Chapter 14 - Fourth Dream

I’m floating. 
The Void. 
The memories around me. 
A familiar sight. 
I can’t even remember when the dreams started. 
Every night. 

I inhale. 
I don’t want to face those memories. 
Years after years, it never got any easier. Being pulled into another’s life, moments before its end. 
Abrupt, or a long agony, I would feel everything the same. 
Crushed by a giant stone slab. Eaten alive by a giant sea monster, dissolving in its stomach acid. Choked by sentient plants. Blown to pieces by an explosion. Cooked from the inside after swallowing a heat gem. Unwillingly. Torn apart by the claws of a beast. Hanged. Locked in a box. Sickness. Many of those. Sliced by swords, axes, sabers, glaives… at least, I could tell the difference between a long sword and a cavalry saber.

Those memories were never pleasant. 
But I have no control here. I am at the whim of whichever imposes itself upon me. 
Yet, none gets close this time. 
It already happened. But in the end, after failed attempts, one always takes over and puts me through the pain of another Lumen. 

…holding them back…

I jump. As much as one can jump while floating in the void. 
The voices. I never heard them here before. Voices, or memories. But never both. 
Yet… why? Only now did I notice it. 
If the memories are of the previous Lumen, just before their deaths, and the voices are them whispering to me, why wouldn’t they be linked? 

…another… 

A whisper. Barely audible. 

…can’t… 

I only pick up sparse words. 

…life… 

The memories are still far. The voices are distant too. 

…forget… 

I relax. It seems the memories are calm. 

…danger… 

The voices are restless, though. 

…she… 

I could almost discern anger. 

…prophecy… 

I try to focus on the whisper. It almost sounds like a choir of voices trying to reach me. But only some words are synchronized. The rest gets drowned out by a hundred voices. 

…Lumen… 

Are they calling me? 

…temple… 

What temple? I don’t even know if they can hear me, but I try to communicate. 

…end… 

I’m lost.