Hearing the unfamiliar and invisible voice, John face was filled with fear.
Fear of the unknown in the dark and fear of the invisible, both combined into one.
Gulp..
He swallowed a bit and with a trembling voice, he shouted. "W-who.. are ..you. W-what do you want from me.?"
"Where am I?"
His voice travel far away from his location, spreading and echoing around the surrounding.
But none answered his questions.
For a second time, John opened his mouth and tried calling out again. However, before he could spoke another words, the unfamiliar voice sounded again and the strange screen appeared in front of his eyes.
[Test starting in 3..2..1.
The Shadowfell Test has officially started. Be ready, dear candidate.]
Suddenly, the ground John was standing, shook uncontrollably.
Unable to stand still, John fell on his butt.
Plop..
Subtle lights flickered away from his place. The lights were in a zig zag line, almost like a way.
John swallowed a mouthful of saliva and took a deep breathe to calm himself. He realized that being driven by fear was not the right answer to the current situation.
So, with that in mind, he slowly stood up and looked at the way of flickering lights.
With a heavy heart, he lifted his foot and tried to take the first step towards the lights.
However, the moment he tried to land his foot, he felt a suffocating pressure. Cold sweats appeared on his back and his hair standing all up, he knew that feeling. It was his body, warning him of extreme danger.
A secret ability or sense, he had since he was a child. It was with that help that he was able to lived till now.
He quickly retracted his foot very quickly, the moment he felt the sense of danger.
With sweats all over his body, washing him, he took a several breathes.
"Think John, think." John wrecked his head with his hand, trying to think of a way out from the nightmare.
"Nightmare!! No, it's not. It said Test!" John murmured to himself. He quickly found an idea. "Yes, Test! Since the way it was shown clearly was a danger and most likely the wrong path. And if you take a test, you must choose the correct answer."
Then, lifted his foot and slowly turned his whole body. Changing every direction, until he felt the sense of danger away leaving his body.
Soon, he found the direction, he did not feel any sense of danger. And it was the opposite direction of the way shown with the lights.
'Right, the truth is always the opposite of lie or false. How can I forget that.' John slapped his left palm using the right fist, in realization.
With one last deep breathe, he slowly landed his lifted foot.
When he took the first step towards the dark, he felt nothing. And nothing bad happened.
Feeling a sense of relief, he took another step. And another step.
Finally, he took more than hundreds of steps, but he still could not find anything to get him out of the dream.
With each step, his mind was constantly buzzing with the question. 'Did I really took the correct path. Was the path shown really a false one.'
But each time he felt the question in his mind, he would shake it off and said to him. 'John, belive in you. Believe yourself.' And continued his steps.
Even though he always chose to believe in himself, with each step forward, his trust in himself wavered.
Time passed, hours have gone by. John lost the counts of his own steps.
Slowly and steadily, his own believe starts to fell piece by piece. But in his mind, a voice continues to echo. 'One more step, one more step.'
During the process, not only his mind was not weakened, even his body was getting thinner with each steps.
With an exhausted body and a weakened mind, John slowly took the last step towards his believe.
Plop...
Finally, unable to endure both the pressure of his mind and his body, John fell to the dark.
Barely opening his eyes and body with just skins covering his bones, John weak breathes echoed in the dark.
Unable to keep his eyes opened for long, he eventually closed his eyes.
Before he closed his eyes, he thought. 'Well, there was not much to see with my eyes open, here.'
Unbeknownst to him, the moment he closed his eyes and Los consciousness, the unknown voice rang in his mind and the strange screen pooped up in front of his face.
[Congratulations to the candidate. You have passed the Test of Shadowfell.
Evaluating your performance. Please, wait for some time.]
[Name: John Walt.
Status: First pick of the Shadowfell.
Attributes: Evaluating....
Scores: Evaluating....
Sacred Names: Evaluating....]
[Candidate will now be call an awakened or wanderer.]
[Transporting out of the Shadowfell World, in 3...2...1.]
Inside the Small Rain City, in an alley. Inside his own straw hut, John's body slowly formed out of thin air.
And gently descended on the sleeping pat.
His body was in the same situation as the one he felt in the Shadowfell World. Dried up lips, skins covering the bones with barely any muscles.
If anyone happens to find him in the current situation, they would likely think of him as dead.
But, if one looks at him with more carefully, they would know that he was still breathing. Breathing but weakly.
None of that bothered or woke up John from his deep slumber.
As he continued to sleep there, with his now wooden body, a miracle happened. His dried up body started to recover itself, with energy from the atmosphere absorbing into his body.
Like that, his body was fully recovered back to his previous state.
Hours have passed as he continued to sleep inside his straw hut. When he was back from the gate, it was about noon. But now, the time was almost midnight.
At that time, John slowly opened his eyes. Blinking softly, all he saw was darkness around him.
His mind instantly went. 'I'm still inside the nightmare?'