Being sent to Hell to suffer for all of eternity would be a fate most wouldn't wish upon their greatest enemies. Though Reinhard found himself in that horrible place without any recollection of what he did to deserve such an extreme punishment.
He had nobody to turn to, and had no clue of where to go. The heat generated from the beams of the three suns caused Reinhard to completely soak his clothes in sweat in only the span of a few minutes.
He took off his white jacket and threw it over his shoulder, and removed his gloves, stuffing them in his pockets, unsure if he would need them. Removing his warm clothing did little to relieve him from the heat. His tongue had gone completely dry like sandpaper. It wouldn't be long until he succumbed to the effects of dehydration or heat stroke.
With no other choice presented to him, Reinhard began to wander across the vast and seemingly endless desert. Hoping to find literally anything that could provide him relief from the hot desert climate.
Unfortunately the only things he could see were purple petal trees that provided little shade, if any at all, hills of red sand, tall mountains that can be seen in the far distance, and a few disturbing looking most unsettling thing he would notice would be the several dead and decomposed human corpses lying in the sand. Some decomposed to the point of being nothing more but skeletal remains.
Clearly Reinhard wasn't the first to go through Hell itself. Many had been sent there, but only the fittest survived, that was if survival was even a possibility. Their dead corpses were littered all over the desert, left to burn in the suns and for other cursed souls to stumble upon. Without any sight of water or reliable shade, Reinhard didn't know how much time he had left before becoming another dead body left in the sand where he would most likely remain for eternity.
A couple hours went by and it was growing slightly past noon. Reinhard was unable to find a single drop of water, bite of food, or bit of shade. He was growing weaker with each passing second. It was getting to the point he had to muster everything he had left in him just to take another small step forward.
Eventually he couldn't take it anymore and succumbed to his extreme exhaustion and collapsed onto the ground face first. He felt like he was being cooked alive, feeling the beams of the hot suns burning into his skin as he lay still on the ground.
Knowing he was close to a small tree that blossomed purple petals, he dragged his tired body through the ground to get under the tree. Savoring the little shade it provided.
After a few moments he passed out into unconsciousness and awoke a few hours later. It was early dusk and the suns began to slowly set into the horizon, making the heat slightly more bearable. Reinhard was still exhausted, though he had regained some energy. Enough to allow him to stand back up onto his own two feet.
The little shade provided by the tree saved him from getting any major type of sunburn.
Reinhard began to walk once more. Going in a completely random direction hoping to find anything helpful from civilization to a small oasis. After a bit of walking he looked down to the ground when he noticed faint but visible tracks of what seemed to be a carriage. Hoping the trail would lead him somewhere he began to follow the tracks only to be brought to the very edge of a steep cliff where the tracks cut off. The cliff was high enough to give Reinhard a good view of the desert.
He looked directly down the cliff and noticed the wreck of an old wooden carriage below. All the items stored on it were scattered all over the ground combined with pieces of the carriage. Hoping the wreck had something useful for him, Reinhard began to make his way down the steep and rocky cliff.
Because of his exhaustion from all the walking he was unable to keep a steady balance while descending. Around half way down he tripped on a small rock sending him tumbling down the remainder of the cliff. Causing him to hit many sharp rocks on the way down causing excruciating pain. His fall only being broken by the hard ground below in which he slammed into back first
Miraculously he was able to stand back up surviving the fall having only a few cuts and bruises. He knew he was extremely lucky to not have broken any bones or suffered any serious head injury.
He was slow in getting up, but was alive nonetheless. His body ached from the fall, but that didn't stop him from investigating the remains of the carriage of which he was now close to. The first thing he saw was the dead and decomposed corpses of two horses that were close to becoming skeletal remains.
The carriage had been tipped over and one of its wheels was completely detached. Near the front Reinhard found another dead body who he assumed to be the driver. Though something felt off at the state of the decomposing corpse.
Unlike all the others, Reinhard noticed visible injuries, ones not normally caused by a fall. At the top of the man's head Reinhard could see a small hole sized injury that went through the body's forehead. The same injury could be found on his chest. Both injuries seemed obviously fatal to Reinhard but he had no idea what caused them.
He began to survey the area inspecting every item that fell out of the carriage. He found a small box full of some small silver and large coins. Inspecting the coins he knew they were used as currency though he had no clue of which country used them.
The only other things Reinhard could find in the wreckage were a couple of dusty blankets, damaged pots, empty wooden boxes, smashed bottles of glass, and an unfamiliar mechanism made out of rusty and decayed metal found not too far from the dead driver.
It caught Reinhard's attention, he picked it up and began to examine it wanting to know its purpose. It had a long barrel extending outwards and a rotating cylinder with six small chambers in the middle. One of the cylinders was in line with the barral. At the top end there was a metal latch with a trigger resting at the bottom of the barrel. All finished off with an old wooden grip.
Reinhard pulled the hammer at the top end pack causing the mechanism to let out a click as the barrel rotated causing a different chamber to line up with the barrel. Laying a finger on the trigger he slowly added force and with enough given the gun let out a loud blast and roar as a small cylinder came soaring out of the barrel and shot into the wooden carriage.
It was obvious to Reinhard that the mechanism he was holding was used as some sort of weapon. Since the injuries found on the driver were obviously created using a mechanism like the one he was holding.
Having a feeling the weapon was going to be useful to him, Reinhard decided to keep it on him. Not knowing what type of dangers he would stumble upon in Hell.
Taking a look inside the flipped over carriage Reinhard only found more of the same. He found a small box and opened it to find only cheap and worthless jewels. Though there was a nifty antique pocket mirror that caught his eye. The metal looked a lot cleaner and shiny than the rest. Even being studded with valuable looking red and blue gems.
Picking it up, Reinhard opened it up to look at his reflection in the small dusty yet crackless mirror. Noticing how his head took quite the beating from when he fell down the cliff.
All of sudden a black shadow started to appear in the tiny mirror that took the form of a person, it had no eyes though Reinhard felt as if it was looking back at him and staring directly into his soul. "Finally," A mysterious voice said from the mirror. The shadow soon leaped out of the pocket mirror and traveled directly into Reinhard's arm giving him this weird tingly feeling.
He saw his veins turning black in his arms as the shadow continued to absorb into him. Out of sheer panic he dropped the gun and pocket mirror as the shadow continued to absorb into his body. Reinhard felt something weird travel through every area from his arms to his legs. And soon his control over his movement started to become more difficult as if something was interfering.
"Remain calm, lost soul, I need this body now." A mysterious voice said, Reinhard hearing it in his mind.
"Whose voice is that!?" Reinhard yelled out as he began to hyperventilate.
"Look if you make this easy nothing bad will happen to you"
"What are you talking about!? Why are you in my head!?"
"Calm down! This body's mine now! Take a moment to relax."
"This can't be happening…"
"I need this body, I am in control now, obey me!"
"You are in my body, and I am in no obligation to listen or take any orders from you!" Reinhard retorted. "Now tell me who you are, and what you're doing in my-" Reinhard was cut off as his right hand suddenly gripped his throat tight. He attempted to take his right hand off though the being who possessed him held firm as the two fought for control.
"I guess you wanna do this the hard way! One more word out of you tough guy and I will strangle the life out of you using your own hand!" The mysterious voice said as he continued to strangle Reinhard. Though using his left hand Reinhard pulled his right hand off of his throat allowing him to breath. "Dammit!" The voice yelled out in frustration as Reinhard took back control.
"Fine, I guess I'll play along with your little games. But you have to obey everything I say!" The voice said as he let Reinhard move around freely.
"Don't order me around!" Reinhard said.
"That's quite the tone you have in your voice. Just shut up and listen, then do as your told"
"No, not until you tell me the reason why you are trying to possess me!"
"Look if you gonna make such a big fuss over this, pick up that pocket mirror and I will transfer my soul back into that. But you are still going to listen to everything I say? Do I make myself clear?"
"F-Fine, just get out of my mind! Now, where did I drop that pocket mirror?" Reinhard said as he looked around all over the ground.
"It's right here, I guess I'll do it for you since you can't seem to see properly." The voice said as he took control of Reinhard's hand and grabbed onto the pocket watch.
"Didn't we agree that I was the one in control?" Reinhard said, with annoyance in his voice.
"Yeah, yeah, quit your whining already." The voice said. A flood of black shadows appeared out of Reinhard's arm and chest leading back into the pocket mirror retaking to form of a dark shadow in the form of a person. "Happy now?" The mysterious being asked, its voice now coming from the pocket mirror.
"Well I'm not too thrilled at the fact that a mysterious spirit tried to take control of my body against my will and attempted to strangle me"
"Heh, fair enough…"
"Mind telling what you are exactly?"
"How about you first tell me something about yourself."
"My sincerest apologies to you, but I cannot do that unfortunately, because I simply do not have any recollection of who I am. I don't even remember my own name or how I even got here…"
"That's ruff, did you hit your head on a rock or something? I see all those cuts and bruises on your head."
"It wasn't caused by a head injury… I don't think so anyways… You see, a couple hours ago I woke up in the middle of this desert and it all started from there. I wandered around for a bit and eventually stumbled into this carriage wreck and… Here we are. What about you?"
"I'm nothing special, just a lone and lost soul that was sealed and cursed in a pocket mirror long ago. Just waiting for a fool like you to come along, so I could finally break the seal"
"How long have you been trapped inside this pocket mirror?"
"My spirit has been sealed in here for many years spanning many centuries…"
"Centuries?"
"Yes centuries, look, something important needs to be achieved and it can only be done through you. This is serious business, one that concerns all of humanity. That is why I need you to listen to me or else I'm just going to take control of you and do it myself. There is little room for negotiation"
"Why must you be so forceful and aggressive about getting my cooperation? I don't think there was any need to take control of my body and strangle me with my own hand when you first saw me. "
"I'm just looking for TOTAL cooperation, dedication, and commitment because like I said this crisis involves humanity. Now are you with me or not?
"I guess I don't have much of a choice now do I?"
"At least I gave you the liberty of choosing how you want to go about it. Just remember the fact that you take orders from me now. One act of disobedience and I will take back control of that body of yours, so no funny business. Got it? Just trust me, no questions need to be asked."
"F-Fine, I-I promise to cooperate. But… How can I know that I can trust you?"
"Because your survival is now of my utmost priority. Listen to what I say, and you will live to see another day. I need you more than you need me. We may have not gotten off on the right foot, but you are essential in stopping the greater evil, something I pledged my entire existence to destroying. But in order to do that I need your support. So can I trust you also?"
"Y-Yes you can trust me. All I ask is that you tell me about this greater evil and this crisis that involves humanity."
"I'll let you in on the big secret, but the first thing you wanna do is get some shelter before suns set. Last thing anybody wants is to be outhere when the stalkers come out. My soul and spirit has been trapped here for many years. Centuries like I told you. I know this land well, there is a large mountain with a giant cave not too far from here. I'll give you directions, and you better hurry because the suns are setting fast. It won't be long until they come out to hunt. Also take that gun you tossed on the ground, a weapon like that is essential to surviving out here."
"A-Alright then, t-though can I inquire more about these stalkers? It's just that I wouldn't dream about using such a weapon on another person without good cause."
"Wouldn't worry. Stalkers are anything but human. They're brutal monsters that come out at night to hunt anything that lives and breathes. I wouldn't shoot them unless it's a last resort, they have good hearing and loud noises such as a gun shot might attract the pack. Also one more thing one more thing to add, keep this pocket mirror open, I wanna spend some time looking at the sunlight once more."
