Erwin sat on a stone. Nothing but a small campfire, crackling and sizzling, accompanied him. Surrounding him was a small patch of arid land, with red, dry dirt beneath him, and only a couple of dead bushes around.
He poked the fire with a stick, not knowing what to expect from it, why he was sitting before it, or where he even was.
Complete darkness covered his surroundings.
Last he remembered was a whisper, and a cry following it.
"But what that whisper was… It is beyond me." He lifted his head and looked around himself once more. "So does the nature of this place."
Erwin tinkered with the fire further. Causing the layer of firewood within to collapse. "It is not a nightmare, at least for now."
He glanced around once more. "Nor real."
He waited a little longer.
Until a voice cut his lonely silence.
"Stranger, may I share your fire?"
A silhouette, at least a couple of heads taller than Erwin.
He had a semi-transparent, hulking body, with muscles bulging. Any other features were hidden in the dark, just like the rest of the surrounding area.
"Please, sit down."
The man sat before Erwin, legs crossed.
Both of them sat silently for a while before the stranger broke the silence.
"To be trapped in your mind. It must be a strange experience for you."
Erwin lifted his head and looked at the tall figure.
"Not my first time here, but." He looked around. "Looks like something wrong is happening. No nightmares, nothing? That's rare."
The tall figure nodded. "Indeed. From what I managed to glimpse. Must be hard to carry all that weight of the dead, wounded, and betrayed."
"It is. The worst part, it never gets any easier."
"Well, that, I can believe." The tall figure looked around. Cracks appeared on the dark veil surrounding them. "Hate to cut this opportunity to talk this short, but your friend is too determined."
Erwin stopped for a second. "Is it the curse? Is Ivara trying to help?"
"Appears to be."
"Say, who are you?" Erwin looked at the tall figure.
He was gigantic, built like a bear, but he couldn't sense any other detail about the man. Even when he looked at his face, he only saw a blur.
"How do I even know he is a 'he' anyway?" He had information on the being before him, small, arbitrary information, but it seemingly appeared in his mind without his knowledge or consent. "I was once a bearer of the curse as well." The tall figure opened his hand, palm facing upwards.
A small, blue flame appeared there. It bounced and danced. "That is a piece of my soul. It is stuck here, in your body."
"Your soul, inside my body? How?"
"It's a long thing to explain, but know that I am not the real me, just a part of my soul fed with my memories, stolen and imprisoned inside the curse. The curse that inhabits your body, and the reason why we can talk."
"Then, does that mean? I will also suffer the same fate if I die, or lose myself?"
The tall figure nodded. "Most likely. But for now, you need to think about how to avoid this fate." Then he got up, and with a move of his hands, as if opening a curtain, he pulled the darkness away.
There, Erwin saw the world through his eyes.
"Is that… Is that me?"
The tall figure moved towards Erwin. "Indeed. You can recover from this much. I saw your body. But do not fully trust the apostle. She will try to protect you, but you will be consumed just as any before you if you cannot tame the curse. Make its power yours."
He then pointed at the view. "First lesson. Try to focus on it. Connect, synchronize yourself with it. Fight to take control."
Erwin glared at the figure. "Crazy bastard." But he couldn't deny him. At least the severity of the situation.
"Then tell me how?"
Erwin's eyes darted between the scene outside and the tall figure.
"Just how?"
"Focus. Look directly outside, try to feel it. Your pain, your feelings."
Erwin tried as prompted. And he felt it. The bloodlust, the pain, but also two hands, grasping him, trying to stop his movement.
["Please, please resist it."] The pleas of Ivara crystallized before him.
Erwin gritted his teeth.
"It feels real… No, it is real!" He took a step forward.
"My body. My eyes."
His pupils locked to the scene before him.
"My legs, my arms. All mine, and mine alone!"
He stomped his feet, feeling the tingling.
The view showed him stop.
He then tried to move further into the scenery.
Moving closer and closer, fighting to keep his real body steady as he moved forward in his mind.
When he closed the distance enough, all became one: the dark, arid land and the cemetery corridor before him.
"I am back…" He stared down at his hands. Worn, covered in his blood.
He then turned around. To see Ivara struggling to pull him back. Drag him out of the cemetery.
Erwin smiled as he gently took Ivara's hands. "Thank you. I am back."
The defeated residents of the cemetery lay on the path he took.
Cracked skull shards and bone pieces were all spread across the mossy stone floor.
"My body feels fine." He looked at his hands once more, covered in his blood, but the flesh underneath was intact, seemingly healed.
"It does not hurt. Neither the wounds nor my tired body." Erwin turned to Ivara. "Just what happened to me?"
["The curse took control once more… But it progressed significantly this time."] Her words crystallized.
["But believe me, I tried my best! I tried to stop it all… but it didn't work."]
She looked at her hands. ["I wasn't able to..."]
"I know you tried. I saw it from inside. So did the culprit."
Ivara looked at Erwin. ["What culprit?"] Without allowing him to answer, she grabbed Erwin by the shoulders.
["Erwin, what culprit?"] She tried to shake him, as her words crystallized in a frenzy.
"He has not given me a name. He said that he was once a bearer of the curse as well." Erwin looked at Ivara. "Never truly trusted you, but you make me feel I am making a mistake at every opportunity." He could only exhale in indecision.
"Ivara. I request you to be truthful. Is it true the curse can be tamed?"
The woman took a step back.
"Ivara..."
["Yes. But it is not easy."] She shook her head.
["Not easy would be an understatement. Many before you perished trying to control this fate, instead of avoiding it."]
"So what!? I am dead either way! My soul is already bound to this damned thing. I am already a slave to a fate beyond my control! Why should I sit back!"
["Erwin, I wish it was that easy."] Her crystallized words shook. ["Wish I could simply cure you but... I can't. I can only delay the inevitable. I cannot revive the dead."]
"Dead..." Erwin looked at Ivara. "What do you mean?"
Ivara looked at Erwin.
No words came out. No gestures, just her shaking body.
["Erwin. You are already dead."]
Yet another silence prevailed.
["The moment you entered this world, no, even before that."]
Erwin flinched, stumbling back. "Tell me this is not real."
He looked at the trembling woman. "Tell me this is a lie."
She could only avert her eyes.
Erwin looked at his hands. "The cold, the pain, the blood. But I still feel?"
["That's why I wanted to hide the truth."]
["The curse was using your very soul as fuel. That's why you felt human. That's why the souls of the dead put you in that feral state."]
She touched Erwin's hands. ["You can indeed tame the curse, but that should always be the last resort."]
Erwin didn't answer.
He couldn't.
["There are powers above you and me. It does not matter how much I suppress the curse, break their system, or how much I warn their victims. They wish to see their will done."]
"I already lost... I wasn't even given the honor of seeing my defeat." He looked back at Ivara. "Is there truly no way?"
["It is an uphill battle. It requires sacrifice."] Ivara moved around Erwin. ["The figure you talked to. I have an idea who he is."]
"Was he someone who found the answer to your question?"
["He came closest. But even he was consumed. That much I assume you are also aware."]
"He did say part of his soul was trapped in me." Erwin took a deep breath. "He said taming the curse was necessary."
He raised one hand, slowly turning it around. "Curse... it helps me recover, and endure more." He recalled the moment he first fell to it.
The sharp cold, his wounds, exhaustion from the battle, all had disappeared.
"And I doubt it's limited to that."
Ivara nodded. ["The more you consume, the stronger you grow. But the more you consume, the more you lose yourself."] She moved closer to the skeletal remnants on the floor.
["On your rampage, you not only killed these, but you also consumed their souls. We were lucky; they were weak. It only helped you recover a little."]
She then got up and looked towards the end of the corridor.
["Masters of your curse and the system, they probably picked the guardians based on how strong their souls are. Hoped that you will not only grow strong with each victory, but also lose more of yourself as you exerted the power of the Lich."]
"And because of the nature they are presented with, I wouldn't be able to escape the forest, nor survive the incoming fights without succumbing to their twisted gift."
Erwin shook his head and turned towards the door. "All too familiar, all too well created."
His eyes glowed with a fire. "I have a promise to keep, a fate to defy."
"I was sent to a war to be killed. To become yet another casualty. My squad, my front, and even my missions were tailored to some degree to ensure my death." Erwin raised his mace, his head towards the giant iron door at the end of the corridor.
The place where a soul bright as a torch resided. The place his feral self was attracted to like a moth to a flame.
"These sick masters of the game, let me show how hard I can be to get rid of."