Chapter 1: Meso – Irene

It's that time again. I can't remember how many times I've woken up like this. Woken up to the same, boring place. 

My name is Meso. I don't know much about where I come from, but what I do know is that I'm supposedly someone important. 

Which is odd, because I don't feel prized at the very least. You'd get bored if you had to do the same thing everyday. At this point, I've resorted to monotonously trudging through these duties of mine my family call "prophecies." 

The things I do don't match the definition of the word prophecy, anyway. It's mostly getting up from my overly lavish bed that takes up a good chunk of my time in the morning. 

Seriously, when will mother actually listen to me and cease on spending her little trinkets on someone like me? I've lost count of how many amulets and little accessories she's hung on the side of my bed frame. 

And if that wasn't enough, the bed itself is made of fine gold. Not just here and there, but the whole bed literally is made of gold! Could you imagine how uncomfortable it is to even lie down on it? 

I believe these "prophecies" my family gives me are just mere words used to trap me to this wretched place. I mean, why else would they restrict my diet to greens?!

It's gone to the point that I can barely run a mile without immediately getting tired. I've requested many times for the servants to put something like meat on the table, but all they reply back with is, "The Matriarch wishes for Kròger to stick to a pre-designed diet." 

Pre-designed diet, my back! Can't you see that I'm starving over here? 

After I inevitably get over the dilemma that is hunger, mostly by ignoring it, I carry myself to that room. I don't know what it's called, but it's actually just another excessively designed gold seat surrounded by walls. 

I don't like that place, either. I'm told to sit on the chair… and just stay there. I'm told to do nothing but try to grasp that power. 

Ah, but that "power", I don't like it either. Whenever I take my seat on the throne, I feel a warm, encapsulating feeling that begins to travel around my body. It's like that of a warm embrace from your mother. 

One would think that it's not actually that bad. What irks me is what ensues. After placing yourself on the throne and the warm feeling surrounds you, it can choose to disappear at any moment. 

There have been times when I didn't even get to feel it for a few seconds before it had vanished. I cried myself to sleep that day.

But anyway, it's a brand new day. I've just woken up from my slumber, and have been trying desperately to get up for the past few minutes. 

The reason? I've been having this dark feeling creeping up beside me. I don't know, I just felt like something was visibly wrong. 

As I struggle to reach my hand over to the armrest beside my pillow, I inwardly curse at this diet I had been fed with for so long. But I pushed through it, and was finally able to get myself up. 

Heh. For an uncomfortable bed, I sure don't want to leave you.

Crawling over to the door at the far end ot my room, I fumble with the handle for a few seconds before I manage to push it open. 

I slowly push its metallic frame open, taking care to not create that loud creaking sound and alert anybody I wouldn't want to alert. 

This added to the time I took to successfully exit my room. 

'What a chore'. I'd thought of that the first few times. But now, I've learned to just be more patient. 

Placing a bit of force into my heels, I get on the tips of my toes and carefully peak over the opening. 

Nothing. The hallway is silent, as is everywhere I look. The place which is usually crowded by servants and maids running around the halls is now a decrepit, empty alley without a single soul in the vicinity. 

Mustering my courage, I say out loud, 

"Hello? Is anyone there?" 

No response. I listen to my croaky and hoarse voice vibrate across the walls, sending back the same words I spoke. 

The torches that lined the walls were still dimly lit, so I assumed there had to be someone near. These things wouldn't light for very long, and would actually burn out in just a few hours. 

A servant would be assigned to monitor their respective torch, and would immediately come to relight it the moment its fire began to lose its glow. 

Taking one of the torches from the walls, I hold it in front of me. It was no weapon I could use, but I had hoped the light would scare or startle the intruder. 

Reaching a differently designed hallway, I run my fingers across its concrete surface. I momentarily shrieked when I noticed my hand felt wet. 

I brought it to my face and stared in horror. Blood. Definitely not a person's. It's too… how should I say, funky? I can feel myself getting dizzy just from a mere whiff of the thing. 

Raising my hand over the torch, I leave it there to warm so as to remove the stench emanating from my fingers.

And while doing so, I kept my guard up and continued forward. 

Minutes passed as I limped my way through the empty hallways. I had tried calling out a few of the servants' names I was familiar with, but no one had responded. 

"I've never actually been this far out of my room. I wonder where this leads to." 

Giving up on finding someone, I just continued on my way, already forgetting my original objective. 

And soon the torch I had brought with me began to lose its glow. I shivered as the dark began to encroach upon me, and stumbled to run back. 

It was then that I tripped, and lost my balance. My body, which wasn't sturdy nor agile enough, could not bear the full brunt of the floor and took some damage. 

'It's bruised now,' I thought to myself. 

And as if they had been waiting for this moment, I heard multiple growls. It was like it was directly in front of me. 

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Nevermind, it was all AROUND me! 

Forcing myself to my feet, I hastily picked a direction and just ran like my life depended on it. I mean, it pretty much did. 

Ignoring the pain that was creeping up on my body, I pushed through the darkness and blindly ran. 

It was then that I saw it. A purple light. It blinked in a slow, distinct pattern, as if trying to tell me it wasn't there to hurt me. 

And I did not have much of a choice. Turning into the direction of the light, I expended what was left of my strength, praying that I'd reach it. 

The growls behind me only served as fuel for me to push myself even further. 

Turning around a nearby corner, I reached out to the lever beside the door, and watched as it descended from the ceiling, blocking me from those things. 

Taking a few deep breaths, I composed myself. My feet were hurting, my legs felt like they would fall off at any moment, and I was sweating bullets. 

But it was then that I saw it. The source of the purple light from earlier. 

A crystal, and inside, a girl that looked like my age. Her body looked like it was stored inside the transparent rock, and was begging to be freed. 

I didn't notice it right away, but when I did, I had found myself reaching out to the crystal, like I was hungry for it.

I looked at the girl inside. She wasn't clothed, so I could see her bare body. But it wasn't that that left me stunned. 

It was her expression. She looked like she was crying, and was begging to be let out from her prison. 

"I don't know you, but seeing as I have no other choice, I'm going to set you free no matter the cost!" I say as I lay my hands on the crystal. 

The moment my hand made contact with the crystal, it began blinking wildly. The slow beats from earlier had now turned into rapid blinks, lighting up the whole room in a fluorescent glow. 

It was like it was going to explode. My normal self would have made a run for it, but I felt like I wasn't close to being normal at the moment. 

I shifted backwards as I saw the crystal beginning to form cracks all over its surface. It would probably blow soon, but I stood my ground and waited. 

Now that I thought back to it, how stupid was I? I knew it was going to explode, but why didn't I retreat? 

More cracks had begun to form, until finally, the glass-like structure shattered, revealing the girl from earlier. 

Ignoring the sharp pain from the fragments on the floor that shattered, I ran over to the girl, just as she began to fall over. 

Catching her in my arms, I brought the girl over to a nearby table, before lifting up and checking under the soles of my feet. 

As I expected. Shards of the broken crystal lined my foot, some even piercing through into my skin. 

Grumbling, I did my best to pluck out the bigger ones, and ripped off a piece of my clothing and wrapped it around the affected areas. 

"What are you doing?"

"Oh? This? My feet kind of hurt, so I was making an improvised- whoa?!"

I recoiled back in surprise, almost losing my balance. Luckily for me, the girl noticed it and moved from her spot.

I felt a strong force acting on my back. I looked to my backside and noticed that the girl had somehow teleported behind me and was keeping me from falling. 

"Ho-how did you do that!?" 

"Oh, this? It's pretty simple. I just opened a tear in space and exited out from the other side, which I had placed behind you."

"You can do that?!" 

"My apologies. I don't think I've introduced myself yet." Making a gesture of a curtsy, the girl continues, "Irene, the deity of spacetime, at your service." 

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