Tenebrous

Tenebrous - Shut Off From The Light

I didn't even feel as the ground below me crumbled away, the blood slowly rushing to my head as my body became weightless.

It took me a few moments to even realize what was going on before I looked to the ground which I was standing on to see that it was no longer there. I was falling and there was nothing I could do about it, this was the end, I was about to die.

Not only was I going to die, I was going to die falling into the endless abyss, the place where ghosts and ghouls lay resting waiting for prey to come and devour them alive. My soul would never pass on, I was going to be truly and utterly dead.

I looked up one last time at what was above me, only to see Luc looking back at me, I forced a smile on my face and then closed my eyes.

The sounds of people echoed causing a sharp pain in Atlas's head, feeling almost as if his brain were about to split in two. slowly he opened his eyes, blinking as the unwanted light flooded into his view.

Eventually, the voices around him became clearer and clearer.

"Have you heard?"

"Heard what?"

"The Su family, I think it's the third child, Luc his name is, just started his lessons."

Hearing the name Luc, Atlas started listening more attentively to what the group of people was talking about.

"Already? Isn't he only 13?"

Atlas blinked quickly, 13? Luc should be 19. He rubbed his face, trying to figure out whether he had heard wrong or not.

"Atlas, you're awake?" One of the voices said.

Atlas brought his hand away from his face and turned to look at the direction the voice came from.

His eyes widened as soon as he realized who was talking.

"Everything all right?" The voice asked.

Atlas could feel his eyes started to water he should be dead, why is he alive? he repeated to himself.

The person moved away from the two other people sitting across the room and sat beside Atlas.

"Dad," Atlas said through sniffles.

"Ah kid, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" His dad asked.

One of the voices from behind him spoke, "Don't worry Alex, it was probably just a bad dream."

Atlas continued to cry silently as his dad slowly rubbed his back, whispering words of comfort.

"Mr. Lee." A voice from behind the door said.

"What is it?" Alex asked as he continued to watch his child sob into his arm.

"Leader Su has come, he says it's important."

The hand that rubbed Atlas lifted away from his back.

"I'll be there in a moment," Alex replied quietly.

"He is waiting in the living room." the voice said before walking away.

Atlas could hear as his dad sighed.

"It's probably important, we should go." One of the voices said.

"It's not often Su Yang leaves his grounds." The other voice added.

Alex stood up, "I'll be back."

Only a moment later Atlas was left alone in the room. Slowly air began to fill his lungs once more as he relaxed.

The moment his lungs were once again full and he no longer felt like he was on the verge of passing out, Atlas sat up. Slowly he looked around the room taking in his surroundings.

The room was bright with windows everywhere, letting in the warm yellow sunlight. The walls were covered in paintings and art but only one of them caught his eye: a painting depicting a family of 4, two young children no more than 7 years old and the two parents.

Atlas stood up from where he had been laying down and walked over to the family portrait. It took a moment before he realized it was him and his family and that's when it hit him; how was he even alive?

The painting itself had been burned down in the war 6 years ago, but that was not even all of it, his dad died in that same war. There was no way he should have even been alive.

Atlas looked around the room once more, he was in his dad's office.

How is this possible He thought.

He looked at his hands, a habit he started doing during the war as a way to show himself he was alive. Yet the hands he saw were those of a child.

Quickly he raised his hands to his face, looking for a scar that covered his right eye only to find that it wasn't there.

His hands fell beside him as he fell to the ground. What was going on? Atlas turned to the desk that sat in the middle of the room, he was certain that his dad kept a mirror in one of the drawers.

Quickly he stood up and stumbled over to the desk and pulled open the top drawer, he pushed the objects around roughly looking for the mirror. It took a moment before he found the small square handheld mirror and held it up to his face. He closed his eyes worried about what he was going to see.

Atlas took a deep breath before he opened his eyes and looked in the mirror. The reflection in it was him no doubt, but it wasn't the 19-year-old who had just fallen to his death. It was a child.

He thought for a moment trying to piece together what had happened, only moments ago he was falling to his death into the endless abyss, he shouldn't be alive, he shouldn't be in his childhood home.

Not knowing what was going on, Atlas put the mirror back in the drawer and ran out of the office. He could feel his breath leaving his lungs as he ran around the halls trying to find some semblance of an answer.

"Young master Lee, please slow down!" He heard shouted at him from various workers as he ran.

It wasn't until Atlas saw his brother did he finally stop running.

"Atlas, what is going on? Why are you running?" his brother Finn asked, stopping Atlas in his tracks.

"Finn, what year is it?" Atlas asked.

"What, did you finally lose your marbles?" Finn asked with a smile.

"Answer the question."

"1088, Why?"

Shit shit shit. Atlas said to himself, the same year the war started.

"What day is it?"

Finn looked at Atlas like he truly was insane, "June 8th"

Two days before the Rose clan made their first move against the Wang clan. The start of the Falling Blossom War.

Atlas stared at his brother, Finn looking back at him.

"Is everything okay?" Finn asked, worry starting to show on his face.

Atlas didn't know what was going on, could he possibly just have dreamt the last six years of his life?

"Yeah, uh everything's fine. Just had a weird dream." Atlas replied.

"If you say so." Finn paused, "Dad wanted me to get you by the way, he's in the living room."

"Sure." Atlas nodded and then walked away, leaving his brother alone in the hallway.

The living room was just around the corner, so it only took a few moments before he reached the living room doors. He knocked twice and then opened the door.

"You wanted me," Atlas said calmly.

Alex smiled, "You got here fast."

"I was walking down the hall when I saw Finn, he sent me over."

"I see, well then. Come sit down."

Atlas moved from the door and to the couch where his dad sat across from Su Yang.

"I'm sorry to have disturbed you Atlas." Su Yang said.

"It's fine," Atlas replied.

Alex took a deep breath before he began to talk, "Atlas, you will be starting your lessons early."

Atlas looked at his dad, something about that sentence seeming familiar. He thought about it for a moment before he realized that his dad had said that to him in his dream.

"Why?" Atlas asked, pretending to not seem anxious about what was going on.

"It looks like the war will be starting sooner than we thought, I want you to be able to hold your own if it comes down to it," Alex replied.

"You and Finn will be coming with me back to Lansu so we can start. Both of you and then a bunch of other children your age will be joining us as well." Su Yang said as he looked at Atlas.

Everything Su Yang had said lined up with what had happened in his dream, down to the exact words.

"I see," Atlas replied.

He wanted to say that it would all be in vain, most of the children who would join him in Lansu to study would end up dying, and only a few of them would actually make it out alive. But not only could he not say this, but he also hoped that it wouldn't be true, that it really was a weird coincidental dream. So instead he gave a weak smile and looked at his dad.

"What did Finn say about this?"

Alex returned the smile, trying to hide the pain of having to send his children off, "He isn't happy about it of course, but he understands that he has to do this."

Atlas nodded, "Understood." If Finn had accepted it, then there was no way he could reject what he was being told.

"Go pack up some stuff, we will leave as soon as you two are ready." Su Yang said.

Atlas didn't reply, he only stood up and moved towards the door. He gave a small nod to the two still in the room before leaving.

The sun was still low in the sky, indicating that it was no later than 10 in the morning. In about 48 hours the war would officially start.

He walked through the halls leading to his room, the room he hadn't been in six years.

The moment he opened the door, he was welcomed by the toys, books, and clothes from his childhood.

Atlas could barely remember what his childhood was like but to see his room again brought back a plethora of memories.

All of the times he and Finn had been sword fighting in the room and then their mom coming in and yelling at them that it was dangerous, to which they would always stop but the moment she left again they would be back at it. Or when he was sick over his 7th birthday and was bedridden and cried himself to sleep due to the pain and inability to be able to get up and enjoy his birthday. And then being surprised by Finn with a birthday cake in the middle of the night after everyone else had gone to bed.

"I wanted to give it to you sooner but mom said I would get sick if I was in the room with you," Finn said as he held a piece of cake out to his younger brother.

Atlas smiled, "Thank you."

Both of them ended up bedridden for about a week after that.

Atlas wanted to cry but he didn't, he forced himself to hold the tears back, why was he even crying? The last six years were no more than one long dream, everything that happened in it wasn't real and in fact, he had been in his room fighting with Finn only hours earlier.

He walked over to his closet and pulled out a suitcase, placing it on his bed before filling it with some of his belongings.