It's strange.
Of the past eight hundred days of my existence, every night has been spent in this peculiar realm.
No matter how hard I try, I can't escape it. It exists almost like a labyrinth yet it has no tangible walls or obstacles to hinder my path.
However, is it truly even my path?
After all, the outcome is always the same. I don't have any real say in it.
All I can do is to keep walking on these endless panels of mirrors till I reach it.
Oh, there it is.
The clouds of red.
However surely, that can't be all there is to this realm of reflections.
Hah... my steps are already starting to get heavier.
I wonder if I can get any closer than last time, after all I'd prefer to figure something out at the very least once this is all over.
Alas, I think that will have to be for another day. I cannot move forward anymore... but what is that? Could that perhaps be a-
...
My eyes suddenly opened to the sight of a dusty wooden ceiling. Vibrant light spilled out through the quartered circle window and I felt the familiar hum of the Grand Marrowlight throughout my body.
"Never mind..." I whispered to myself.
Some time had passed since I had awoken and I found myself joining the other crew members at the canteen.
It had already been two years since I had joined the Black Root Contractors Guild which was around the same timeframe as when I started to receive the recurring dreams. Although, I don't know if there is any real connection between those two events.
In all honesty, the Black Root Contractors Guild was a dying service. They specialized in retrieving artifacts and valuables for wealthy individuals and naturally, their business did extremely well during wars and times of chaos however such time periods have been long gone since the treaty of Verda had been signed.
Either way, it's not like I even joined this guild during wartime so in the end it doesn't even matter.
My thought process was then disturbed by a cheery voice.
"Wait a second! Is that Sorrin I see over there? You sure are up early!" Renn said in a sunny tone as he walked towards me with a hefty plate of food in his hands and a grin amicable enough to match it.
How does he always manage to seem so lively at seven in the morning?
He sat down on the seat across from me so now we managed to become the two lone bums at the edge of the tables away from everybody else.
Not that anybody cares either way.
"You almost never come down here for breakfast, whats with the sudden switch-up today?" Renn asked with his typical playful tone.
I genuinely pondered this question for a while.
Honestly, I didn't know myself why I was here.
A brief awkward moment passed in silence before I finally spoke.
"I suppose... I felt hungry." I said in a half-hearted tone.
Near instantaneously, Renn responded.
"Likewise, my friend! I often find myself in this wondrous place too when I'm famished." He said with great exuberance.
Is... Is he being serious or sarcastic?
"Ah, I see..." I said slowly.
After finishing my breakfast I decided to head up to the main deck with a warm cup of coffee in my hands.
The sight was breath-taking as always.
There was something introspective in seeing the entirety of various huge landmasses and the seemingly infinite bodies of water that you would normally have a very limited perspective of.
Not to mention being able to see all that from a bird's eye view.
However after not even one second of gazing upon the horizon, one landmass stood out far from the rest.
Is that Verda island? The World Tree is looking just as colossal as ever, huh? I guess it's considered to be divine for good reason.
Even from the clouds, the World Tree loomed.
It's base nearly took up the entirety of an island known as Verda and has acted as the center of the known world for centuries. It's roots were said to wrap around the core of our Earth and its Crown said to reach the heavens itself. Frankly, it was so impossibly huge that nobody knew where or how it came into creation, and when people don't know how something came to be they tend to blame it on the gods.
"Ah, enjoying the view my friend?" Renn said mischievously having snuck up behind me.
I was a little startled, but quickly regained my composure.
"Are you here to also gaze upon the World Tree by chance?" I said feeling only slightly annoyed.
He laughed a little and set his eyes on the World Tree.
"Sarcasm doesn't suit you." he said in a somewhat pensive tone.
"You know, you still never told me about how exactly you manage to act like you are still able to see. For a blind man, you navigate yourself pretty well." I said while keeping my eyes fixed on the World Tree.
"But I've already told you!" he said looking a bit hurt.
"You mean that 'flow' nonsense? Do you take me for a fool?" I responded with a tint of animosity in my voice.
"Well of course not, but it really is true." he said.
I scoffed at the notion.
"So you're telling me that you possessed so much of this strange mystical energy that it took your vision but gave you the ability to see the energy itself? Seems like a horrible deal to me." I said sarcastically.
"I mean- well... It has it's uses every now and then." he answered sheepishly.
A brief moment of silence passed before a sudden spark of curiosity overcame me.
I glanced at Renn for a brief moment then glanced back at the World Tree.
"Then tell me Renn, what exactly do you see when you look upon the World Tree?" I asked, expecting a half-hearted reply without much sustenance.
Renn eyes widened a little in surprise as he glanced towards me.
Then in a much more serious tone he began to speak.
"If you really want to know, what I see makes me want to puke and gouge my own eyes out... For the thing that stands ever so valiantly in the horizon is nothing more than the sheer and utter depravity of the oldest origins."