It's been almost a year since I met Mr. Nobody—three years of chasing someone else's dream of finding a mythical plant that supposedly connects you to God. It sounds like a bad joke when you say it out loud.
After that night, I went home to process everything. We had agreed to meet again, but only after he sent me the location an hour before. Mr. Nobody is serious about his anonymity.
I poured myself a drink and tried to make sense of what Mr. Nobody had told me—the Order, the ancient gods, the Great Tree. It all sounded like a fairy tale or a twist in a fantasy movie. But there was something familiar about it. On one of my past expeditions, I'd stumbled upon a hidden cave adorned with symbols identical to those on Mr. Nobody's mask. At the time, I dismissed it as unimportant and left, but now I wasn't so sure.
Maybe he's telling the truth. If my years of expeditions have taught me anything, it's that we know far less than we think. Humanity seems to be running in circles. What we call "progress" pales in comparison to the technology ancient civilizations once wielded. Their machines made our modern devices look like toys. Somewhere along the line, we started moving backward.
Drink in hand, I fell asleep, thoughts of ancient gods and lost knowledge swirling in my mind. I dreamed of my past triumphs, of the glory days that now exist only as ghostly memories, haunting me ever since the tragedy that took everything from me.
A sudden knock jolted me awake. The sky outside was still dark. My heart pounded as I approached the door. Something deep inside urged me to turn back, to pack my bags and disappear. But then I heard a voice from the other side: "Don't you want the nightmares to stop?" It was Mr. Nobody.
I hesitated, then took a deep breath and opened the door. There he stood, dressed in his usual black attire, eyes gleaming with a smile that his mask concealed. He stood straight, hands behind his back, exuding a sense of superiority. To him, I was just a pawn. I could sense his disdain for humanity, but I didn't care—as long as he kept his promise. He didn't strike me as the type to lie.
After a brief conversation, we drove in a black car to an old storage facility, where he laid out the specifics of the mission. Mr. Nobody introduced me to a team of "expert adventurers" who would accompany me. One glance at them, and I knew half wouldn't survive the journey. I didn't bother learning their names. The only thing that mattered was that there were seven of us.
Mr. Nobody unfurled a map on the table, and we gathered around to discuss the plan. He pointed to a desolate area in Egypt, far from any civilization. That's where the Great Tree was supposed to be. A mission like this would typically require a year of preparation, but we were on an accelerated timeline. Mr. Nobody mentioned that once we reached the site, we should search for a temple. According to the order's documents, the path to the Great Tree would reveal itself there. Before we left, Mr. Nobody handed me a golden-silver compass, claiming it was one of Oreck's sacred treasures. It was said to guide us to what we sought.
Months of preparation later, we boarded a plane to Egypt, heading straight for the barren wasteland marked on the map. The golden-silver compass guided our steps. But as we embarked on our expedition, I couldn't shake the feeling that we were stepping in to a nightmare...
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