Artwork by RandomPerson3457.
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"We've had to have been here before... Haven't we?"
-Drake, The Haunting 3: Legend of Herobrine part 1
***

Drake's point of view-

I cursed those sirens under my forced heavy breath as I ran as fast as my long legs could carry me. My chest was in so much pain as my heart raced, pounding against my rib cage until my bones felt as if they were cracking, soon to give way and shatter. My lungs repeatedly clenched until I forced myself to inhale sharp gasps of air, the cool oxygen rising up into my brain and preventing my body from collapsing.
A thick fog of panic clouded my mind, bringing difficulties in forcing myself to stay grounded within reality. Over and over, I had to reassess the situation as terror consumed my mind, attempting to keep myself cool and collected as I searched for options to ensure our survival.
Our feet desperately kicked against the crunching snow beneath our shoes as we bolted, eyes locked onto the blonde up ahead of us two. We followed him like a light in a sea of pitch black darkness, trusting his every instinct. Our focus rested on every word that spewed from behind his pink lips muffled by his grey snow helmet.

"This way! Go! Go! Go!" Grayson called out, our sore legs attempting to catch up.

It was like I could sense him following us, that demon that lurked in the shadows, always vanishing out of the corner of my eyes. Those lifeless eyes...just the sole recollection of them was enough to bring a shiver down my spine and cause my rushing blood to chill like ice within my veins.
All three of us hurried up into what resembled an old watch tower covered in snow and ice as if it had remained untouched for years. As my fingers wrapped around that ladder, I would have let go from the unbearable cold if not for the fear and adrenaline giving me a moment of determination to reach the top into safety. We stood there and caught our breath, our eyes scanning over to lock upon the home of our new comrade. I could hear him whimper as the clock counted down, the three of us watching the facility in its final moments.
The alarm grew silent, allowing us only a second of near bliss before we could hear the blast and light consumed our vision until we were blinded. An ear piercing screech of metal grinding and hitting against metal and other objects as pieces fell to the snowy ground below. All went black, and all grew silent with the exception of the ringing echoing off of the drums in my ears.
Yet, there was a feeling of uneasiness within me. Something did not settle with me just right, something that I could not wrap my head around. I could not think of a precise reason for me to feel such a way. It was just...this all felt too familiar to me.
I had lost consciousness. When my eyes opened up, a chill ran down my spine. I knew that I had seen this recently, the familiar walls surrounding me, constructed of strange stone that almost mimicked the appearance of the moon. The ground was made of pure, thick obsidian that felt like smooth glass beneath my feet.

I know I've been here before... I thought as I walked down the narrow corridor, almost like a maze.

Something came into my view, a pillar with red stone. This feeling tugged at my chest, a dread lingering and expanding within my body. This did not feel right. A light gasp slipped past my lips, remembering this place from my dream. I knew what was going to happen next. My feet moved back as I anticipated his arrival, a fog of white light appearing before the pillar just as I had thought.
Those white eyes stared me down, his head tilting with a clinical grin spreading from cheek to cheek, a white mist seeping from between his pearly teeth. I waited for the deep voice to sweep into my ears, my heart racing and breathing rising.

Say it..."You shouldn't be here"...Say it!

He did not. He said nothing, only putting a finger up to his pale lips, a simple "shhh" coming out from his mouth before he began to chuckle.

He proceeded with a whisper. "You're going to wake them."

What? Wake...who? Before much else could be done or said, my vision was swarmed with a bright white. Then, I was awake, looking to my friends regaining consciousness as well, their bodies wounded from the blast. After we climbed down from the tower, leaving a trail of blood behind us, we all collapsed onto the snow...
This pain...it's familiar...
...

The bitter cold gnawed at our skin, slowly making our bodies become numb yet our blood still ran warm, some of that warmth oozing from our wounds bleeding a deep crimson. The debris that had flown through the air and struck us after the explosion had done a number on us, filling our bodies with wounds and all sorts of pain.
With every breath we let out, a white mist would rise in front of our faces, as if the rapidly falling snow was not enough to blind us already. The wind shoved at us from the side, the strong force nearly knocking us over on occasion.
A thin layer of icy lace covered my skin like a blanket for my goosebumps, feeling like frostbite could set in at any moment. Our bodies were trembling so much that every limb and every joint began to ache.
Once again, I was taken by this awful feeling. It was as if...I knew that something was about to go wrong. Something was going to happen. Without a conscious thought, I pointed out with a call.

"Armen! Look out!"

As soon as he stopped in place to look at me, a spear came out from nowhere, the head sinking into the ice beside his own head. A fear and panic flooded into his eyes.

"Where did that come from?!" We all looked around. "Drake, how did you know that was going to happen?"

I had no idea how to answer. How did I know? I was curious about it myself, but I knew that now was not the time to pounder. We had to get away from this thing.
Grayson suddenly screamed, pulling something out from his thick coat. A rifle musket. I had no time to cover my ears before he fired the blast, my ears popping as they filled with ringing and pain.

"Let's get out of here!"

The sky above was swept with dark grey and occasional patches of blue that played no factor in stopping the treacherous storm that plagued this land for three years. The ground was covered in a gleaming, thick blanket of cold white and long thin blades of ice came down from every overhang on the mysterious buildings, no matter how small the slim openings were. The icicles were bright in what little light there was that managed to come through the thick clouds up above, making it easy to see our reflections as we passed by each of them one by one. The place was ominous and ghastly, yet oddly scenic and sublime.
Unfortunately in the current situation we found ourselves in, we had no time to take in the aesthetically pleasing view.
My visible breath rose in front of my face as I huffed and gasped for breath, a terror tightening up my chest. My eyes darted around as I searched for our invisible attacker, but ever so slowly I was settling into a more calm state. My trembling body shook like crazy and teeth chattered, every bone aching down to the deepest of marrow. My vision occasionally blurred, although I shook it off as just the rapidly falling snow hitting my eyes and the sheer panic drowning out my senses.
My ears ring from the harsh wind and the ear popping, thunderous blast from a rifle that made my heart race until I truly believed that I would have an inevitable heart attack the next time it was fired.
My mind was so clouded. My thoughts were a hazy burning mess. I had no clue on what I was to do. How were we supposed to escape this thing? How do we find the exit to this labyrinth maze before we all parish to this ghastly being out for our blood?
Hazy thoughts began to flood within my head, washing away almost as soon as they arrived. We continued on through the arctic ruins, but I could not shake the odd feeling that this had all happened before. I know that it was impossible, but that feeling repeatedly pounded at my skull. I was becoming agitated with my own mind, not knowing why I felt this way. As we kept running, this déjà vu was becoming stronger by the second.
Occasionally when I looked up, a saw transparent forms of my two friends, watching them roam, panicked, only to look behind to see the two once more in solid forms. Once I faced ahead of myself once more, the phantoms would be nowhere in sight, my friends walking past me to fill them in; performing the exact same actions as my hallucinations had performed. I had to be seeing things, preposterous things!
In the mists of the chaos, another chill crept down my spine, stopping me dead in my tracks. The burning in my brain was slowly easing yet the ringing in my ears somehow seemed to grow louder. I looked up and watched as my friend's scrambled, Armen turning his head to look back at me, a bright glow of panic in his cyan orbs. Grayson aimed his rifle into the sky, jumping before he once again pulled the trigger and fired a round at nothing but thick air. Or so it seemed to the naked eye.
The pressure in my head was returning. Thoughts running through my head until deep down I wanted to scream. Why did it feel like this had happened before? What is going on? Why am I feeling this way?
Something felt so off, but then again, something always felt off with every circumstance we faced rather it be a calm setting or one of panic such as this. Yet I could not shake this bizarre feeling off of my shoulders.

Why is it always like this?

I gasped, stopping when I looked to the ground covering in a plush blanket of snow. Covered in snow and rust, along with a thick scarlet liquid dripping down to stain the white beneath, were scraps of what appeared to be armor. It filled me with curiosity, yet this deep feeling of dread. It was familiar but made me feel sad...guilty even. I could not place my finger on as to why. They looked so old, yet they did not appear as rusted as they should have been out in this climate.

"Grayson, do you know anything about this armor?" I asked, kneeling beside a piece of shrapnel.

He turned, his mask hiding his confused expression with a layer of dark grey. "Drake, what are you talking about?"

I was more confused now, my head turning back to face the armor, only to find that I was now staring down at pure glittering white. My head began to painfully throb, my eyes shutting tight as my teeth pressed against each other. I clung to my forehead, listening to my friends asking if I was okay. I got to my feet and tried to shake it off.

"I'm fine. I must be imagining stuff." The aching only increased against my skull. The ringing almost sounded like...laughter. A familiar, unnerving laughter.
...

I looked up at a hollow pillar hosting up another one of those unsettling red stones filled with glimmering blue, semi-transparent gems.

"I don't know about you guys but these gems make me very uncomfortable."

What is it about those gems that make me so uneasy? And that red stone...for some reason it made me scratch at my skin as if it were burning. Not like I was on fire, but more like... I was being purposefully tortured. My eyes locked onto the stone, this heavy feeling pushing down on my limbs and feeling as if my breath was being pulled from my lungs. That pressure in my head... I hated it. I felt so uncomfortable, yet somehow this situation had a sense of familiarity to me. A very strong one. More like extreme déjà vu, yet I could not for the life of me pinpoint exactly why no matter how much I tried.

"Guys, I really am getting that weird feeling again." I expressed, my deep voice almost echoing yet muffled in the midst of the raging blizzard. Even my own words sounded more than just obscurely familiar.

My head turned and stared into the wall of gleaming blue ice fogged and coated in white. I stared at my reflection, my odd appearance of a half human and half...what were they called? I don't remember... The right side of my body was completely black with leathery skin that was almost like small reptilian scales. I was abnormally tall, towering over even Grayson and barely able to walk into the doorways at the facility without the need to hunch a bit. My left iris was a deep blue, but my right eye had magenta where it should have been white and a deep purple within my iris. My right ear was long and came to a point. Some of the black even spread across the shoulder of my teal blue clothes and up my ankles.

It's pointless.

This sudden spike of pressure rose in my head and I became dizzy for a fraction of a second. An unsettling feeling crept up my body and settled into my brain, causing a chill to run down my already shivering spine. For a moment, I could have sworn that there was no color in the eyes of my reflection. Why does this all feel so...dreadfully familiar?

"Drake!" Armen's light voice layered in panic snapped my awareness back into the present. "What are you doing?!"

I looked back up at the gemstone, slowly shaking my head. "I don't know, I just...doesn't this all seem familiar to you? Like we've done this all before?"

My best friend replied, sounding scared yet a bit irritated. "You've been feeling like that a lot lately! It's nothing new. Now come on! Like you said, we're being hunted!"

Can't escape...

I got deeper into my thoughts, only to be snapped out of it as Grayson grabbed my teal shirt, pulling me away from the blast of fire as an arrow came at me from nowhere. "What were you thinking!? You could've gotten yourself killed!" Grayson shouted.

I could see his eyes behind the grey stained glass of his helmet, seeing anger within the deep emerald green. As he stared me down, it was like I was beginning to unravel. I did not feel like myself, instead only a shell of who I was. Even that feeling...it was so familiar yet I had never felt it before. I had never lost my confidence so quickly like that. Why do I keep feeling so strange? So small, so...guilty? Why?

"I...I'm sorry." I shook as the words slipped from my mouth.

His gaze on me softened substantially as he seemed to clear his throat. He let go of my shirt and turned his body, but his eyes remained locked onto my own eyes. He looked so different, the way he stared at me. It was like he was also sharing this feeling of déjà vu, but not nearly as much as myself.

"I...It's alright. Let's just get going before this thing finally kills us."

He turned and began to run, kicking snow beneath his feet. Armen and I locked eyes as he ran ahead, but I broke that contact as I looked up and stared back at those gems encased within that red stone. The vibe about those gems was odd and sent shivers down my spine. It was like I was supposed to be fearful of them.

Sacred...sacred... What was it my brain trying to say?

Sacred diamonds.

"Right... Right. Let's... Let's get going."

I turned away and shook my head. Forget about it Drake! Stay focused! I took in a deep breath and calmed myself down, looking back up as my friend's waited on me. I kicked my feet and ran, joining them as we once again resumed our search of the ruins, looking for an escape. Though the thoughts kept gnawing at the back of my mind; why do I feel like I have been through all of this before?

How many times have I seen this?

How many times have I heard those same words? Over and over?

Not at all? Too many to count?...You're not making any sense, Drake.

I feel like I've lost my mind... Perhaps, in another timeline, I have... If this keeps going on, then surely I'll be driven mad either way.

You're the only one who has a problem. Why bother solving an issue that is only in your head?

This voice in the back of my head, this persistent argument between two sets of thoughts...it keeps telling me that there's nothing I can do to change it, to not even try. What does that even mean? It's not me and yet it is. I don't know even know what I'm saying now...
All I know is that something weird is going on, even weirder than what I am used to. For some reason I feel that something that is watching over me...wanted this.
...

Ỵ̶̡̢̡̛̰̰̳͖̤̣̫͍̞̟̳͙͔̱̭̩̰͕̤̱͍̲͕̀͋̾̌̋́͊̓̀͂͆̕͜͜͠͠ͅͅǫ̷̡̧̧̢̧̧̡̛̩͍̘̻̩̞̰̙͍̠͖͇͇̩̗̘̭̗̰̺̫̥͔͍̬͍̤̘̗̹̱͚͉̮͈̣̑̽̒͑̎̔̄̃͑̊͆͌̌́̉̉̉͋̈́̑̈́͊̔̅͊͛́̎̒͂̑̑́̌͌̉̎͛̈́͋̕̕͠͝͠ŭ̴̧̙̙̙̗̥̜͓̩̤̠̹̱͈̭͖̳̞̤̬̹̦̞̲̟̄͛̇̒ͅ ̵̨̧̨̣̜̺̺̲̝̹̮̘͍̦͉̝̪̖̜̗̮͍̫̗̱̠̣͓̰̲͕̳̼̭̮͓̌̔̎͗͂c̷̢̧̼̰̳͉̭͚̲̱̗̮̯͈̰̩̪̺̩̹͌̈́̿͆͐͊̄̈́̆̽͝͝ä̸̧̡͖̳̖̰̝̹͕͚̻̬̗͍̝̘̯̤̠͔̫̬̝̫̜͍̹̳̲̪́͌̋̓̎̑̊͋̈́̈́̒͒͝ͅͅņ̴̡̢̡̨̨̧̧̨̛̛̮̞̫̮͎̣͎̘̯̖͉͉̪͔̖̟͓̫͓̱͈̼̞̳̘̻̻̥͋͗̂́̒͗̋̑̉̓́̈͊͂̉͒̈́̈́̌̾̑̉͌̓̍̂̈́̎̉͆̄̌̎͑̀̋̈̋̕͘̚̚̚͜͝ ̷̢̡̢̧̧̪̼̱̖̳̲̬͍̦̝̩̙͓͚̳̞̩͇̯̘̥̝͙̩̻̼̭͚͍̘̰̞̱͖̩̥̘͙̙̌̈͜n̴̢̡̢̧͚̠͓͎͈͔̠̼͈̮̩̹̺̟͖̜͇͙̜̦̟̞̤͉͚͖̖͉̹̬̳̫̪̑͗̿̀͜͜͜͝͠͝ͅͅͅê̴̥̽̈́̀̔̊́͐́͛̅͛̌͊̃̀̎͋̀̓̑̾̐̈̏̒̎̉̽͂̒͗͐̕̕̕̚͝͝v̷̨̢̧̛̩͖͚͙̳͚̹̯̗̤͎̙̪̤͌̿̓͑͒̏̏͋͊̋͑̋̿͊͑͐̆̊̿̈̈́͐̋̈́̿̍̈́̌́̕̚͜͜͝͠ẹ̴̛͖̻̓͑͛̌̊̽͐̍̅̌̿͗̅̉̆̂́͑͆̎̊̈́́͊̂͘̚͘͠͠͝r̶͚̖̺̠̻̥̠̲̖͔̤͈̖̭̮͍̱̳̫͔̘̤̥̩̞̼͔̲̲̫̻̥͍͙̫̟̰̞͈̠̓͋̅͊̿͛̎͋̆̌̃̎̚ͅ ̸̛̠͗͐̔̀̈́͒͒̒̈́̅̅̆͋̈́͛̂͒̒̿͝͝͝ė̶̪͕͍̗̄͂̄̈͒̍́͆̇̃̋̀͂̊̔̋̔̿̆̈̀̇͛̏̑̀̿̀̈́̇͐̂͑̓͒̃̒͗̂̚͘͝͝͝s̸̨̨̘̮͓̩̹̠͎̬̞̣̥͖̘̝̖͙̺͇̼̹̪̺͇̣̻̩̰͈͕̲͈͚̫̩̯̰̪͙̺̝͊́͐̈́̏̋͗̂̈́̓̄̎͊̃̑͊̚͜͜͜͠͝ç̸̟̟͍͈͔͖̘̻̺̾̂͒͆͝ȃ̶̧̢̧̛̛̛̛͈̥̞̣̫̩͙̫̽̀̈́̀̓̉̋̄̈̏̽́̈̌̿̈́̔̏͂͊̏̂͋̀̈́̀́̕͝͠͝͝͠͠p̴̢͉͖͕̘̹͉̣̫͈͙̠̩͔͉̝̭͕̩̭͙̹̜̜̞̬̮̺͎̲̝͇̣̦̫͉̘͂̍̉́̇̋̈́̄̃͛̉͜͝ͅę̴͖̝̘̗̦̬͕̙̤͇̓́̌̅͐̿͋̎̕͝ ̸̨̛͙͈̞̹̙͓̳͎̠̻̣͈͍̃́̒̈́̊̈́͒̽͐͛̈͋̈̀̊̅̊̽̈̈̾̊̉́̓̑̑͘͘͘̚͝͝y̷̧̡̧̪̲̘͙͚̫̰̙̦͔͇̝̝̯̮͗̇͊͆̃̅̀̑͗̒͆͗̆̅̈̒̔̊̃̄͛́͒̔́́̊̄́̆̎̂̂͝o̵̥̰͎͇̙͓͈̔́̃͋͗̇̅͐̐̈̿̉̿̾̈́́̕̕̚͜͝͝͝ứ̵̢̡̛̞͎͔̦͎̜̯͕͇̬͍̬͇̦̰͔̥̦͕̙̩̟̫̪̥̙̹̠̪͍̭̱̭͖̀̂̐̅̅̆̌̀͑́̿̀̀͛͂͌̓͐̆̈́͂̄͛̎̊̈͜͝͠͠ͅȑ̴̹̖̼͙̯̗̼̌̊̋͋̃̒̑̈̉̇̎̐̃̇͋̽͆͐̐͊̋̔̚̚͠͝ ̵̛̻̼̩̹͍̯̐͋́̍̒̒͂̈̾̈́̍̌̿͗̀̓͋̑͊̀̃͌̐͘̕f̷̱̪̘̣̥͔̭̭̭̻̭͍̻͎͈̏̃́̔̑̑͐͛̿́̔̂̏̀͊͊̎̈́͌̀̊͑͘͘̕͜͝͝a̸̛͊̀̊̐͆̓̑͊̔̾̇̓̌͊͑̆̑̒̏̔̏̂̅̈́͛͗̇̽̓̈́̃̃̎̚̕̕͠͝ͅt̸͎̻͚̖̖͓͍͙͚͇̗̣̐̀̾̄͐͊̾̍̾̀̐̈̀̍̌̓̀͌̆͋̆̍̐̇͐̈̒̎̕̕͘͝͝͝ĕ̴̡̛̠̠̩͚̩̱̮̯͔͔̎̔̂͂͆̽̅̍͑̐͋̒̆̏̐͂̓̒̈́̒͗́͂̍͗̋̍͑̽̏̽͌̀̒̀̕̕͝

What will it do if I change the balance? No, I've tried, it never worked... I thought of new actions, new words to say. I warned everyone of their impending dooms and yet...has fate changed? I guess that is all it is; fate. Then again, I have changed fate before, haven't I? ...Yes? ...No?
I really am out of my mind, but I have known that for awhile. How do I know what will happen or constantly feel like I have done everything before? No excitement, yet there is still love, and fear, still pain...numbing pain.
I couldn't save Armen, Herobrine still merged to me, I was still captured by imperial forces even though I knew that running off only spelt disaster. I know that I would have killed my friend's if I didn't. Luke and Sylvia still died, and I still... I tried...

...I tried...and I failed.