So You'd Like to be an Adventurer?

Chapter 1 - So You'd Like to be an Adventurer?

I found myself standing in what seemed to be complete darkness, however, I knew very matter of factly that just moments ago I had died.

Perhaps I had just passed out from the blood loss and am currently in hospital, or perhaps the entire ordeal was simply a bad dream and I would awake to find that I would still need to get up for work in the morning... I shuddered at the thought of it.
Going back to that joke of a job... You know what?
Maybe dying wasn't such a bad thing after all.
Although I was still full of regret that I had never gone on any adventures, and travelled around the world.

As I stood there, contemplating whether I had died and what the positives of such a situation was, a light brighter than anything I had ever seen ripped through the darkness surrounding me.
I instinctively lifted my hand to protect my eyes from the abnormally bright light source, but I found that looking into the light wasn't damaging to my eyes in the slightest.
In fact, It felt comforting, pleasurable even.
Like being embraced in the warmth and safety of an electric blanket on a winter night.
Yeah, what were you thinking I'd link it to? A loved one's embrace? What is that? Can I eat it?

As I basked in the warmth of the light, all my thoughts and worries washed away.
Soon all my thoughts were replaced with the feeling that this level of comfort wasn't enough.
I had an ever growing urge to move towards the source of the light, to allow myself to drown in its comfort.

And so I began to move.
With every step closer to the bright rip in the darkness, I felt the weight of all that I had been, my very existence fade away.
Every Step towards the light was a conscious decision to forget everything I had ever come to know, to allow myself to become something more. I walked for what seemed like hours.

As my final thoughts were leaving me, mere meters away from my goal.
A voice — So familiar, as if I had heard it all my life — called out to me, “So you'd like to be an adventurer?” The voice had broken me out of my trance, all my near forgotten memories, hopes and dreams, the very concepts that sculpted my being flooded back into me. It felt as if I had been hurled back into my body at the speed of sound.

I found myself looking to my right for the source of the sound, my eyes were greeted by the sight of what looked like a man, but it was most certainly not a man.
It was what I can only describe as the silhouette of a man, it gave off the feeling of being three-dimensional. However, I could not discern any features such as eyes or a mouth.
The being was dark just as its surroundings were.
However, it still managed to be easily identified in the bleak darkness.
As if the very fabric of reality had been condensed into this form, announcing its presence to any who's gaze would travel over it.
Upon closer inspection, I noticed that it was not as dark as I had first thought, I came to witness flashes of light occasionally emerge from the humanoid's body, only to disappear as quickly as it had formed.
Sometimes there would be several flashes appearing at once, but inevitably they all vanished into darkness once more. I was reminded of the beautiful, cold and lonely expanse of outer space.

The being made a hand gesture for me to follow it and began to walk away slowly into the darkness.
However, the warm light shone onto me even then, beckoning me to join it.
I turned to face the warm light source regretfully.
The words I had just heard played through my mind once more, 'So you'd like to be an adventurer?' the memory was fresh within my mind, and its words seemed to ignite the passion within me, it steeled my desire and I made my decision.

I turned away from the light and faced the direction that the being had walked off to, mere moments later and I would have lost sight of him in the darkness.
Quickly giving chase to the being, I walked up behind him and closely watched him, as if he threatened to disappear at any moment.
He continued to walk paying me no mind.
I had attempted to say something to the being, but I found that no matter how much I tried, I was unable to utter a single sound.

We walked for what seemed like hours, however this time I was completely aware of everything that was happening around me.
Which, needless to say, wasn't much.
After the first few minutes I found myself bored, and the first hour I spent contemplating whether 'time' was even a viable concept in this place.
I then spent a considerable amount of time attempting to will reality to speed up, and much to my disappointment, it did not.
I then began spinning theories as to what this 'place' truly was.
One of my theories was that I had fallen into a coma, and this was the inside of my mind, where I would wander around until I would eventually I wake up or die... Certainly not a comforting theory.

When even spinning crazy theories failed to amuse me any longer, I turned to more closely observe my quiet walking companion, he was around 180cm tall.
How did I know this?
Well, he looked about my height, if maybe a bit taller, but certainly stronger looking.
He had a very healthy looking figure.
Well, about as healthy as someone made out of darkness and decorated with Christmas lights could look.
I came to wonder what the texture of his odd skin would be.
As I walked closely behind him, considering whether it would be acceptable behaviour to poke his arm, He came to an abrupt halt.
I had crashed right into his back, since I had been lost in thought, but incidentally, the sudden stop had answered my nagging question; he was hard, like a brick wall.

After I had recovered my balance and moved to the being's side, he turned to face where we had been walking from, he nodded once as if confirming something to himself then turned to face me.
I tensed under what seemed like his gaze, but since he had no eyes, he may have just been looking behind me.
He then moved a step towards me and stuck out his arm putting his finger on my forehead.
I flinched ever so slightly but didn't make any attempt to move away.
As his finger touched my forehead some lights flickered along his arm, dimmed and then died out.
He then removed his finger, pointed behind me and then motioned that I spin around.
I turned around to face what seemed to be cracking fissure in the darkness.
If the light source from before made you feel lighter, then the feeling that this gave off was that it would keep you grounded to the floor.
I moved a step towards the rip in space before turning to face the being that had led me here.
He simply made a 'shooing' gesture with his hand, which ever so slightly annoyed me.

I turned back to face the fissure and then steeled myself.
It seemed that the near infinite patience of the being behind me had ran up as I felt a shove at my back, propelling me forward into the physical crack in reality.
As soon as I made contact with the anomaly it swallowed me up, and with me, my consciousness faded to nothing once more.