"Where am I?" Solaire asked the open air.

The only thing he had remembered had been pulling the sword of a Darkwraith from his stomach, and sipping on his Estus lightly. Why was it that he was now somewhere different? Could he have possibly passed out from the pain? Not likely, since he had endured much greater pain than that. There was no real reason to why he was no longer in the place he was just mere seconds ago.

He stared up into the darkness that surrounded him, the world seeming to have lost all color.

He clutched his chest, feeling something inside of his body move. It wasn't physical, however. He could feel his heart ache, a stinging feeling coming from it. He couldn't identify the problem, to what was making him feel the pain, yet what came after struck him in a way that nothing else had.

A feeling of dread and sadness, though unlike anything else he had felt before.

Why? Why did he feel these emotions, yet so much stronger than before? He had felt them before, after losing so many of his dear friends, yet he hadn't felt it to the extent that he was now. Solaire could feel something wet drip from his eyes, slowly inching its way down his cheeks and falling off into the forever darkness that surrounded him.

"Why..?" He asked the open air another question, yet this time with even more confusion than before.

Then, came rage. He clutched his fists almost instantly, his heart feeling as if it was on fire, along with his soul. It felt as if it would burn right through his very being, and erupt into the open, stale air of the void. His eyes were wide, searching around himself, as if trying to find something to displace his anger onto. He yelled into the void, his voice becoming distorted as the seconds passed by. It was not him that yelled.

Then there was nothing at all.

Solaire brought both hands in front of his face, to examine them closely. They were shriveling up, the skin becoming pale white and purple, and sickly looking. He could feel his blood inside his body begin to dry, and his heart begin to slowly stop beating. The fire within his soul began to slower wither, as if it were a candle being snuffed out. He tried to say something once again, yet nothing came out this time.

"Solaire." A voice said from the dark.

Suddenly, Solaire was now upright, on his feet, facing the darkness. His previous form of being hollowed now gone. He was back to himself. Yet, he was scared and confused still. With all of the events happening so fast, and without any reason, he felt as if he was truly going mad. Perhaps that Darkwraith had touched him with his crimson hand, or perhaps this was all a hallucination.

"Who speaks?" Solaire asked.

The answer did not come in the form of words, but in a physical form instead. A man walked from the dark void into view, wearing over him a black coat that covered every inch of his body. His face was not visible, as it was covered by a hood. He faced Solaire, his height well over seven feet tall.

Solaire stared up at him. "Who-"

"Does it really matter?" The man asked, still facing him. His voice was low and gruff, a certain grumble underneath each word he said. The man shook his head lightly, staring off to the left, into the void. He gave a low hum, before turning to Solaire, bringing his hands behind his back.

"It does to me." Solaire said, trying to keep a confident voice, yet failing to do so. His statement felt nervous, yet he felt that it was not his own emotions forcing him to do this. There must have been something else, someone else, controlling how he felt.

The man chuckled, a sort of sinister, yet undetermined feeling to it. Solaire couldn't identify if he was good, or evil. The man simply sounded, and felt like, he was the grey area between both. "You're confused."

"I have a reason to be?" Solaire said, though it sounded like a question.

"You're scared." The man said.

"How would you know?!" Solaire could feel the rage from before seep through him.

"I'm sorry, Solaire. I should have made myself known sooner. Since I have not done so, you are now experiencing this all in the worst way possible. Can you feel them?"

Solaire looked at him with different expressions. It felt as if each second that passed by, his feelings did so as well. Because of this, he wasn't able to talk, to even attempt to get a cohesive sentence out. He felt restrained by the feelings that plagued his mind, soul, and heart.

"They aren't yours." The man said.

Solaire couldn't respond.

"I don't expect you to understand. You're not like me, not like them, and you aren't like yourself. The only way to get you to understand is to do something unspeakable. I can't doom everything in existence, simply for you to understand. Therefore, I have a better way of explaining things."

"H-How-" Solaire managed to choke out, tears streaming from his face.

"Exactly how I am right now. What you feel is my explanation. You won't understand it for a long time, or perhaps you'll understand it as soon as it's all over. Or, you might never understand. It's not determined, which is what is so strange about you. Your fate. Why is it so... empty?"

Solaire couldn't respond, still feeling the effects of what seemed like every emotion possible surging through him. The man faced away from him, turning around, to look at the nothingness. "This must feel like a dream to you. It isn't, I can assure you that. Not that dreams don't have significance, but more so that they... don't amount to this."

"T..his is-is real?!" Solaire could still, barely talk. Each letter sounding different. Either of sadness, regret, rage, uncertainty, hope, happiness, or even emptiness.

The man chuckled lowly. "No, this is not real. You come from reality, and reality doesn't understand this. That is why you don't either. This is above, below, around, and away from reality. There isn't a name for it. Why name something when you're the only one that knows of it?"

The man chuckled once more. "Well, there used to be a name, but those who shared it with me are long gone. I suppose since I am no longer alone, you can give it any name you wish, but I must tell you, it won't mean anything in the end. It'll lose the name like it did all that time ago once you're gone. As I said before, what's the point of having a name of it, if I'll be the only one able to remember it?"

"Ah," The man said, looking into the air. "It seems we do not have enough time to talk. No time to spend in this place, no more. I suppose i'll wake you up, into the reality you're so familiar with, yet still confused by. Though, that is the fate of a mortal being from reality such as yourself. You stay inside it, live inside it, and die inside it. Yet, know nothing of it. Some even go as far as to say that it isn't real, or that it is all made up. What wonders all of you come up with, with imagination beyond comprehension above reality."

"Now, Solaire," The man said, turning to Solaire. "Go home. Or, is it really home? I suppose that's up for you to decide within time."

"Wake up, Solaire. Welcome the reality you're so familiar with."

Author's Note

Wake Up