Kalm unleashed a series of curses, swept away by the wind and the crashing waves...
He held on with all his strength, his small muscles trembling beneath the chaos that shook the boat. The tiny waves whipped around him without pause, relentless and wild.
His eyes slowly caught sight of the river's end, stretching out through the narrowing cave—now so tight that only three small boats could pass through at once. It had become more of a tunnel now, its crimson walls closing in. Yet, strangely, no hideous creatures lurked in sight anymore. It was as if he had passed through the welcoming gauntlet and was now being led toward coronation...
As if the path had been cleared—left empty for something significant to come.
Kalm didn't give the matter much thought; his focus remained fixed straight ahead, desperate to find something—anything—that might save him.
With the speed of the current, and the roar of the giant waterfall echoing in his ears, it wasn't just that he couldn't swim—it was a question of whether he could survive the fall at all. That height... that terrifying velocity...
Red droplets splattered across his entire body, from his black hair to his toes, soaking everything in their eerie hue.
Kalm spat in disgust, recoiling from the foul-tasting liquid that had found its way into his mouth.
"Ugh... it really does leave a horrible taste..."
His sarcasm only seemed to invite more trouble—more misfortune. And in that moment, Kalm remembered what Kalystra had once told him...
She said that trouble liked him... maybe even followed him. And that seemed painfully true now.
A weary smile tugged at his lips.
"I would've preferred if a sweet, kind girl fell in love with me instead of trouble..."
As his words faded into the wind, his eyes widened and his lips trembled.
The edge was only seconds away.
With danger racing toward him, his heart thudded violently, and his chest tightened in fear. He needed a solution—fast.
He glanced toward the crimson light. The wretched thing behind him was glowing with that eerie hue… but it seemed uninterested in meddling with the flow of events.
"What do I do...? What do I do...?"
There had to be a solution. Something close. Maybe even something right beside him...
But his mind was in turmoil, and no matter how he tried to shift his perspective, nothing came.
At that moment, only one thing remained.
Kalm gritted his teeth, pushed every muscle in his body to the limit, and clung tightly to the shadowy boat—his small companion.
"We'll fall together... and let fate do as it will..."
The light led the way, shining upon the water as it scattered into the air, carried by the cold wind before plummeting downward at high speed...
Kalm took a deep breath and braced himself as the current hurled the boat into the air with savage force.
He felt the cold wind whistling past his ears, wrapping around his body in a perilous embrace. He could hear his heartbeat pounding inside his skull.
For a moment, the small boat hung in midair...
That one moment was enough for Kalm to see something.
Something stunningly beautiful—no, beautifully divine—no, more than that. Words of this world could never do it justice.
It was a sublime sight—one that stole the breath away and compelled the soul to gaze in awe, body and spirit alike, drawn into its magnificent beauty.
The ceiling soared impossibly high, like an endless sky scattered with stars of shimmering blue and gold, as if a wondrous life fluttered above, watching the world below with warmth and love. A thin distance separated them... and within that space, a jade-green mist danced gently—glowing like it had been brushed by the hand of a master artist painting luminous shapes across a night sky.
But that thing wasn't a ceiling. It was a night sky—breathtaking and unreal, not of this world nor any other. It stretched beyond the limits of vision in every direction.
It felt like this place—this hollow beneath the earth—wasn't just a void, but another world entirely. A realm crafted by someone obsessed with dazzling, radiant beauty.
Kalm gasped, stunned as time seemed to halt before his wide eyes. Then he looked downward, trying to glimpse what awaited him below.
And then his breath caught in his throat.
There, beneath him, lay a vast body of water—enormous and glassy, mirroring the sky's glimmer with perfect clarity.
At the heart of that immense lake stood a grand mausoleum. It was white and gold, streaked with elegant violet lines running across its surface like beautiful tattoos that added majesty and grace. A few steps led up to a towering gate.
The walls were adorned with intricate carvings—harmonious yet impossibly complex, as though etched by a mad artist. No… it was more like a creature of unbearable beauty had become one with the tomb.
It was strange, intricate, beautiful, terrifying—and regal. It embodied all of those things at once. As if it concealed every secret of the world within.
Before Kalm could even register the full gravity of what he was seeing… the force driving the little black boat faded away. The boat began to fall.
Fast.
Kalm inhaled sharply and let out a scream filled with both fury and dread.
"Ahhh! Please don't do this, you damn world... no... damn you lost one for choosing me "
His voice was lost in the whistling wind as he plummeted downward.
He could barely keep his eyes open from the pressure. Red water sprayed across his face as he dropped.
The ground—or the lake, or whatever it was—was rushing up toward him. His mind had already imagined the worst ways to die… but this hadn't made the list.
Striking a body of water at that speed was like hitting reinforced concrete. Death… or worse: permanent paralysis.
Both options were equally horrifying. Both led to only one ending.
Kalm drew in a deep breath and braced himself.
The impact was three seconds away.
He shut his eyes tightly and prepared himself inwardly.
The boat plummeted—
Then—
**BOOOOM.**
With a thunderous crash, the vessel shattered into fragments, and the shadows it was made of scattered into the air like helpless mist.
"Aaaaargh…!"
Kalm screamed, a guttural, choked cry as his body lay sprawled across the surface of the strange water. His entire frame was covered in hot, fresh blood, pouring from gruesome wounds that marred his small body.
Many of his bones had shattered like brittle glass. His left leg was completely broken, twisted at an unnatural angle like the limb of an old tree. His right arm was in even worse shape—he could feel nothing but pain from it, as if the only thing left of it *was* pain.
His blood spilled into the water. A gash on his head leaked crimson down his right eye and cheek. His teeth, too, were stained red.
He gasped, crying out in agony again—this time coughing up a mouthful of blood.
His chest tightened violently, as if needles had pierced his lungs and heart, making every breath a battle.
His vision had turned a vivid red. Heat burned behind his eyes, and his body trembled as though he'd been trampled by some massive beast.