By: C. Ryan Alexander G.
A light seemed to radiate from within, as the young man gazed into the crimson jewel he held in his hand. The young man, Carth, seemed mesmerized, if not hypnotized, by the alluring light coming from within the jewel and with the light came warmth. It being the dead of winter on the mountain path to the village of Myn; the warm jewel was a welcome addition to the makeshift camp Carth had set up in a cave off a beaten path away from the main road. He had thought to take cover when the wind picked up as the sun was setting. He planned on moving further down the path, but something seemed to call him to the cave and there he found the jewel. The warmth in his hand was pleasant and seemed to spread through the entirety of his body. The voice that had called him to the cave echoed within his mind and cleared away all other thoughts only leaving a gentle lullaby that soothed his body until Carth found himself drifting into a deep sleep. Just as his eyes were sliding shut, the gentle light of the jewel became twisted and maligned, no longer being a warm red glow, but an eerie black-streaked emerald and that was the last thing he saw before falling asleep.
Carth didn’t remember how he came to be where he was, but tried to take note of his surroundings. He was sitting in a chair in the middle of a room that seemed to be only a floor and the reason for it being only a floor was that the room ended in darkness. No shadows, just infinite stretching darkness, so the only part of the room he could make out was the surrounding stone floor and the wooden chair he was sitting in. He started to rise from the chair, but it felt like he was moving underwater, as if everything felt just a bit slower. Slow movement aside, he started towards the edge of the darkness where the floor seemed to just end, but before he could reach the edge, a voice called out from behind.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” A low-toned suggestion from a pleasant voice reached Carth’s ears and caused him to turn to look at the source of the words.
A blank human figure made only of a warm red light stood behind the chair he had first found himself sitting in with one hand resting upon the back of it. The figure made a gesture with his other hand for Carth to take a seat.
“Sit, it’s quite easy to get lost in here, so it’s better to stay in one place as I explain things.” The figure had a calm reasoning that somehow swayed a confused Carth into doing as he had suggested.
Once settled back into the wood chair, the figure moved to be in front of him and sat on the air. One would expect anyone to fall down if they did what the being had done, but a chair the same shade of light as the being materialized underneath him as he sat. The light figure leaned forward in his seat and began to speak.
“I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but you are dead.” it said calmly. Carth became wide-eyed, but before he could say anything, the being held a hand up for silence and continued on.
“I’m afraid it happened in your sleep. Why anyone would be foolish enough to not set up a fire when making camp in the middle of winter is beyond me, but you’ve luckily stumbled upon my good self. My name is Nix, a prisoner of the soul stone you fell asleep with, and as for how long; I have no clue.” He paused on his last thought with a forlorn tone before continuing. Carth had a mix of complicated feelings brewing inside him upon hearing the disheartening news of his recent passing. He tried to speak out to find answers for himself, but the words caught in his throat. Nix, noticing his discomfort, answered the newest question that popped into Carth’s head.
“It’s no use trying to speak, it takes a while to get used to this place. Surely you noticed something amiss when you got up and moved around. That’s because right now, you have no body, you’re a spirit in the stone. You’re not used to moving, talking, or simply being in your current form. I managed to direct your spirit to the stone before your passing and this is where things will get complicated. I need you to agree to something before we can move on from here. Are you willing to hear me out?” Nix leaned further in his chair and rested his head on the top of his hands. Carth observed Nix’s face, but couldn’t make out any details, just the warm light he had grown accustomed to. Having not much choice, Carth nodded his head. Nix sat back up in his chair, then continued on.
“You may technically be dead, but you can still be saved. Your soul has been disconnected from your body with the power of the stone, but the path is still there. Your soul is currently too weak to bring your body back from the brink of death if you were to travel back now, but if a stronger soul were to travel the path and inhabit your body; it just might be saved. Basically, I want your body.” A look of horror must have flashed across Carth’s face, because then Nix suddenly piped up with,
“TEMPORARILY! And only by your own choice, not that you have much of one. Just until your soul is strong enough to reunite with your own body. I promise that there is no chance of betrayal, but I’ll have you know I’m not doing this out of the kindness of my own heart. I was in a situation much like this one, except I had pursued the stone out of greed. The end result was that I was betrayed and became a prisoner of the soul stone. My aim is to simply get my own body back and revenge against the perpetrator. You coming along was just the luck I needed and I’m willing to pay that back tenfold. Anyway, if you’d like my help, let’s shake on it.” Nix stretched out his arm towards Carth. The young man in the wooden chair was overwhelmed with the immense tirade of information that had been piled on him. Death? Souls? Revenge?
“This all has to be a dream.” Carth thought to himself, but it all seemed too surreal and vivid to be one. He didn’t really have much choice if all of this was the truth and not a dream anyway. Hesitantly, he stretched out his hand towards Nix until he firmly grasped the light being's hand. It was pleasantly warm. Then Carth’s flesh began to crawl, quite literally. Carth’s skin seemed as if it was a liquid that flowed onto Nix’s light body. Carth noticed it wasn’t painful, he looked down at his body and openings of flesh showed faint green light shining through. Was this his soul? He looked up only to see himself looking back. Nix, who now had Carth’s appearance let go of the handshake and stood up from his chair, which materialized away.
“I must go, your body shouldn’t remain soulless for long, otherwise there will be no chance for either of us, but I must tell you how to strengthen your soul before I leave.” Nix spoke out of Carth’s mouth, which for Carth was quite an odd experience.
“There’s more to this stone than just this room. This was a place I created just for our exchange. A lot of things work differently here and there’s many ways to strengthen your soul, but the most effective way that I’ve found is by having experiences. That may seem vague now, but the more time you spend here, the more you’ll come to understand. At times, this place will seem like a vast world, completely different from your own and it will throw challenges at you which you may be unprepared for, but all you can do is try your best since there’s no other way and I’ll do the same on my end. I wish I could tell you more, but I have little time now and I’ve been going on for too long as it is. Just good luck, oh, and one more thing. You’re not alone in here, be careful.” and with that final foreboding comment light enveloped Nix and he disappeared.
On a mountain path, in a cave located between the villages of Myn and Runeport, a young man who had recently died fluttered his eyes open. Carth, now Nix, slowly rose and looked at his new body’s hands. The left hand was deathly pale from the cold, he looked to his right hand and saw that it was tightly clutching the soul stone he had once been trapped in. His fingers groaned from the cold as he released his grasp on the stone to look at his old prison. It reflected Carth’s eyes that were once green, but had now turned red and deep within the stone a faint glow of emerald could be seen. Nix took a deep breath, smiled, and exited the cave.
