Sing for the Moment

Into the dark zone (unfinished, probably will be finished some time next year)

"Exspiravit eh? Given who yours is I really shouldn't be surprised" bellum spoke, seemingly amused, seeming to know already about the figure. "How-" exspiravit started before being cut off by bellum. "You're late, that's how, we've been waiting on him to pick someone for a while now." He finished before moving to Exspiravit.

     Starting to undo the bindings, bellum spoke with a friendlier tone "but, since you're here now, that means step two can start" as he finished the sentence he stepped back, untying Exspiravit seeming to be a trivial task. "Step two?" They spoke, their face shifting to one of confusion as they rubbed their wrists before standing.

     "Yeah, did he not tell you?" Bellum raised an eyebrow as their head shook in denial. "I... actually don't remember much from before waking up, last thing i remember was a bright flash of light, and violent shaking." Their voice full of confusion as they tried recalling what had happened, pain shooting through their head once again as they wince.

     "Ah, so it happened to you too? Fair enough, it happens from time to time, better fix that for ya, so come on" bellum spoke as they grabbed the handle of the door, opening it and walking off, exspiravit following behind. "Where are we heading?" Exspiravit asked, a hint of curiosity muddled in with confusion

Bellum looked back to Exspiravit as he walked, eyeing them up for a second before looking back to where he was going. "First, we're heading to see our resident DOC, and then we're getting you your stuff back so we can move this shit along" Bellum explained calmly. Arriving at a door, Bellum reached up and pounded on the door "OI, Morbus, open up!"

     He stopped pounding on the door as the sound of footsteps grew louder from inside. The door swung open, revealing a small, obviously angry, person, staring up towards the towering form of bellum, their face hidden behind what looked to be a white mask of sorts, a green can on the left side.

     "Hmph?" The small figure spoke, crossing their arms, as bellum reached up and tapped his own face "doc, mask, we dont speak mumbles" the person held up a finger, as if to argue, before realizing and nodding. Reaching up, they pull the mask off their head, a mop of mid length, deep red hair falling free, as they tuck the mask under their arm, their green eyes falling on bellum once more as they spoke "i said, what?" Their voice sounded tired.

     "Well, our newest member here is having some memory problems, something you should be able to fix, yes?" Bellum phrased it as a question, but it was clear by the face on morbus that it was more of an order than a request. "Bring them in" morbus sighed as they turned around and walked away, followed behind by bellum and exspiravit.

     Morbus motioned for exspiravit to take a seat before waving bellum away, whom nodded and walked off, shutting the door behind himself. "So, what DO you remember?" Morbus asked as they placed down their mask on a nearby table, turning to face the confused exspiravit. "Not much, just the fact that i woke up in some strange... capsule? Something or other, and that something in my dreams keeps calling me exspiravit" they explained, confusion laced in with mild fear, especially with how real their 'dreams' felt.

     Sighing, morbus spoke with a tone of sorrow, as well as knowing "well, the good news is that i can help you, the bad news is that it wont be how you like it" morbus explained as they looked through cabinets around the room, which definitely did not seem like a doctors office. "What do you mean?" Expsiravit asked as they tilted their head, eyes flicking around the room as they studied the room.

     "I mean, that I can help you face the problem, but only you can fix it" morbus, after finding what they were looking for, produced a syringe and a vial of liquid from the cabinet, walking back to exspiravit. "Now, once I inject this into you, im gonna need you to count backwards from ten, you remember how to do that, yes?" Morbus asked as they prepared the syringe with the liquid.

     "I believe I remember, yeah" exspiravit nodded as they were guided down by morbus onto their back, a small pain pricking their neck as morbus injected them, followed by exspiravit counting backwards. As their vision slowly filled with spots, their muscles relaxed, before they slipped into unconsciousness.

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     Opening their eyes, Exspiravit found themself in what appeared to be a snowy forest, trees as tall as the sky around them. Sitting up slowly, they looked around, seeing the snow slowly fall around them, the scene was serene. Then a smell hit them, not an unpleasant one, rather, a familiar one, wood smoke. Listening for a second, they heard the soft crackling of a camp fire behind them, turning their head they spotted it, a small camp fire, surrounded by stones, burning softly, with two chairs next to it.

Standing up, they walked over to the campfire, the soft crunching of the snow under their boots barely audible as they walked closer to the fire. Stopping short of the fire, they would stare into it for a few moments, enjoying the warmth it provided. As they stared into the fire, their thoughts started to drift, questioning about where they were, before a whistle caught their attention.

Looking to their side, their blood froze, a ringing filled their ears for a moment as they spotted the cloaked figure sitting on one of the chairs, his hands busying themselves on cleaning a knife. "Sit" he spoke with a demanding tone, his voice cutting through the ringing in their ears like a hot knife through butter,  motioning with one hand to the other chair, before going back to what he was doing.

Exspiravit's body moved before his brain did, sitting down, they stared at the figure. "Where-?" They went to speak before being cut off by the figure. "Where we are does not matter exspiravit, all will be revealed in time, you're here because you wish to know of your past, right?" The figure spoke calmly yet firmly, their molten gold eyes glancing up at exspiravit, whom nods in affirmation.

     "Well then, I guess i can help you out there" the figure holds up the clean knife, inspecting it, before sheathing it. "Long as it means you get back to doing what you do best" the figure stood up, reaching a hand into their cloak and tossing something to exspiravit, a whistle cutting through the air from the figure, before a dark mist rolls off them, enveloping them, before they disappear.

Catching the object with a light clinking sound, expiravit looks down at it, opening their palm to reveal a chain with two tags attached, both saying the same info.