Multiple footsteps echoed as Micheal walked along the stone paths of the entrance wall leading to the middle-ring city. The stone walls soon gave way to grassy paths on the outskirts, leading toward the massive outer wall of the fortress.
"Seems like there used to be a border between rings…" Micheal muttered.
He quickly muffled his steps — not even an echo would escape in the dead of night.
He slowed his pace, letting the silence breathe. Yet, the faint crunch of gravel returned.
Micheal gritted his teeth—a few seconds later,He turned a corner, stopping for a moment beside the old outer wall. The mist rolled across the dirt, swallowing the ruins in white. Nothing — only the whisper of wind and his heartbeat.
Then again — step... step... The sound wasn't loud, but it matched Micheal's movements.
Micheal took a deep breath — he down his steps slowed, striding into a patch of open dirt. The place he knew all to well — this was where he'd first woken in this world.
The outskirts.
Though the city was where he spent most of his time, the outskirts were where he felt most at home — in this world, at least.
He strode along the stone-brick and mossy path leading into an abandoned village. When he first awoke in this world, it was here.
"Ahhh, home sweet home…" Micheal mumbled to himself as he entered a broken stone house without a roof.
Spiders crawled along their crimson webs.
Echoes of those "footsteps" rang through the stone chamber, resonating with Micheal's boots.
"..!"
Micheal paused. He looked behind him and scanned the room
"Am I hearing things?.."Micheal mumbled under his breath a sneaking suspicion he had made him a bit uncomfortable
as he stepped back, accidentally dropping a wine bottle to the floor.
"Ach, shit…This is gonna be a pain to think to clean…"
He picked up the glass bottle and a standard-sized shard.
After a while, Micheal stepped outside. The grey mist above obscured the terror of the sun.
"Nobody's gonna be awake at this time."
Micheal chuckled slightly, a faint smile on his face.
Footsteps led him into one of the narrow alleys of the outskirts, between multiple ruined houses.
Micheal dropped the shard.
"Ach, damn — a cut…" Micheal cursed, clutching his hand as he walked through the alley.
The shard rolled forward, clinking softly before it stopped. For a moment, he thought it was over — then he heard it.
A faint tap as the shard shattered, stepped on by someone unseen.
"Got you," he whispered under his breath, a grin curling on his lips.
"Could you stop following me already?!"
Micheal stopped and pointed the wine bottle toward where the man should have been — but there was nobody there… or was there?
Micheal's voice dropped.
"And Ive already heard your footsteps during shack!"
He had long known that something was following him — instinctively aware of its presence.
He didn't rule out that this being might be a monster, maybe even one of the Fallen from the Sun. But it was more likely something else — far more intelligent.
"Could it be one of those forsaken monster?"Micheal's mind raced as tension filled the air.
There was no response.
Then a few steps — over the shattered glass.
Was more than enough for Micheal..
He ran — through the maze of alleys that spanned the outskirts.
He stopped at a corner near a barrel by an old tavern, where a rope was tied around it. Quickly, he grabbed the rope and hid inside the barrel.
If the invisible stalker ever opened it, Micheal would strike with the glass bottle.
"Tsk, I'll get you, you damn stalker…"
Micheal grumbled under his breath.
Footsteps echoed nearby — growing more distant, and then fading away completely.
After a few moments, Micheal climbed out of the barrel and ran at full speed.
He found another of the abandoned houses common in the outskirts. He placed a few glass shards hidden under the dirt at the entrance — a trap that would alert him the moment anyone stepped in.
A rope line was hidden inside as well, near the only doorway in and out.Fixing the usual broken door, of the outskirts
Micheal took a gulp, his breath shaky.
He looked out into the wilderness. The grey sky remained dull as ever; no living thing stirred. Only barren ground, stained with blood.
A deep sigh echoed through the distance.
Then, the invisible person began to take shape — slowly, faintly, a silhouette.
"May I ask," an ethereal voice came from the figure, "when exactly did you sense my presence?"
Micheal swallowed hard
"After I escaped those people who tried to catch me, I made sure no one else was following… that's why I made my steps quiet — so I could hear if anyone else was…."
"Though to be precise Ive noticed ever since that knight had shown up…"
The invisible person sighed.
"Clever…"
Before Micheal could react, a hole was torn through his stomach — his entrails laid bare as the invisible figure finally revealed her form.
"I'm sorry, Micheal…"
A soft, trembling voice came from the woman. Tears ran down her cheeks.
She had ebony hair, black eyes, a sharp jaw, ivory skin — she looked like a fallen goddess, burned into his fading mind.
This is it… I'm gonna die.
A second chance at life, gone. Heh… like this one was any better anyway… Hell after hell…
—————-
Darkness — that was all Micheal could see.
Then blood — a sea of it. It wasn't his own.
A massive pillar with seven legs rose from the crimson sea, its limbs webbed across the vast expanse. It stared directly at him.
Then, in an instant, his head exploded.
Pain — endless, tearing, relentless. His body destroyed, reopened, replaced — again and again.
"It hurts!!Is this hell?Am I really gonna die…"
He became a bloody mess, consumed by the sea of blood.
As blinding red light filled the abyss, a blue hue intertwined with it — consuming Micheal.
Piercing, creating, destroying him — over and over and over.
Micheal has died…
End of Chapter