Fenrir's Fangs

Chapter 3

  Darkness surrounded him, as he stood there in a small light, which was in the center of a black void. The Man tried to move, but he was unable to move a muscle. Then he tried to take a look at his surrounding and realized, that he cant see. He attempted to hear into his surrounding, but that was also to no avail. Finally, he tried to shout, but he couldn’t feel his mouth, and since he couldn’t hear, he couldn’t tell, whether he shouted at all. He didn’t know what was happening. Questions lingered his mind: “Where am I?”, “Am I dead?”, “What is this place?”, “Is this a dream?”, “Why cant I move?”, “Is there any hope left?”. He stood there with his questions for an unknown amount of time, but it felt, as if he has always been surrounded by the darkness and only a small light protected him.
Suddenly a cold low pitched and frightening voice echoed somewhere. The Man didn’t make out much of it at first, but he could somehow hear the echo getting louder, despite not being able to hear himself. As the voice got closer, he could clearly hear it say:
 “Get out of the light”
The Man was terrified from the voice and couldn’t think clearly. Why leave the light? It’s the only thing guarding him? He thought to himself, that he must not leave the light, that the voice is evil and is trying to fool him, but then the voice spoke again:
 “How many times has the light truly protected you? They could see you only when you were in the light. You fell on your knees, when you were in the light. You were broken, when you were in the light. And do you honestly think, that the small light around you can save you from me?....Get out of the light”
He was still shocked, but the voice was talking some sense. He probably wouldn’t have been beaten up by those kids, if they were in the dark, since they wouldn’t be able to see him. He admitted, that the darkness proved to be more beneficial for someone like him. After an unknown amount of time, he tried to move, but was still unable to do so. The voice spoke again:
 “You need to let the darkness consume the light….consume you….Try remembering all the bad, that ever happened to you…..then focus it in your mind”
  The Man began to think, whether he really should leave it or not. Deep inside, something told him, that there was no way back to either choices, so he began a long process of thinking what will happen, if he stays in the light. It was obvious, that he would stay like that forever. His choice was the darkness, since it was larger and unknown. Anything could happen there, but atleast something would happen. And so he began to remember parts of his life, the bad ones. Of how he was bullied and harassed in school, of all the friends, that betrayed him before, of all the problems his family had, of all the women that rejected him, of how he left his home for Fairview and then regretted it, of how he couldn’t not achieve anything in this city, of how he lost all his possessions, of the cold and hungry hears he spent homeless and he kept remembering things up until the last day, when he was attacked by those kids.
  Fear no longer clouded his mind, as it was replaced by the fires of hatred. As he focused the anger, he could feel his head, his mouth and then he gave out a loud war cry, that would probably frighten an army, if there was one at the moment. As he kept screaming, the light around him began to fade and the shadows started consuming him from toe to head. When the shadow covered his mouth, the Man’s voice was finally silenced. He could hear the voice say “perfect”, before the darkness covered his ears. Then his head was covered. After that, he couldn’t feel anything. He couldn’t even think.

***
 After an unknown amount of time spent in the void, some senses and feelings began coming back to the Man. He could sniff the fresh air, he could hear the wind blowing and feel it rubbing his face. He was thinking, that he just woke up from a bad dream, his eyes would open and he would see the bridge he was on. But when his eyes finally opened, he was surprised to see, that he was on some sort of field, that was covered in black grass. When he raised his head, he saw, that the sky was red and full of stars. The moon was of a crimson color. Far in the sky, he could see some kind of  black winged flying, but he couldn’t tell, whether it was just a raven or something else.
 The Man turned around and saw something, that quickly put him into a state of fear and shock: he saw a human…well, he saw something, that had the body of a human. It looked like some sort of black body armor, that covered the entire torso and the legs were in pure black pants with black kneecaps and other protection for body. The armor was somewhat strange, as it looked like an advanced Kevlar mesh. Even more disturbing was the helmet the figure wore: it was the shape of some lizard’s head, with black horns on the top and dark red eyes were gazing at the Man. The figure’s right hand was holding a black rapier like sword. Then he heard the voice speak again:
 “I’m glad you joined me, but I’m disappointed you relied on something other then yourself to get here. You should learn to kill hatred. Hatred must be a privilege no one deserves, for the target of your hatred becomes the protagonist in your life, when that should be you. Your willpower should not be fueled by a desire for something or by a sort of feeling. Your willpower must be fueled by yourself. You must order yourself to keep moving on, not rely on something. If you do not learn to control yourself, then you will not endure the test I have set for you….. The time for changes is coming. The world you knew will soon end. Many people will fall. Those close to you will fall, but you must keep going. You and the others I have chosen will continue the path…But first you must pass the test and prove to me, that you are worthy….The test shall take a long time to finish, so you must be ready at all times….Before you leave again, there’s one thing you should learn: aim for the head…Now leave”
 As the words were said, the world around the Man began to shatter like glass and he was thrown into the dark void again. Before loosing focus again, he heard the voice say “Aim for the head” one more time.

***

 He could hear a gentle female voice humming a tune of some sort, before opening his eyes. When he finally woke up, his eyes were blurry and he couldn’t clearly see. He tried to speak, but he was experiencing a strong drought in his mouth, so he couldn’t speak. He heard the gentle voice say “Oh god, your awake! I’ll get the doctor”, before hearing light footsteps in quick pace and the door opening, then closing. As he lay there, he began wondering where he is, since he couldn’t clearly see at the moment. He heard the word “doctor”, so he thought he was in a hospital. Eventually, the blur in his eyes faded and he could see again. He quickly gave a look to his surrounding. A room with white walls, a white ceiling and the door was opposite to his location. There was a white table to his right, which had flowers in a pot on the table’s surface. To his left he saw a machine, that was checking his heartbeats. He was lying on a bed with needles plunged into the veins of his left arm. Obviously he was in a hospital.
 After a short while, he heard footsteps behind the door again. Before the door opened, he could hear the Voice say “Always be aware”. Not understanding what this statement was meant for, he began waiting for the doctor to come in. As the door opened, he could see a short man in his fifties, wearing an all green surgery suit, that they wear in hospitals. His face was covered by a green respirator. Next came in the nurse. She was even shorter then the doctor and had asian attributes on her face. Her hair was dark brown and curvy. She was wearing a pink nurse suit, with a red cross on the left side of her breast.
 The doctor approached the Man’s bed and asked “How do you feel?”. The Man tried to ask for some water, but the doctor couldn’t make out what he was saying. He then said “Listen, you could use some water…Nurse! Get him some water”.
She ran out quickly to get some water, while the doctor kept examining the Man.
“Let’s see….you suffered a heavy beating, but the police patrol found you and called for help, so you are lucky. Honestly, from what I saw, when you first arrived, I had the feeling, that you wouldn’t live or would never wake again. You’ve been asleep for 3 days now”
 The doc kept talking something about keeping the Man alive thanks to life support, but his voice began to fade and darkness filled the eyes of the Man once again. Last thing he heard was the nurse saying “Is he dead?” before falling asleep.