Chương 1: Nightmare
Darkness. It swallowed me whole, pulling me into its cold embrace. When I first woke, I was floating, or rather, drowning in a sea of nothing. There was no air, no ground, just an endless, oppressive weight around me. Panic surged within me. My lungs screamed for breath, my body thrashing, desperate to escape the suffocating abyss. My arms flailed through the waterless void, and my heart raced, each second feeling like an eternity, each breath a fleeting hope.
And then... finally, I broke the surface. Gasping for air, greedily pulling it into my lungs, my chest aching with the overwhelming relief of simply breathing again.
I looked around, disoriented, my body trembling. The world around me was wrong.
Everything was bathed in blood. The very sea I had emerged from, once a void, was now a vast expanse of deep, dark red, the liquid thick and viscous, as if it had been stained with the essence of countless lives lost. My pulse quickened, the panic rising once more.
Where the hell am I?
I turned in a frantic circle, searching for any sign of safety, any kind of refuge from this nightmarish reality. Then, in the distance, through the crimson haze, I spotted it. A shore.
With trembling limbs, I swam towards it, my movements desperate, fueled by a primal need to escape the hellish sea. As I staggered onto the shore, I collapsed onto the blackened sand, my body weak, soaked and covered in the vile blood, but I was out of the water.
For a moment, I just lay there, breathing deeply, trying to collect my thoughts. The air, heavy and still, filled my lungs, but it didn't bring the comfort I needed. The world was wrong. The sky, a dull, endless black, loomed above me, and the only source of light—the moon—hung in the air like a malevolent eye, its crimson glow seeping into my soul.
What the hell is this place?
I stood, my feet sinking slightly into the sand, the coarse texture scratching at my bare soles, as I gazed at the twisted landscape before me. In the distance, a forest of blackened trees stretched toward the heavens, their branches devoid of life, their trunks hollow and gnarled. The air was suffocating, thick with an ominous silence that gnawed at my nerves. This place was not real. It couldn't be.
I felt a chill seep into my bones, the fear rising like bile in my throat.
But there was no choice. I had to move. I had to find some kind of hope, any kind of sign that this nightmare could end. I couldn't stay here, not in this blood-soaked nightmare.
So, I forced my legs to carry me forward, stepping into the mist that clung to the ground ahead, the gray fog swirling like tendrils of death. It enveloped me, each step into the mist making my body heavier, my mind foggier. I couldn't remember how long I had been walking, but the fatigue grew unbearable, gnawing at my resolve.
The air tasted foul. The ground beneath my feet felt soft and unsettling, like it was shifting, hiding something beneath it. I crouched, pulling at the dirt, and when I uncovered it, my stomach twisted. Bones. There were bones, scattered beneath the surface—skulls, ribs, limbs.
My heart pounded in my chest. This was wrong. This wasn't just a forest. It was a graveyard. And the mist… the mist was making me forget. Making me weak. I couldn't let it take me.
I pressed on, each step slower than the last, the overwhelming exhaustion pulling at me like gravity itself. The further I walked, the harder it became to resist the sleepiness creeping into my mind. The hunger gnawed at my gut, and my body, battered and bruised from the journey, screamed for rest. But I couldn't.
Then, just when I thought I couldn't take another step, I saw it. Through the haze, a temple stood, black and foreboding, its silhouette rising against the red sky. Hope surged within me like a lifeline.
Maybe there was someone there. Maybe there was a way out.
I stumbled toward it, my feet scraping across the jagged ground, the pain almost a distant thought compared to the growing relief I felt at the thought of reaching shelter.
But as I reached the entrance, my hope shattered. The doors were gone. The temple was open, and inside…
Inside, was a scene straight from hell.
The walls were coated in blood. Flesh. Bone. The ground was littered with the remains of those who had once called this place home. Their bodies were torn apart, their organs spilled like offerings to some monstrous god. I wanted to look away, but my body moved on its own, dragging me deeper into the temple.
I couldn't stop. I couldn't leave.
In the darkness, I found a pile of bones, half-buried, but I didn't care. Among them, I found a black robe, a sword, and a chestplate. I didn't think twice. I dressed quickly, the weight of the armor grounding me, giving me some semblance of control.
But as I moved further into the temple, the air thickened with something unnatural, a palpable unease. The bodies around me… they weren't all dead. Some were still moving.
I recoiled as a mangled, decaying arm reached out from the floor, my body instinctually moved, using the sword to pierce its skull, burying it for good. what followed was a mellodious whisper.
[You have slain a dormant beast, cursed flesh.]
A chill ran down my spine. This wasn't just a massacre. It was something worse.
I turned to flee, but as I did, the earth trembled beneath me. A monstrous force, something massive, was coming. The ground shook violently with each step, trees snapping and the mist evaporating.
And then I saw it.
A beast—huge, grotesque, its form a blur of darkness and crimson. It was massive, far too large to comprehend, its eyes glowing with an ancient hunger. It stepped forward, each thundering footfall shaking the earth, its form casting a shadow over the very air I breathed.
I froze. I couldn't move. I couldn't think. All I could do was stare into the abyss, my mind screaming for escape. But it was too late.
My body trembled uncontrollably as I stared at it—that thing. It was no beast. No animal, no monster. It was an abomination, an atrocity that should never have existed, a grotesque violation of nature's law.
Five meters tall, its flesh a sickening amalgamation of red, bloated, and vile. Its body stretched seven meters long, covered in numerous mouths, all brimming with sharp, jagged teeth that glistened in the blood-red moonlight. The monstrosity was a nightmare of eyes—hundreds of them, covering its monstrous form, shifting in every direction. It had four arms, each ending in claws that looked capable of tearing through steel, and a tail, sharp as a needle, glinting with metallic cruelty. I could see the hole in its side—glowing an eerie red, the pulsating rhythm of its heart echoing in the silence.
I was frozen. My pale face drained of all color as the creature locked its countless eyes on me. An unnatural pressure crushed down upon me, making my chest feel like it was being squeezed by a vice. My heart raced, threatening to burst from my chest, and the very air around me felt thick with dread. It was as if the fear itself had weight.
I fell to my knees, clutching at my chest, gasping for air, my thoughts scattered in a whirlwind of terror. The monster... no, abomination... was the very embodiment of death, and it was staring at me with an almost sadistic curiosity, as if it took pleasure in watching me crumble.
No. No! Move, damn it!
I bit down hard on my tongue, the pain grounding me for a fleeting moment. I pushed myself up, my legs shaky, my body screaming at me to flee. I turned, desperate to run, but it was already too late.
With terrifying speed, the beast lunged toward me, its many mouths snapping open with a sickening sound, each row of teeth eager to rip me apart. I barely had time to react, but instinct kicked in. I threw myself sideways, narrowly avoiding its snapping jaws, but it was too fast. One of its mouths caught my arm, the teeth sinking deep into my flesh.
"AAAAAAH!!" I screamed, the pain searing through my body like fire. It tore at me, wrenching my arm as its teeth dug in. My vision blurred from the agony. I could feel my blood dripping onto the ground, warm and thick.
Then the rage took hold. The raw fury of survival.
"LET GO!!" I screamed through gritted teeth, my sword still clutched tightly in my remaining hand. Without thinking, I plunged the blade into one of its many eyes. The monster shuddered but didn't release its grip. Instead, it closed its jaws tighter, ripping my arm clean off with a sickening crunch.
I screamed, but my body went numb. The world around me spun, my severed arm hanging uselessly at my side. My blood poured onto the ground, my vision darkening, but the monster just watched me, its countless eyes glinting with twisted delight.
Pain. Hate.
With no other choice, I turned and ran, stumbling toward the only place that seemed remotely safe: the temple. The beast hesitated for a moment, as if savoring the hunt before it followed, its grotesque body crashing through the remnants of the temple's walls.
I sprinted inside, my breath ragged, my body screaming for rest. The temple was a twisted maze of corpses, their lifeless limbs reaching out as if trying to drag me back into the horror. I barely dodged the rotting arms that tried to grasp me, the stench of death choking me with every step.
But then—an explosion shook the ground behind me. The beast was here.
I kept running. I didn't stop. Not when the claws of the abomination tore into my body. Not when I felt my legs, already battered, become heavier with each step. I had to keep going. I had to survive.
But then it happened. Something fast, too fast for me to even comprehend, sliced through the air, and with a sickening thud, my left leg was severed from my body. The pain was indescribable, my brain unable to process the sheer agony.
Still, I crawled. On my remaining arm, I dragged myself forward, desperate to reach something—anything—before the end.
And then, I saw it: a well. Blood filled it, sloshing like a living thing. Desperation pushed me closer. Maybe... maybe it could offer salvation.
But my hope was fleeting. As I neared the well, a massive claw descended, crushing my right leg to a bloody pulp. I could feel the life leaving me with every breath, my body slowly giving in to the darkness. The abomination had won. There was no escape. There was only death.
I felt the monster's presence looming above me, its foul breath on my skin as I was lifted into the air. Its laugh, horrible and twisted, reverberated through my skull. The pain was unbearable, and I knew, deep down, that it would be the last thing I would ever feel.
And yet, even as death loomed over me, there was something inside me—something cold, something bitter. Hatred.
Hatred for my weakness. Hatred for this nightmare. Hatred for the life that had brought me to this point.
I looked into the creature's countless eyes, my heart still beating with defiance.
"...You will work for it."
And with that, I threw myself into the well. My body fell into the crimson abyss, sinking deeper and deeper, the blood surrounding me, drowning me, until I was consumed by the darkness.
The well was far deeper than it appeared, and I continued to fall, as if it had no end. But I didn't fear death anymore. I had already given up. Now, all I felt was the bitter taste of my final, cursed defiance.
My broken mind could barely comprehend the question that echoed through my thoughts. How? How was I still alive?
But before I could process the agony that had overwhelmed me, a strange sensation gripped my soul—a tremor that seemed to come from somewhere deep inside me.
Suddenly, a voice, cold and inhuman, reverberated in my mind, [A fragment of [unknown] has offered you his blessing. Do you accept?]
I barely hesitated, driven by the last remnants of my will to survive, my voice whispering out a simple, desperate, "Yes."
The moment the word left my thoughts, everything changed.
The blood that had consumed me, the very essence of torment, began to shift, forming a vortex around me, pulling me in deeper. Tendrils of pure darkness and liquid pain slithered into every opening, forcing themselves into my mouth, my eyes, my ears, my heart—one even reached deeper, digging into my soul.
A scream—no, a howl of agony—ripped itself from my chest, but it wasn't just pain. It was a soul-shattering transformation, an excruciating remaking of my very essence. My heart tore apart only to be violently reconstructed, my eyes ruptured and were born anew, my soul cracked and was reforged in an unimaginable furnace of suffering.
The horror of it all was beyond human comprehension, beyond any mortal endurance. I could feel myself being undone, every cell, every thought, every last fragment of my being dying, only to be resurrected in a form more terrible, more powerful, than before.
And then, just as quickly as it had begun, it stopped.
The blood faded. The vortex released its hold, and I was expelled from the well, thrown back into the world that had once been my nightmare.
I stood tall—reborn. My body, no longer the broken shell it had been, was now clad in armor forged from the very essence of the blood that had consumed me. The crimson black armor shimmered with an eerie glow, its surface jagged and ridged, like volcanic rock that had just erupted. Crimson veins of molten gold and black pulsed beneath the surface, alive with an unnatural rhythm. The chest plate bore an insignia—an eye, burning with a malevolent intensity, as if watching all that dared to approach.
I looked down at my arms, now encased in gauntlets that seemed made for a beast, each finger tipped with blade-like claws. The veins of blood that coursed up my arms pulsed in unison with my heartbeat, as if my very blood had become a weapon.
Everything had changed. I had changed.
The sound of a growl tore me from my reverie, a deep and guttural noise that came from the abomination, the very creature that had once threatened to end me.
I turned slowly to face it, my new eyes fixed on its grotesque form. But now, I felt no fear, no terror, no desperation.
I saw it for what it was: a sheep waiting to be slaughtered.
The beast's many eyes locked onto mine, its hunger evident, but it no longer mattered. I was no longer prey. I was the predator.
Without hesitation, I stepped forward, my steps heavy, yet filled with purpose. The armor crackled with energy, and the claws on my gauntlets gleamed with anticipation.
This time, I would not be the one to flee. This time, the monster would feel the full force of my fury.
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