0.9 Origin of the First

Arun was just like any other normal human being, he was a simple village boy and lived his life as such, he participated in farming, tending to animals, plowing the fields, manning the well day in and day out. Though his family was not rich nor owned a lot of land, he lived a good and satisfying life with his parents, little sister, and the many friends he made in the village.

But one day, after hours and hours of working the fields and playing with the nearby village kids he went to sleep, just like every day, but instead of a normal dream, he had dreamt of a giant pitch-black dragon soaring through the sky, breathing a strange purple mistlike substance down on villages and cities as it looked down on them with its glowing violet-colored eyes.

He couldn't tell what the mist did, but he heard screams, and that was enough to know it was at least destructive.

However, He found, as odd as it was, he wasn't particularly fearful of the strange creature, although he didn't know what it was he could tell it was very powerful, very dangerous and if its size was anything to go off, it could flatten his home village with ease, and yet Arun never felt any negative emotion towards or from it, just an odd sensation that tugged at the back of his mind.

When he woke up he found he was not in his bed but outside instead during the middle of the night, he looked around confused and found his house right behind him with the door closed shut? weird.

But ultimately he dismissed this occurrence as nothing too strange as his father often sleepwalks. 'Maybe it's hereditary?' Arun thought and he then walked back into his house and went back to bed, dreaming of a vast field filled with corn.

When Arun next woke up he did his dailies, waking up his lazy and loudly snoring sister, he didn't know how he nor his parents could sleep through all the noise she made, setting his and his sister's bedsheets, going outside, and feeding the cows and pigs they raised on their farm, and finally heading inside to wash up and eat at the dinner table with his family.

He had done this many times, and he was confident he could do this with his eyes closed if he really needed to, it didn't bother him, this mundane and boring life. As long as he had his family he was content spending the remainder of his life here.

But for some reason, there was an itch at the back of his mind.

During breakfast, he recalled the strange dream he had.

The giant creature that could fly through the sky like the morning birds was very interesting to the farm boy. Yes, he had heard of fairy tales of such majestic animals and of forbidden magicks but not once did any of those tales describe the creature he dreamt of so part of him was confused as to where such a vivid image of that beast came from.

He didn't even notice he wasn't eating the food his mother cooked for him and as you would expect, that garnered her attention.

Wanting to know why he hadn't touched his food, His mother called out to him, knocking him out of his internal rant and making him finally notice his full plate as well.

"Arun are you feeling unwell?" his mother asked concerned for him, and he responded with "Yes mother I am fine, why do you ask?" finishing with a reassuring smile. It wasn't good to worry his mother, her body was already weak and he didn't want her fussing over him needlessly and expending excess energy because he was lost in thought.

Arun's mother looked at the smile on her son's face and decide that it wasn't too important, kids often do strange things.

After eating Arun took the plates, and silverware to the kitchen and went on with his day.

Tending to the farm.

Plowing the fields.

Watering the plants.

Fixing the broken fence.

Visiting the village and playing with the kids.

He went on like this for the next 7 months with him just pushing the dream to the back of his mind and forgetting about it. At least that's what he had hoped, but unfortunately for him, the dreams and images of the black beast became more frequent and more detailed as well.

After a long day of work, he went home with a frown on his face.

The itch was getting bigger, the dreams longer, the images clearer.

He had tried to just block it out, but that only made it more intense than before so he just let it be, and it was irritating, to say the least as it never lessened and as the days went on he was having more and more trouble doing his normal tasks.

No one had noticed but that wasn't to say they wouldn't in the future and that was somewhat of a problem to Arun. Yes, it was more of an annoyance than anything detrimental but it still bugged him and he wanted to get rid of said itch.

While walking home alone at night he was so lost in thought, thinking of ways to solve this issue, that he didn't notice the eyes peering at him hidden in the darkness of the dense forest.

Only when he heard the crunch of leaves being stepped on did he look up from the ground and what he saw widened his eyes.

A very large man, standing in front of him and looking down at him with its glowing purple eyes, skin black as night, and a figure akin to just skin wrapped around bones.

Arun was surprisingly not even fearful in the slightest, he had no clue where this man came from nor even what this man was, but he didn't fear the man.

He knew it couldn't be human, its skin was wound too tight against its skeletal structure that there was literally no room for internal organs, his mother was a doctor and had many books on human anatomy so he knew this much at least.

Its outer form slightly resembled an anorexic human male but it was not one, not with those glowing purple eyes shining from its hollow skull.

Wait

Purple eyes?

Where had he seen this before?

He knew he had, it was that same color from...His dream!

That's when it clicked, the itch he had been feeling was bigger than it ever was before, except this time it wasn't even uncomfortable.

In fact, it felt kinda good. Calming, serene, like he was home.

Arun looked at the large man, not with fear nor contempt but with a satisfied smile adorning his face.

He didn't know how and he didn't know why but he felt a sort of kinship with it.

The man feeling the same sort of bond with Arun reached out its elongated arm and held it out for Arun to take.

Normally, and sane person would have already been long gone, such a menacing and terrifying figure would induce nightmares onto even the most veteran of hunters, however, Arun was not like others, he wasn't scared and instead took its hand.

The man led the innocent and naive farm boy through the forest, all normally violent and territorial monsters and animals seemed scared of the man and kept a distance. Arun didn't know about any danger because it stayed away from him and the man leading him through the doest.

After walking for days on end without rest both Arun and the man reached an all-black alter with a statue of the head of the creature from him dreams at foot of a mountain.

Arun didn't notice the fact that he wasn't tired even after walking for 72 hours without a break, no, his focus was on the altar and the stature adoring it.

It was familiar.

He had seen it many times.

It plagued his mind for the last 7 months.

When he closed his eyes it's the only thing he ever saw.

It was the black creature.

He found himself unconsciously walking towards it.

Step after step.

One foot after the other.

And right before he reached it, his itch went away and a confused Arun looked back only to find the man that led him here was.

Gone?

He scanned the area but found no trace of the man, it was as if it was just gone like it was not there in the first place? No that wasn't it--it was like...It teleported?

A sudden sound of stone cracking forced Arun to turn his attention back to the altar where a large crack split the statue down the middle. Arun, still mid trance, reached out to touch the crack but was interrupted when the altar as a whole started rumbling causing him to fall down on his butt.

And as he looked up three things happened.

He heard the roar of a creature he could not identify.

A pillar of violet light rose up from the altar.

And he felt Pain.

Unimaginable, Gut-wrenching pain.

Writhing on the ground his body started to change.

His skin felt like it was ripping, tearing, and melting all at the same time, melding to his bones it turned pitch black, all the while he was still screaming.

His insides felt like they were being consumed, it was as if tiny little critters were inside his body devouring him from the inside out, slowly his body hollowed out and he was conscious the entire time.

He cried out tears of blood as his eyeballs dissolved into nothing.

His screams gradually silenced as his throat was squeezed shut.

His hair fell out, his arms and legs lengthened to an unnatural degree causing immense pain as his bones shifted around and set into their new place, his nails turned to dust and his muscle tissue turned to blood that leaked out of his pores and pooled on the ground below.

His once sky blue eyes were replaced by hollow sockets accompanied by a violet glow.

His once clear pristine white skin darkened and became pitch black.

His body grew stronger, his cells became laced with a strange energy source and his very atomic structure was altered and replaced with variables and matter not recorded on the periodic table.

His once-bright mind, now plagued with intense pain wanted an out, a release, and his transformation responded in kind by erasing everything. It could not differentiate from his painful and helpful memories as the only thing in his mind was pain, so it did the only thing it could.

The memories of his mother and her teachings? Her smile?

Gone.

The favorable memories of time spent with his father?

Gone.

The arduous time spent picking up after his sister with a smile on his face?

Gone.

It was all gone, all erased.

All remnants of who he was before no longer existed, replaced by an intense desire to take.

But what did he want to take? He didn't know so he just would take everything.

As the pain stopped he stood up.

Everything that made Arun who he was is no more.

Arun was gone, dead if you will, replaced by this...Thing.

It was empty.

Naive.

Innocent in a way.

A blank slate both impressionable and easily swayed.

The violet beam died down and standing tall in front of him was a huge black dragon.

The same black dragon from his many many many many dreams.

The boy previously known as Arun looked at the great beast with hollow eyes.

He didn't know why.

He didn't understand.

He couldn't understand.

But He felt a sort of kinship with it.