I push open the doors and we take a few steps into the next floor. This one is notably different too. Not like the last one but…
it's. A library.
Are there things on this floor too? It's too early to say. This place seems giant. We both stand still for a moment to acknowledge the sight. The bookshelves seem to go up high. I wonder where they really stop. I continue walking forward after a moment and Aiden follows behind me. So far it seems like we're the only ones here. However I'd rather not speak too soon. There's a few options but we go down a hallway on the right of us. After walking for a bit we find something a little surprising… the door. I didn't expect to find it so soon… but what's that thing on the door? I approach it so I can examine it better. It seems to be like a seal or something. It's a circle with symbols written inside it. The language looks the same as what I learned from the books. I put my hands on the door and push it open… but it doesn't budge. Aiden notices this and makes a remark from behind me.
"Is it locked or something?"
"If that's what you call this. I assume it's a seal using the language. See the symbols"
"Huh, that's interesting, I didn't know you could use the power in this way."
"Neither did I, let's come back later"
We start going through the rest of our options. The other ways were just dead ends leading to more books. We walk along a pathway and I approach a door I see in the distance. After putting my ear to it I hear nothing. I turn the knob gently and push it open. It's another part of the library, it seems like a smaller part but still it's a big room… However, my eyes quickly focus on the grand piano in the center…
"Are you okay"
"I…"
I didn't realize it, but I must've had a reaction to that sight. I wonder… what kind of face I'm making. I walk up to the piano and place my hand on the side of it. I can hear her voice in my head like a non stop ringing.
"She… loved piano."
He remains silent and continues to let me talk.
"My wife. We used to do so many things together, you know. I… was an artist. A painter. She used to love looking at my work when it was done. She used to love modeling for me so she could see how beautifully I could paint her…"
For a split moment I got lost in the memories, and let out a slight chuckle. However the smile fades from my face as I shift myself back to reality. The memories and words that spilled from my mouth make it hard to maintain my composure. So I stop for a moment to stabilize myself.
"Sorry"
"No. It's fine…"
I pause for a moment before continuing.
"I was never an expert but I picked up piano at some point. Mainly because there's some songs I wanted to learn, but she used to love listening to the little songs I did know."
Aiden comes closer towards the piano and takes a seat a few feet from me.
"Do you still know anything?"
"I stopped playing after she died. I stopped doing everything pretty much."
I think for a moment as I rest my hands on the keys.
"But… There are a few songs, and one I don't think I'll forget. It was her favorite of course. Have you ever heard Clair De Lune by Debussy."
"I don't think I have."
I look to the keys again and align my fingers properly. I close my eyes, pressing the keys down and beginning to play. The soothing melody fills the room, however… atmosphere definitely has an effect on how a song makes you feel. What once completely soothed my nerves now fills my heart with a deep cold sorrow, yet a feeling of comfort and solaceness in that despair. I wonder what happens to the soul once someone dies… are you looking at me? Do you have faith that I can get you back? I hope… I hope you believe in your husband. I'll get you back no matter what… no matter what it takes no matter who gets in my way will end up dead…
I'll rip apart everything that tries to stop me. I'll get you back no matter what Aria. Ill stop at nothing… nothing and I'll turn them into a pile of flesh… no one can keep me away from you… no one, no one, no one… I'll kill fucking disembowl and dismember ever last one of you insects! My mind begins to grow more distorted by the second. It feels like every feeling, every emotion this place makes me feel, it's like I can feel it all at once, but tenfold. A part of me… is also feeling joy.
A sadistic smile grows on Nones face as the madness seeps deeper and deeper into his very being. His playing gives off an eerie dissonant melody as the mind falls into the abyss. Before it was only feelings but as it progressed the world itself began to warp and change as well. The uncanny feeling of his playing fills the room even leaving Aiden feeling unsettled at the sight he's witnessing.
The keys, I can see the entities of this dungeon on the keys. I slam my fingers down one by one crushing them, spilling their blood from the keys to the floor… it's almost as if the piano itself is starting to bleed. I can't… help but smile… hehehaha I'll rend every single one of you apart! I wonder how I still remember all the keys oh I see I see. They're telling me I get it now… I get it I get it now hahahaHAHAHA. The keys are telling me the keys are laughing too hahahaha… It's been so long since I stopped playing…
He hears a familiar calming voice speak out to him.
Get a hold of yourself
Why… Do I remember?
Ah that's right. It's your favorite song. I can… almost feel you beside me as I play… Thank you, for watching over me. Keep me safe until we meet again. As the song comes to a close I press on the keys softer until there's nothing left to play. I turn to Aiden to see him with a confused expression
"Are you okay? You were doing good until the middle… you looked a lot different."
"Yeah I'm alright. It's just this place… it's driving me crazy. Remembering my wife is what brought me back."
"Yeah I assumed so, me too. You saw what happened with me earlier."
"Let's find a way out of here."
"Hey thank you for letting me in None. You're a good man… We'll get your wife back."
"Thanks Aiden. I got lucky meeting you first"
"Likewise I probably would've been killed by someone else."
"Alright so I'm guessing opening the door has to do with the piano. The only option we really have right now is to start searching the books."
"That's gonna take a while."
"Let's try to narrow it down. I'm assuming this place has a bunch of books of various kinds. Try to look for books about the old ones or music or a book that has both of those."
"Got it."
"I'll start searching too. Let's split up."
"Right."
We both begin searching. Some time goes by as neither of us find anything useful after reporting back to each other a few times. Until I spot a book that has a name I've never seen before. The forsaken one Rya. I keep searching the bookshelves. And one specifically that catches my eye. I leave the room and show Aiden what I found.
"I'm not sure if this can help us but I found a lot of interesting things."
"Alright where should we start."
"This one interested me"
The title was interesting. The dungeon. Maybe it's made by someone recently. Someone who entered and survived to exit. I skim through the pages a bit to see something. And I was right. It looks more like a journal than a book. I go back to the first page to see a note. I hold the book out so both me and Aiden can read.
"I'm pretty surprised you made it this far. Not a lot do. Going further is only going to get worse. So I want to give you some of my knowledge. Exploring this place. There are some things you must know. Firstly the old ones don't know this book exists. Ive learned so much, Ive read so many books that I can make new ones, if you know enough you can too. The reason you found this book is a spell of mine. This book will be recreated where you found it so take it with you. I'm sure that you reading this has decided by now that you're not turning back. So this is all I can do. Maybe with this you can survive just a little bit longer. With knowledge of the language you're able to teach other people. But you'd need to rewrite the entire book. Which could help you here if you somehow manage to find time. You must have experience that this place makes you feel certain things, as well as certain rooms that reduce this feeling. I don't know exactly how they came to be, some of these places we're here when I got here but I was able to artificially create one of those places myself, I don't have enough paper here to give you instructions on how to it yourself, it years to make. Years of knowledge that I cannot disclose.
but I've made a one on some floors to come… keep pushing a little more and maybe you'll be safe there… I wish I could help you more, I wish I could describe the layers I haven't listed… but you're not ready to know This place… isn't what you think. There's more to history than just the old gods. If you want to know, be careful. Whoever you may be I want you to survive, but this place, this place, this place, being here is a sin we must be getting punished for the sins we've committed…
There's some things you're not meant to know. Maybe you don't care about the truth… it's better that way, ignorance truly is bliss. To those that do want to know the truth. Just remember…
There's things humans aren't meant to know.
Not until you reach the level of being worthy of that knowledge. You can't be weak, the only result will be death or something far worse. Here in the abyss weakness is a sin…
Weakness is a sin
Bravery is a sin
Compassion is a sin
Joy is a sin
Knowing too much is also a sin…
May you reach your goals. I doubt we'll ever meet. Good luck."
The last segment gave me shivers down my spin. I guess this is what the abyss brings people too.I flip through a few pages. There's a lot of information about the materials inside this place and what they do, along with some details of monsters that we haven't even encountered yet. But alot of the information is... blocked out? I can only assume it has to do with what he said. We can't know things were not meant to yet. What does he mean there's more to history than the old ones… Rya. Is that what he's referring to? Knowing too much is a sin huh, but how do I know what too much is? I open the book to the first page
Rya. The one forsaken by the great god… Huh? What. What does that mean… The great god? Does that mean there's someone above the old ones? The books information below that is all scratched out. Nothing is eligible.
"We need to find more books on Rya. Here read this."
He looks confused as he's reading the title, and it only grows as he flips through the pages
"What… what the fuck."
"I want to find out what happened. Everything we've ever been taught. What we really believed in was a lie… "
Something created the gods that we've been worshiping all our life. Why aren't they known? What happened… we go through more books, but they all lead to the same thing. Everything is scratched out. It looks like there was a lot of effort put into really erasing not only him but even more to what he did. Until we finally find a book…
Ryaꕁ⸷༯༮༻༺هههههᬊ༮…
Huh?
Looking at the unknown symbols causes my vision to be blurred. Whispers fill my ears along with a pain growing in my head. My eyes focus more and more onto the words as if they're drawing me in, and it is… because I want to understand it. The whispers grow louder and louder alongside the pain, I feel presence in the room with me that makes me nauseous… subtle brushes across my skin that bring shivers down my spine. My mind becomes a nesting ground of negativity…
Every passing second his mind slipped more and more into madness, yet he continued to read forward.
He created plants, animals, insects, everything that we know… and with the help of the great ones they were able to make humans. Azrael created a way of dealing with troublesome beings, that he named sinners. Rya despised this method… he stayed silent for a long time but one day he confronted azrael but he wouldn't listen to reason… so he took matters into his own hands. He used his abilities to make plants. Plants with a special poison and through countless years he spent cultivating it, perfecting it, strengthening it. Until it finally was enough to kill him, it worked… but not straight away. The injured Azrael fell to earth and soon the poison took his life…
None's brain met its limit, blood begins to trickle down his nose as he dropped the book and fell to the ground. Aiden runs over making sure he was okay, it took a minute for none to come to his senses. When he does he's immediately lost in thought.
Azrael… I've never heard of him… azrael created the old gods? Does that mean he's the one true creator? What was he doing that caused rya to go to that length? The book had one last interesting piece of text. "Rya was wiped from existence for that sin, along with his name." So did the other old ones not see a problem with what Azrael was doing? And instead they killed him for murdering their creator. It still doesn't say what he did… Rya… Even his name… I hand the book over Aiden so he can read. As he's reading I watch as his expression changes, I assume he's experiencing similar things to what I felt…
I open the journal to the note again. There's something at the bottom… it's written quite cryptic? It's hard to read. The only thing I do know is that the first word is don't. But the mess of scribbles was hard to decipher. As I focus on the letters, I begin to piece it together.
A bit too late, as it seems Aiden is able to read a little bit further…
"The one whose name was forsaken…"
D̸͉́N̷͚̊'̷̼͂T̸̝͂ ̵̢͊S̵͖̅Ä̷͈Y̴̗̓ ̸̻̓H̴̙͝I̵̝̎S̶̺̔ ̷͔͝N̴͔̿Ä̸ͅM̸̨̋E̵̳̿
Don't... Say, his name...
"Itara"
I can feel something… something in the pit of my stomach. This… this isn't right.
"Iiiiiiiiiiii...taaarrraaaaaaa…"
I can hear voices coming from all around me… as I look towards Aiden I can see blood coming from his nose, I feel it trickle down mine as well. There's a ringing in my ears… I can't get my breathing under control.
I… I feel sick…
there's a certain feeling you get when you know something bad is coming. I'm sure you've felt it before… something feels wrong… this is different than merely being in the old ones presence. This… felt more like I was their prey
"IIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTAAAAAAAAARAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!"
A piercing energy of pure hatred screams throughout both none and Aiden's soul. None's body reacted even before his brain did. Letting out a blood curdling scream as he sunk his nails into his head.
"AGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
For some reason in my mind it's somewhat calming. I can think clearly… I don't think my brain has fully processed the pain. blood is pouring out every orifice… I can see the blood dripping down onto the stone floor beneath me
My mouth,
My eyes,
My nose,
My ears,
My…
Where is it all coming from? The pounding in my head feels like someone's taking a sledgehammer directly to my brain, not the pain but the pressure... I can still hear the ringing, I can hear someone screaming too, I can't tell whether it was me or Aiden. The screams were soon drowned out by whispers and murmurs that filled my head, intensifying the pressure. My body feels so cold, yet my head feels as if it's going to explode. The coldness isn't bad... The blood is keeping me warm. The blood coming from my body…
My blood…
It hurts…
it hurts… it hurts… it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts just kill me it just it just kill me make it stop it hurts it hurts it hurts make it stop… make it stop it hurts it HURTS KILL ME KILL ME IT HURTS MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT STOP JUST FUCKING KILL ME!
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHGGGGG!"
My mind keeps thinking about what that journal said. This place isn't what it seems… I've had a few thoughts about this a few times. But this… I think this confirms it… this place is alive.