With his arm caught in a vice-like grip and his eyes fixed forward as he stared into the eyes of the dark figure before him, Theodore's body shuddered, and he instinctively knew that the slightest move now, and his life was going to end then and there.
But as the stubborn young man he was, he refused to let that dictate his actions.
Using the vice grip as a hold, he pushed towards the figure as fast as he could, pulling back his arm he readied for a punch to the figure's core but at the last second feinted and swung his foot in a wide arc, the strike connected but unlike the image of the figure falling to the ground he had pictured in his mind, his foot cut through it.
"Oh, you're a clever one. You might actually have a good deal of potential," the figure said, raising its arm and suspending Theo in the air from it.
"But still, that was too weak, boy!"
Again, Theo swung a foot at him, but it only passed through his ghost-like form. Again and again, he struck with nothing to show for his effort but his ever-darkening expression.
'Why? Why? Why? Why can't I hit him?'
The expression on the dark figure grew more and more amused at his constant attempts, but soon grew tired of his futile struggle. In the next moment, a slew of dark tendrils erupted from behind the figure and restrained Theodore, and slowly, the dark figure receded, and the man's human visage returned. With Theodore still struggling while restrained by the dark tendrils, the man adjusted his clothes, looked at Theodore, and chuckled.
"You've got some spark, Theo, I like that, but you need to do better than that if you plan on going against your uncle."
Theodore's eyes widened, and for a moment, all thoughts in his mind evaporated, leaving those words to echo.
"My what?"
The man chuckled once more at his surprise.
"There is a lot you don't know, Theo, but for now, before we proceed with anything else, you have a trial to prepare for."
With that, the man turned his back on Theo and started down the hall with the young man still in his tendrils' grasp.
***
Minutes later, after traveling through a maze of corridors, they were descending a flight of stairs. Soon they were standing in front of a large door, engraved in its frame were words in a language he had never seen nor heard of before, but for some strange reason, he could faintly glimpse their meaning.
"What do you see, boy?"
They looked to the man at his side with an exasperated expression. Understanding what Theo meant by it, he released the tendrils' grip and asked again.
"Is that better?"
But Theo continued to glare daggers at him.
The man sighed.
"Look, Theo, I don't want to hurt you..."
"How do I know that?"
The air around the man instantly shifted, his cool demeanour was replaced by a murderous intent, and his face faded into the shadowy figure from before as he leaned into him.
"Because if I wanted you dead, you'd be dead!"
Theo felt a chill run down his spine as the man's demeanour shifted so drastically.
"Do you understand now?" the figure hissed, its voice low and menacing. "I could have ended you in an instant, but I didn't. I'm here to help you, whether you like it or not."
Theo swallowed hard and thought his next words through.
"Do you plan to do that by scaring the shit out of me?"
The man paused for a few moments and chuckled as his original form returned.
"That wasn't the plan, I was just trying to prepare you for what's coming," He glanced down at a watch on his wrist. "Speaking of, it should be starting any second now."
'What the hell is this old geezer....'
Suddenly, a wave of pain washed over Theo, and his head felt like it was about to split open. Staggering back, he clutched his temple, but the pain only continued to get stronger. He groaned in pain as the pressure building in his head only continued to get stronger. Soon, his vision blurred, and reality itself seemed to twist and distort before him.
"This is only the beginning." Through the pain, he faintly heard the man's voice as he stepped closer. "Your body is adjusting to the immense amount of power that has built up inside you over the past two decades."
"Is that meant to be a good thing?" Theo yelled through the pain.
"That depends, are you ready for excruciating pain?"
Theo glared at the man with a hate-filled expression and, through gritted teeth, said.
"You're an asshole, you know that old man?"
"I've been told."
With that, the man raised his hand, and along with lifting him off the ground, the dark tendrils pushed the door open. Inside was a large, white room with nothing but a strange device at its center. The man sauntered forward and placed a hand over a screen on the device.
{User recognised, Alec Leto.}
The glass covering the device slid open, revealing comfortable bedding and multiple instruments within. with no time remaining, he placed Theo inside the device, and the glass slid closed. Theodore continued to writhe in pain, but all he did was stare at his watch, and soon it began a countdown.
{10, 9, 8...}
"Don't worry, kid, it's almost over."
{7, 6, 5...}
"And remember, then you're in there, your survival is all that matters."
{4, 3, 2,... 1}
The moment the clock hit midnight, the pain overtaking Theo's rationality subsided, and relief washed over him. But before he could appreciate the relief, a voice resounded in his mind.
[Young candidate, welcome, to Ygdrassil]
***
In that instant, his vision blurred and reality itself seemed to warp and vanish before his eye and before he knew it, an eerie silence suddenly fell upon him and practically swallowed his every thought. But as his consciousness fell into obscurity, he felt a strange warmth envelop him, or was it radiating from within him? Theo honestly couldn't tell the difference at the moment, and he couldn't care to.
Using the remnant of strength he had, he looked around, but no matter the direction, there was nothing; he found himself in a strange, empty white void. Well, it wasn't empty, because ahead of him, Theo could see something overhanging at the center of the nothingness.
'Is that my core?'
He had an inkling of what it was, but couldn't tell what exactly it was.
'Then that means this place is my soul, but why does it look so... empty?'
The state of his soul was strange to him as not only was it devoid of anything resembling the sea of souls he had been taught about all his life, but his core, the center of his being where everything encompassing him was concentrated, seemed undefined and lacking in presence.
He reached his had out to touch the strange object, but when he was only inches away from it, he could he suddenly felt a shift an the space itself and quickly the hollow emptiness that had drowned him faded, instead, a new, alien sensation crept over him and once again the sight before him distorted, and everything faded away into black.