April 5, 2023
Dizzy and hurting, I woke up in a bed.
"It's about time you woke," I heard a voice from across the room say. With my ears still ringing, it sounded distorted.
Turning in that direction, my eyes almost rolled to the back of my head at the horrific monster that sat at the other end of the room. The lady was an elderly woman, though she hardly resembled a woman at all. Her facial features gave off a ghastly expression, as if she was perpetually smiling regardless of the actual emotions she might have on display. With an obese body, the mystery woman's pale, toad-brown skin was as gnarled as the bark of a pine tree, and her hair contained just as many bugs and was greasy and clumpy, especially as her hair neared her neck. Her lips were large and leathery, her nose was a bumpy collection of warts, and her eyes were like gray saucers. Her degraded and marked-up voodoo hat added some height to her tiny personage, and her clothes were torn, archaic and thin, and seemed to be stuffed with hay.
"Who… who are you?" I sat up. My recent memories then flooded back into my head, and I remembered the moments before I passed out. My eyes flared. "Blake! Oh God! Blake! Where is he?! Is he… is he okay?!" I shouted.
"Your companion didn't make it," the lady mumbled. "And I am Vivian The Witch, to answer your first question."
Her words clawed into my heart like a badger. I felt the heartache of grief. In that moment of loss, my world collapsed; where there was light became shadows, the pain coming and going like waves on the ocean. And though my soul called out for Blake's safety, my mind told me the connection was gone; it told me he was gone, and that was the moment I knew I was truly and utterly alone.
Vivian noticed my pain and left her chair on the other end of the corner. She reached out and snatched a wooden staff with a mystic ball at the top and pointed at me. For a second, I forgot everything and braced for whatever was to come, and I half-expected – and painfully begged – for it all just to end. I wanted out. Was this it?
Vivian chanted under her breath, and the ball began to glow; swirling clouds and starry lights. A blast of energy hit me, radiating out of the ball as it came at my body, my soul. The moment faded as quickly as it came, and I felt different. No, that wasn't it. It was more like something was missing. What was it?
"I took the grief away," Vivian said. Her voice grew more familiar, and as my mind raced for an answer, it finally found it: Vivian was the old lady in B-04.
My head lit up. That was it. My sadness, my pain, it was all gone. Was this sorcery? Magic?
"But how?"
"The rules in this realm are different." Her vague response didn't satisfy my thirst for more knowledge.
"Okay. But why? Why take away my grief?"
She grinned. "You are the one. I know it to be true."
"The one?"
"Who will save all the trapped spirits here from the being who calls himself The Wolf."
"No. I-I can't be. I'm just too weak. You saw what happened to me."
"You have the potential within you, Troy. For one with a unique soul of light shall chase away the shadow of The Wolf… or so it is written."
"I don't under-- You-you aren't making sense."
Vivian came over to me and looked down at me with her wicked smile and devious eyes. She lowered her staff to my reach.
"Touch the crystal ball. Then you will complete your journey, your trial."
Not seeing any other option, I placed my hand on the ball's surface. It was as cold as ice. Vivian started to chant, and the ball glowed, heating up in the process. A few seconds later, my eyes flashed bright white.
I could no longer see.