The Universal Records: Alex Lunaris

I opened my eyes to the sight of a sterile white ceiling above me. There were bright white balls that floated near the ceiling, lighting the room up. I was back in this god's forsaken room again. It truly seemed like I could never be free from 'them'. Those damned deities would do anything to keep their plaything in their hands. A sudden noise caught my attention, and I attempted to turn my head towards it, but as usual I couldn't due to some restraint keeping my head facing the ceiling. I didn't need to look, though. I knew who it was. It was the deity who built me, the Divine who ruled over everything; Lucina, The Creator. I listened to her measured steps as her heels clicked on the marble floor, which was probably stained by my ash grey blood. After a while of her walking around the room, she came over to my restrained body and out of the corner of my eye, I could see her gazing coldly down at my body. Her gaze was the same as a butcher looking at a slab of meat, wondering about all the ways she could carve me. I flinched as a cold steel needle penetrated deep into my veins and started pulling my blood into it. 

'Ah… it seems that she's checking my blood for the stability of my Divine Power.' I thought to myself as she had a nasty habit of cutting my tongue out, if I spoke at all. After she pulled my blood, she started walking to the other side of the room to where I was restrained and I heard the clinking of metal as she placed down the syringe filled with my blood down and picked up her favourite scalpel. Once she reached my side again, I felt the sharp edge of the blade painstakingly slicing through each layer of skin, each fiber of muscle reaching down to my bones. I didn't scream, I couldn't. My ability to struggle, scream, and speak had all been snatched away from me by my tormentor, the one who stood before me. The blade finally touched down on bone, before slowly slicing into that too. My once groggy mind lit up at the sheer agony of the blade digging the insides of my bone out. How I wished I could scream. Maybe the pain would be more bearable if I could. Lucina didn't care about my pain, though. She wanted to find out how, out of all the other experiments, I was the only one who was still alive and stable. My father had told me that her intentions were to make an army of beings like me under her control. I felt my consciousness start fading in and out. The last vestiges of life were about to leave my body. However, not even death would release me, as I heard another person walk into the room. Through my dull senses, I could hear the sounds of people conversing, but I couldn't understand them. It felt like I was underwater again. I could hear nothing but the sound of my slowly fading heart beat. Finally, death welcomed me and I finally felt nothing, but like a splash of cold water, I woke back up, still strapped down. The other woman had her hands hovering over my still body. It was my other tormentor; Dione, the Goddess of Life and Death. I had been brought back again. It kept going for what seemed like forever. I kept dying over and over again, a vicious cycle of pain, relief, and finally more pain. The only things that allowed me to keep my sanity in this sterile room were my father's nightly visits and my imaginary castle that I had been building. I would tell my father stories about it and how I'd create it to be perfect for me and he would give me ideas on how I could improve it while also telling me stories about his day-to-day life. 

As I started slipping back into the realm of the dead, I suddenly felt a pull on a strange energy in my veins. The pull grew stronger and stronger, so I gave in and followed it with my eyes closed, thinking I was being brought back to life again. However, what greeted me when I awoke wasn't that white room that I was so used to. I was back in my new room with my father by my side. His eyes, orbs of darkness occasionally interrupted by stars and galaxies, were filled with concern. As I fully came to, I heard him calling my name while trying to pry my hands, which were covered in my grey blood, off of my bleeding throat. The tongue I had been missing in my dream was back and I could move all my limbs, but the pain I felt in my dream lingered. 

"Alex, are you okay? I heard you screaming from down the hall. Were you having nightmares again?" He kept holding my hands tightly as if he were worried about me harming myself further.

"I'm fine, I just had a dream about… well you know… that place" I reply to him with a shudder and pull my trembling, bloodied hands away from him. I still couldn't escape that place, even in my dreams. 

After a long time spent calming myself down from my nightmare, I finally got out of my bed and got changed out of my now grey clothes. I spotted the book that I wanted to read last night in the same place as where I left it and went to pick it up in hopes that reading would help me forget my dream. Yet again, my plans were foiled when my dad came back into my room and told me to follow him.

"Uhm, where are we going dad?" I asked him hesitantly, not used to this stoic side of him. He paused to think for a bit, which gave me enough time to catch up to him.

"We're going to eat breakfast, I'm sure you're hungry since you haven't eaten in a while."

I laughed, as that was the understatement of the century. I had never eaten, not once. Apparently, even he wasn't able to sneak me food as it'd be caught the moment they opened my stomach up. Although the prospect of food did excite me, I wonder what it tastes like. For the rest of the walk to the dining room, my head was filled with thoughts of food and how different foods might taste. Finally, we sat down. It was time to eat.

As I pulled myself closer to the long blackwood table, a variety of plates filled with colourful food appeared. The intoxicating fragrance of each dish washed over me and fuelling my excitement even more. However, I was stuck in a bind. What should I try first? Should I go for the things that my dad calls pancakes, or maybe I should go for the omelette? While I was stuck in a state of indecision, Talarian chose for me, putting two thick, fluffy pancakes on my plate. 

"Alex you gotta try these, my friend introduced me to them. She says they're famous in her home world." He said while pouring an amber liquid over his serving of pancakes, then he passed the bottle labelled 'Maple Syrup' to me. After I poured it over, giving my pancakes swimming lessons, I picked up my knife and fork before putting them down again.

"Uhhh dad… How do I use a knife and fork?" I ask, embarrassed. He chuckled in response to my question, which made my cheeks flush even more. 

"Okay kiddo, you gotta pick them up first though." 

"Oh right…" I picked up my utensils after hearing his quip.

"The easiest way to use them is to use the fork to hold down the pancake and use the knife to cut small bite sized pieces. It really is that easy." His smile was infectious and his willingness to teach me even the most basic things warmed me up from the chill lingering from the nightmare. As I did what he told me, I found it far easier than I thought, and I finally managed to cut off a small piece. The dripping maple syrup gave the fluffy bread an alluring sheen, and as I put it into my mouth, I tasted it. It felt like the world had lit up, the soft and bouncy texture of the cake being mixed with the sweet, woody taste of the maple syrup. Making a blend of flavours so beautiful and balanced. I couldn't help myself and bite after bite, the pancakes completely vanished from my plate before I even knew it. My father decided that I should have something a bit more savoury after the sweetness of the pancakes and put a plate full of large crispy sausages, fried eggs with the yolks spilling over the white outer edge, covering my plate in yellow. Next to the eggs were these beautifully crispy and fragrant spicy hash browns that glistened slightly from the fryer oil. Finally, the buttered and browned toast finished off the plate. I watched my father as he first skewered a bit of sausage on his fork, followed by a bit of egg and hash browns, before capping it with a small corner of toast. Seeing the beautiful sight of my father's fork, I decided to copy him. It was stunning. The food perfectly reset my palate with the spicy hash browns warming up my mouth a little. Breakfast continued on like this for a while, and it ended with me feeling so full that I thought I would never have to eat again.

"Alright now that we're done with breakfast I thought it might be fun for us to go look around the castle for a bit before starting lessons." My dad said while getting up from his seat and walking over to mine. He offered his hand to help me get out of my chair, and I gladly took it while responding to him.

"That sounds great dad! But I thought lessons would start after a couple more days. Not that I'm unhappy about it. I actually wanted this." I said, a little confused at the sudden change in plans.

"Yeah I thought about it last night and decided that you'd probably want to start lessons sooner rather than later." By the time he'd finished, he had turned around and pushed open the large doors at the front of the breakfast hall. Finally, I could start exploring my new home. I was excited.