First there was darkness. I awoke in  what was seemingly a void. ‘What was this place?’ I could not help but ask myself, despite the fact that I frankly could not even know if I was even alive. I could not see, nor hear, or even feel anything. I was not even sure if I existed, my mind having nothing of reality to grasp onto to act as an anchor. Was I alive? Or am I mere figment of this vast nothingness only micking consciousness? No, no, this was not the time for such things. ‘I think, therefore I am,’ I consoled myself. I would only drive myself mad attempting to prove if I was real or just fiction. I searched and searched, trying to do anything, yet… nothing. No sensations. 

I have no idea how much time had passed, but I then decided to look within myself, trying anything to gain even a sliver of something to pass my mind. Quite frankly, I was going crazy. It is truly a tortuous existence having a mind but nothing to really think about. Time was a vague concept too. Has it been an hour since he popped into this blank space? A day? A week? A month? …A year? Truly desperate, I looked within my own mind, trying to find a clue. After a long look, I found something truly odd. I could feel a strange sensation within my soul, coursing through it. It was very weak, which is likely why I seemingly could not sense its presence. Only when I focused on it, could I vaguely feel it. It was… nice? It could feel that it was important, but I was more relieved to finally get something to dwell on in this mind numbing place. Then I realized I could manipulate it, twist it, move it. Yet I could only barely do any of that. It was like it was resisting my interference. But little by little for god knows how long, I could finally wield it just enough to force it out. 

Pushing it out with great strain on my consciousness, I finally felt something, some kind of wall. Wielding this mysterious power, I found out I was in some kind of casket, or so I guessed, made of stone. Almost instinctively, I injected this odd ethereal power into some nearby objects, which was actually my “body.” I finally gained a sense of touch through my new limbs. Yet, these new limbs gave me unease as I used the energy in me to feel out their shape (Which I will now call soul sense). They were bones.

Only then did I realize I was a skeleton, an undead brought life once more. I did not know how I knew I was an unnatural existence, but the knowledge just came to me. Perhaps it was things I knew from my past life, since I had to have lived once to be undead of course, yet I had no memory of that life. Even my own name eluded me. I suppose undeath wipes one memory but leaves behind relics of their knowledge? It was the only theory I could come up with.

After thinking this, a wave of exhaustion crashed against my mind. Momentarily stunned in surprise, I immediately Inspected my soul essence. I could tell that the supply was straining to upkeep the demand of maintaining control of my body. Cutting it off quickly, I felt a sense of relief as the soul essence returned  to what I will now dub the soul core. Like a muscle being overworked, I felt a surging ache within me as I ceased use of it. Did I have so little essence that merely upkeeping my body at rest was an ordeal? Ugh, it seems I was cursed from the start.

While I was dejected, I knew that dwelling on my pathetic soul essence was of no use. It seemed I had to start simple. When I deemed myself to have had enough rest, I reinjected my essence into my body, but I ceased flow into my skull and legs. If I were to get out of this stone tomb, I needed to ration the essence and use my arms to attempt to slide off the lid, but that was better said than done. With no muscles, only the essence powering my arms could exert force upon the top of the sarcophagus. I could barely sense any change after once again using too much power. ‘Oh boy, I get to stay in bed even longer,’ I joked to myself bitterly as agony once again took control of my mind. Although, I could feel the amount of  essence within my core grow by the smallest of margins. Like a small flickering flame in this abyss, it gave me newfound hope. It did not matter that the increment was so tiny, there was a chance to escape from this discovery. So, for hundreds… no thousands of times, I used my essence to its limit before resting. Investigating once more, I could sense a small opening large enough to stick my right arm through. ‘At last freed–,’ Only then did I realize that I merely escaped a cage to be put in a larger one when I fanned out my essence to get a feel for my surroundings. I was in a crypt. 

Perhaps I should have expected this, as the reanimated remains of someone who had died, but I could not help but frown, or rather frown the best I could with no face to express it (Which went rather poorly as you can imagine). My jaw clanking with mild frustration, I eventually forced myself to cool down and carry on. Inch by inch did the opening grow and with my lean skeleton body, I wiggled out of my imprisonment.

Finally able to stand tall, I felt as if I had topped the highest mountain despite my escape being a small victory. I could finally move as I wished! I could walk! I could dance! I could… er… uh… I cannot come up with anything else… Well, back to the grindstone I suppose.