The Beginning
I had been born to a family of wealth. But after the town was raided, my family had lost everything. No-one would spare us coin, so we barely survived off the low rations we could afford.
We lived on in misery like this for a year. Every day a drag, and constantly on the move. The longest we stayed in one place was a week, where we visited a relative. But soon, they kicked us out, saying that we were a nuisance, a burden.
One night a man had approached me. I was looking for dropped coins down an abandoned street on the outskirts of town. A shady character strode up the street, silent as the dead. Only realising he was there when he cleared his throat, a deep, bone chilling sound.
I looked up, the tall figure loomed over me. I couldn’t tell whether he was thin or fat. The black cloak, dark as midnight without moonlight, covered his body, obscuring his shape.
A hood covered his eyes. Just below the rim, a thin mouth usually associated with an old man, rested unnaturally on a young man’s face, maybe mid-20′s.
His mouth moved, words rung in my head, instead of extending from his mouth. He offered a deal. Money to my family, if I worked for him. The sound was so luring, compelling me to trust this being. I nodded, my agreement.
All at once, he vanished and so did the street. Plummeting me into a deathly darkness. A swirl of fright and pain encircled me. Twisting and crushing my insides.
Hours stretched on as I stared into this abyss of darkness. I couldn’t feel anything, no pain, no emotion, no worry. I felt free, even though I was trapped in this endless wake. After several hours the darkness flashed away. Revealing a room, empty of any furniture, stuffed with at least 100 people. All my worry and doubt came crashing back from a hidden corner in my mind.
Never had I wanted something more, to go back to the bliss state I had just found myself in moments before. All thoughts of my family had vanished.
A voice boomed throughout my head, the same voice I had heard before I fell into the darkness.
“To feel the bliss of the Sail once more, complete what is asked of you. After you have completed it, I will send you back.” That was the beginning of my new life.
