"Dawn!"
"Wake up!"
"What happened?"
Voices. Whispering from everywhere and nowhere.
A figure sat alone in darkness—Pale white, curled knee to chest.'Dawn?' the man thought. 'Who is that?'
Behind him, an old man appeared—Dressed in robes of blue and black.His face, a void.
"You are Dawn. Don't you remember?"
The white man shook his head slowly."I'm nobody. I've been here forever… doing nothing."
The old man chuckled softly."No, young one. Everyone is someone. Nobody is truly nobody.Can a nobody hold memories? Can it speak, think, feel? No.Nobody is nothing, and nothing cannot act—because nothing is void."
He stepped closer.
"Tell me—does this empty place make you?Or does how you survive it define you?If memory made the man,Then all who suffer the same should become the same.But they don't.If memory made the man, then existence itself would be flawed.You could face a million false memories and still be certain that you are real.It is not memory that shapes you—It is response."
Silence.The white figure looked down at his hands, now trembling.
"Even if I am somebody, how can you be sure I'm Dawn?"
The old man laughed as he sat beside Dawn."You are you. If you changed in every shape and form, this fact would not change.You can feel yourself.You are conscious.You are thinking, therefore you are."
Dawn saw a reflection of himself in his own palms."I don't remember anything… but I feel."
He placed a hand on his chest. Something pulsed. Not memory. Not knowledge. Just… presence."I am me… I am Dawn."
The old man stood up."You are Dawn. But even Dawn can vanish in someone else's memories. Focus when absorbing echoes—lest you become a whisper in another's mind."
The darkness started to fade away, and his sight rippled.
"Who are you?" Dawn asked as he turned to his side.But the old man had already disappeared.
***
Dawn finally opened his eyes.He was on the ground.He had no time to ponder about the old man right now.The aura surrounding him was even deeper this time.'A stage of silence must have passed.'
Athzrakel was kneeling in front of him with his head turned back. He made signs to come over and said, "He's awake."The whisper seemed even lower now.'As I thought…'
Now Azthrakel and Vyra were both kneeling before him.
"What happened?" Azthrakel said.
Dawn started to get up. "I think there was an echo in that helmet. I absorbed it as soon as I put it on."
"Echo?" Vyra and Azthrakel's voices resonated in confusion as their eyebrows raised.
"Ah, those things that we ate before—those were echoes… they are remnants of monsters—or people—who die. Absorbing seems to grant you memories of the person, and eating it will make you stronger and nourish you."
Vyra and Azthrakel both smiled.
"So we can just gain experience from absorbing those now!" Azthrakel said, pumping a fist into the air.
"I don't think using our food supply for some experience is wise," Vyra said as she turned towards Azthrakel.
"Well, with experience we can likely just find more food," Azthrakel said.
"Can you guarantee that? What if the memories are pointless? What if they are of people who just arrived like us? What if they hold useless memories?" Vyra sighed and paused. "There is simply too much risk in doing this. We can't be so rash."
Azthrakel sat there with his face slowly turning a bit red. "Fine, we can wait until later."
"Anyways, let's head back to the great hall. I have more to speak of…" Dawn said.
Dawn then put on the black helmet, and they crept back towards the hall.
***
Dawn arrived at the gargantuan doors once again and opened them.He saw Numa and Nareth sitting at the front of the table, side by side. Their eyes narrowed as the group walked in.'They're wary. I'm certain the next silence just passed,' Dawn thought.
Dawn and his group slowly approached them until they were standing right behind the two siblings.The siblings turned around.
"Anything noteworthy happened?" whispered Dawn.
Numa shifted. "Besides the—you know, that—nothing really happened. We explored many rooms, but they seemed pretty normal. The amount of lanterns was weird though, creepy even. What about your group?"
Dawn pumped out his chest and sighed. He explained the echoes to them.
"Great! We can kill monsters and rack up food then—easy enough, right?" Numa said, pumping her fist in the air.
'Hah, are we even going to survive with someone this naive?'
Dawn waved his hand in the air to gather the attention of the group."Before even hearing this, I want y'all to stay calm."
Dawn's face turned serious, and he looked around his group—who was staring back at him."That thing that stops us from speaking and moving is called Silence." Dawn paused. This fact itself wasn't very surprising, but the next part was harrowing… for them at least.
'If I tell them the throne only saves one more... they'll tear each other apart. Or worse, me.'
Dawn wasn't worried for himself. He had the helmet that would guard him.But the throne would only save one more person.He had to choose who to save.But what about leaving the castle?Would they just be stuck here forever?
"There are 9 stages of Silence. It is hard to survive unless being at stage 2 or having a specialized ability or relic. You have to be unmoving and silent for the entire hour."
One word changed. That's all it took.'I'm not lying, right? Impossible is hard, right?'
The room was silent, even more so than before.It could be felt—the fear was all over.It was as if another stage started.Everyone was looking at Dawn—their faces, unmoving even a single bit.One could think they were already practicing.
Dawn could feel their glares. He was getting nervous.Numa was wide-eyed.Nareth was squinting at Dawn—unbelieving.Azthrakel was smiling…?Vyra had her eyes shut, seemingly having no opinion of the situation.
"You're… not serious, right?" Vyra turned her face and squinted her eyes. "You're eerily calm about this," Vyra said.
Dawn paused, his face grew sweaty… purposely, of course. 'They can't get suspicious of me.'
"Well, I have a good reason. The throne room can keep us safe," Dawn said.'My ability too…'
Dawn had thought about this possibility, but there was no way to test it.
"You're banking just on that?" Nareth looked at him with contempt. "Yeah, right. You know something we don't."
Vyra held onto Dawn. "Tell us why you're so calm again. I just need to hear it again."
"Well, there's the throne room, but I have faith in my mask's ability to keep me alive," Dawn said.
"You know, Dawn, everybody has secrets, but you've held an important one. From the very beginning you've held one. I have the ability to tell if someone is lying by feeling their blood. You lied about your race—which I wasn't going to expose—but now you're lying about this? What are you?"
Dawn looked around. The group was clearly suspicious.Dawn's face softened, and he opened his mouth before clenching his teeth.'What a shame, Vyra. I was really planning on keeping you alive.'
"Fine. I didn't tell the entire truth, but I didn't lie either. I do have some confidence that my ability could keep me alive. This helmet is also one of those relics. What now? Now that you know, will you fight me over it like some animals?" Dawn said.
Everyone looked at each other with defeated expressions—except for Nareth.
"Maybe we should. I haven't trusted you from the start," Nareth said with a look of anger upon his face.
Dawn ignored him and continued to speak. "As for my race, I didn't mean to lie. I just have many personal reasons as to why I don't want to share it."
Vyra sighed and bowed down a little. "Alright, you're telling the truth. I apologize for how I was, but you were very suspicious."
"It's fine. I was also wrong for hiding it," Dawn said.
Azthrakel, who had stayed quiet the entire time, finally spoke. "We should just go to the throne room and stay there until the silences are over."
Nareth smiled and threw both arms in the air. "Finally! Someone with some common sense."
Azthrakel smiled, but his cheeks unrisen and his eyes unmoved. "Any objections?"
Everybody shook their heads, and they proceeded back towards the door of the great hall.
As Azthrakel pulled the lever, he let out a small gasp—it was quite big for the current stage of silence.'What happened?' Dawn thought. He couldn't see past the door quite yet as he was in the back of the group this time.
As he walked into frame, he saw not a corridor, but a room.
"This isn't a hall?" Numa said.
Vyra's mouth was agape and her eyes wide open. "It… it was just here."
Everyone tried to analyze the situation, looking across the empty room.
Then a voice appeared.
"You must solve these puzzles in order to cross to the throne of the King! You may not speak a single word in his presence unless told to!"
The voice was loud—way too loud.It was unearthly, abnormal—petrifying!Silence, that which no one could break without consequence, was impeded upon right in front of their faces.
Dawn's heart raced for a second.Until he realized what the voice said.'It's eerie hearing something that loud after pure silence.'Dawn started to calm down.
The group walked in the room. It was of medium size and was still empty… until it wasn't.It was sudden. Dawn simply blinked and the scene changed.
What…?Dawn saw all of his group disappear.A door appeared in front of him.Dawn's heart almost took a pause. The helmet was gone.'The helmet! Did the trial take it away? Damn it! Why!'Dawn wanted to scream. He wanted to punch the ground. He wanted to do… something.Yet he couldn't. All he could do was stand there in anger, gritting his teeth as he listened to the voice once again.
"You must find your way through the end of this maze in the next two hours," the mysterious voice said.
'A maze, huh?' Dawn paused in his thoughts. 'How the hell am I supposed to do that? Am I supposed to feel the path? Or perhaps I can run through it so fast that I get through it anyway.'
Dawn reached for the door and started to pull it open. It creaked…Dawn's eyes went wide, his heart dropped once more, and sweat covered his skin… but nothing happened.
Dawn recalled the words of the voice.'He said "You may not speak," but he didn't say anything about making any other noise, did he?'
Dawn continued through the door, afraid he would run out of time.As he walked through, he saw two figures.
'There are two other "me's" in front of me? How absurd.'He stepped closer.
"Decide which one path makes the real future you. You may speak," the voice said.
The one on the left stood confidently, cold and silent—his eyes forward, unwavering.The right one looked tired, as if he had just survived something he shouldn't have. A scar crossed his cheek—a scar Dawn didn't have, but something about it felt… earned.
Dawn hesitated. 'I know myself, don't I?'But which part?He'd always trusted in his instincts. But instinct could lie. Survival had taught him that.
The left was the version he strove to be—untouched by failure, unhindered by doubt.The right... he looked like someone who had lost, but also survived.
Is strength in perfection, or in endurance?He remembered something—the kind of thought that returns when silence wraps around the world:'The future is not who you wish to be, but who you're willing to become.'
He looked between them.'Do I choose who I am? Or who I need to be?'
Dawn sat there cross-legged, in silence, thinking for minutes that turned into over an hour.Time was running out, and if Dawn didn't make a choice soon, he may be no more. But if he made the wrong one, he would be no more.
Dawn relaxed his arms and put them on his knees as he steadily breathed in and out.'Are these supposed to be future versions of me? Who am I… what makes me—me.' Dawn made a confused face and paused for a moment.'If it's the way I respond, then isn't the present that matters…? Even if my responses change, isn't every future moment just another present—when it comes? If so, then shouldn't I choose everything about the future? Shouldn't I respond in the exact way that I want to in every single situation?' Dawn sat on this thought for quite a while, debating with himself.
'Is this even possible though? There are some things that I can't choose. Should I ignore those?' Dawn sighed, as he didn't truly come to a conclusion there.'I guess so… I should choose what I can when I can, and ignore the parts that I can't change.' Dawn shuddered as he came up with a new, strong thought.'Perhaps with strength I shall be able to choose everything. Maybe strength isn't control over others... but control over myself, even when the world says I can't. Is that the meaning of strength?'
Dawn felt like he came to an epiphany… though he didn't really know if it was real; after all, he still knew close to nothing of his world. But what he did know… was that he had found the answer to the problem.
Dawn laughed as he looked to the sky, as if that were where the voice came from."The whole format is wrong. Who says that I need to choose one of these versions to be myself? Isn't the entire point that I choose? Are these the only options? Am I set to be only what I can see directly in front of me?" Dawn paused as he stood up and turned around. "No… I dictate myself, whether it is who I am or who I need to be."
Dawn walked through the door that he once came through.And with that, Dawn left—not as one of the two, but as someone entirely his own.
"You have passed. You will now wait for the remaining time," the voice said.