Shade’s Realm

Hmm, where should I begin? I’ll start with my first experience with a rift; hopefully that will put the rest into perspective…

I had lived within the 1st spiritual realm my entire life until I was a young adult. Up to this point, I knew of the Commander but never actually got to know Him. One day a friend of mine was jumped by 3 attackers. He was hurt really badly and all I could think about was revenge. Some of my friends got together to plot against the attackers, and I was going to be in on it.

Moments before we going to take off, I started to question our reasoning, but was still gonna go through with it. Afterward, I saw a strange glowing portal that for some reason my friends couldn’t see. Curious, I motioned towards the portal and suddenly felt as if I was extracted from my body uncontrollably, and was traveling at high speeds through what appeared to be some sort of gateway. When I stopped I emerged in a place that seemed vaguely familiar. It seemed that every object I could see had somewhat of a glowing translucent property. I couldn’t tell for sure however, as my vision became blurred and everything seemed much brighter. Then I noticed 2 figures that were shrouded in black, One of them said:

“Looks like hes aware now.” The other one replied:
“Hehe, now this will be even more enjoyable.”

At that point one of them rushed at me and began striking me with punches. I found it strange at the time, that I didn’t feel physical pain when struck, however I did feel a sense of being drained as I was struck. The first couple of blows caught me by surprise, but after the initial shock, I started to defend myself. I was shocked at my ability to dodge and block his attacks; it appeared that my reflexes were not based on my physical ability. My movements seemed very fluid, as if guided by my thoughts alone. After resisting a few of his attacks, I intuitively counterattacked. When I attacked, an energy force appeared to have followed my strike, and my assailant was knocked back about 10 feet. At that point, I was having a hard time rationalizing all that was happening. Where was I, and who were these attackers? Why are they attacking me, and why can’t I feel pain? I came to the conclusion that this must have been a dream. The figure that had not attacked me then said:

“No more games, we cannot afford to fail…finish him.” the other figure replied:
“Right.”

Both figures then unsheathed scythe-like weapons they had been carrying. Both of them begin attacking me simultaneously. Their attacks were fervent, and I was unable to avoid them. Each attack seemed to drain me of my energy, and I started to become fatigued, which I thought was an odd feeling to have in a dream. When I reached the point of nearly loosing my subconsciousness, if there is a such a thing, one of them appeared to have cast a magic spell, or at least my perception of what a magic spell would be. What appeared to be another portal was a result of this spell. This portal was much different then the first one I entered; this portal appeared to have a strange aura of malice about it. They began to drag me over to the portal, and one of them grabbed my head and was pushing it towards the portal. Instinctively, I resisted, as I saw what appeared to be tortured souls on the other end of the portal. At that time another figure shrouded in royal purple, struck my assailants with multiple swings of his sword. This figure attacked with dizzying speed, and quickly rendered both of my assailants helpless. As they fell to the ground one, one of them screeched:

“He has made his decision and his soul is ours…you have no right to be here!” The purple figure replied:
“The Master has plans for this one, and has decided to spare him.”

Afterwards the purple figure hit both of my assailants with a single slash, that was strengthened by a powerful energy source that was brilliant and radiant. The two assailants then vanished, in what appeared to be pillars of smoke. The purple figure then spoke to me:

“The Master has decided to spare you, choose your next decision wisely, lest you perish in eternal damnation…”

At that point he vanished, in stream of light, and all of the sudden I was back with my friends, who were ready to execute our plan. I was even more confused. How could that of been a dream, when I wasn’t sleeping? It appeared that no time had transpired since I had traveled through the portal. After that experience I felt this couldn’t have been a coincidence…I could not go through with this. I let my friends know that I wasn’t going.

Unfortunately, my friends were all killed that night, as they didn’t expect that our enemies would be armed with guns. This tragic event changed my life, I no longer took life for granted. I also knew that there was bigger world out there, and I needed to find out exactly what had occurred when I entered the portal that night.