1 Prologue - Born In The Dark

It was dark.

I couldn't move, smell, hear or taste anything, but most of all, the deprivation of my sight had the greatest effect on me. It was so dark here that closing your eyes would have probably been brighter than keeping them open, the pitch-black space all around me was something I just couldn't get used to. Some days I could hear it all but laughing at me, and on others, the deafening silence it resonated would consume my thoughts just the same. 

It was a void. A place where it felt like literally nothing existed, and that notion wasn't too far from the truth. There was no solid ground, trees, or even sounds here, and for that matter there definitely weren't any people either. I was simply adrift, floating amidst the empty space for what now felt like an eternity. Often times it would feel as if I was trapped in a black box, but instead of having a definite volume, it kept on expanding towards infinity. 

Save for the maddening darkness, I had mostly gotten used to the loud silence and lifeless air that surrounded me in all directions, but no matter how hard I tried, I could never find comfort here. 

I didn't even know how long I'd been here to begin with, A hundred years? A thousand perhaps? 

Sometimes it felt like I'd always been here, and other times an odd sense of discomfort and unfamiliarity would wash over me like I had just got here. It didn't matter, time had lost its meaning in this lightless expanse, and if time had lost its meaning here, then apparently my body did as well. I no longer felt any urges of hunger or fatigue, it was like the state of my body itself had been frozen. 

 As expected of a hapless void, it was an exceedingly cold and lonely place. There was nothing directly harming me here but there was just an innate cruelty to be felt after being treated to the absolute indifference this place offered. 

I don't know how I got here, and the very first memory I can remember was me looking out at absolutely nothing. Staring out into the dark, the abyssal void could only stare back and sure enough there wasn't anyone here to answer my questions either. 

In all my time here, there were only two things I could concretely remember, the first was a single word -"Devourer" . 

I didn't know what it meant, but it was the only thing that firmly latched on to the very core of my mind. The second thing was the fact that there was something I needed to do, I had no way of knowing what this "thing" was, but this single thought would never ease up its persistence. 

 Whatever the task was, the only thing I could say for sure was that there was a long way to getting it done. All semblances of escaping from this place had long drifted to the very back of my mind, slowly being consumed by the darkness each day. 

If I was already here by the time I gained consciousness, then how did I get here? 

Did I just pop into existence, or is there something else I'm missing? 

Questions plagued my mind every single waking second, with no way to confirm or deny my swirling thoughts, the only thing I was left with was despair. 

It doesn't matter... 

As I formed those final cryptic thoughts, just about ready to relinquish my consciousness to lethargy, something changed. 

There was...light. 

A small orb of pale white light had materialized in the daunting darkness. 

The sight of the shining sphere left me completely mesmerized, so much so that I thought I was experiencing my first ever dream since coming here. I couldn't even tell if my eyes were open or not, so I decided to believe in what was happening in front of me now. 

The sphere of light, despite its small size appeared exceedingly bright, but in the face of such oppressive darkness the luminous glow it emitted was far more than enough. Just being able to confirm that light did exist in the first place was an achievement in itself. 

The swirling sphere remained stationary for a few moments, growing larger by the second and as I watched it happen right in front of me, I felt something. 

I don't know how to describe it, but the feeling I was now experiencing was something other than despair. It welled up inside my chest with each passing moment, as if in sync with the ball of light before me and as they both reached a new peak, the ball of light exploded into a blinding flash, illuminating both the void like darkness and my stagnant form for the very first time. 

("...ear...") 

("...dear.....") 

After that magnificent flash of light, everything had changed. I don't know what exactly happened, but one thing was now clear, I was no longer in that void, the euphoric rush my body was now experiencing was clear proof of that. 

A flood of new sensations assaulted my body. Touch, sense, smell, ...one by one, my plundered senses began returning to me in short order, the only one yet to return was my sight. At first, I had completely lost track of how to process the sudden inputs, so for the time being I decided to completely surrender my body to them. I felt it shiver, as if my primal instincts had suddenly reactivated and my body was now renouncing itself to the glee of all the sensations this world had to offer. 

("Look dear! His eyes are opening now!") 

("Thank Heavens.....he's alright....") 

Two voices rang out, I didn't exactly know what they were saying or who they belonged to, but I was just glad to be hearing anything at all. 

("Doctor, how is he?") 

("No need to worry ma'am, he's stabilized now. Would you like to hold him?") 

("Y-Yes please.") 

("I'll let your husband do the honors then-here, you can take him over to your wife.") 

("Thank You...") 

I felt the sensation of something warm gripping my sides, and slowly displacing my position. For some reason, my body felt oddly moist, and the warmth now coursing through it grew more distinct by the second. 

("See you could.....it after all.... Oh, I suppose..... introd...tions....are.....order.") 

Whatever this person was saying, I was slowly starting to get the hang of it. The cacophony of sounds up until now had only sounded like gibberish to me, but I slowly became able to identify words being said to me and started sticking them together soon afterwards. It didn't always go that smoothly though, I clearly needed practice, but it was better than nothing. 

("...llo...Arl.....n.....I'm.....da...") 

Huh? 

 It sounded as if they had just said something extremely important. Deciphering the sentences around me was taking far too long so I decided to risk in all on a gamble. Focusing all my strength, I hastily tried to pry my own eyes open with every ounce of willpower I could muster. 

Slowly separating my eyelids, light seeped in and tickled my retinas. It didn't feel as overbearing as the sphere of light did just moments ago, but akin to a more subdued version of the sensation. Finally managing to sort out my now distorted vision, I immediately turned towards the source of the echoing soundwaves. 

("Hello Arlen, I'm your dad.") 

An inaudible sound left my throat, I was now finally grasping the depth of my current situation. 

It appears I had been reincarnated through some unknown means, that was surprising enough in and of itself, but what had truly left me stupefied was a single realization just now clicking in my mind. 

These people were all human.