"It's time to wake up."
He starts. It's been so long since he's heard a voice. Since he's moved. Since he's had a real thought.
He tries to respond, but finds himself hopelessly paralyzed. For the first time in months, panic crosses his mind.
"Relax…" The voice again. It's real. He reflexively attempts to locate the source of the mysterious whisper, but finds that he cannot tap his senses. He hears nothing but crushing silence, and all that he sees before him are fields of infinite darkness. Yet the voice continues to reach him.
"You… You have the potential we sssseeeeeek?"
He can feel his body attempting to shudder at the disembodied voice's horrifying hissing, but there is no response. He remains as numb as ever.
"You… You will help Ussssss? You will help usssss… And we will give you strength…"
As it speaks, he feels his thoughts slowly becoming clearer. The voice focuses, beginning to become more coherent. He finally manages to think clearly enough to respond. "What are you?" His question is silent, but the voice hears him anyway and responds with a bone chilling cackle. Its' voices echo through every corner of his brain, shattering the silence that he's endured for months.
"Huntersssssss… We will give you ssssssstrength."
The hissing drives him mad. He wants to lash out at whatever foul beast is invading his mind, but he doesn't have the strength. As the creature speaks, he feels himself filling with inexplicable rage.
"TELL ME." Passion. It feels soothing on his dully aching brain. He's angry, but has no idea why. He tries to remember his identity, but nothing comes to him. Just more blind rage.
"You have purposssssssssse…. You are driven to hunt. Like ussssss… We will give you strength, and you will help usssssss… And we will hunt. Do you agree?"
Thoughts rush at him from every direction. After years of mental stagnation, he finds himself overwhelmed by the sudden flood of emotions.
"L-leave me alone." His anger is tinged with fear. He's unable to reach the core of his emotions, and begins to feel his mind break again.
"You need usssssssss. We will give you sssssstrength." it repeats. He can practically hear the corners of its' mouths turning up in anticipation. "You will help usssssssss. We will hunt. Do you agree?"
As if finishes, the last piece of what he was missing snaps into place. Enormous black wings envelop his mind. He knows in that moment that he'll do whatever he has to in order to get revenge on those who have taken everything from him.
"I'll do whatever you need. You just give me strength."
The voice laughs again, but this time there are many different voices. They grow louder, but are no longer menacing; they are the bells that will herald his vengeance. He finally returns to himself, and the voices join with him. For the first time in ages, he feels content in the knowledge that everything will be alright.
Author's note: Welp. Guess who's back? Oops. I've been busy over the past few months. I'll try not to do it again, but time will tell.
Anyway, about the story. I've decided to try my hand at psychological horror, so this could get morbid. I'm going to be loosely continuing from my last finished story and sort of scrapping Hero of the day. I don't know how much I'll be keeping, but this will ideally be serving as the precursor for it that I'd originally planned.
I don't really have much to say about this chapter beyond hoping that the italics carried over during the upload, but there's not much I can do there. It's been a while since I uploaded, so here's hoping it works better now. I don't really expect reviews this early in the game, but it would be nice if people could point out any errors in tenses. I caught myself slipping into past tense a few times, and I'd like to make sure I didn't let any slip through.