In the afternoon, when the warm sun was towering high up in the sky, people of the nameless town were busy doing their everyday work.
A teenager boy with raven black hair, dressed in black and red robe holding a sword was walking down the street.
August walked through the streets, crossing the town square on his way home. Things seemed to be going smoothly as usual. No hungry monsters, no frenzied beasts, nothing out of the ordinary. It was calm everywhere, a moment of peace.
Only there was one strange thing that had happened with the sky, invisible to others.
August had a hunch about that though.
There were waves of purple raging occasionally against the clear blue sky where the golden threads happened to be previously.
The sky began to look like this some days before when his father got a sudden message to speed up his departure by two months.
And since his father had to leave for his important work early there were still things remaining to be done.
August had not yet fully mastered the blade of Fallen star. Nor did he manage to excel the sword art in time.
However, he wasn't disappointed in himself but actually hopeful that someday slowly but surely the hard work he had put into learning would bear fruit.
Now when his father had actually left the town with no knowledge of his return, August was bound by a purpose. He had a responsibility now, and he was ready to see it through to the end.
Before his departure August's father activated the barrier around the town to its final enchantment. That was the reason waves of purple could be seen covering the sky occasionally.
Looking at the sky above August was confident that no creature could be powerful enough to bypass a barrier of this level. For some reason it just felt more powerful and sturdy than the normal times.
'It's good I guess'
In the evening August was sitting on a rock beside a clear stream of water in the lotus position. During the past few days he had spent most of his time on breaking the wall to be able to enter into the conscious realm and it seems like he was about to succeed.
There was darkness all around him, only the golden light seeping through a mirror-like crack was disturbing the darkness. Slowly, he walked towards the strange wound and stretched his hand to touch it.
Strangely enough August wasn't able to see his own body at all. Only he could feel the coldness of the sharp wound on his fingers and palm. It was the very first time his mind had allowed him to remain in this state enough to feel anything at all.
As he touched the wound it was like watching the very reality of existence coming undone. The crack shimmered and shattered with eerie silence followed by a blinding flash.
August at first thought there had to be some source of light on the other side as he watched the golden light coming from the mirror-like crack everyday. What waited for him on the other side, however, was another space of eternal darkness.
Not only that, the darkness here felt more deep and ominous.
'Now, what is this?'
He felt lost. Completely.
Then, he felt as though being thrown between a pack of monsters. The similar feeling he encountered while facing the vile gaze of monster arachnid, returned. August felt as though his muscles became stiff.
The strange voices began whispering in his ears more loudly than ever before. As a chill ran down his spine August felt paralyzed. He had lost control over his own body and he knew very well what these strange voices were. These were the echoes. And it seems as though he had fallen into their realm.
August wasn't even able to resist them here.
While he wasn't able to feel the pain yet, he knew well that his physical body would be suffering now more than ever before.
He thought of waking up but only he could not. His consciousness refused to let all his efforts of entering into this place go waste.
His senses or what he was able to feel in this realm were being overwhelmed by the voices. It was taking a toll on him in this state way more than it did in the real world.
While August was standing on death's door only because his mind was opposing him, he heard something strange among the voices.
A myriad of voices said something in unison that he was unable or too tired to understand at that moment. Suddenly the echoes seemed to retreat, almost immediately.
Then the voices became more clear to be heard, "you alright there?"
August immediately realized to whom those voices belonged to. They were someone who had told him to meet in the conscious realm, he cleared out his blurred mind,
"Yeah, I..I'm good" he stood up or he felt like standing on his feet and spoke in a ragged coughing voice, "w–what? How did you do that?"
"You mean scaring off those pests?" the voice came from nowhere and strangely from just before him, "I just told them my elder brother's name."
"Your elder brother?" August was amazed to encounter a being powerful enough who mentions the echoes as nothing more than pests and scares them off in their own realm by simply telling them the name of its elder brother, "W–who? Who is he? Is he powerful? Please tell me his name as well. You see, these uh… pests have been bugging me for a long time now. I would be very grateful if you could tell me how to scare them off."
"Now, Now" the voices spoke, "let's not rush anything here. I will tell you things …a lot of them but shall we not jump right to where you ask me for information without offering anything in return. That's impolite, don't you think?"
"Something in return?" August asked, "what do you want?"
The voices didn't answer him but let out a loud laugh, "...no offence Augustus but you can't give me anything. Not that I desire anything of course."
August grew a bit wary, "How do you know my name?"
"I know everyone, everything" the voices replied almost immediately.
"Is that so?" August was surprised but composed himself, "then why don't you show yourself or maybe tell me who you are?"
The voices grew silent,
"I can't" someone said from left,
"I won't" someone said from right,
"I don't want to" someone said from behind,
Suddenly it seemed as though every corner of the dark conscious realm was speaking, the voices came from everywhere,
"If you wish to know me, myself, then go find my name written on the walls of an ancient temple."
The voices shouted, screamed, whispered, hissed silently at the same time. August felt lost, sick, broken, dying at the same time.
The sheer intensity in which the voices spoke was more intimidating than any echo he had ever experienced.
'NO!'
"I am the one who never looked back, even for the gods. A being of discipline I am. My words are the ocean whose depths you can't even fathom, human."
'WAKE UP!'
The voices hissed in unison,
"I give moments and I take them away, I am lost and I am found too. I am the one who governs existence. Past, present and future. I was, I am, and I will be."
'WAKE UP DAMMIT!'
August jolted and opened his eyes, only to find himself laying on the ground, his heartbeat fast, blood pressure was faster, breathing ragged and blood was flowing from his ears.
Panting heavily he just lied on the ground for some more minutes and let his calm return to himself.
'What the hell was that?'
The evening sun was setting slowly, painting peaks of the northern mountain range with its slowly retreating rays.
— — —
August was exhausted, putting a spoonful of food in his mouth he chewed it slowly careful of not letting his exhaustion be seen on his face. He tried his best but how could he hide his pain from mother's heart?
"Are you alright?" she asked, looking at him with worrisome expressions.
He answered after a short pause, "Y-yeah, I'm good"
His mother may have sensed his pain yet she chose to not press it further. She walked to him and placed her hand on his head and started patting slowly, "when things get tough, it's okay to relax a little."
With that he hugged her by the waist and melted into her gentle motherly embrace.
He may not have expressed it but today August felt fear. His father once told him, there are beings who watch over us, there are beings which bestow various boons on us, and there are also beings who are full of malice toward humans.
While this was a very vague interpretation of gods by his father who obviously told all this to August in a way of educating his son. August being a curious child, he had various questions in his mind that time which went unanswered.
When out of curiosity he couldn't stop himself from knowing more about these exalted existences, he came across a book. Not quite a book, but a remnant of ancient literature that he himself had no idea where was found.
The manuscript contained immense information about various gods of this world and also some outer existences.
The fear he felt today was the same as he did then, years ago. He read something about three goddesses, four gods and one who sits above them all. Whose authority is absolute, who rules above even the gods.
When he read about the sacred pantheon, it was okay till then. These were the gods who watched over mortals which dominantly consisted of the human race.
August found it interesting and continued with the scripture. He came to know about other beings apart from gods, some were vile, some corrupted and some were the existences mortals weren't supposed to know about. And that time he was merely a child.
August felt fear, afraid, shivered up to the bones and lost consciousness and the next time he woke up he never recalled any of it. The moment was lost from his memories. It was all for good.
Until today, when a similar incident happened. He unknowingly had come across a being that maybe or was something vile, evil, corrupted. It wasn't like he could blame himself after all he wasn't the one to find it, it was the other way around.
The pieces of that lost memories suddenly flashed before his eyes.
Maybe it was a terrifying existence of the outer world or maybe it wasn't. But the fact that August was failing to understand was for what business could have the being of this level approached him.
Not even that, the strange voices asked him to meet in the conscious realm opening a door of newer opportunities for him. It was because of the curiosity that he had put so much effort into all this. If it were him alone, August would have given up on himself a long time ago.
August thought it may be his own fault who asked the strange voices for introduction. Like not too long ago his father had told him about the importance of one's name. Maybe he shouldn't have done that. But the question remained, what was he supposed to do then?
How was he supposed to know whom he was talking to? Or could he trust them or not?
The situation was puzzling. August calmed down a bit. Taking a sip of warm tea, he found some stillness in his heart.
August contemplated if he should visit the terrifying being again or not. He was able to return with his life this time but there isn't a guarantee that he will return safe next time too.
'Maybe I am not thinking right'
August was afraid, he admitted that to himself already. But despite that the opportunity to satiate his curiosity was too much to be passed on.
Steeling his resolve, August decided to give that meeting another chance.
— — — — —