Chronicles of Arcadia: The Enigmatic Adventures of the Nameless Guild

ℭ𝔥𝔞𝔭𝔱𝔢𝔯 1

I was all alone. In a dark place where water has touched my feet. And yet the cold was nowhere to be felt. I gaze towards the abyss. I started to walk. Walk towards the nothingness.

The first step took me to a desert. The second took me to the city. And the third, took me to the snowy mountains.

I heard a voice behind me.

"Summer..."

We were in the cold regions of the North. It wasn't summer. No, he didn't mean the season. He meant me.

I turned towards him but the scenery changed back to the abbysal realm. The water got disrupted and was now unstable.

Before I could even utter a word, shadows started emerging from below. And pulled me to another place.

"Do you understand your position, mortal?"

Her voice echoed.

Sitting on a rusty iron arm chair. There was dark matter oozing out of it. It kept clinging unto me... From its crevices, an infinite darkness emerged, enveloping me, steadily ascending. Gradually, it ensnared me, rising relentlessly, tightening like an unseen force constricting around my neck.

It was unlike the echoes of the void. She had a tired and monotone voice that seems to hypnotize those who listened.

It was the dread Ereshkigal. She had a dark veil covering her face. She wore a cloak drench of cosmic blood that seems to be overflowing the whole place.

It was she, the one they call the Maiden of Death. The Lady of the End. Goddess of Erosion. Sustainer of Decay. Mistress of Finality. Goddess of Mortality and Dissolution. It was her I was facing now.

Wanting to erase me.

"Goddess..." I spoke, habang nakatitig lamang sa sahig. Sa walang katapusang kadiliman. The more I stare into it, the more I feel drowsy and drawn into it.

"Do you understand why you need to die?"

"I am an outsider," I answered. There was no emotion in my voice. Parang nawawala ang buhay ng boses at ekspresyon ko tuwing kaharap ko siya. It felt like my very essence eroded in her gaze, leaving me forgetful after mere moments.

She slowly raise her hand and a scythe slowly formed out of dark matter.

My eyes noticed the dark matter slowly eating and erasing my existence from where I sat. It wasn't painful...but I was helpless as I saw myself being slowly deleted out of reality. My skin slowly turning into pixels of broken substance. My face slowly being cut.

She took my gaze.

I lost sight.

Gods are...impossible to comprehend. But they truly represent their purpose. If facing Ulrae makes me die out of exposure to too much energy, Ereshkigal makes me die as my energy gets pulled or sucked out completely—disabling my senses.

She took my taste.

I lost my savor.

You can say that the Goddess of Energy pour too much water, while the Goddess of Decay drains it. They complement each other.

"I have no right to punish you as an outsider. I have no rule over order. However, what I despise most, are those who disobey the natural cycle of worlds."