Inside a cave on the side of the mountain, a man was wearing black armor that was broken at the right rib part.
The man glanced at his injured stomach and sighed.
"There should be no nightmare creatures around..."
Faraam sat near the corner of the cave; the cold passed his armor and skin and reached his bones.
Shame his armor didn't have a heating function, and he couldn't light a fire so no nightmare creature could notice him.
He sighed again as he rested his head on the stone wall of the cave.
In the past month he only slept three times, and the last time he did was a week ago.
Yes, he spent more than a month in this hellhole, and he still didn't pass half of the chain of mountains.
Actually surviving in this hellhole is a miracle in itself!
Awakened nightmare creatures were everywhere, and Fallen ones weren't hard to find either.
Thankfully he didn't meet any Corrupted ones...
Time passed as Faraam remained awake, watching the cave entrance.
His wound healed enough that walking wasn't a problem.
As the fake sun rose, the dark sea dropped back to where it came from.
Faraam knew that staying in the same place only meant death.
He learned from experience.
Walking out of the cave, Faraam walked east.
***
There were many reasons Faraam stayed in the chain of mountains for a month.
Fallen nightmare creatures, starvation, injuries, a blocked path, but the worst of them all, the thing that made Faraam stay in his place for a week... was a herd.
A herd of nightmare creatures led by a devil or a tyrant.
These herds always stay in the same place or follow their leader, and once Faraam had to wait for a whole week for them to move to another place.
Two days ago he met another herd, and he has been stuck here with them.
"They finally moved..." he muttered.
Faraam ran and climbed; his goal for today was to at least pass the mountain that he stayed at.
How many times did he climb these small mountains? A lot, that is for sure.
Reaching the peak, Faraam looked east, and what met him made him take a step back, nearly falling back.
"W-What the hell...?"
In front of him were three mountains side by side; on top of the middle one was a sluggish, slime-like abomination with multiple eyes on its body and tentacles emerging from its body that covered the whole mountain and even reached the other mountains too.
Even though the nightmare creature was disgusting, dreadful, and far more dangerous than anything he had ever seen, Faraam only gave it a glance.
Behind the three mountains was a statue... a statue without a head. It was so large it dwarfed the small mountains around it. With a hammer in its right hand, it crushed anything in front of it, paving a path for itself.
The mountains were no more, as the statue destroyed them and walked south, leaving the abomination on top of the middle mountain and Faraam stoned in their place.
As the headless statue moved, Faraam saw a silhouette of a tower far in the distance.
He then glanced at the slime-like nightmare creature and sighed.
He wondered why he still hadn't met any Corrupted nightmare creatures yet... It seemed his 'curse' had finally woken up.
The slime-like nightmare creature was without a doubt a Corrupted one.
***
Sitting on top of the mountain he was on before, Faraam glanced at where the Corrupted nightmare creature should be.
Since there were only grey clouds in the sky with no moon to reflect the sun's light, he couldn't see anything in the distance.
This was a huge issue, as he couldn't see the danger that was coming to him, but he at least could hear or smell it.
The loss of sight was really a huge issue. He felt some kind of pity for those who are blind.
Well, that didn't mean he would feel pity for them when he was about to kill them; he had already killed one before.
Actually, they're the easiest to kill, manipulate, or torture; that is why Faraam liked them.
Blind people are generally sensitive about their eyes, not letting anyone touch them.
This is mostly because they still have hope that they will be able to see.
That is why they cover their eyes... it's because they are trying to protect them, not because they think of them as something disgusting that nobody should see.
Faraam shook his head. It was not the best moment to revise his torturing techniques.
Right now all his focus should be on finding a way to pass the Corrupted nightmare creature and escape the chain of mountains.
Well... it wasn't that hard, was it?
The only reason Faraam didn't circle around the chain of mountains was because it was way too energy- and time-consuming, but now he didn't have to worry about that.
The headless statue just created a new path between the mountains.
Faraam felt luck was on his side for the first time, which made him frown.
'Isn't it too much of a coincidence?'
It was like two forces fighting against each other. One is trying to kill him, which is fate, and the other is trying to make him live.
Faraam glanced at the new path one more time and sighed.
He had a bad feeling something will go wrong tomorrow...
***
Author Note:
I kinda forgot that I have a fanfic to write, lmao.
Leave a review on this fanfic and chapter and some power stones so more people can read it.
And see you again tomorrow.
.