Anecus POV
When I awoke my first instinct was to look at the sky to see the position of the sun but "oh right, permanent dusk" my body, my leg ached. More than anything though, water. "I need water."
Almost like an answer from the Circuit itself I heard the sound of precipitation and droplets. 'Water' my tongue licked my lips with anticipation, following the the sound it appeared it was coming from below.
"Down the scary looking stairs, just awesome." From how dehydrated I am comparing to how much I ran…'what am I even thinking you can't form any sort of time keeping that way…stupid'
He shook his head 'I must be getting delirious'
I was stalling aren't I? As bad as Malice was something down those stairs made my skin crawl but I needed water. So desperately Anecus grabbed a sharp jagged piece of obsidian and slowly descended.
The stairs were definitely man made, they were black rock just like its surroundings but somehow carved, polished. I would have expected dust to be in here but no. It was immaculate if not a little shinny… "shinny?"
Anecus placed one of his hands on the wall as he moved down, it was cold, wet. Wiping his palm across the surface to collect as much water as he could to then bring it to his mouth.
'It's not a river but this got my lips and tongue wet. "better." Still moving down Anecus blinked "How long have I been descending?"
This had been the second time since entering this echo stream that the sense of time eluded Anecus. It was when he noticed while descending a mark was on the wall distracting him. 'a bloody handprint?'
Anecus had this urge to bring a hand up to it and when he did, it was a perfect match. freakout that it was a match he pulled away.
Taking my hand away to look It was covered in blood. Blood that was not there before, or had it?
Anecus just stared at it, "well that's not ominous." he continued and again there was the hand print.
The little marks on the wall along with the handprint that had the same drip pattern solidified his assumption "I haven't been moving."
it seems to make progress within the staircase I need to keep track of some metric. "Well lets see, simplest first I guess."
Anecus started walking again but this time, "one, two, three, four." Let's see if simply counting the seconds works.
For a moment I thought it worked the hand print hadn't shown up for what seemed like longer than usual. 'Wait? How can I know that? There's no concept of time here…this is hurting my head'
To his dismay the print showed up again, this time he took some fresh blood from his finger and marked a tally near the hand. 'Ok so seconds won't cut it, what about distance?' this time Anecus kept a finger along the wall.
'There were vertical lines every so often so maybe I can measure the distance.' After an even longer amount of time I reached the print again, but this time I could've sworn it looked more dry.
"Mhh. Oh!"
'let's combine the two' he counted the second along with the distance after marking it with a second tally.
By the time Anecus made it back to the hand it seemed almost completely dry. he marked it and continued. however by my fifth tally it kept repeating.
Anecus would mark a sixth one only to find five present on the next cycle.
"I need something else, something more defined." After thinking for a longer period of time than Anecus would like to admit he facepalmed.
"it's so obvious!"
He looks down at the steps he has been using, 'It seems the trick to this staircase is to keep track of something quantifiable.'
Anecus wanting to be sure he got this right picked a starting point, a vertical line on the wall that was aligned with a step. Continuing down keeping one step per second it wasn't even 60 steps until the last one came into view.
past the last step was a room and whence he reached it the air on his skin grew charged with static.
Before him was a circular room with a floor that seemed to slope down to the middle. The ceiling was high, hanging in the middle was a giant obsidian stalactite that came to a point, about head level.
*drip…drip*
There was the sound of water droplets, the condensation flowed down the hanging mass and periodically fell into a scar in the ground making a small pool of water that looked like a mirror.
Anecus cupped the water with both hands, drinking deeply. It was cold, so cold it burned but it didn't matter. His body craved it.
Drinking like someone who hadn't tasted life in days he noticed his reflection in the water, but it didn't show me as he was, it showed someone else.
"Me… but not me." The figure stood taller, broader, his hair was longer and had white sheen. The eyes…silver, but hollow. Like moonlight without warmth, without beauty.
Anecus brought his fingers to the left cheek, the man in the reflection did the same. He waved his arms over the water and the man mimicked the gesture but the scene changed.
In this scene he wore the robes of a king.
Around his neck hung a thousand souls and their prayers while behind him thousands knelt. Anecus took an involuntary step back and touched a hand to his neck, almost feeling the weight. He forced himself to look at his own neck to make sure.
They weren't just people or mere worshipers, they were afraid. Cowering in reverence and worshiping the mans infamy. Anecus watched as the people bared witness to the great power his reflection unleashed.
This version of me raised a palm to the sky and manifested a jet of pale white flame. That fire surged into the sky in a blanket of fire that stretched beyond the horizon evaporating the clouds and burning the heavens to bring forth a fiery rain. Then with the opposite hand he reached down beneath the earth to rise forth depraved horrors that made cities crumble.
Anecus wanted to look away, and say he wasn't capable of such a thing but his heart gave in to the loss of life and went to his knees, not breaking eye contact with himself. Then the mirror shifted again.
"father?"
His Father gone, taken by the despair of knowing this monster in the reflection was his creation.
"Mother?" her eyes dimmed from heartbreak and her voice silent from pleading.
Cassia...he saw chains of starlight around her wrists, a sacrifice, she offered herself willingly to stop him. 'To stop me.'
Dread filled his stomach as he knew who came into view next. 'Naia'… she was sprawled on the ground unmoving. Taken by the very people who worshiped the silver star.
"Because of me..." I looked at myself in the pool. "Because he tried to become more." Hatred toward the man that was a reflection of what I'd become swelled within me.
Anecus knew making some self gratified proclamation of never becoming that would be pointless. Staring into the water and seeing himself drink again, not for survival, but to feel control. Instead in rejection of the reflection he spat the last mouthful out.
Anecus was coming to the realization this Echo Stream was going to be more than a test of endurance. Temptation will be his biggest battle.
Anecus wipes away the last few remaining droplets of water from his lips, it tasted bitter now.
He stares at his reflection one last time, then stands.