Read Prophet of the Apocalypse :: [Episode 1-1] Tales Yet To Be Told : Lost in the Unknown

A random conversation from a while back comes to my mind.

It was right after a fierce sparring match with my teacher when he suddenly asked...

"What do you think define a person?"

Since I was still tired from the training, I frowned at the attempt to interrupt my break.

"Why the sudden question?"

"Just answer." He insisted.

Perhaps because I was intrigued by this not-so-lighthearted question out of the blue that I actually spent some time thinking about it. However, I still thought it was nothing deep.

"Hmmmm..... Their nature. Their personality." I answered.

"Why?"

"People judged and acted based on their nature."

"Then, what shaped the nature of a person?"

"Their experiences and memories obviously."

"In other words, information."

"What are you trying to say, dad?"

I was getting more annoyed by the minute at his numerous questions coming endlessly.

However, he ignored my obvious dissatisfaction shown on my face and continued his rambling.

"What do you think is the most important component of warfare?"

"From where our conversation is going, you expect me to say "Intelligence" as in "Informations", right?"

He nodded in response.

Anyway, I was curious as to why he was asking the most basic knowledge of warfare out of nowhere.

'Is he testing me or something' I thought to myself.

'Let just do my best and get this over with.'

"So, what would happen if one lost their memories?" I asked, to entertain him and speed up the conversation.

"They would change obviously. Even the strongest warrior is nothing but a husk of their glory without the experience of his countless battles and the most brilliant genius swordsman fell to a trick he never experienced."

"What's the moral of the story?" I urged him to finish the lengthy conversation already.

"Identity, strengths, convictions, intelligence, they’re all just echoes of what we remember. Our present self is just an accumulation of our past actions. Strip away the pasts, the memories, and nothing is left. Not even your mind."

"...?"

I couldn't help but tilted my head in confusion at those rhetorical sentences. These words from the past were not making any sense to me of that time...

"Baston, remember this...

A person without their mind is like a weapon without purpose. No matter how great it may be, it is ultimately useless."

Only before facing my greatest predicaments yet do I now realize its true meaning...

* Location : ??? *

* Time : ??? *

When I first opened my eyes, I found myself surrounded by a sea of people.

At first, my mind refused to make sense of the scene before me.

"What am I doing here?" I asked myself, still confused.

I can't seem to remember anything at all.

I blinked a few times, trying to clear the haze clouding my head.

I was standing among dozens— no, hundreds — of well-dressed people, all gathered in an open courtyard. The atmosphere carried an air of significance, as if we had assembled for some once-in-a-lifetime ceremony.

Yet, something felt off.

The sky was deep dark, in the state of evernight without any signs of light.

The space around us was nearly pitch black, far too dark to hold a festival of any kind.

Every single person stood perfectly still, as if they were frozen in time.

Not a single movement was detected.

Not a single breath was heard.

The only thing breaking the silence was the pounding of my racing heart.

I glanced down at myself.

I was also dressed in a light blue suit, tailored and neat. Though it perfectly blended in with the others, it was not something I instinctively knew I would ever wear.

Holding my hand was the person I could barely make out, even when I squinted my eyes through the darkness.

My mother, whose name I couldn't recall.

She stood beside me, her gown exquisite and elegant, blending into the countless faces around us.

For reason unknown to me, I recognized the person as my mother whose name I couldn't recollect.

"Mom, where are we?" I asked her.

No response… she stood still, unmoving, as if she hadn't even heard me at all.

I squeezed her hand... Still, nothing.

I shook her arm. I called out to others. I screamed at the top of my lungs.

But still… nothing.

No one reacted. No one moved.

I made multiple attempts to push through the crowd, to force my way past the endless rows of bodies, but they wouldn't budge.

With my strength drained, I forced myself to calm down.

I let out a shaky breath, deciding to wait it out.

“*Sigh* Let’s just chill out and relax… Everything is going to be fine.”

Fifteen minutes had passed…

“898… 899... 900…”

I had counted the seconds out of sheer boredom, trying to keep my mind occupied.

It felt like hours had gone by after I had memorized and analyzed every little detail within arm's reach—the stillness of the people, the fabric of my suit, the vague outlines of structures beyond the golden gate.

And yet, not a single change happened during this period.

My vision was worse than usual. I could barely see anything beyond my immediate surroundings—the starless sky above, the people around me, the paved ground beneath my feet.

Everything else was shrouded in darkness, the details blurred and indistinguishable.

I searched my vicinity for anything useful before slipping my hands into my pockets.

My fingers brushed against cold metal.

I pulled out a pocket watch.

Its glass face was unbroken. Its gears were unmoving. Its battery was completely filled with energy yet the hands didn't move one bit.

The time read 7:59:59 PM.

And it hadn't moved since.

The watch was frozen.

Or maybe... the Time was frozen.

A flicker of unease settled in my chest knowing that I was completely alone in a world stuck in time.

Another hour passed...

The silence stretched endlessly.

I felt detached and lonely, adrift in the sea of people who weren't truly there.

Talking to them was pointless. So I spoke to none but myself.

I tried retracing my thoughts, hoping to recall how I ended up here.

But I couldn’t remember anything before I opened my eyes.

There was nothing.

No memories. No past.

Any time my thoughts drifted to events before this moment, even simple things like 'What did I eat for breakfast today?' or 'How did I get here?', they simply… vanished.

'Who am I? What am I? Where am I? When am I... wait that question doesn't make sense'

Even identity of myself is shrouded in mystery...

But that wasn't normal forgetfulness.

I could recall everything that had happened since opening my eyes perfectly. my failed escape attempts, my mother's unresponsiveness, the frozen crowd.

Yet anything before that moment was just... gone.

As if my mind had been tampered with or my memories had been sealed away.

“I’m pretty sure that I don’t have dementia... but even if I did, I'd probably forget that too” I muttered with a dry chuckle.

The joke fell flat in the suffocating silence.

Around another two hours had passed by…

I had stopped counting since around two thousands-ish.

My thoughts wandered aimlessly, desperate for answers.

Many ideas settled in my mind and many imaginations left without a trace.

During this time, I noticed that my mood was swinging harder than a schizophrenic and his anxiety level was changing faster than a roller coaster changing its direction.

"Could this be the afterlife?" I thought while holding my head in distress.

'What if I had already died? What if this was purgatory where nothing moved and time never flowed for eternity?'

My breathing quickened.

'Maybe I wasn't just alone. Maybe... I was trapped.'

Panic set in, causing my senses to be amplified.

The walls of the crowd seemed to close in, the air growing thick, suffocating and heavy. My heightened awareness turned against me, making every shadow stretched longer, every unmoving body loomed suffocatingly closer.

Sweat trailed down soaking my shirt. A ringing started in my ears.

My heart slammed against my ribs in a wild rhythm that refused to slow.

The sensation crawled up my throat, strangling my every breath.

My stomach twisted, nausea clawing the edges of my mind.

My mind was drifting away.

'I had to snap out of it.'

Forcing my breath to steady, I focused on what little I could control. My vision—though still hazy—felt sharper than before, like my panic had awakened something deeper inside me.

And that’s when I saw it.

Something new.

Something I hadn’t noticed before.

The world around me was not empty after all.

At the very least, I knew I wasn’t trapped in some endless void. That thought alone was enough to calm me, if only ever so slightly...

Or maybe not so little... My alertness faded rapidly, easing the last remnants of my anxiety.

Maybe I was just feeling tired, but right now, I was more collected than ever.

I decided to look for landmarks or clues, anything to help me figure out where I was.

Beyond the crowd, on both sides, breathtaking gardens stretched into the dimly lit horizon. Exotic plants in shades of violet, crimson, and gold, colors so vivid they felt almost unnatural. An unusual combination of species, the kind only seen in a noble's estate.

Behind me, a towering golden gate loomed, sealed shut, its intricate carvings of phoenixes and celestial sigils glinting faintly under the ambient glow of the palace lights.

Beyond the fences, rows of brick buildings with slanted roofs lined the opposite side of the street. Their windows cast a warm glow against the night. Yet not a single soul could be seen roaming the empty streets.

An utterly desolate place, devoid of life.

I had never been here before, atleast not that I can recall.

And yet, a deep, unsettling familiarity gnawed at the edges of my mind, an eerie déjà vu I couldn’t explain.

I racked my brain, searching for anything bearing any resemblance to what I was seeing.

Nothing.

And then, the crushing weight of hopelessness settled in my gut, snuffing out the flicker of confidence I had regained, plunging me into despair.

I was completely lost.

"Where am I...?" I whispered, my voice barely audible over the sound of my own pounding heart.

No answer came. Only silence.