9 My Nine

9 My Nine

 

“Sir Aiden, wake up Sir Aiden.”

I awoke and rolled my eyes about, surveying the land. “I’m becoming a monster” I said through clenched teeth and balled up fists.

It was if I did not sleep at all. I felt more exhausted now than ever. Seven new voices meant seven new lives I lived in one night. The Nine was inside of me, and its power along with it. But it still came with a price. I slowly was retreated from reality all together. I made a special prison inside; one for myself. A total of ten people I have in my mind. This was where the real action was; much better than everything physical.

I sat up, and started and heard the conversations they had. I felt more darkness encroaching. I was cold as if sick…and a little frightened. The curse was spreading faster now. Nine in one, and the trade off made this so. I had very little light energy left to trade to the prisoners now. The one that summoned me was Four, the once dark vampire. He was the one with the most influence.

“You are indeed becoming a monster Mr. Scott. The darkness of this land engulfs all living things. The power of Life was much misused as you know. Just look at the chaos of the environment. We, much like you, maybe exactly like you, have been through this corruption and have had this curse placed upon us. We were weaker then you. Each one of us has given in long before you. You seem to be more pure at heart then when we traveled this Path. You want nothing more than to uphold your city, your honor, and your love. We have seen your struggles. You have one of the worst burdens imaginable and yet you still think not of yourself on the inside. You think of City, you think of Serine. You do this for them, and yet, we have all agreed we don’t know why. Perhaps it is locked away in the deepest reach of your mind; perhaps not. One thing is for certain, we will know not why, until you tell us. We will not force you in your state, as I am sure we will know soon. Now, back to the curse, we need to do something about it. It is spreading every second, and invading your memories, your thoughts, even those things locked away. There are seven levels of it. All are a degree of evil and hate. Our influence and trade-offs of energies due to our status that we once had in the World, and the Obtineo that binds us to you and that we all now wield. The more time progresses the more trade of light energy and dark energy we give. You of course receiving this darkness contribute more and more to your curse. Sadly we cannot tell you about level Seven. The max any of us have ever been to was level Six. I have been there; a pure conclave of everlasting hate it was. We are the survivors if that’s what you want to call us. We know that there are seven levels since…the ones that have reached there, have died. We have seen many enter, and none return from that level. The amount of hate consuming them is too much even for the physical parts of the body. It eats the flesh away. Many have been killed too by someone that has entered that state. The body is said to be invincible. But it will never return to normal after…the darkness that consumed it is gone.”

So there I had it. There are seven levels of hate from the curse that has been placed upon me from entering this forsaken place. It’ll keep growing, and I’ll keep advancing in level, and when I’m at seven, I’ll die. No biggie.

Of course I was still sitting up motionless, just hearing them speak. I disconcerted myself with reality still. After number Fours speech, I sat for hours introducing myself to the new guardians. At some point my body fell over, and yet I was still locked inside my mind; eyes wide open. I engaged in conversations all over. Many at once; it was a party after all. I was content.

After several more hours of talking with them and getting to know the Nine, my body jostled in a pain. I was awake to the senses again. I was being destroyed by an evil affliction.

“This is my duty. This is my Path. My trail and my Quest; I will blaze it for City, for me, for my family, and most of all my Love. There are ten of me now; the Nine, plus myself. They are my aid, and I am blessed to have them, even if at a price. I thank the gods for this. I thank them all.” I rose with a dignified spark of power and a new flare in my eyes. My hair ruffled through the cold breeze of the surroundings. My brow scowled at the dead tree forest. I came to another realization; I was the only truly living thing here.