Rebirth_

in the dark corners of the old abandoned library I have noticed that there are still books that seems to be untouched by time in the bookshelves, I called out to my friend and he hurriedly came over with his giant ass backpack, I rolled my eyes as I chuckled a bit before grabbing the book from the shelf, the literature beside it just crumbled into dust the moment I grabbed it from where it was placed "Nick I think we hit the jackpot today!" he excitedly said as he nudged me with his elbow, I sighed before giving him a relieved smile "Ancient scriptures aren't written with a cover that looks like it was made 50 years ago... besides its already written in English we don't have to decipher anything to read it see?" I opened the book and a faint light shone from the letters itself, I rubbed my eyes thinking it was just from the darkness of the place "Am I the only one who saw that?"

My friend looked at me with an eyebrow raised, his locks falling down on his face as he swept it to the side with a confused grin "what?" I rolled my eyes as I closed it and packed it inside my bag "Ernie..." I called out to him. "I'm gonna head back to camp, you should come back with me to see what's in this thing" The brown haired man laughed "are you saying you're scared to go back to camp alone?" I crossed my arms as I raised an eyebrow at him "fine fine! I'll just clear out my section for 15 minutes wait for me 'til then." 

never in my 24 years of being alive have I seen him be punctual for anything anyways... I guess this was to be expected, I groaned as I sat on the one of the bookshelves as I heard him scurry off to where he was gonna go... "ancient ruin exploration isn't as cool as I thought it would be... Man I should have just been a doctor or some shit..."

I stood as I grabbed a stone from the rubble before throwing it down to the seemingly bottomless pit of the library, it has a marbled fences that seemed to be from the ancient Greece's era, it was nice but not I'm gonna grab it for research type of pretty, I peered down the railings and saw the different levels of the grand library going down almost infinitely, I grabbed another rock from the rubble and tossed it down again.

"I wonder if there's reception here..." I pulled out my phone and walked around the place but not straying too far from where we are supposed to meet "no bars... I guess the ancient Greeks wasn't enjoying tim tok like we were." I said then I laughed to myself from the unseriousness of the situation, but before I went back to where we were supposed to regroup I heard a faint echoing yelp from the distance of the library, Just as I was run to the direction thinking it could be my friend I felt a tight grip onto my shoulder. 

"I discovered a diagram on the back of this library... had a lot of mold in the area so I suggest we investigate further next time..." he gripped harder onto me as he began climbing up the rubble from where we came from, basically dragging me with him, he had beads of sweat forming on his face and a look of what I can only describe as terror in his eyes.

the entrance of the library looked like a giant hall similar to a ball room and the door was 20 meters tall and 10 meters in length, it had intricate yet eloquent patterns that shows the lavish history of the place yet one thing is questionable in the place, was the bottomless library under it. once we set foot outside the mansion I shrugged off Ernie's grip from my shoulder "dude paws off... anyways what the hell did you even saw in that place, you know we can't leave until we retrieve something of value... something of value in your case since I have found mine already..."

I said as I raised my book up at his face, he groaned as he rolled his eyes "where's the camper... I need to examine this thing I found since this could be VALUEBLE asshole..." he sarcastically said, i tossed him the key as we walked down the path we made 4 days prior the expedition. 

the sweet humming of the bird blends well with the rustling of the leaves as the cold breeze passes by their direction, the river that flows upstream besides our path was as mesmerizing in the da and just as terrifying in the night when creatures run around it...

"what did you find... Ernie..." he remained quiet "Ernest..." I said again but still no reply. "Ernesto..." he groaned and stared at me with an annoyed look "can't you just fuckin wait man? and don't call me by my government name ever again the fuck..." I rolled my eyes as we continued walking through the forest.

a while has passed and we have finally reached our camper, Ernie opened the door quickly as he laid out the scroll that he was holding from our whole walk trip back to base, I walked inside as well looking back to see if anything has followed us back, I saw nothing yet I couldn't shake off the feeling that I was being watched, I closed the door behind me before peeking over his shoulder to see what he found, it was a depiction of a humanoid creature that seems to have no face yet the details on its body are drawn in a way that could only be achieved by what seems to be a century's worth of experience. 

"did they have X-ray 1200 years ago?" Ernie asked, I raised an eyebrow to his question before pushing him aside "get away, you're missing the point of the illustration, it specifically pointed at the forehead of this thing... there are writing around it... its ancient Greek. you decipher this crap I'm still gonna scan through the story book we found." Ernie got to work immediately dimming the light of our camper, he turned on the lamp to his work desk as I did with my own desk.

several hours passed and we have not found anything meaningful in our finds "Wanna swap I have already finished this book... its... weird the words seems to be out of place or... kind of moving?" Ernie removed his glasses before looking at me with a smug smirk "maybe you're developing dyslexia?" I smacked him on the head with the back of my hand "Or maybe I am tired... we have been awake for 42 hours... and a half" I groaned as I rubbed my eyes. 

"go rest man I'll see what I can decipher from this... since the words aren't ancient Greek nor Sumerian either... I think I'll have to tally some stuff from our past work maybe I'll get a lead." I nodded and waved him off as I laid down on my bunk "g'night..."

Nick fell asleep yet as he drifts into the land of dreams he saw a figure at the end of the horizon seemingly warping the edge of the space around it, the man walked towards it slowly as the grass land slowly gets consumed by black yet translucent waters that has came from the deepest depths of the guilt that he harbor, the figure seemed to smile, it held onto its humanoid form as it walks towards Nick at the same pace.

"A skeptical are you perhaps?" the creature spoke, Nick was taken aback from hearing the voices of his family all at the same time in a disgusting amalgamation of gurgled noises, but after a while it cleared into one singular voice that constantly seem to transition from one person to another never staying constant with one specific voice "I have been rediscovered by you and your kin...?"

"who are you first off..." the man said in a confident stance making it seem he's not letting his confidence be swayed by the creature in front of him, the creature seemed to split into multiple random colors forming an image of itself before forming a singular being once again, "I am... what was... when... what will be... I am you and your kin altogether all the same never but yet was eternally."

the void in front of me formed a mouth, a gut wrenching feeling crept up from me as I felt my body being restricted to move, the humanoid creature held its finger on my forehead "do you believe in god?" Its face made out of missing void closes up to me as I felt myself being choked from the intense pressure.

I got woken up being shaken by Ernie "NICK WE NEED TO GO NOW DRIVE THIS DAMN THING!" I was in a daze and in a panicked state while I ran to the driver's seat stumbling over myself then at the side window of the camper, in the darkness being illuminated by the faint light of the moon I saw something with eyes gleaming locked in on us.

I felt my heart up my throat as I heaved for air while I start the camper and began driving off, we were an hour away from the main road and the path that the previous researchers made seemed to disappear "READ THE MAP ERNEST WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" I said out of frustration, I know it wasn't his fault that we are in this situation... wait is it really not his? now that I think about it the thing on the dream I had and the creature I saw had similar vibes to them "I AM TRYING TO READ IT BUT IT WONT MAKE SENSE LOOK!" I took a quick glimpse of the map and the writings on it seemed to be all melted, I sighed as I composed myself and continued driving "Get a compass we need to be heading east to meet with the town sheriff after our expedition... I need to get my id back or else..." I mumbled to myself not noticing Nick wasn't responding 

"Nick??" I called out for his name confused on what is happening, I turned to see him and his back was against my seat, I hit the brakes and looked at what he is staring at, it was a black blob at first, then it slowly started developing itself into this huge mass that seemed to drip upwards from the floor. 

Without hesitation I grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him with me through the thicket of the forest.

"I need to contact the town sheriff... there's more monsters at this place than expected." In a calm tone I exclaimed while heaving for air, in the distance at the direction to where we abandoned our vehicle a distant echoey yelp can be heard, the same one I heard from the library before.

we continued escaping by foot, I had the book in my bag, while Ernie was obviously feeling fatigued from the research and the prior exploration, I felt bad but we couldn't stop for anything or else we might meet fate worse than death in this area.

"intense stuff huh?" he said with this stupid smile as he heaves for his breath "Should we take a break? this is gonna take us an hour and a half to reach after all..." he shook his head which I rolled my eyes at in return, he gave me a displeased expression as if he's pursing his lips with a raised eyebrow.

The two proceeded to walk down the forests as it remained uneventful.

"I think I can see the roa-"

I wasn't able to finish my sentence as I felt a strong gust of wind going behind me blew faster than I could react, when I turned I saw my friend impaled on a tree's branch, black blood seemed to drip from him, the distance wasn't that far but I didn't know what had happened, was it a trap? my heart was racing as I stared at that image for a solid 5 seconds that felt like an hour.

I heaved for air with my shaky body before I hoisted my body to run away from that scene, but just as I was about to get out of that stupid forest I felt something grabbed my ankle, before I realized it I was flung up in the air, just as I was about to yelp out for help I can feel something go through my chest.

I felt helpless

maybe somebody could

help 

"if somebody could what would you do..."

maybe relive my life a new... I don't know

"Humans are so deranged and selfish..."

I am...

"Humans are nothing but stupid trash in my world... one less wont do anything."

it won't

"seems like we have reached an impasse!"

I opened my eyes and saw a figure was standing in front of me, black hair on the left and white on the right, sharp fangs and crimson red eyes, I must be dreaming already... or maybe I'm already dead.

"I permit you and your pathetic little friend to join my kin into my world" the laughter of a deranged woman can be heard, but I couldn't see for I have passed away already.

I opened my eyes in the sea of blackness once again, and there I saw the void humanoid figure, it gave me a smile as it opened a door for me 

"we the many will be waiting for us and for our return... we will be anticipating our return... we will return to the abyss." my body felt light as a feather, it was the first time that it felt like that, I couldn't understand what he was saying though, it just felt like I was under water floating on about, the figure just stared at me indifferently.

"what are you." I asked it again "I am you, I am me, I am everybody... I am everything and what is supposed to be..." its voice ever changing feels like thunderclaps against my ear as it speaks yet I felt like I couldn't care less, so this is what it feels like to be dead.

"we are dead yet we persist... why is that we must endure suffering from amongst us ourselves... answer us human before we(you) go through that gate we gifted for us(you)." it asked me a question... rather philosophical but I think I can see where he is coming from. "because we like enjoying what we enjoy based on our interest?" the creature gave out a horrifying laugh, did I pass perhaps? 

"we are amused, human... human pass through the gate... we will be watching our(your) efforts down in the mortal plane." I walked towards the door that seemed to reek of something intense, it wasn't a scent of something I have ever smelled before, it was beyond the physical body's comprehension, it was familiar but it was not pleasant at all.

my memory almost slipped through me, I felt a head crushing pain, yet I couldn't move nor scream at all, I felt a warmth covered my body and then there I saw after the bright flash of light a nun? like figure was holding me up to her arms with indifference in her face, she looked around the scene to see what? could it be that I have been adopted out?! from what it looks like... I have since these two giant doors behind the nun are certainly the doors to the chapel.

she gave me a pitiful smile before bringing me in, I heard loud roars of thunder as the wind howls in the night sky outside of the church, she laid me in a bassinet and placed what seems to be some sort of plant looking thing over it, it had blue flowers that seems to give a faint glow.

"O' lord that we hail guide my sight to foresee this future of this child is bright." my eyes widened as both her palm glowed and a few what I can only describe as magic circles appears in front of her hand, I have no idea what she was saying since they speak a different dialect in this place, I felt a warmness starting to cover my body as a golden light.

but for a split moment the golden light that covers me turned into black smoke that radiated intense heat as it glows red under, and in an instant it went poof as if nothing was there at all whilst the golden light was still covering my body, the nun looked around the nursery horrified from what she just saw, her youthful face seemed to age but it didn't it was probably just stress from what she saw.

"this child..." she clutched onto the sleeve of her shirt, she collected her composure once more and stared at the child in the bassinet "I'll name this one Asche, born on the 7th of summer, I'll have reverend father take a look at you first thing in the morning young one..."