Awakening(part 2)

All Michael had wanted was to know how to awaken; what he had expected was an hour long how-to and possibly days of practice trying to awaken the dormant power that supposedly lay within him.

The sweet scent of whatever food Caster had been preparing up until then permeated the air.

A cold draft made it's way through the room keeping it temperate. The voices that Michael could still hear from somewhere beyond the walls into the mist weighed on his mind, however lightly, it still assaulted him.

Everything was spinning and his heart raced in panic. Laboriously, he tried to fill his lungs with air. He begun to gasp, his arms flailing around trying to keep him balanced on his feet. His legs became week and his knees begun to buckle.

The room begun to turn into a blur, his garment stuck to his chest, drenched and warm.

After he had popped the question, it was as if Caster had anticipated this very moment. The calm expression he wore was replaced by a savage grin as he turned around to face him.

Had he said something wrong, was it not appropriate that he asked the question?

That was not it.

Caster looked almost... pleased; exhilarated even, at the question. What did the question mean, was it not just a matter of his awakening. Maybe this question had a deeper more sinister meaning? Better yet what was the answer supposed to be that it got Caster this excited. Thoughts flew through his mind as he tried to make sense of the situation; bracing himself for whatever came next.

Sadly, Michael hadn't the time nor the luxury to get the answers to this question. Or rather the answer he got was as puzzling as anything else in the Nether had been thus far. Caster's voice was filled with savage glee as he said in response to the question.

"Yes, I do. I get to kill you first."

Those words were terrifying. Michael shuddered; actually, he barely managed to even react to them.

A cold wind swept over his face and something even colder went through his neck. He managed to get a glimpse of it, a shinny object. It gleamed slightly in the light and before his eyes could make out it's shape, it left his field of vision, leaving behind the cold of it's touch.

Terror clawed at his heart, and pain tore at his throat. He gurgled as he tried to form words, barely managing to mouth, 'What the fuck' as his vision slowly turned to black.

Caster had childlike joy written all over his face, as if this had been his life's purpose, as if he had just fulfilled his greatest desire. It wasn't shocking that this would be his expression, yet, to kill Michael for asking a simple question beyond baffled the dying man.

He cupped his throat in a desperate attempt to stop the bleeding. The metallic taste of blood filling his mouth as space before him appeared to dilate and twist in a weird fashion; his mind racing. He was stuck between rage, confusion and primal fear. He was dying, and unlike before this time it was for real.

Images flashed before his eyes, he saw- he saw lights, white tiles race before him interlaced with bright white lines- block? It looked familiar. Was this it, was his mind finally giving?

Eventually, his knees gave and his hand lost the strength to keep pressure on the wound; his hand slowly falling to his side. The world grew darker and distant.

It was a slow, painful and unexpected thing but finally, his heart gave.

Everything went dark and silent. He was dead

***

Michael jerked up, panting. Fervently, he felt around his neck as he took deep uneven breaths trying to calm his raging heart. Wasn't he dead? Caster had killed him, he had even said he would kill him. No, he said he'd get to kill him first.

What about the lights? he looked around him to find only darkness staring back. He had half hoped and half feared to find himself in a hospital. Maybe he had finally died back in his apartment and this was truly the afterlife?

'Why can't anything just be straight forward for once.'

He was exasperated; tired of all the enigma that surrounded his life so far. It was easy to dream and strive for a better life, but it was a mammoth task to maintain this facade amidst the chaos. He gave up trying to puzzle over the matter, maybe eventually he would learn the truth. Was he dead or was he alive or hanging on barely on some life support machine in a hospital as his mind conjured this torturous reality?

Getting up he looked around and groaned in annoyance, this was the same place as the void where everything had started.

Was this it, the secret to his awakening? He recalled Caster's words before, "I get to kill you first"? was that the first step? What was the second?

Why was he even asking, the answer was not going to magically come to him, when had it ever? Once again, he found himself in a situation that couldn't be explained simply because it was a first for him and life didn't come with a manual.

"Oh, how I miss the internet." he said with a heavy sigh. His heart was now racing only slightly, the shock from dying still causing him shivers but his nerve settling as he allowed the idea that this was on course to his awakening. It was more for comfort and peace of mind than because he actually believed it to be true. His stay in the Nether was slowly teaching him to take everything with a gray of salt and the constant puzzlement over what was real and what was not reinforced this lesson.

What was he supposed to do now? Find his way back to the Nether? That seemed like the best course of action.

Everything was dark, around him. It was still as barren as he remembered, only luckily this time he could somehow see. Either somewhere out there, beyond what he could see, there was a faint light that illuminated this dark, god forsaken world or his eyes were just that good. How would he know? He had never gotten the chance to actually put his body through tests to understand the full scope of his abilities and the void was still as enigmatic as it had been.

He stood there breathing slowly, waiting for something to happen. It had been like that the last time, no? That... thing had just showed up out of nowhere and bestowed upon him his 'gift'.

"Come the fuck out you son of a bitch." He yelled into the void,

...

Surprisingly, his echo answered back. He had not expected this boundless place to have a boundary.

It did, however, take a while for his echo to reach him testament to how large this void was; which made things even weirder. Michael was intrigued and unsettled at the same time. If the place was really that huge, then how was he supposed to leave? Assuming that that was the goal of course.

The solution he eventually settled on was, if he got to the edge, he could follow along it and maybe find a door? It was anything if not desperate but also better than wandering aimlessly hoping that something happened.

"This is not fucking funny, I am here about the whole awakening thing. If you could show yourself and help, that would be great." Despite his doubts, he still hoped the being would show up and get this over with. A feeling of dread was slowly creeping into the crevice of his thoughts.

This time his echo was distorted, bouncing off multiple places at different intervals. He did not even begin to puzzle over that, instead he chose a random direction and wearily started walking forward, maybe he would find something helpful.

Hopefully.