think much of it because his sisters tended to do things like that a lot. Plus, he had way too many sisters to keep track of all of them, but right now he had to find Eubin.
Why? She had hidden his stash of ice cream, something about a punishment. He didn't even do anything. Well, maybe he had torn one of her dresses, and yes, he had spilled a buck of water on her prior to that, but none of it was intentional, and to make matters worse not only did she take his ice cream, she had also hit him, and the bruises were still visible for Spell's sake!
Shaking his head Yves continued down a series of passageways normally he shouldn't have been her but right now he didn't care, he was going to find that witch, he continued walking until he got to a large iron door that was slightly opened.
"Maybe she's in here?"
Yves walked inside the room, squinting as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. He couldn't really see all that well, but he could make out shapes that looked like… dolls? He strained his eyes and confirmed they were all just dolls. Some were dressed very nicely, some were wearing silver armor, it was just a bunch of dolls.
"You know, for such a creepy place there are some very cute dolls here".
Looking around the room he saw something that piqued his curiosity to its max, a large dollhouse that looked like a miniature version of the Jade Palace, the place where he and his sisters resided, and the current citadel named Ravenheart.
"Was there something like this in the novel or wiki?"
He couldn't recall, He slowly walked up to the dollhouse and examined it closely. Much to his surprise, it was an exact replica of the Jade Palace where everything was the exact same. Yves reached out his hand to touch it, and then it happened.
As soon as his hand made contact, everything went dark.
The darkness swallowed him whole, but it wasn't just darkness. Something was wrong. Something was happening to him. His body felt strange, foreign, like it was no longer responding to the commands his mind desperately screamed at it. The sensation was impossible to describe, like his flesh was solidifying, becoming rigid in ways flesh should never be. It crawled beneath his skin, an alien wrongness that made him want to tear himself apart just to make it stop.
When he tried to scream, nothing came out. His throat refused to work, or maybe it had ceased to exist entirely. He couldn't tell anymore. The boundary between what was real and what wasn't had dissolved into this suffocating void. Maybe his mouth was still there, frozen open in a silent scream, or maybe it had sealed itself shut. He didn't know. He couldn't know. All he knew was the terror.
Panic didn't just claw at his chest anymore, it consumed him entirely, devouring every rational thought until all that remained was primal, animal fear. He tried to move his fingers, his toes, anything, but they were rigid, unresponsive, dead. Or were they? Could he even feel them anymore? The sensation of his own body was slipping away, dissolving into the darkness like smoke, and he couldn't tell what was left of him and what had been taken.
Yves had never felt this much fear in the two lives that he had lived and was currently living. This wasn't death. He knew death, had experienced it once before, and this was different. This was worse. So much worse. His consciousness remained intact, screaming silently into the void while his body, his traitorous body, refused to obey. "What the hell just happened? What's happening to me? Why can't I move? Why can't I feel myself? Please, no, no, no—"
If he could have cried, tears would have streamed down his face. If he could have screamed, he would have shattered the silence with the sound. But he couldn't. Something had stolen his voice, his movement, his very sense of self. He was trapped in a prison he couldn't see, couldn't understand, couldn't escape.
The fear didn't just sit in his chest, it metastasized through every corner of his consciousness, spreading like poison through his thoughts. Was this permanent? Would he be trapped like this forever, aware but unable to act, to speak, to exist as anything more than a consciousness floating in the dark? Would anyone even know what happened to him? Would they find him here, whatever "here" even was?
He could only have one thought in his mind right now, repeating over and over like a desperate prayer, like a scream that had nowhere to go. "Am I going to die… again? Or is this worse? Is this so much worse? What's happening to me? What am I becoming? Please, someone, anyone, help me—"
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I was currently sitting on a tree branch in the garden of the Jade Palace. It was a very beautiful garden as well, with all kinds of flowers blooming all over and a very beautiful fountain that was made out of white, pristine stone and depicted a beautiful maiden pouring water into it. All in all, it was a great change of pace since the rest of the palace was more barren, not much greenery around because of the volcanoes that surrounded the area. It was the perfect place to unwind and relax while eating some ice cream, just what I needed after going through all of that training.
I leaned back against the trunk and let out a long breath. All of that training was exhausting. From training combat with Saint Dire Fang and sometimes Saint of Sorrow, depending on who was available, to being taught how to survive in the wilderness by my sister Silence. While I had to admit combat training was very fun since I found the art of combat to be intriguing, wilderness training was not. All it really was, was being thrown into a variety of dangerous areas such as forests and frozen tundras, with just a few tips and instructions, and its not like I even had to fight a nightmare creature or anything since the area would be cleared out before I entered, but that didn't change the fact that it was practically hell.
Shaking my head, I grabbed an ice cream sandwich that I had in my pocket, and surprisingly, it hadn't melted yet. Taking it out of its wrapper, I started to eat it and closed my eyes, savoring the taste.
Yeah, this is what I live for.
It had been fourteen years since I had been reborn into this world, and at first, I was pretty terrified. Of course I was. Why wouldn't I be? I was thrown into a post-apocalyptic world where a monster could come out of nowhere and kill you, but I soon got over it since I realized I was a legacy of a great clan, so there wasn't much to worry about until I got infected. And also, I was safe in the walls of Ravenheart, so nothing could really get to me.
Well, there was one thing, mainly. My expression darkened. "That damned dollhouse. I hate that thing with every fiber of my being."
I was stuck in that treacherous place as a doll for three days, along with my sisters Eubin, Revel, and Seishan. It wouldn't have happened if Eubin never took my ice cream, well it wouldn't have happened to me anyway.
Honestly, I was surprised I even lived. Although I wasn't in there for a week like my sisters, meaning I wasn't starving for as long as they were, it was still surprising that a young boy was able to survive something like that. But it was all fine since after three days, my mother came to undo the sorcery that had been placed on us, and after that, I never passed those halls again. Actually, I don't think I ever will not, that I could anyway, our mother forbade all of us from even stepping foot in there.
While I was remembering that treacherous memory, I heard someone call my name, and I sighed, my shoulders slumping. "Great, it was Silence". She had come to call me for some training.
"Well, I guess not all good things last forever."
I got off the tree branch and headed toward where her voice was coming from, grimacing.
"Time for hell."
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Author Notes
So I wanted to ask a question. Actually, it's more of a poll.
Which Aspect should it be:
An Illusion Aspect (don't worry, the aspect will be strong and he'll still be a great fighter)
Or
A True Darkness Aspect?
Or
A Blood Aspect (This could be the worst option because I don't really know what to do with it)
Just tell me whichever you guys think is the most interesting.