Memoriae (The Arcana Game)

I- Darkness

Everything was dark. So, so dark.

I didn't know where I was.

In the distance I could hear waves crashing against the shore and the rustling of leaves against the breeze. However, it sounded distorted, a little muffled. I listened carefully for anything else but there was nothing. No other sign of life. No animals. No humans.

I was alone.

I couldn't move or speak. The gods know I had tried.

I had no recollection of how I got here. The events leading to this had vanished from my mind. What had happened before this point was a mystery. I had no memory of my life, family, friends, loved ones. I couldn't even remember my own name.

Was I being punished? If so, what was my crime? Did I do something so truly terrible to end up here?

Even the passage of time was an enigma. There was no sun for me to track as it travelled across the sky. It felt as though only seconds had passed, but it could have been hours, or even days.

I was trapped and yet...

I felt nothing.

No fear. No sadness. No anger.

Nothing.

My heart should have been beating rapidly; my palms sweating and my breath quickening. But there was none of that. Only a tugging sensation in my chest that got stronger and stronger. There was a strange sense of calm flowing through me. It was as if I had accepted my fate, whatever that was. But why?

As if to answer my questions, the calm was suddenly broken. The sound of the world became clearer. The waves crashed against the shore more violently. Then the sounds of footsteps getting closer and closer. A voice shouted something, but it was too far away to work out what.

Arms enveloped me in an embrace as I was held against someone. I could feel the figure's warmth against my own skin. Their touch siphoned the darkness away and replaced it with a bright light. Slowly the world formed around me, but as blurry shapes. Water fell onto my cheek as the figure rocked us back and forth. All the while they whispered something like a mantra.

A name.

And then I felt blinding pain as the darkness took control once again.