Ragnar had a very long dream, but in this dream what remained consistent was the feeling of wetness around him.
Even when he was being chased in the dream , he couldn't run properly because he felt he was deep under water, he tried to wake up from the dream because at some point it got obvIous that it was just a dream but also to no avail so he decided to stay and watch how it all plays out.
He had even forgot that he had company before passing out and right now all he just did was try to relax.
Moments flew by, since time was stolen from them , the lost of the celestial bodies made it difficult to know the hour of the day so humans went back to old ways.
More advanced settlements used hourglasses while rural areas used a water system to keep to time. All this methods were simply called rotations .
Ragnar had finally woken up at some point but was so disoriented and shaken about the reality he was in. Right now all around him was nothing but chilling cold, he was seemingly floating in a bubble of wet fog if that even made sense, he couldn't move a single limb , he tried to turn his head and observe where he was ,immediately he did, the chill descended to a much more terrifying level, if he was just a regular human in the previous world, he would have became an icicle right now, but after surviving many horrors his mind and body were more tenacious . Although that sounded good but it was a real pain, the chill of the fog, the fear of the unknown, the terror of immobility in the face of an unknown terror.
He was on the verge of falling into despair because the last thing he remembered was a slithering long tongue rubbing on his nose.
'don't tell me that guy kept me as candy!, I'm not delicious damn it!!'
His frustrations kept piling up the more lucid he became.
'indeed we are being Punished '
He said quietly and finally let out a resigned sigh.
'it'll all be over soon' he shut his eyes, quietly the chill crept forward dropping to even deeper levels, he could feel his thoughts slowing.
"Ha ha, so you resigned to death huh?, no more struggling?"
"Yes, what's the poi....huh? Elder??"
Ragnar froze mid speech, he was puzzled, he clearly saw the elder getting erased and the sentry taking over his body, but the sentry shouldn't be this fluent with speech right?
His brows furrowed .
How many years have I been asleep?
Why did he even keep me?.
"Yes yes boy, it is I" The elder's voice echoed once again. There was a tinge of mischief laced in the ever cold voice he had grown used to.
Ragnar became agitated once again, his thoughts were now more lively seeing a thread of hope. He knew that in the face of the sentry he was no different from a twig on a pathway, but if it was just the elder, he knew he could fight back.
'lets just talk it out first,I still can't move'
"Where are we? What happened?"
Silence descended upon them for some moments , then a series of foot steps echoed as though the elder was walking away , the chilling fog also retreated .
"What a peculiar fellow you are, in the face of hopelessness you become indeed hopeless and just a slight change and you're all hopeful again and I must say, I'm quite curious to know the root of this spark...mind sharing son?"
'was he always this talkative' Ragnar thought within before answering. "Well we are acquainted aren't we?, so why shouldn't I be hopeful at the sound of your voice? Besides you sound ....free? I'm not quite sure but if you didn't notice I am bound here, so a helping hand would really be appreciated "
Ragnar was confident in many things and his eloquence and sharp tongue could be said to be top of that list and right now, although he wasn't in the rightest state of mind, he tried to make use of that one talent.
But the elder's next words made him lose hope completely.
"And since you realise that you are indeed bound and I am free and moving and as you can see or hear, I can also chat freely what does that smart mind of yours tell you??"
Ragnar's mind churned violently, the despair he managed to let go of came crashing on him , much more harder than it had.
He remained silent and after sorting out his thoughts his mind shifted into a rare state.
A state of resigned indifference. He had come to terms with the situation, he didn't die earlier doesn't make him special, it's just a slight delay so what was the point of struggling? He had thought that he could fight it out with the elder but after sorting out his thoughts he realised a few things, he heard the elder's voice didn't mean the elder spoke to him himself, secondly the elder's footsteps echoed while retreating but he he was sure he didn't hear the elder's footsteps when he came. And lastly why was he cold when the elder was close and slightly warm when the elder left.
Ragnar accepted all this and settled to ride with the situation.
"So what do you want with me?" He asked , this time he sound as calm and collected as one might be, it was even scary the way he sounded, it was as though the whole situation was just one trivial inconvenience of which he wasn't the least bit bothered of the outcome.
The elder noticed all this small changes and chuckled lightly.
"Indeed a peculiar fellow, anyways you do have a purpose, I indeed wanted to go just eat you up... " A slurping sound rang in the surrounding. And with that Ragnar nodded his head as if confirming something .
He had been wondering where he was but now he was sure they had moved to a room or a tent. There were no many sounds to discern from but the longer the elder spoke and the words echoed upon itself the more he became sure about it.
"....
but you see, I grew curious about you humans and what better way to learn than having a teacher and perhaps a test dummy"
"Hmm, you humans??" Ragnar asked with a raised brow.
"Indeed 'you humans' did I speak wrong?"
"Not really, but with that I got one of my questions answered, you can go ahead, it's not like we have much doing".
It was a funny sight to behold if one was to come across them. The captive sounded as though he was the one with the real power in the situation.
Ragnar was in a state whereby all his emotions were tuned off.
He felt nothing.
There was no fear neither was there any joy.
He was just empty.
He sounded as if he was curious but he wasn't feeling anything, even if the conversation progressed or not, he wouldn't be bothered nor disappointed.
"This is why I said you humans, you show millions of emotions , I'm not quite sure what triggers those and the switches in between, it's quite intriguing, then your whole mechanism, it feels different, I'm indeed curious, I would love to know the extents of your capabilities, so you my friend, you'll help me with things I can't do for myself, I'm quite vulnerable in this vessel you know ha ha"
The elder's voice shot out loads of information care freely while paying close attention to Ragnar to see if he could get any change in his behaviour once again but failed.
The elder sighed and turned around with that Ragnar's body also lifted but there was still no expression change on his face. Although he couldn't see the elder but he could tell they were moving.
'lets get this over with'
With that he closed his eyes.
"HAHAHAHA....how curious, how interesting, humans ....haha....I want to see how long it will take to break you HAHAHAHA" The chill levels kept dropping lower and lower while the elder's distorted laughter echoed into the emptiness.