In the steps of Eternity

To Dreams and Memories: Part 1

A breeze flitters across my face, dragging my hair along with it, bringing a slight tickle. With a groan, my eyes squeeze tighter as light starts to filter in through the window. Opening my eyes, I find myself staring at the ceiling of a room that feels both alien and familiar.

Urging my body to sit up, I felt a sudden soreness shoot through my whole body. A sensation that I have not felt since I had woken in the ruins not long before. Looking down at my hands, I find that they have a wonderful Ivory color. Rubbing my hands together, I feel warmth, I feel softness that I never thought I would feel.

I hear a loud KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK across the room as I looked over myself. With a jerk my head turns to the source of the sound before I stare at the imposing wooden door. “I wonder who, or what could be out there that would knock so hard on such a large door.” I can't help but think to myself.

Just as I finish my thoughts, a voice calls out, the name they call seems muffled and unaudible, but the rest of their words echo through my mind as if I have heard them many times before. “Get up! We are in a hurry and we have a ton of documents to go over! Just because you have talent does not give you a reason to be lazy!”

Almost instinctively, my body turns itself before sitting on the edge of the bed before I slip my feet into slippers. Raising my arms, I checked over myself and saw that I was still wearing what seemed to be very loose, oversized pajamas. With a sigh, I turned to what seemed to be a dresser of sorts before opening a drawer and pulling out an oversized robe.

After changing quickly, I walked closer to the door and grabbed my satchel off of a hook next to it. Opening the door, I am greeted by someone that has a narrow face, a long nose and a small mouth. They remind me of a Rat, but I don't say anything.

The Rat seems to be angry that I was slow and as I step forward to walk with them my body leaves me behind. Leaving me to watch as I walked down the hall. “What a strange feeling this is.” I thought to myself once more before I followed after myself and The Rat.

Looking at myself from the outside, I realize how truly awful I look. Short ragged hair that seems to look like it belongs to a mop. Old worn robes that are frayed along many seams. The Satchel that hangs over my shoulder seems to have been repaired many times. “What kind of life did I live?” I can't help but wonder.

As I followed myself and The Rat, I noticed people speaking in hushed tones as I passed by them. Snickers, laughs and looks of ridicule flow in abundance in my body's direction and yet all my body does is hide their face behind their rough bangs while nodding to whatever The Rat asks or says.

“What a pitiful creature I was.” I said as I got ahead of myself to look at my own face. Loneliness, sadness and pain all float about in the back of my own eyes even as I seem to try to keep a straight face. Without thinking, I reach out and try to comfort myself by resting my hand against my cheek.

Upon contact with my body, a flood of thoughts and memories fly through my mind. It feels as if my mind is going to split as I see what had occurred in the few days before. Research materials were stolen and burned. Spells singeing my own hair as people's experiments had “Accidents.”

Research that would have made a leap in magic quality was ripped and shared with the board of magic before I could build a more solid base, as others gained credit for work they did not do. As these memories fly through my mind, the only words I hear repeated over and over and over again are simply, “WHY!?” as if I could never understand why people did the things they do to me. Was it because I was simply an outsider? Or did I do something that made them not like me? It seems I never really truly found out. Though I find that many of those that treated me the way they did seemed to be older...

As I started to contemplate why and how the treatment of myself began in this place, the world started to warp, fade and darken as my body began to wander further and further away from me. As the world darkened, I felt the claws of something reaching for my consciousness.

Feeling uneasy, I sped towards my body and back into the reach of the light around my body. Once I had caught up, we have arrived at a door that opened up to a familiar room. A lectern on a platform on the lowest point of the room, surrounded by chairs and desks in a fan around, with each a step up above each row.

Upon crossing the doorway, the world warped around me and I found myself with my eyes closed once again, a breeze rolling in through the open window tickling my face with the bangs of my hair. With a groan, I sat up once more to find that I am once again back in my room. This time a little worse for wear with water dripping from a large c***k in the corner.

Before I could hear a knock on the door, I hopped off the bed and got dressed. The robes this time are a better fit and there are no noticeable frays along the seams. With a breath I manipulate the mana around myself and the little dirt that clings to the robe vanishes as if it had never existed.

Moving towards the door, I stop before a mirror that didn't exist before and I see myself as I would expect. A healthier glow in my cheeks with properly groomed hair that has grown fairly long, tied down towards the left side of my head. With a firm AHEM I nodded to myself before picking up my trusted satchel and making my way out the door.

Contrary to the last venture out of the room, I was not expelled from my body and instead got to see the world through the eyes of my body. Bringing about new senses and sounds that I had missed the first time when I was nothing more than an observer.

Yet. The things that are most different in the world this time, are the hidden rage that boils deep down inside myself and the immeasurable difference in quality and quantity of mana that flows through my body. It was almost as if I was a completely different person once I was out in the halls of this place.