chased by darkness, following the light || ateez

4 || It called out to me

Alex POV

I woke with a startle in the middle of the night.

I had heard the same chuckle in the middle of my dream, looking around my room so that my eyes could adjust to the darkness. I got out of bed and wandered over to the window. Opening it, I leaned slightly out and sat on the window sill. It was peaceful outside, I could see some fireflies dancing in the distance. I felt the wind brush against my face as the sounds of some crickets and an owl filled my ears—And then I felt it again.

I don't know how to describe that feeling, but I felt it nonetheless. I felt it calling out to me from the cave. I remembered the chuckle from my vision near the fire, then the chuckle I heard in the cave. It was the exact same chuckle, but each one gave a different feeling. Wanting to shake it off and go back to bed, I heard something.

"Come back to me."

It spoke. I don't know where it came from, but it had the same non-threatening tone from the cave.

"I don't mean any harm, I can help you."

Um— "How can you help me?" I spoke out loud, "You don't even know what I want."

"I can give you power."

My eyes widened, the voice was coming from inside my head. It wasn't me though, it was someone, or something else speaking to me. "I don't want power, I don't need power," I shivered.

"Everyone wants power, and I can give you extraordinary power."

"Not a good enough reason." Squeaking out the words; I tried, and fail, to sound confident.

"Why not? This power is not something just anyone can handle. But you can~"

"Why not give it to someone who both wants it and can handle it, because I don't want it." I objected back at the voice. Gaining a foothold in the conversation, I felt more calm and collected. I've never wanted to be powerful, rich, or a person of status. It never appealed to me. Living a simple life was the only thing I wanted, especially after what happened two years ago.

"It's your destiny..."

Shaking my head, the voice faded into nothing.

But I still felt pulled towards it, I was stuck in a trance-like state. Next thing I knew I was in front of the cave entrance, still in my sleeping clothes.

Looking down at my feet, they were covered in mud and grass from the walk. Did I not put on shoes when leaving? It was late, and I started to shake from the lack of a coat or anything to keep me warm.

Taking a step into the cave I heard the same voice from earlier, but instead of it coming from inside my head, it came from the same dark spot of the cave from yesterday. Someone, or something, was there and speaking to me.

"So, you decided to come?"

"Are there others that can handle your special power?" I asked in the calmest way possible, trying to conceal my fear when mentioning the power it spoke of earlier.

Truthfully, I wanted nothing to do with any power, so I was hoping that it would say yes so it would leave me alone. I just wanted to go home. But I can't. At least not to that home anymore, I have a new home now.

"There have been others," it paused for a moment, "One, more recently."

"So why do you need me, am I an extra addition to your collection?" I grumbled, strangely gaining confidence to snap back at the voice.