The air this particular night was cold, amplified by the howling wind. Thankfully Kaelen had his thin fleece hoodie which managed to block most of it. He sat quietly on the steel railing of the bridge staring down into the turbulent waters that flowed below the bridge.
He ran a finger through his hair under the hood and let out a deep sigh.
Tonight, he would die and for some reason there was not a lot of feeling in his heart as if he was not planning to plunge into the cold depths. Perhaps that was due to the events he had experienced in recent years.
He had been a much more social and happy child. No matter how many things happened to him or plagued him he always managed to keep a smile on his face. The overwhelming expectations of his family? just learn harder. The desire to fit in with others? just analyze and integrate. Dealing with his mothers death... well sometimes people found it harder to smile
"Tch..."
He clicked his tongue and pushed those thoughts away and focused on the river once more.
As he stared down he let go of the half filled water bottle he got from the people giving hand outs to the homeless. The bottle fell from the great height gaining momentum as it descended. Eventually, barely, he saw it fall into the water. It was so small, so insignificant compared to the water that it did not even send a splash.
Kael was a moment away from following the bottle of water but stopped as an array of bright blue and red lights appeared to his left.
Two police car's had appeared and Kaelen watched, the slight curiosity had temporarily halted his suicide.
From the car closer to the tree line instead of the railing had its doors swing open with great force to where one actually bounced back. The people getting out did not stop pushing and moving out. However before they got too close the officers from their car and the officers from the other stopped them.
Kaelen stared at the people with an annoyed expression. Hearing their voices again caused those memories to pool up again after he tried to hard to suppress them.
"Kael please come down!"
"We're so sorry!"
Their words were frantic and carried a deep sadness, after a moment Kaelen heard the officers yell at them to calm down. They were explaining to his father and siblings that if they startle him, he could fall over.
"Please child, come down..."
The officer spoke softly to him holding out a hand. He looked at the hand and then turned away from it with a small smile.
When Kaelen was 12, his family had met in a rather tragic accident. He had survived but managed to sustain a large scar running straight down his right eye. Sure his vision had been unaffected but the scar remained and people were a little... cruel to those who looked different. Kids especially lacked the understanding that most adults did.
So, from the age of 12 Kaelen had become the subject of bullying and that was at a time where his life at home had become more chaotic too. For two years he had endured silently and then one unfortunate day at the age of 14, he struck back.
A neat little mistake that cost him his entire life.
The girls father had systematically ruined his entire life having him expelled from school and suing his family, who already hated him.
From that day he had been thrown on the streets by these very people who were apologizing to him right now.
He had lived on the streets, struggling to survive for two years.
"Kael please come down, we're so sorry ..."
His elder sisters voice cracked several times as she sobbed being held back by an officer
"We know we were wrong son, we know you were innocent, please come home son, please, please come home..."
The sound of his fathers voice was so desperate, filled with longing. But it did nothing to change Kaelen's mind. He had already decided what he was going to do and unless he wanted to change his mind, they would not be able to sway him.
"It is a little weird hearing you say come home when you were the one who kicked me out saying..."
He raised his hand in a mock angry point mimicking what his father had done 2 years ago when he was 14, turning to look at the man
"A disgrace like you should never have been born, you're a scorn on the Malcolm name."
He began to laugh as he saw the tears flow from his fathers name.
"Well, I suppose I should thank you, you really pushed me towards taking mom's surname. Well to be fair I always thought Celeste was better than Malcolm so I suppose you shouldn't get credit from that either."
He stood up on the railing, he bent slightly so that the back of his knees leaned against the railing as he stretched to avoid falling.
The police officers eyes widened and they closed the gap quickly trying to grab him but he leaned forward and fell. As he dropped he turned his body so he was looking up as he fell.
There on the railing the widened desperate eyes of his 'family' leaning over with the police officers staring in shock.
Kaelen felt it was so incredibly corny but he couldn't help but do it anyway. He extended his hand and moved his middle finger flipping them off just as he hit the water.
For a few moments there was an odd feeling of weightlessness and his body was unfeeling for a few seconds. Naturally he assumed that his body had went into shock, his nervous system shutting down.
Then he waited for his consciousness to fade.
1 second, 2 second, 3 seconds...
He counted quietly but once he passed twenty he quickly realized that something was wrong.
'Uh...'
Kaelen raised his hand and looked at it as if grabbing the stars. The night sky was still there, black, and the numerous stars were there too. However he quickly noticed something wrong with it, all of the stars were connected by silver strings
For a moment he wondered if he was still falling but recalled how fast the bottle fell and quickly realized this was not a possible theory.
The same outstretched hand moved and pressed itself on the 'ground' and quickly he shot up, his back straight as a pencil.
"What the hell!?"
He pushed himself up and took a few steps back. But then when he turned his head to look around he saw only more endless black.
Panic flared up in his mind and thoughts begin to fill his mind. The most frightening one being that this might be the after life and he was stuck here for eternity. Then however a voice sounded from the endless expanse which caused his heart to skip a beat.
[Being from beyond the world.]
The voice was strangely beautiful but carried a quiet, overwhelming authority that made his skin crawl. Or perhaps that was due to the fact that his body had realized where he was and what was speaking before his mind did
[You have been chosen by the Daemon of Fate]
The voice of the spell paused momentarily most likely having sensed the absolute, awe, shock and terror that was currently blooming in Kaelen's heart.
There was a reason the voice sounded familiar to him and elicited such a reaction from his body.
An endless black void filled with numerous shining stars each connected together in an incredibly intricate web of silver strings. A beautiful melodic yet emotionless voice sounding in his head and the most damning clue.
That name, The Daemon of Fate.
Kaelen was in Shadow Slave and he was talking to the Nightmare Spell
'No No No No No No....!'
He shook his head and then delivered a sharp smack to his face as if trying to wake up. He didn't die, he actually fell unconscious when he hit the water and he was rescued by emergency services and was currently in a hospital
He was hallucinating right now
Yes, that was the reason this was happening
[Do you accept the challenge to inherit the forbidden lineage of the first born of the [-Unknown-]?]
'What?'
Kaelen stared out into the void looking at the stars with widened eyes. Naturally the Spell lacked a solid physical form so he was forced to look at nothing.
For a few minutes he simply stared, then he began to pace, hit himself a few times asking himself if he had went mad.
But he did not and in the end of it he was still standing in this space.
"This makes no sense. None. Nothing."
He had followed the story for a long while following it deeply and it became one of, if not his favorite tale. So naturally, what was happening to him became even more confusing.
'There aren't any transmigrator in Shadow Slave, at all'
That was the first thing that made him confused, because if this had been the Gu world or a world like LOTM or RTOC, then yeah, maybe transmigration would not be that difficult to accept... well it will still be unbelievable but with at least a smidgen of believability
"Secondly WHAT THE HELL do you mean inherit the forbidden lineage of the first born of the [-unknown-]?!"
Weaver, that elusive, nebulous Daemon? The lineage of that Daemon?
How the hell was that even possible?!
Weavers lineage had been spread across the threads of fate and were designed to be held and found by one person, that person was a chosen of Shadow God and also an Avatar of Fate itself!
So how in the hell, and more importantly, why was he being granted such an opportunity? This was completely ridiculous...
And judging by the silence from the Spell, he was not going to be getting a response to his question
There were also other questions he wanted answers too.
For example, was he going to die if he said no? That seemed to be the most plausible conclusion. And the next was a question that was for himself.
Did he want to live?
Naturally if he wanted to that meant he was accepting to enter this trial set by the Daemon of Fate. But did he want to live? He had resigned himself to death little under an hour ago.
He did not know for sure but something told him that here, in this world he could achieve that little dream.
"I... accept."
He whispered it still slightly unsure.
Then however the Spell, not caring for his nervousness spoke. The voice sounded slightly confused as if it were told to do something odd from what was the norm.
[Aspirant, Welcome to the Nightmare Spell, Prepare for your First Trial...]
He watched as in front of him a white door appeared in the space.
'Huh...?'
He tilted his head in confusion. From what he remembered, the Aspirant would enter the First Nightmare after falling asleep while infected... This was different.
However the instruction was clear and there was naturally no other option to take so, he opened it. The Spell whispered
[Trial of Earth]