There was no sound.
Only a weight. Heavy, damp, pressing in on all sides. The kind of silence that pulsed like a second heartbeat, too large for his body. He opened his eyes, but it didn't change anything. The dark didn't part. It swallowed.
He didn't know where he was.
He didn't know who he was.
He reached for a name — any name — but there was nothing. Not even the comfort of panic. Just a dull ache behind his ribs, and the cold against his back.
Rock. Cold, sweating stone. It felt like it was breathing. Like the cave itself exhaled around him, slow and wet.
He tried to move. His arms answered, but weakly. Legs next — trembling, numb. A push of breath left his lips, but no sound followed. Only a scrape of skin against stone. His throat was dry. Raw. Useless.
"..." Nothing. No voice. Not even a whisper.
He dragged himself upright, bones popping, muscles crying out like rusted chains. There was no pain sharp enough to scream, only a low hum. A body unused. Not injured — just... forgotten.
The darkness blinked.
No. Not blinked. Shifted.
Something far off moved. Just a twitch in the edge of his awareness — but it was enough. He backed away instinctively, shoulder hitting damp wall. Air stirred past his face, stale and sour. The thing — whatever it was — moved again, deeper into the dark.
And something else lit up.
[ + INITIATING SYSTEM... + ]
A soft glow pulsed in the air in front of him. Not a light. A presence. Symbols, dull and gray, flickering against the black like scars cut into space itself.
[ USER — UNKNOWN ]
[ NAME — NULL ]
[ VOCAL FUNCTION — DISABLED ]
[ CORE STATUS — FRAGILE ]
[ WORLD LAYER: UNDERGROUND ]
[ EST. DISTANCE FROM SURFACE: ??? ]
[ SURVIVAL RATE: <1% ]
[ GUIDE MODE: PASSIVE ONLY ]
The lines hovered, cold and without sound. Not a voice in his head. Not a feeling. Just there. Real as stone.
He stared.
No questions formed. Only a pressure behind his eyes. A slow, rising heat in his chest — not quite fear. Not yet. Something like it, though. Something hollow.
A system. That was the word, wasn't it? Somehow, he knew the term. System. It wasn't friendly. It wasn't cruel. It was just... truth.
He reached toward the symbols — but they faded. Not gone. Just out of reach.
Like memory.
He closed his eyes. A light pulsed behind his eyelids — not real, not here. It was blue. Bright. Familiar. Somewhere deep in him, a sound played — metal grinding, then the low buzz of electricity. Then a woman's voice. Soft. Repeating something. It made his throat tighten.
He opened his eyes. The dark returned.
Whatever that was — it wasn't from here.
And neither was he.
But he didn't know what that meant.
He forced his legs beneath him, stood. Slow. Careful. The cave's ceiling curved overhead like a jaw, jagged with broken stone teeth. The floor dipped slightly — a slope leading down into thicker dark.
Something in that direction moved again.
But he couldn't stay here. He felt it, bone-deep — this place would not let him live if he remained still. It didn't hate him. It didn't even see him. But the rules here were simple.
You move, or you die.
He began walking.
Each step was measured, cautious. The ground felt wrong. Not just wet — soft. Like flesh turned to clay. Sometimes it gave underfoot, and something popped beneath the pressure. He didn't look. He didn't stop.
Minutes passed. Or hours. Or more.
The system said nothing. Offered no map, no voice, no warnings. Just that one message still burned faintly in his skull:
[ SURVIVAL RATE: <1% ]
He didn't question it. He couldn't. A part of him wanted to — wanted to scream why? — but there was no voice to scream with. And even if there was, he felt the answer wouldn't come.
Not from the system.
Not from this world.
It would come from something deeper.
He walked until the ground cracked beneath his heel.
He froze. A sound echoed — not the break, but the air it released. Warm. Foul. Like a breath. He turned, heart climbing, and saw it.
A face.
No — a skull. Enormous. At least four times his size. Buried in the wall beside the path. Not human. Long teeth. Curled horns. Empty eye sockets like tunnels into void.
And inside those sockets — faintly — something stirred.
Not alive. Not quite.
[ PASSIVE QUEST — UPDATE ]
[ LOCATION: EDGE OF HALLOW ]
[ WARNING: HIGH-LEVEL ENTITIES DETECTED ]
[ RECOMMENDATION: RETREAT ]
[ ...OR ACCEPT. ]
His heart pounded.
He didn't understand what "high-level" meant. But he understood danger.
Still, he didn't move.
Not right away.
Because when he looked at that skull — he felt something. Not fear. Not awe. Something quieter. Closer.
Like he had seen it before.
Not this skull. Not this world.
But the feeling. Of standing on the edge of something he couldn't fight. Of choosing to walk forward anyway.
His hands clenched without command.
He turned.
And walked deeper into the dark.
The system didn't argue.