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Day 1
Callum tried everything he could to try to get out of the cold bedroom he was in. The bedroom itself wasn’t particularly cold. But it wasn’t cozy at all. His mind screamed that danger was always near. That he had to get out of this strange and lonely bedroom.
Callum failed to get out.
Day 2
There were books on the shelves next to the desk. It had dozens of books on many things such as history, magic, and even more. Callum decided to see if the books offered him any help or a clue to get out of the wretched cell decorated into a lonely bedroom.
Day 3
Callum figured out that time didn’t work well in this place. He even started to doubt if this was even real or not. The books provided him information about a place made in between the fabrics of reality. Perhaps Aaravos had figured out how to do that too and trapped him in his make-shift reality.
He really needed to figure out how to get out.
Day 4
Aaravos visits him from time to time. He always has new books in hand. Callum tries to fight him. But he’s no match for the startouched elf. He only gets thrown to the wall and gets beat up by invisible forces until he faints from exhaustion.
Callum decides that since there were no day cycles(or maybe there was, it was just him not knowing since the cell didn’t have any windows). He would count the days whenever Aaravos visited.
Day 5
Callum tried out learning the Earth arcanum from the countless books he’s been reading. Maybe he could break the earth apart and find a way out. A new hope blooms inside his bruised and beaten body.
Day 16
He finally succeeds in making some progress on the earth arcanum. It wasn’t easy. But he finally did it. When he did though, a new but familiar face visited him. An earthblood elf. He seemed familiar but Callum couldn’t put his finger on it. It seemed like his memories were slowly slipping away from him the longer he was trapped.
He hoped that his friends were alright. A deep part of his mind whispered to him that the last time he saw them would be the last time he sees them ever in his life. He dismisses that thought away. He will escape. He had to.
Day 24
Turns out the earthblood elf’s name is Terry. He’s pretty nice. The two talk about earth magic and plants. It makes Callum happy that there’s someone else to talk to. Well, it was nice until he found out that he was Claudia’s boyfriend.
Day 26
Claudia barges into his room. Terry was with him, explaining how he met Claudia. Callum isn’t mad at Terry even though the elf doesn’t seem to believe him. Which is fair since Callum has a hard time believing that himself. He likes Terry. He’s nice and funny. He teaches Callum earth magic and tells great stories.The best of all, he’s not Aaravos and he tends his wounds without judging him.
He hopes that Terry thinks of him as a friend just as much as he thinks. Claudia definitely doesn’t like Callum.
Day 30
Apparently, all three of them are trapped in some kind of place in between the fabrics of reality that Aaravos had created. They were trapped in here for who knows how long. To Callum’s horror, Terry was slowly getting sicker every single moment they were trapped in here. Callum tries to help him with the little healing magic he knows from the sun arcanum.
Terry thanks him. Claudia hits him.
Day 40
Aaravos no longer hits him. Probably because Callum never attacks him anymore. It wasn’t because he lost hope. He will never lose hope. But it’s because he doesn’t have any energy to put up a fight.
Aaravos stares at his injuries before disappearing just like always. Claudia hits and Terry tries to stop her. Callum’s memories are slipping away even faster.
Day 80
Terry doesn’t come as often as he did anymore. When he does, he looks weak and sick. Callum focuses his attention on learning the sun and earth arcanum instead of finding a way to escape. It seems the amount of magic he has doesn’t even help his friend even a tiny bit.
Callum apologizes. Terry still thanks him. Claudia gets mad when he does that. Not at Terry. She knows what kind of kind soul Terry is. So she lets her anger out at Callum when Terry isn’t there. Because Terry doesn’t like it when Claudia hurts Callum. Claudia lies, Callum keeps quiet. Callum apologizes again.
It seems like he apologizes a lot lately.
Day 120… or was it 130?
Callum’s memories had slipped away almost completely. All he can remember are the faces of his friends and the fact that he needs to find a way out.
Terry doesn’t visit him anymore. He’s too sick and weak to do that. At least that’s what Claudia yells at him whenever she’s angry. Callum believes that. He wants to believe that. He feels so alone. But he knows that it’s selfish if he asks for Terry to come. It’s selfish cause he’s hurt and Callum can’t get out of this prison no matter how much he tries.
Claudia is angry. Aaravos just watches. But he does bring a sketchbook and a couple of pencils this time.
Day… a hundred something
Claudia doesn’t come anymore. The prison is back to its cold and lonely room again. Callum wishes to visit Terry even if Claudia will get mad at him when he does. He had almost perfected his sun arcanum and wanted to try to heal Terry. He had perfected his earth arcanum, he wanted to show Terry.
His hope seems to fade away when he can't escape with his now expanded knowledge of magic. And when Aaravos stops visiting.
He’s left alone in his prison… The memories of his friends are so foggy now. He wishes to die.
A long, long, long time later…
Callum ignores the claws of the ghosts as he draws. The claws wrap around his throat and tightens it. He can’t breathe, but what’s new? They whisper cries of help in his ears. It used to bring him to tears in agony. But now he only feels numb.
The door creaks open. Callum doesn’t look towards it. He had already sensed who it was before the door was opened. He guesses that the new entity had let himself be detected. He should be mad for various reasons, but he only feels numb.
“You should cut your hair.” the new entity says.
“Why? Does it remind you of Leola?” he spats back. “Mine is way longer, messier, shaggier, and browner than hers you know.”
“It covers your sight doesn’t it?” the voice speaks. He senses footsteps coming closer to him.
“There’s nothing to see. It’s all gray or black with the ghosts. The ghosts smile at me disgustingly like I’m some kind of prize, a toy, when they make eye contact with me.” Callum feels a hand combing through the mess that some call hair.
The voice hummed. His hand only stopped to bring Callum down to his lap. They had done this countless times already. He hates it but yearns for that warm touch unlike the burning ones from the ghosts. “You’re visiting again. I don’t think the star and moon arcanum is good for you.”
“Well there is better than here. I hate it here. I hate myself. I hate you.”
“That’s valid.” the voice, Aaravos, nodded. He felt a wave of magic go through his head. He knew what spell it was. He didn’t like it.
“We’re not Claudia and Terry,” he pointed out. “Just because you cut my hair, it doesn’t mean I’ll not hate you.”
“Yes, and I know that very well.” Aaravos chuckled. The hand never stopped combing his hair. Callum hated it that he was feeling sleepy from the repetition of movements. The ghosts disappeared one by one. Their claws sinking into his skin one last final time before fading away. Callum felt safe. He hated that. He wasn’t safe at all.
Not anymore and never will be.
Leola closed the book. She really wanted to know what happened during that time skip that Callum’s awake half of the soul decided not to provide her with. Sighing, she put it back on the shelf. She was thankful that Callum never provided too much detail but it made her way more worried and sad about what truly happened to him.
The part where he was forced to see her die wasn’t included in any of the books his soul provided. She checked everywhere, even her own memories but there wasn’t even a trace of it. It made her angry since she didn’t know if there were more things that she’ll never know about until Callum tells her. Which she knows would be never.
“It’s your shift.” Callum said as he appeared beside her. He seemed way more tired than usual. Leola had a lot she wanted to ask. But she bottled the questions up and stepped up to the control.
She still had a lot still to learn about Callum. Maybe she can start by visiting these people named “Claudia” and “Terry”.