The Inner Odyssey

Alden blinked as his eyelids fluttered open.

He inwardly groaned, the cold sensation of being stabbed in the back still lingering within his mind.

He cursed.

A damp smell invaded his nostrils. Alden couldn't help but notice how heavy it was.

…The stale air was not pleasant.

He coughed.

Shaking off his disorientation, Alden sat up and tried to inspect his surroundings in the third scenario. The first two had been rough - a small part of him now hoped this one would be different.

He sighed and dashed his own hopes a moment later.

'It'll be foolish to assume things will change for the better just because I want them to.'

The young man found himself inside a spartan room. Only an old, dusty wardrobe and a small bed occupied its expanse. Trying not to cough, Alden could see dust floating through the air with his naked eye.

…Such was the state of neglect he found this room in.

Pinching his nose slightly, Alden rose from the bed and exited the room. Indistinct murmuring streamed into his ears from afar. He idly wondered about the source.

As he left the dusty room behind, Alden realised the corridor wasn't faring any better. Numerous cobwebs branched across the ceiling and walls, dust and mould infecting every inch of their surface. Alden tried not to cringe at the grime on display.

There must have been a valid reason for it to be so dirty.

The murmurs rose in volume as he neared the door at the end of the corridor. Bracing himself, Alden stepped through the egress…

…and found a mob of children causing chaos.

He blinked, rooted to the spot.

A stupefied expression flashed across his face.

'Huh?'

Alden stood there, silently in disbelief.

Why had the Trial sent him to a place with children?

What did this have to do with feeling pain?

The kids wore shabby clothing, their hair ruffled, and dirt patches sticking to them like a second skin.

Belatedly, Alden realised where he was.

A run-down orphanage.

That would explain some of the uncleanliness. However, Alden frowned, a hint of compassion sparking to life in his heart.

'Children like them shouldn't be in such a dirty environment.'

Just then, as if synchronising with his thoughts, one kid started coughing. And while this room was much cleaner than the one Alden woke up in, it still wasn't fit for the young children to spend extended amounts of time in.

Alden sent a worried glance towards the child. His shoulders sagged with relief a moment later. The little boy had stopped coughing and returned to being a little menace.

'Thank the Ast- progenitors.'

Alden caught himself just in time.

Now that he knew a little more about the Asterons, and their desire to get their grubby hands on the Key, he felt it ill-suited to thank such reprehensible beings. Beings, who would stop at nothing, manipulating events from the shadows.

Alden cursed the Divine Sovereigns and the other Asterons under them. A moment later, he banished the otherworldly existences from his mind.

In his worry about the little boy, he had stepped past the threshold of the door.

Suddenly, the kids noticed his presence.

…Faced with the intense gazes of ten little children, Alden's cheek twitched in an attempt at forming a reassuring smile. Inwardly, however, he was a sweating mess.

He cursed.

Suddenly, a lone girl split off from the pack. She had stunning silver hair and enchanting jade-green pupils on par with Celeste's. Baby fat clung to her cheeks, and Alden's heart couldn't help but warm.

'What an adorable thing!'

He was sure Celeste would have raced to embrace the little girl if she had been with him. A pang struck his heart. Alden pushed the pain of not being beside his lover deeper, sealing it for now.

In any case, the little girl was just so cute that she melted his heartstrings after a single glance - Celeste was obviously a lot cuter, though. The corner of Alden's eyes crinkled with mirth.

He watched as the little child approached, tugging at his trousers with her small hand.

"Mister, can you play with us?"

Her adorable eyes melted Alden's heart.

"Sure."

The child's face lit up, her jade-green orbs sparkling with joy. Then, the silver-haired girl dragged him over toward the rest of the children, and there, chaos resumed.

Only this time, Alden was at the centre of it. Some children ran around, chasing each other. Others pretended like they were in a duel, locked in a ferocious pretend clash. The adorable little girl, meanwhile, sat atop his shoulders, giggling giddily.

He spun her around, and she squealed in a mixture of excitement and fright.

Seeing this, a few of the other children grabbed at him, wanting the same.

"Okay, okay. One at a time."

Alden laughed, a bright smile on his face.

…The first time he had shown such a smile in a long time.

Alden revelled in the simplicity of the children, forgetting about the Trial, his traumas, his fears and what was doubtless happening outside the Key. He ignored it all, focusing on fooling around to his heart's content.

Eventually, however, he snapped out of his merriful fantasy.

Suddenly, he frowned.

He sniffed at the air.

…The smell of burning wood streamed into his nose.

His frown deepened.

Just as he was about to warn the children, he found that they had gone strangely quiet, as if instinctively sensing that something was wrong. In the next moment, Alden discovered little wisps of smoke rippling in the air.

He paled.

'Crap!'

Before he could move, a furious explosion slammed into them.

Alden's world flipped upside down.

Time slowed to a crawl.

Hazily, he heard the children scream - the cacophony a mixture of fear, pain and disorientation. Alden travelled through the air for a long moment before being slammed into the ground.

He gasped, the breath knocked from his lungs. He tried to move, only to realise that rubble surrounded him. He immediately took action, slowly, torturously shifting the debris.

Alden's vision swam, and his ears rang. Struggling, he finally dislodged enough debris to lift himself off the ground.

And when he did, another gasp escaped his mouth.

However, this time it wasn't from a lack of air.

Alden's face turned even more pale as he surveyed the carnage.

…The orphanage was in ruins.

The smell of blood hung heavy in the air, and Alden realised with a jolt that all the children were dead.

'N-No!'

Shaking, he searched for any sign of life. He found one a few moments later, the broken corpse of the silver-haired girl branded into his memory. Her listless gaze stared at the night sky, the jade losing its once bright lustre.

This little girl would never sit atop his shoulders, giggling and having fun.

She would never call him 'Mister' again.

She would never live… again.

'NO!'

A mask of frozen disbelief framed Alden's face. He just couldn't comprehend what had happened. Especially because it had been very abrupt.

Where had that explosion come from?

Was it an attack?

If so, who would do such a thing like attacking an orphanage?

Alden soon received his answer.

Manic laughter reached his ears, muffled slightly by the ringing in his head.

"I CAN FEEL MY FLAMES GROWING STRONGER!"

Alden froze, a tremor running through his body. He quivered not because he was afraid.

…But because he was angry.

Furious.

Enraged.

Alden's rage burned incandescent inside his chest.

He struggled to understand why someone would attack an orphanage full of innocent children just to increase their proficiency over their flames. It was mad. Completely and utterly mad. However, before Alden could even think of confronting the crazy individual, another explosion rocked the ruins of the orphanage.

A scorching wave of fire spread in its wake.

Alden didn't have any time to dodge.

He was pushed again to the ground, this time enveloped in a searing curtain of flame. However, contrasting against the scorching heat, his heart was ice cold.

…More frigid than it had ever been in his life. Except, of course, the time when he had lost his parents.

Alden gritted his teeth against the pain.

Blisters formed with incredible speed.

'Truly... the human race is extremely vile.'

He realised then the nature of the pain he was meant to experience in this scenario.

It was…

The pain of being burned alive.

Darkness slowly enveloped Alden's vision.

Life left his body once more.