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Essence of the Unknown

IcyCrown
7
chs / week
The average realized release rate over the past 30 days is 7 chs / week.
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Synopsis
A series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person’s mind during sleep. That’s what Dreams are right? Just a figment of our imagination. But for Icy, that can’t be farther from the truth. A weird dream was the start, but can you even call it a dream? It felt more like a memory. A series of strange events, is there something else happening from behind the scene? Or has it already happened, only waiting to be uncovered. He himself is confused, is it reincarnation? Or is it merely a dream, so was his whole life a lie? Who is he? Icary from earth, or Icarius, the one who’s destiny is unknown. His dream’s not to conquer, but to escape. This is the story of the unknown. Trying to break the chains called destiny. But what is destiny itself?
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Chapter 1 - Dream

Reading has always been a hobby of mine. Even at this time of night, I was flipping through a book. Though my drowsiness was getting to me, I couldn't help but yawn. 

 

After a short while, I decided to lay the book down on the table and stretch. Something felt amiss, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

'It's quiet…' I thought to myself as I looked around, cold wind blew like whispers through the air. It led me to the windows, and I reluctantly opened the curtains.

 

As the curtain unfolds, a gust of cold wind hits me in the face, blurring my vision. After rubbing my eyes, I was left stunned by the sight that appeared right in front of me. A vast snowy forest was destroyed, some on fire, others already burnt to a crisp. 

Then, an explosion sounded in the distance. Shockwaves came and went. The air ripped apart as I was sent tumbling backwards. Out of nowhere, Ice overtook the fiery landscape, as if fighting back. 

It left me more confused than ever. I had so many questions, but my eyes were focused on one thing. The blue moon shines alone in the sky. 

 

Before I can finish admiring this blue moon, the door bursts open ,and a woman rushes to me. As she arrived in front of me, she started shouting, but… I couldn't hear a single word coming out of her mouth… 

Now that I think about it, I couldn't hear any sound… except for the wind… I can feel the cold brought by this wind, but it feels comfortable. Like a mother's embrace. 'Mother..?'

Suddenly, she held my hand, and she took out a knife, or wait. Is that… a dagger? As she did, she hurriedly slashed her wrists and let the blood flow. Slowly, a blue-ish aura formed, enveloping the blood. It slowly gathered around her hand, and slowly, something formed.

The woman then put the dagger in my hand. As I held the dagger, I looked at her, and only then did I realize. Her face was filled with fear. Tears formed, but still, she smiled. As if to make me feel comfortable.

After a while, as I tightened my grip on the dagger, I barely made a word out of her silent shouts.

"Essence…" She backed away.

'Essence?' Something was now floating on her hand.

'Is that an essence?'

I jolted awake as my alarm clock was ringing through my ears. I couldn't help but sigh and turn off the alarm. I sat down and stretched a bit before yawning. 

"What a weird dream." I couldn't help but think of that dream from last night as I was preparing. It felt familiar, but how could it be familiar? It was definitely due to a peculiar fantasy of mine.

"I really should lay off the web novels for a while." I laughed while humming in the shower.

I quickly got out of the shower and did my daily routine. As I reached for the comb to brush my hair in front of the mirror, my vision flickered. Blue-ish aura was now all over me, but only in the mirror. And they were all flowing towards my heart.

As soon as I blinked again, everything became normal. I analyzed my reflection, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I rubbed my eyes and sighed.

"I really need to get some more sleep."

As I finished getting ready, I was prepared for the day ahead. So I left my apartment and walked down, still half asleep, letting out a yawn as I walked down the streets.

Icary Walker, that was my name, well, it can be shortened to Icy. I'm supposed to be a normal student. Well, I am, but that dream… 

'I should just forget about that. It's just a weird dream.' I yawned once again and continued towards my university. Luckily, the university was not that far from my apartment.

Arriving at my university, I went to my first lecture and met up with my friends. We sat down, and minutes later, the professor entered and greeted the students. 

The professor looked tired, just like everyone else in the room. His messy hair and unironed shirt were a common sight. And the obvious eye bags he has from being sleep-deprived.

During the lecture, my mind wandered over to the weird dream I had.

I couldn't get the dream out of my head; it was like I was in a trance. My friends barely made me snap out of it, indicating the lecture was finally over.

"That fast?" I asked.

"You've been staring into the air for hours now." My friend answered. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Ah, is that so?" They all laughed back and dragged me away.

As the day went on, my mind kept wandering over to that same dream. It didn't feel like a dream at all. It felt too real.

'It was like a memory.' I thought, but I quickly brushed off that Idea. I finished eating and tried to forget that dream as I walked away with my friends.

The day quickly went by, and the dream still lingered in my mind. I said goodbye to my friends, left the university, and walked to my apartment. 

As I approached my apartment, I could barely notice a blue-ish wind escaping through the cracks of the door. At first, I dismissed it as a hallucination or a problem with my eyesight. But it felt too real, or in this case, too familiar.

Now standing in front of my doorway, something felt off.

It feels like the same cold wind I felt from my dream last night, no, I'm sure it's the same wind. It was like I was back inside that weird dream.

'I can't just stand here…' So I opened the door slowly. 

I suddenly got an eerie feeling… It felt like a whole new world was inside my small apartment…

'Did someone get in?' As I stepped inside, the door behind me closed, sending shivers down my spine. I tried to open the door, and of course, it was locked. 

'Fuck.' I thought to myself. I slowly turned around and walked down the hallway like it was leading me to a whole new world.

A different atmosphere. One that I should be unfamiliar with, but why does it feel familiar? 

'Deja vu? It can't be.' I couldn't help but think back to that dream. Eerie silence covered the entire place. Not only that, I could feel the temperature dropping.

I looked around, and I saw the culprit, my bedroom. I could see a darker blue-ish wind seeping out of the door. 

'I should be running away. But… I feel it calling to me. I approached the bedroom door, and I could feel it. That comfortable feeling again, the coldness was embracing me.

I gulped and slowly opened the door… My whole body froze. 

There was a man of the same height, black hair with blue highlights, and blue eyes. Wearing some sort of fancy clothes, more akin to a ruler from the West. But his face… It looked like mine. No, it is mine.

'Who's that… Why… Why does he look like me?'

"Who a-" I couldn't even finish my question as fear overcame me, he smiled and started walking towards me. I tried to back away, but there was nothing there, only an empty void. Soon, everything else was an empty void.

I looked around, trying to find a way to escape, to no avail. But he was still there. Slowly approaching me, with that smile. I gulped, and cold sweat dripped down. 

'I need to wake up. This has to be a dream.' But no matter what I did, nothing changed. Suddenly, he held out his hands, and as he did, gusts of cold wind passed by me and gathered at his hands. 

All the wind in the room was flowing towards his hands. Not just the wind, even my cold sweat was getting absorbed. What formed next left me in awe. 

'Is that Ice?' Pieces of ice were being gathered and absorbed, all to create something. I found the answer not too long after, but it left me wanting more answers instead.

'Is that… a heart?' As time passed by, my confusion only grew. An Icy Heart was now at his hand. Something I had not realized was how that person changed. His hair was now fully in a shade of dark blue. 

His whole demeanor changed, as if he were the cold itself.

Countless blue-ish particles were expelled from his body, falling like snow.

Before I could admire his new look, or should I say mine? Everything froze; it was like time itself had frozen as the Icy Heart grew. I could see my breath now, even the atmosphere had changed. 

The man stopped inches away from me, leaving me frozen in fear. He leaned in slowly and whispered.

"Remember." My head started aching, and then he pulled me in closer. He held the Icy Heart in place and pierced my chest with it. 

The man slowly dissipated, and he turned into a dark, blue-ish smoke that enveloped me. Along with that, my senses vanished as well.

Darkness followed. I can't even feel anything. It's like only my mind exists, with my body drifting along the void. It felt surreal… I was calm, why am I comfortable?

After a while, something changed. A freezing gust of wind followed like it was embracing me, similar to a mother's warmth. That dream still lingered in my mind. Especially that woman.

'How are these all connected?' I tried my hardest to think of an explanation behind these fantasy-like events. But it resulted in more questions instead.

While thinking, I could feel my senses come back, with the sounds of wind passing through, the smell of nature, and the grass brushing against my skin…

'Wait… Nature? Grass?' I slowly opened my eyes… Only to be baffled by the sight before me. 

A forest like no other. Giant trees towered across this vast forest that was almost blocking the sunlight. An environment that felt familiar, but one that shouldn't even exist. And… a gravestone?

"Am I still dreaming?"