Decaying North: To Wake is to Dream

[Set in Stone] Chapter 1 - Guardian of Stone

Kyrie, Eleison. We are bound to this cold wasteland, by a will not thy own.

•••

"Where the hell am I...?"

I had said to myself that day. My tattered winter coat shielded me from most of the cold, while my ignition bracelet kept me warm. I had somehow forgotten my scarf that morning, which I rarely ever do, especially since the Decay. It's usually not cold enough outside to have been a problem for many, but I'd been spending my entire day in the Decay, and that cold can eventually add up. Not that I'm actually cold, but I have to channel more and more spirit to keep myself warm. It's not fun constantly draining lifeforce to simply stay warm.

Oddly, I had been covered in snow earlier, with my entire coat hood packed with snow. This was despite the fact that it hadn't snowed since I left my home at what I assume was dawn. Now, it was probably evening, judging by how much darker the already black clouds had gotten since then.

I suddenly feel that something is wrong with my location, like I'm disoriented. I know I've been here before, but it doesn't feel like it. I feel like it was the first time in my life being here, even though I've traveled this route numerous times. Yet I feel like I've repeated this moment a hundered times over. I haven't sensed any abnormalities since last month, and even then there was only a singular infant Folatr. Elder Folatr's aren't really problematic for me either, I've fought at least a hundred so it's nothing new.

I've lived out here in the Decay since before it froze over. I've counted maybe... four years since that day, though I may be wrong. The day when mine and everybody's lives went downhill. The snowstorm, now named the 'Decay' cut off all of our communications with the outside world, so I don't even know if there is hope outside of the Boundless Barrier.

"Ah..."

I take my mind off of the past and turn my head to the right, sensing what I felt earlier. I stare across the dull and dark tundra of white snowfall, the unchanging dark-black clouds building up suspense in my mind.

I put my left hand on the longsword handle on my back. The blade shattered a while ago, so I just use it as a base for a stone sword. Like that little blond guy who just had a handle as his sword.

Observing my surroundings, I can see a glowing outline of something around 20 meters away, coming from the ground, presumably a gas. I wouldn't have been able to see it without Soul Sight, the ability to see the Soul flow. For whatever reason the gas is here, it must be dangerous. I can't pretend like anything and everything WILL try to kill me out here in the Decay, even nature itself.

And yet, nothing happens.

Not a single sound, not a single vibration within the earth. The only thing I sense is my heart pounding rapidly in my chest. My legs having also gone slightly numb from the cold a little while ago, due to canceling the spirit channeling through the ignition bracelet in anticipation of a monster.

*sigh–

I breathe a sigh of relief, while a cloud from my breath appears, floats, and disappears in front of me. It's not like I'm currently in the position to fight. I need to find out my location first. Whether or not I've been here, I don't know the directions to my home from here. That is my current number one issue.

I naturally follow my footsteps, of which I was once somewhere I recognized. But I can't seem to follow my tracks for more than ten steps. I somehow keep steering off-trail every time I lose focus. I feel... delirious. Nauseous. Exhausted. I could have sworn I felt fine a few minutes ago... why the hell am I...

"So damn... tired...,"

My thoughts are delayed alongside my physical responses. This is terrible. I have to get back home before I encounter anything like this.