The Runic Alchemist

Illusions inside illusions and then some more — just where was the end?

Damian checked out his new surroundings quietly. He was still in his Ben Carter body — the place looked like another village, but it was different from the last one. It was still the same black-and-white shade, but this one had stone houses, better clothes on the people, and the people in general looked somewhat different from the other village he was in.

The weirdest thing, however, was that even though he was walking through a slightly busy street — no one was looking his way, no one was noticing him.

After a second, he realized his feet were leaving no footprints behind — one of the villagers, a kid, ran right through his body as if Damian was a hologram projection and not a real being.

“Get up already! Mother is worried sick about you!” a high-pitched boyish voice hit Damian’s ears.

“It’s not morning yet..” A drowsy, lazy man’s voice replied.

“It’s already evening, you old geezer! Get up!” the boy said loudly.

Damian’s eyes widened. He knew the two who were making a scene. Sam and Anthony. But young Sam.. even younger than Damian remembered him as when he had first met him all those years ago.

A memory?

Damian walked near the duo, and suddenly young Sam turned towards him — “What do you want?” he asked, looking directly at him.

“One more bottle would be nice..” replied Anthony.

Young Sam’s brows raised high in irritation, and he cursed Anthony with all sorts of childish bad words. “Poopyface” seemed to repeat a bit more than the others.

Damian tried to touch Sam, but he too was like a hollow projection. His hand went through his body effortlessly. He said Sam’s name and many other things, but Sam never looked back at him again — that first time seemed to be some weird special thing. Damian followed behind the duo; Sam said all sorts of things to Anthony on the way, while the other just nodded and yawned once in a while — making Sam even more angry.

However, when they reached near a simple-looking house made of clay, wood, and stones — Anthony suddenly stood up straight, his eyes serious and focused. Little Sam saw the changed expression of his uncle, and instead of getting happy, his face was full of fear and confusion. The earlier mood was missed dearly. Anthony ran towards the house, Sam followed behind. Damian already had an idea as to what he would find inside, still, he walked behind them at an unhurried pace.

The second Anthony opened the door, Sam screamed with such a heartbreaking voice Damian felt it in his stomach; a continuous “No, no..” trailed after it from both his and his uncle’s mouth afterwards. When Damian was finally able to enter the open house door — more than pity, he felt confused.

There was a couple being hung from the ceiling with dark, big iron chains. Three soldiers were continuously hitting them with whips, asking “Why did you kill our men?” “Who do you work for?”

Sam and Anthony kept begging and trying to force the soldiers to stop hitting Sam’s parents, but the soldiers did not listen at all. One of them held Anthony, and the other two toyed with Sam as they kept hitting his parents and asking the same questions. The bloodied couple had long been unconscious — still, the nightmare continued without stop.

It took a minute, but Damian finally figured it out. The army uniform was of Faerunia. One of the three soldiers — and the one in charge — was the burned knight Sam had blasted in that inn once. Damian had fought against the guy and remembered his face very well. Sam’s two nightmares had combined in one. Sam never knew who killed his parents, so for some fucked up reason, Faerunian men had taken that place — his trauma from being imprisoned twisted within the nightmare of the day when his parents had died.

The crying and abuse continued on for some couple of hours and only ended when Sam lost his own consciousness after being hit by the soldiers a bit too many times. Damian was wholly ignored by everyone the whole time — but the second Sam lost his consciousness, the whole world stopped, even the sound of wind outside had vanished.

It took a few seconds of suffocating darkness covering Damian’s eyes, but when he was able to see again — he, along with Sam and Anthony, were back in the village, right outside the tavern. Right where it had all started before.

Sam started calling for his uncle to get up and come to their house to sober up. The village seemed to go on with their daily chores, no one even paying much mind to the scene unfolding — clearly, it was not for the first time for them.

A memory trap.

So this is how Shadecaster and the Demon Lord kept everyone in their control? Keeping their consciousness locked in a never-ending nightmare.

Why only Sam though? Where the hell were the others? And if the purpose of the darkness was to trap the target in their memories, then why the theatrics with the white room and then the weird-ass village with backwards, eerily realistic human population?

What sick game was the Demon Lord truly playing here?

Damian once again called out to Sam — he listened and replied with, “Who are you? Do I know you?”

The reply had changed!

But once again Anthony said something, and Sam’s attention was snatched by him. On the way back and till the very end of the nightmare where Sam passed out, Damian tried his best to get the guy’s attention, but he was wholly ignored as if he was just empty air.

Damian kept it up though. Even in the third cycle of the nightmare — once again he grabbed Sam’s attention for two brief seconds. Damian said, “Sam, remember, it’s me! Damian!”

But the only reply he received before Anthony said something again was,

“Huh? You know my name? I don’t know you..”

Two seconds. He only had two seconds.

There was no time for a dialogue — the second Damian said something and Sam replied with something, Anthony butted in and pushed Damian out of the conversation.

He could not stop Anthony from speaking, neither could he meet Sam without Anthony around.

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