Awakening(part 1)

Michael spent most of his time outside.

The tension between him and Caster was like a guillotine; hanging over their heads. However, Michael had reaffirmed his resolve which left him feeling much at ease. His mind was clearer for the most part and the weight of emotions that had plagued him seemed to have lessened.

Seated on a make shift chair staring into the mist that blanketed the horizon, Michael still felt the same eerie sensation from before. His skin crawled with goosebumps and the troubled voices still reached his ears. That coupled with the feeling of being watched made him feel overwhelmed with unease. Yet he remained outside, uncaring of the sweat that was slowly enveloping his back or the slight shivers that ran through his body every time he stared into the mist too long, as if something was staring back.

A feeling of dread hang over the air, akin to a premonition of some sinister malevolent entity that was bearing down on him. His trauma still lingered at the periphery of his mind, the torture of looking into the mist chipping at it's confines. Despite this, he remained seated on the log, eyes trained into the white cloud; his mind racing with questions.

To any other person, this was torture, but Michael felt like the mist held answers to some of these questions. It was eerie and ominous, but also it was as if his mind was being pulled towards it. After hearing of the titles that were supposedly his, he begun to fiddle with the idea that maybe he was more intimately connected to this nightmarish world. Sure everything was trying to kill him but he couldn't shake of the thought.

The clouds above drifted lazily as a faint light tore through the bleak skies from a distant sun. To be honest, Michael wasn't even sure this place had a sun. The somber ghostly glow of moonlight resembled what bathed the lands during the day. Adding to the mystic of the Nether and it's overbearing eeriness.

Eventually, after sitting outside for what felt like hours, he concluded the Nether to be akin to an afterlife. It was a befitting assumption, the constant mention of souls, the deathly atmosphere that shrouded the land; it made sense to assume that. The thought of an afterlife overlapped with that of the famed purgatory. It also pointed to a place beyond the Nether, whose signs were yet to be seen.

It was safer to assume it as an afterlife. Yet, even that to him didn't feel like the right description. Deep within him something rebelled against the label, almost repulsed by it. It was almost as if he was supposed to know the true face of this hellish place. Yet, try as he may, the answer was as distant as it was elusive.

Another bothersome observation was, he was yet to see a semblance of earth-like life. He had not traveled around enough to have this observation grounded, but from the local flora and fauna, he was pretty convinced.

The only assumption he could lean on was this was a world alien to his own. That only meant he had been reincarnated into a world that wasn't his own, 'If that is even the case.' That presented a new set of problems. Did any of these people know of existence of a world beyond their own? It would be safer to keep his origins a secret.

A cold sense of apprehension overcame him, Caster and Amelia had proven to be capable of reading minds. Up until that point, he hadn't valued the privacy of his thoughts much, what was there to hide. Having being drowned in worry all this time robbed him of the chance to question the reality he was in as thoroughly. And now, that same negligence was coming to bit him the back.

The knowledge of his origin was not that detrimental to him now, yet going forward; when he truly needed to have it as a secret, Would they play their part? He became weary of their ability to keep it as so. A new fear made it's place in his heart.

Strength was what he needed. Amelia had spoken of an awakening, that was his first goal. He had no knowledge of what it entailed but the old man ought to know something valuable about it. He had shown to have a well of knowledge on the Nether, that coupled with his obvious knowledge of Michael and his supposed identity made him Michael's better aly.

He got up from where he sat still plagued by question but consoled by the immediate task at hand.

The skies were still gray, the breeze blowing through the land and the mist holding it's presence in the horizon, rising above everything that littered the horizon; almost merging with the lazy now dense and grayer clouds that drifted above.

'It might rain', he thought to himself as the scent of moist soil was carried by the wind to his nostrils.

Caster had stayed in the house all day for the past few days; his routine simple, eat and sleep. He didn't engage in combat practice, he didn't seem to have any particular hobbies that kept him occupied and unlike Michael he didn't appear as susceptible to boredom.

The door once again swung itself open, the sight impressing Michael no matter how many times it happened. His thirst and desire to learn magic reigniting for a split second before Amelia's words snuffed it.

The air in the house was warmer, a sweet scent of herbs and spices permeating the air. Caster was preparing a meal. Despite their obvious dislike of each other, Michael had to admit, the man could cook. He shook off the distraction, his goal taking precedence.

Busy with meal preparations, Caster only briefly glanced in the direction of the door before he went back to his task. His hands were nimble with the knife as he filled fish that Michael had no idea where he got them. Now that he thought about it, the man seemed to have an endless supply of ingredients despite the obvious bareness of their surrounding.

He walked over to his bed. After Michael came to from his earliest brush with death, Caster did him the favor of making him his own bed. Michael appreciated the gesture without question, appreciating that he finally had his own personal sleeping area. Also, by magic, the room was now slightly bigger than it had been when he first got here. This were all mysteries that he chose to ignore, preferring to hold onto only those that immediately affected him.

Coughing to attract Caster's attention, he asked the pressing question.

"What can you tell me about awakening, specifically in relation to me?"

[Authors Note: YEEEAH 20. Enjoy!]