• Celestial Whisper

He turned to the mirror on the side of the wall, and then looked over the corner of the bed, his mind frantic.

'Am I going crazy?' he thought.

'You let yourself be disgraced by Glacius's pawn! '

There it was again. "Who is that!?" he cried. "Show yourself now."

'I don't know if I can even blame you, you are a very weak Temple. '

"Hey, hey, hey, stop it!" Spheris demanded. "Stop talking."

'Uninformed mind, frail body, weak core. '

Spheris spun around, a subtle tremor coursing through his limbs. A bead of sweat formed on his forehead, and he wiped it away nervously. "I don't know who or what you are... but I demand that you show yourself, now!"

'Yet, there is a pestering angst that I feel watching my embodiment getting humiliated by Glacius's. '

"I must be hearing things," Spheris mumbled. He squeezed his eyes, hoping that he could force this imaginary voice out of his head. But the second his eyes shut, a dark flash exploded in his mind.

And then, a vision — one so singular, yet strangely familiar — a dark forest, a black moon. Then it vanished. A dancing shadow arose, a dystopian era of darkness and destruction. But that vanished as well. A fallen kingdom, dead men, skulls, bones, monsters of the dark—

'Can you stop doing that? '

Spheris forced his eyes open. His face was red with tremor, his eyes darted around, pupils dilating in the dimness. His body was shaking uncontrollably, and he had instinctively clenched his fists, nails digging into his palms. His breaths were shallow and rapid, the air feeling heavy with some kind of mysterious malevolence.

'What was what?' he thought.

'You keep intruding into my thoughts and it aggravates me. '

Spheris stood still, breathing steadily as he tried to regain his composure. "This voice?" he spoke. "You are in my head?"

'Hm, it doesn't seem that you're any smart either. So what is it about you? '

"Are you real?" Spheris asked, slowly unclenching his fists.

'Oh, in the name of my Mother! You mean you haven't guessed it yet? ' the voice snarled. 'Have you already forgotten who gave you this second life?'

Spheris's brows squeezed at the realization. "Wait, what?"

The voice sighed. 'Be it what it may. We will speak again. '

A look of shock and confusion painted itself on Spheris's face as he stood in his room, frozen. 'Was that... Obsidian?'

- ☯ -

Ardion had ordered the Avatars down for dinner later that day. It was Spheris's first time eating a meal on a dinner table with a group of people.

It was a quiet dinner. No one spoke, not even Snow-Hair who Spheris thought was impossible to stay quiet. The only noise that could be heard throughout the meal was the clashing of cutleries against the plate.

Ardion sat at the foot of the table, Spheris sat next to Akemi and Thorin, while on the other side of the table sat Nero and Cerene. The unoccupied seat at the head of the table indicated that it was where Meister Grengo usually sat.

Daisy eggs and roast pork was the meal. It was the fanciest food Spheris had ever eaten, and through the course of the meal, the question of who had prepared it haunted him for a while.

Was it Ardion? He was the only person who lived in the mansion aside from the Summoner Mage. Spheris just couldn't believe that Ardion was the one who cooked or the one that dressed their rooms and kept the entire mansion clean.

Perhaps it was magic. At this point, there wasn't a thing magic couldn't do in Spheris's opinion.

'Have you never had pork before? You eat it quite greedily. '

"Get out of my head," Spheris muttered out loud. Everyone glanced his way and he froze, cursing at the back of his head.

"Is there a problem, Avatar?" Ardion asked. "Do you want another plate?"

Spheris shook his head slowly. "No, I'm alright."

Ardion's piercing blue eyes remained fixed sternly at him. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," Spheris replied instantly. "Very sure."

He took a spoonful of daisy eggs and threw them into his mouth, chewing slowly as he waited for the blue-eyed guard to shift his gaze from him. He was still coming to terms with the idea that he could hear the voice of Obsidian in his head. A Celestial talking to him.

Being thrown into a deadly realm to fight a war was one thing, but he did not want to have the voice of a Celestial in his head. He despised the Celestials, every single one of them. They were the reason he had such an awful life, the reason the Gentlefolks hated his kind.

They favored the Five Wings but abandoned the Heaths, cursing its occupants with drought and hunger. And now one thinks they could just invade his thoughts and speak whenever they liked.

'Your disdain for my brothers and I, although justified, is a waste of a time, ' Obsidian spoke.

'Get out of my head!' Spheris was sure to yell in his thoughts this time.

'Believe me, I do not like that I am here as well, but there is something strangely intriguing about you. Why is that? '

'You're the one in my head!'

Obsidian was silent for a second. 'Do you always blurt out veritably obvious statements? '

'Leave me alone!' Spheris slammed his spoon on the table, once again bringing attention to himself.

"Is there a problem?" Ardion asked him again.

"Uhm..." he gazed at the rest of the Avatars who were all fixated at him. "I've eaten to my fill. Can I go outside for some fresh air?"

"Outside hours are from seven bright to five dark," Ardion replied. "The time is eight dark."

"Oh," Spheris frowned.

'That is outrageous,' Obsidian said. 'Does he not know I am a night person? '

Spheris ignored the comment. "Can I at least leave?" he asked Ardion.

"Yes, you can." Ardion replied. "Lights out at eleven dark. Wake-up at six thirty bright."

"Okay," Spheris nodded and got up from his seat. Ardion asked him not to bother gathering his plates and so he hurriedly ascended the stairs. He heard someone else get up from their seat as well but did not check to see who it was.

He quietly walked to his room door, hearing a pair of footsteps behind him in the silent dark. Once he arrived at his door, he turned to see who it was.

Blondie, of course. She stopped as well when she arrived at hers and they both stared each other down. Hers were a bit less malicious than before but Spheris wasn't backing down. His glare had as much maliciousness as it could.

Then they both went into their separate rooms, saying nothing.

'Oh, she's a pretty girl.' Obsidian's voice came again. 'But she's Atlant's Temple, which makes sense. She's just as self-righteous.'

"Stop talking to me and get out of my head!" Spheris ranted. "I don't want to hear your voice!"

'Too bad, human. This is your life now. The life I gave you, might I add. '

"Ugh!" he raged. "You're a Celestial. Don't you have anything else to do than intrude on my thoughts?"

'Nothing as interesting as watching your pathetic life from a front row seat. '

Spheris clenched his fists, frustration boiling within him like a turbulent storm. Hearing Obsidian's voice gnawed at his sanity, and he couldn't shake off the infuriating feeling of being constantly observed by a being who deserted him and his kind to rot.

Then he remembered how annoyed it made him the last time he mistakenly intruded Obsidian's own thoughts, and an idea struck him. "Alright, you wanna intrude into my thoughts? How about I intrude on yours?" he threatened.

'I warned you never to do that again, human. ' Obsidian's voice turned fully ominous, the angelic subtleness completely gone.

"Maybe I'll even go deeper this time, find out what it is you're hiding."

'You wouldn't dare!' Obsidian boomed.

"Watch me." Spheris squeezed his eyes and strained his mind like he had done before. And then flash! The darkness came again.

It was the same vision.

A dark forest, a black moon. And just like before, it disappeared. A dancing shadow, a dystopian world of darkness and destruction. Like before, that also disappeared. A fallen kingdom, dead men, skulls, bones, monsters of the dark roaming. Then it vanished as well.

A new vision arose.

A council of kings, all dead. A looming force of darkness reigning supreme.

'Stop it, you insolent fool! '

A box, adorned in dark ancient letters. A dark castle, flying beasts falling from the sky.

'Stop!'

Flash! Spheris's mind went blank, like he was once again in the nothingness. He succumbed to his failing mind and fainted.