Quiet.
Then, the boy opened his eyes.
The dark space seemed to expand into infinity. Connor gasped, surprised that he was still alive.
"What is this place," said Connor, before being surprised that he could even speak, that he could even breathe in this dimension of darkness. He looked at his body, it was still intact. Then, he caught a glimpse of his wristwatch, it was a silver analogue watch that he received as a gift from his mother. Probably an apology gift for being distant. It was 4:00 p.m.
What am I doing? The time doesn't matter anymore.
There was no sense of up, down, left or right. And, as his eyes adjusted to the dark, Connor saw the figures of people falling in different directions. Pieces of buildings, carriages, bridges, statues and all of the above were floating around.
Soon, his descent....or ascent or...whatever started accelerating as he was pulled deeper and deeper into the infinite expanse. His senses were disoriented. He screamed but it was as if the silence absorbed his voice. Then, an invisible force pushed him against solid ground. Connor lay there for a while, his right foot and his right arm were still in pain. Literally staring into space. A memory from the past came to him:
He was eight years old. Sitting in front of the fireplace with a book.
"What's the matter?" his father had asked, entering the room.
"I got bullied for being a noble, but I can't fight back because-"
"Woah, it's not that complicated, son. Just find the right people to befriend, because you're clearly in the wrong crowd."
"Maybe I should listen to Uncle and act arrogant-"
"No. That's not-"
"You're never home so stop acting like my dad."
"...Well, anyways. I have appointed a servant to you. She's four years older than you and-"
"I don't want a slave."
"She's not. I was hoping you could be friends-"
"So you paid someone to be my friend? That's sad as fuck."
His father had stayed silent.
His mother had called out to him. "Dear, the party starts at seven. Are you getting ready?"
She had peeked into the room, before going somewhere to usher Connor's sister, a one-year-old at the time, to go to her room.
Then, his first time meeting Monika:
"Don't worry, I'm just a neutral servant. But I'll say this: nobody cares if you're a noble or a commoner. You're a spoiled brat so just enjoy life without troubling others. Never hate yourself," she had said.
After the flashback ended, the boy sighed, before standing up, almost tripping from the pain in his foot. The dark atmosphere was suffocating and, as he looked at the floor, he felt a sense of vertigo. It was as if- no, he was literally standing on an invisible floor, looking into the abyss. Connor started walking around with a slight limp while clutching his right arm.
He stopped short, freezing.
In front of him, he saw floating heads. Worse of all, they were alive. The severed heads were alive.
"Kill me," mumbled one of the heads upon seeing Connor.
The boy opened his mouth, but his scream wouldn't come out. He started backing away in horror.
One of the heads started floating towards him. "Please kill me! I've been like this FOR SO, SO LONG. KILL ME, KILL-"
The boy turned around and ran, ignoring the pain shooting across his leg.
What is this place? This is messed up! Am I trapped here until I die-
He looked underneath him to see some severed limbs on the floor. Backing away, he ran aimlessly once more. Then, his foot passed through the floor. It was as if he got flipped upside down as he fell through it before getting pulled by some gravitational force onto the other side of the floor. Bottom became up and up became bottom. A collapsed building, revealing an interior of black and white floor tiles, passed overhead, as Connor looked around. The environment was much more violent. A swirl of debris, random objects and structures. The floating of mutilated bodies, some were somehow still alive. In the distance, he spotted a dark hill, shadow figures were standing at the top of it. They saw him and they were approaching.
Apathy broke into horror which broke into realization and despair. A horrible thought came to him: there were fates worse than death. He felt for the knife that he purchased at the festival, it was kept at his belt. The knife's edge was held to his throat and he prepared to-
No...I can still fight...even if I risk dying or ending up as a floating head or something...But first of all, gotta relocate my right arm.
As shadowy movements were fast approaching him, he started pushing his shoulder. Then, he noticed crystal-like rocks, growing like mushrooms across the terrain. Gritting his teeth, he slammed his shoulder against a jagged rock. A pop echoed. His scream was lost in the silence. Tears blurred his vision, but he blinked them away and held the obsidian knife with his now-working arm. Mana and adrenaline pumped into his body. The faint trace of mana strengthened his body, easing the pain in his right foot and giving a faint glow to his knife.
The shadows were already circling.
Two moved on four legs: low, wolf-shaped things made of living smoke. Between them was a humanoid creature, exactly like the ones from the festival. A distorted face, and its claws seemed to leave bleeding scars in the air itself.
Use the environment, use the environment....let's see: there's that spot on the floor where I passed through....and these rocks.
One of the shadow wolves immediately rushed at him.
The boy stepped into it.
He let the creature's own momentum carry it forward, then dived low and drove his knife upward into its belly. A faint trace of smoky purple blood seeped onto the knife. Connor immediately got up to stand in front of the space where he once fazed through, its transparent surface seemed thinner.
The wolf, only slightly injured, plunged once more and Connor sidestepped.
The shadowy creature fell through the floor, but instead of getting pulled to the other side of it, it just continued to fall until it was engulfed by darkness.
Then, a sharp pain erupted in Connor's left leg. In a blink, the other wolf had made a move. Its jaws closed around his left calf, teeth like frozen iron. Connor screamed and kicked with his other foot. He felt mana course through his kick as the wolf was pushed back. He groaned in agony, strips of skin and meat were ripped off of his left leg.
Connor could barely stand up, so he used his falling momentum to land on the wolf and started stabbing it with his knife.
He screamed and screamed as he brought down the dark blade, now dyed purple. The wolf struggled with great force, before eventually vanishing in smoke and Connor fell on- but then, he was lifted up, it was the humanoid shadow. It held him like a little kid and looked down with...a smile. A creepy one.
I thought it was strange it didn't join in to attack...it just wanted to play in its own sick and twisted way, thought Connor.
The humanoid opened it mouth to reveal a set of sharp teeth that seemed to consume its face and a strange gas poured out of it. Connor held his arm to block the gas. His arm disappeared.
Huh-
The gas had touched his right arm and it just...disappeared.
The creature let go of him and started...laugh- no, it was imitating laughter, like a mime.
Connor stared speechlessly at the spot where his right arm was missing. There was no injury, only a shadowy wisp on the stump. He didn't even feel pain. Realization came: the floating heads, the mutilated bodies....they were still alive because of the humanoid shadows' powers.
This day was too much...I'm not even surprised anymore....guess I'll die....
Connor grabbed his knife, which had landed on the floor. Suddenly, the shadow creature stopped.
A man approached, he was also missing an arm, probably deleted by a shadow creature as well. He had the leather and steel armour of an adventurer and was holding an illuminated plant.
The creature quickly scurried away.
He approached him with a curious look. "You okay, kid?"
Connor didn't even bother to reply. He put the knife in his pocket.
The man introduced himself as Jonas. "I got trapped in here during a dungeon excursion...that was....I don't even know how long that was....haha, I was a C-rank adventurer...but now I'm severely weakened..."
Jonas continued. "You're probably wondering why it went away," he held the glowing plant, "Those things are pretty nasty, but this thing has the ability to push them away, although temporarily since the light is running out.....so, come on!"
He helped Connor up.
"Not gonna speak? Guess you're in shock," said the withered adventurer.
Consciousness immediately returned to Connor. "Thanks for saving me...but I'd prefer to die. This place is too horrific and, I don't want to end up like-"
"Like those heads? Never mind that, there's still hope as long as we're alive. Come with me."
Connor suddenly noticed the man's expression: he had a strange look. Something was wrong. A chill went down his spine. Sometimes, a crazy man could be scarier than a monster.
"Where are we going? And can you let me go?"
The man was holding Connor's shoulder, squeezing it. Although, the adventurer was weakened, he was still stronger than Connor.
The man let go of Connor, before reaching for something behind his back. "Come on, we-"
With his last remaining strength, Connor pulled out his knife and swung it, slitting the man's throat. The boy noticed that the man's remaining arm was holding a syringe of some sort. Then, the old adventurer fell to the ground and bled to death.
He was gonna inject me with something...he definitely had bad intentions.
Connor thought that he was super lucky for once; he wouldn't have caught the man off guard if he hadn't unconsciously hidden the obsidian knife in his pocket.
Wait, didn't I want to die? But he could've done something to me that was worse than death, so that's why I killed- I killed him...I really killed someone....
Connor was too tired, too injured to even stand. He hit the ground hard and lay on his back, staring at the chaos around him. This was definitely the Void. The one from the legends. For the first time today, he started crying. Crying in pain and confusion.
I'm done. I'm so done.
He prayed for his friends and family to survive, before closing his ey-
A light suddenly appeared above the abyss.