Beyond Dreams

It was odd. Another night where he cannot remember what he dreamt about, and once again he was left with a lasting impression when he woke up. Everything he had experienced up until this point has been important, there was no reason to now start thinking he could say something was meaningless, even if it was just a dream.

Outside of somehow remembering the dreams, there wasn't much else for Charlie to do with this, so as usual, he pushed it to the side and moved on to more important matters.

Shifting out of his hidden spot, Charlie scanned the area for any danger before fully exposing himself again. Finding no danger instantly apparent, he made his way out while planning his next move carefully.

Firstly he wanted to see where that strange sensation was pointing him to, if not just out of curiosity but it was also his only direction at the moment. If it were possible, he'd also like to find something to eat. Lastly, he'd need to make a new hideout for himself, there was no way to return if he were to keep following pull.

Charlie set off and made his way further into the forest. Finding that the deeper he went, the more overcrowded everything felt. The trees hugged tighter and the floor hid beneath an abundance of plant life. This wasn't exclusive to just the forest greenery, the creatures were just as cramped.

There were confrontations, there were fights and there were plenty of bodies. It was slowly starting to turn hectic, but for now at least he could see a path forward. Staying hidden still remained relatively easy, but his nerves were starting to wear down from being hyper vigilant. Especially after remembering what happened to his fallen friend.

After a significant portion of the day had passed, Charlie finally found something that he deemed he could take on in a fight and make out with a meal. It wasn't too large, barely bigger than his own height, and it seemed to sit still for prolonged periods of time.

It was a furry thing, with white stripes passing in long vertical lines. A large, bushy tail and a pointed face. Looked a little bit like a smaller Skitter, but far more pleasant to look at.

He had been stalking this one in particular for the better half of an hour, and had positioned himself in a good striking position. He was close enough to fully make out its details, but not close enough to alert the little creature.

Charlie inched ever closer, utilising the blind spot its large tail had created, clearly a large weakness he could exploit. Charlie could almost feel his blood spiking now, he was so close, his instincts wanted to take over. It wanted to leap and sink its fangs deep.

He tensed his muscles and slowly coiled his body, getting himself into a striking position. He could feel his muscles wanting to release, his stomach begged to eat already and Charlie could feel anticipation rolling over him.

He was enjoying this moment, and it made his insides turn.

Charlie relaxed his muscles and made a slight sound against the grass, alerting the little creature. It squeaked and scurried away.

What is going on? What is happening to me?

Charlie was starting to get frustrated, even a bit anxious at this body of his. He was becoming a slave to his instincts, slowly losing the hold on his own mind.

He felt joy in finding his prey, he found joy in the hunt of those weaker than him. Even now he revelled in the simple pleasure of eating his kill. It felt like the will of the creature he inhabited wanted to break free and take over once more.

It was awful to feel like he was losing himself, it felt unfair that this was even happening in the first place and no matter how much he wracked his brain as to what was going on, no answers came. It made his skin crawl when he thought about the creature, but even more so, it made his blood boil.

It infuriated him.

Charlie refused. He refused to allow anything to reign over him, especially something as repulsive as this creature. He is the master of his own mind, and whatever that thing was, it will never break him.

Charlie could feel a presence inside him, it raged at his challenge, it raged against his will. He could feel it boil and seethe with anger, the violent thing wanted to escape. 

You dare take my Sabrina away from me again? You think your rage can even compare to mine? I will show you hate, I will show you fury and I will rip this body from your pathetic hold.

With that final thought, Charlie felt the foreign will reluctantly cool and fade into the back of his mind. It was still there, of course, but it could no longer reach him. It wasn't happy, but Charlie couldn't care less - It knew its place, for now.

Charlie had felt the anger burn deep this time, especially when he remembered that this thing tried to separate them again. He wouldn't allow anything to blemish the memory of Sabrina, let alone take it away.

Calming back down, Charlie started to realise that whether he was in control of this body or not, he still had to eat. Unfortunately he had blown his chance and the little creature had scurried somewhere to safety. No longer being in the mood to fight something, he'd settle for anything easier.

Diving into the underbrush, Charlie stalked out many slow bugs and was even lucky enough to find a rodent-like creature that was injured. He ate the rodent and found nothing protesting, no hunger forcing itself out or a strange power taking hold of his mind. Good, he was in control now.

Charlie had hunted for long enough to at least quiet his stomach for the time being and with how tight the forestry had become, finding shelter proved easy. Having some time to himself, Charlie realised that even though he had been following that strange pull, he had yet to come across anything.

After crafting his dirt hovel, the gentle darkness soothed his eyes and he was given a moment to tackle some of the mysteries. Charlie tried to recall the forgotten dreams, he was certain there was something to them even if they eluded him every morning. This world was strange and confusing enough for even dreams to matter.

Strange shapes, feelings of loss and a foreboding sense of urgency. That's all he could remember and it was all he had to work with. He explored those emotions and feelings, attempting to lure out any vague recollections or memories from the dreams.

After spending a considerable time focusing, Charlie failed to notice that his thoughts were starting to skew, starting to slow. Sleep came softly and sweetly, seducing him without Charlie ever being the wiser.

Yet he could still think. It was strange. He knew he had fallen asleep, his body felt like it was there but he couldn't really move it how he would have liked to. It failed to respond to him like he was in a nightmare, always too slow and weak to fight back against the conjurations of his mind.

Charlie had stayed like this for a while, it felt like he's floating freely and at the same time restricted from moving, when something finally changed.

In front of him there was a strange shape, made of smoke and shadows, taking form. A black doorway opened up in front of him, emitting no light or sound but radiating untold dark power. It felt imposing.

Charlie tried to look around to see if there was anything else but found himself unable to turn away. The black doorway grew and grew until he could see nothing else but that powerful dark.

In that blackness, a world of white suddenly flashed into existence before reforming into something unexpected. A floor made of smoke extended endlessly in all directions, only stopping when it met the violent sky. Charlie couldn't decide if he was still asleep or if he was awake, transported to some strange realm once again.

Yet in that dark and cloudy sky, Charlie saw a darkness that seemed to have stolen all light. It was small and contained at first, but, whether it was from the tumultuous clouds that never stopped shifting or the nature of this space, it grew. It grew quickly and the enormous body had already started circling Charlie.

An umbral shadow slithered in the sky above him, and for a moment it went still. Two dark piercing green lights ignited in the shadows head, banishing even the clouds for a moment. They were like ancient fires that had burned for eternity, promising to burn until everything turned to ash.

Its piercing gaze was transfixed on Charlie.

Yet nothing happened, no matter how long Charlie waited. It terrified him at first, of course, but with each moment spent alive, his confidence grew. It didn't attack, it didn't move, it just kept staring through him - Judging him.

He couldn't tell what it was looking for or what it was trying to convey, but the connections started to click into place as to what was going on. The alien will that wanted to take over, the real owner of this body Charlie inhabited, it was behind the clouds.

Even from here Charlie could feel its rage, pouring down on him like rain from the dark sky. It circled quickly as if trying to find something, a weakness maybe, but in finding nothing it tried to breach the clouds. It failed.

It brought great amusement to Charlie, watching this thing squirm and writhe against him. It looked like it had plenty of energy, but it suddenly made some confusing motion and coiled into a spring before stopping.

Where the shadow had fallen still, something was starting to take form. The clouds all turned inwards as if pulled by some vortex. While the clouds took shape of some sort of text, Charlie started hearing something, tickling at the back of his consciousness. It was like a cold breath on the back of his neck, sending goosebumps down his whole body.

Still unable to make out what it was trying to say, Charlie continued watching the clouds form into something incredible; Something absurd. The clouds formed into words, words that he could understand. 

How could that be possible? He had never learned how to read, and yet the words made perfect sense. It shouldn't have been this shocking to Charlie given everything he had experienced so far, but he couldn't help being taken aback.

Level: 1 / 50%

Strength: 1

Dexterity: 1

Vitality: 4

Eso: 1

{Evolution}

[A limitless journey awaits, but you are naked and bare, still seeking purpose.]

{The Challenge}

[Cursed and blessed at the same time, your journey is one of Hunger. Devour that which is precious, steal the sacred and become more than your Creator.]

{Powers}

[Devour:

Level: 1 / 12%

A wretched power from beyond this world, manifested from bottomless hunger.]

{Epitaphs}

[No Strings On Me]

[Hollow Fang:

Level: 0 / 80%

The bite of this Serpent is scarier than it looks.]

The information that flowed into Charlie was unlike anything he had ever experienced before. It was as if he started remembering things that he had always known, and being here just unlocked the memory. Yet he was certain he had never heard of a thing called a "System", at least not like this.

It guided him as his eyes glanced over the text, sending whispers of understanding, telling him that all of this was his knowledge. It was hard to accept the guidance of this System, it was hard to believe the words that appeared in smoke - in a dream, yet there was no other choice right now.

Dream or no dream, this was happening and Charlie didn't want to dismiss it. There was far too much going on in this world that was different from his home that he would be stupid to ignore it.

He'd approach this with caution and with an open mind, for now.

Yet something like this shouldn't exist, he was certain of it. He may be wildly blind to many secrets of the world, but how could something provide this type of information? How could there be something that is able to condense all of your power, all of your growth and experience into a single number? Yet his Level was right there, right in front of him.

Even if just as unbelievable, the next few lines were easier to understand. With Levels existing, anything was possible.

They covered his physical aspect, condensing his attributes into numbers. He didn't know what these numbers meant, though. He had no frame of reference or even to remotely compare these to.

While it could be useful at some point, maybe when he understood more, but right now they were just worthless.

Especially Eso. Not that it was less useful than the rest, but the fact that it gave him the least amount to work with. All he could tell was that this dealt with concepts far beyond him. Everything else at least had some sort of connection to the world around him and his own body, yet this failed to even make that link apparent.

Evolution came to him as a wave of rapid imagery. The birth of a cell, and its journey through life. It multiplied, it grew and connected, creating more than the sum of each part. They became one and continued growing, continued evolving. They changed, they ascended and they lived every life in existence. From the weakest insect to the most powerful beings, they all went through this process.

They all Evolved and found their purpose.

Evolutions description was painfully accurate, too. He was naked, bare and had no idea what was going on or where he was. He looked for purpose or direction but is yet to find something more than just a foreign pull. Yet this felt like it was making promises of power, promises of direction - Of purpose.

Then there is {The Challenge}. At first Charlie was bombarded with questions of all kinds when he finished reading it, but as like before, the System whispered a quiet understanding into Charlies mind. It was some sort of purpose. It was a hint into how he needed to grow stronger.

He was going to mull this for longer but Charlie caught a glimpse of a word that promised to, maybe, unravel this mystery for him.

[Devour], "A wretched power manifested from bottomless hunger". Once he read those words his mind was filled with the truth about what he had experienced, the truth about that dominating hunger.

The translucent gem that called out to Charlie so sweetly, it wasn't the source, it was this power. It called out to him, it wanted to be used and satisfied. He could feel it even now, wanting to make promises of strength, of power to Charlie.

In finding this truth, he had received his answer. To meet The Challenge, he would have to Devour everything.

Yet Devouring everything required to first survive, and that was not a guarantee in this foreign world. He had only been here a short while, and has nearly died already. Not allowing himself to dream too much about a reality that might not happen, he decided to continue on.

When Charlie first read the name {Epitaph}, he was of course confused. Not only because at first he had no idea, but because even when the System whispered its understanding to him, he was no more certain of what it was.

They were a form of history; A form of memory, of time, of people, of objects and even knowledge. Epitaphs were both permanent and yet they never stopped changing. They told a tale, they provided guidance and they recorded everything that has existed.

Yet even with the sudden understanding of Epitaphs, it didn't help Charlie understand what was written underneath.

[No Strings On Me]

It was blank. There was no System whispering in his ear when he read it and he couldn't figure out the meaning of the words on his own. Only the memory that he was given after injuring the golden being came to mind, but even that felt dim and faded. Though, now, Charlie began to question whether it was a memory, or was he momentarily brought here at that time.

After spending some time staring at the Epitaph, he was left with no other option but to move on.

In reading the next line, Charlie felt a sense of accomplishment wash over him.

When Charlie read [Hollow Fang]'s description, the Systems whisper was strangely quiet. It didn't grant him a deeper understanding of the Epitaph, but it gave him some clarity on what he was. It confirmed that he was now a Serpent, and even if he didn't know what that was, it was nice to be able to refer to himself as more than just a creature.

Even if the information in [Hollow Fang] was new, the Epitaph itself was something Charlie had been able to figure out using his bodies instincts. Though it begged the question, were those instincts really belonging to this Serpent, or was this the Systems doing?

Charlie had an incredible amount of information to absorb and far too many questions, but he wasn't certain he would be given the luxury of taking his time. He was probably still asleep and eventually he would wake up. This created a time limit with no guarantee that he had much more left.

After reading everything one last time and committing it to memory, Charlie felt comfortable in exploring a bit further. He needed to search everywhere in case there were some hidden answers to the myriad of questions floating in his head.

Looking to his right he saw something that he was certain wasn't there on his arrival. A body of water, no larger than a small puddle, appeared to be surrounding a translucent seed that had roots splitting off the body and sinking into the edges of the water.

It was beautiful. It gave off a warm light, like it was an aura of importance, an aura of life and beauty that emanated from this seed. There was an imperceptible link that connected the both of them, and through that connection, Charlie could feel the pressures of the world calm down. The comforting warmth and peace that carried into him was unmistakable, he was home.

This was his soul, he was certain of it. 

It brought comfort knowing that it was still intact, that whatever had happened to him didn't change his soul. Though comforted, Charlie wasn't convinced yet. He couldn't perceive any problems, but it didn't mean that there was none. Nothing was simple when those golden creatures, and Axxatal, are involved.

The seeds of doubt that had wormed their way into Charlie still held firm, but being this close to his own soul was like he was given a moment to step away from his problems, and just be at peace. It was addicting to stay here, and it almost tempted Charlie to never leave.

Charlie was eventually able to pull himself out of his intoxicated stupor and realised that those thoughts weren't healthy, nor were they normal. He was a cautious person by nature, and this set off some bells in Charlies head.

The more he looked at this mystical scene, the more he realised it looked at least a little similar to the gem that Charlie devoured. It was translucent, had a similar shape and even the roots looked similar. They must be connected somehow, but Charlie didn't see how he could explain any of this, he needed to find out more about the world, about everything.

With that in mind, Charlie pulled himself away from the soothing grasp of his soul and strode back into unknown realm. The more Charlie explored, the more he understood that there was absolutely nothing else here.

Truthfully, it wasn't that there was nothing else to the realm, it's that wherever Charlie went, everything followed. The door, the text in the sky and even the piercing gaze of the serpentine shadow were all the exact same distance away as before.

The only thing left to do was to see if there was anything back the way he came. It was a rather unnerving thought to willingly walk through there again, but not knowing what to do next, he reluctantly approached.

The black doorway made of dense smoke still stood there, it still radiated that imposing aura, but Charlie made no moves to run away. There was nowhere else to go and no way out that he could find.

Charlie moved into that all consuming blackness, and the world faded.