BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

A powerful blast finally broke the deadly silence of the forest.

“Bluuurgh”

I started to puke blood all over. The monster hit was so strong that I was flung to a tree in the distance.

“Huf Huf”

I couldn’t even move my right arm anymore, I could more or less guess the reason.

“It’s broken”

My left arm was literally just hanging thanks to my bones and now the others one could even move anymore.

This was not even the worst, my vision was blurry and my feet couldn’t run anymore as they reached their limits.

I was fighting with everything to not let my consciousness black out.

The pain was bearable but I lost too much blood from the hit.

“Get a hold of yourself”

‘What am I even supposed to do in those situation?’

Looking before I could see the monster facing me, this time his legs were back to normal.

He began to slowly walk in my direction while cocking head.

Crack crack crack

With each step he made a low cracking sound reached my ears, his finger became more and more sharper.

He was still a few meters from me but I would only take few second for him to reach me.

Every step he made felt like an eternity, his grotesque figure shaking every time, anyone seeing this would be frozen in fear.

I was scared too when he first run after me, but now I was calmer than ever.

Like if an unknown entity was forcing me to calm myself.

My head was cool and my sole focus was on the monster before my eyes.

Everything around was slowing down, I was now analyzing every possible solutions and outcome to save myself.

From the moment I saw it to the instant were I started running and even now.

I started to recall every details.

First, before running towards me he did bend his knees backwards in an unnatural way.

But after hitting me he stopped running and began to transform back in his initial state.

‘Why did he stop running?’

There is many possibility to be honest.

He could have stopped because he realized that I am not in the state to escape anymore.

Another possibility is he have a poor stamina and thus need to catch his prey within a given time after starting his run.

The third one is that he cannot eat me in his former state and he need to return in his original state.

All of those were of course just deduction, I didn’t even know what is his original state whatsoever.

But considering the fact that he did not immediately kill me after I was throw to the side, I may be right.

But that didn’t matter that much, what I need right now is to find a way to survive not understanding it.

‘If I manage to get myself on my feet then I would have five second at most to run away before his hand reach me’

‘He need to bend his knees to run and that would take him three second’

‘Meaning I would have eight second at most to find a place where he cannot reach for me’

Darting my eyes from side to side I searched for anything that could help but everything around me was just trees and rock.

‘How am I even supposed to get on my feet’

The monster was dangerously close to me, and I knew that I would meet my end the moment its hand touches me.

Unable to find a solution to save me the itching sensation on my neck began to return.

And this time it was unbearable, like if my skin was on fire.

‘This is not the time dammit’

Scratching my neck with my the tree behind me was the only things that I could have.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Is this really how I end? Without even seeing my own face nor knowing my own name?”

No, I refuse to die like this.

Not after those damn five days I lived.

With every determination to survive a man need I began to support myself with the tree to get on my feet.

I now could feel it but I some broken bones on my back too.

But I didn’t even care about it, my survival was greater than my current pain.

Even if my own feet were broken I would crawl on the ground.

All this time the monster didn’t even try to stop me, if it had eyes I knew it would be looking at me now.

The hole in his body moving in a disgusting pattern as if he was breathing with them.

‘No wait? What if he really was breathing with those hole?’

If I manage to take a broken branch I would stab inside.

‘Huh’

That’s when it finally hit me. This place it was perfectly fine.

The explosion earlier should have destroyed a big part of this place. There should be broken tree,

everything around here should be a mess.

“What in the _”

Before I could even my finish my sentence a giant black hand have already clamped my face.

Even so I didn’t panic, I was still as calm as ever.

Because I know understand one thing.

I was inside an illusion, from the moment I locked eyes with the monster I was already trapped or maybe even before.

That’s explain the dead silent forest and why everything around us was still perfectly fine even after the explosion before.

And knowing that I was still conscious made me realize one thing.

‘He can’t kill me like that’

If so, what’s the point of the illusion?

Wouldn’t killing me immediately the best solution.

That mean that to kill me inside the illusion he need a condition.

Either it is a time limit where if I didn’t escape then I would die or…

‘He need to make me believe that I am dead’

This is the most plausible one.

That mean that no matter what he do to me here I must not believe a things, especially believing that I will die.

It was a gamble I was ready to take even if the risk that I was wrong were high.

If I messed up here and the condition for me to die is other than what that then I wouldn’t even know it if die.

Watching the monster face between his fingers I held my breath as I waited the final moment where he will kill me at least in my mind.

Then I felt the hand pressure on my head getting stronger and stronger.

“Ugh __”

My head was being crushed in real time. The sheer force behind the hand was monstrous.

Crack

I could fell my skull breaking little by little.

The pain from having your head crushed like that was truly horrible.

I felt my eyes pooping from the inside, my teeth were shattered and the metallic taste of blood lingered in my mouth.

My vision began to turn red as blood filled my eyes.

‘shit shit why why?’

‘Why can’t you just put an end to it?’

‘I am right no? You want me to believe that you are killing me.’

‘Hahahaha ’

‘Go on kill me, torture me and break my body’

‘I dare you I dare you to break my mind’

Then without any warning the monster hands completely crushed my head.

I could feel every part of my head breaking and splashing against the floor.

Without even able to scream back my entire vision turned dark.

~~

Perian.

‘ The world beyond the mountain, a place devoid of any life.

It is said that the gods banished the forgotten gods there to ensure no human never come seek them.

The forgotten gods then lived there, creating a world of there own.

No even monster roamed these land terrified by the old gods.

As age passed the gods died and there body would turn into beast that will be known as “The remnant of the gods”.

They would live beyond the grand mountains, human would try to hunt them without any success.

But human greed is too big, they would built in those forsaken land.

The Perian are divided in three part, the inner section where human manage to control some small part. The land in the inner part would be gray, the sky gray and the soil would be hot as the desert the monster inside the inner part were those with the least blood of the gods.

The middle section is the place were most of the resources inside Perian could be found, but the high activity of high ranked beast ad remnants make it a very dangerous region. The land are filled with miasma, the sky would turn red and black.

And then there is the faraway; this is the most dangerous place of Perian.

It is filled with green forest and fertile soil, the air is pure and the sky is blue.

But there live the greatest threat of the world.

The original gods.

When the gods died their body became the land itself.

All the remnants inside the faraway would soon become monster too terrifying and strong that no others human who went there survived those beast.

It is said that they used the body of their victim to transfer their power and them use them as host.

Not even dragons dare to venture there, afraid to face them.’

Finishing the historical book about Perian Katherine closed it before looking at the massive walls before her.

An officer dressed in black uniform began to report to her everything.

“We already searched for any trace of them anywhere in the inner region. Are you sure you want to continue investigating?”

“…”

She didn’t respond the officer as if she didn’t even consider his words.

She continue to fix the gray walls before her with indifference.

Unable to get an answer from the woman before him the officer called out for the last time.

“Celestial Rosenberg?”

“...Yes?”

She finally looked at him, immediately the air around the entire base drop by an entire level.

Her amber sucking the world around her like an otherworldly force.

“Gulp… I said that the investigation you asked us to conduct did not help find any clue about them”

“...I see”

“Do you want us to continue ___”

“No need for that I will go there myself”

“You are going to investigate yourself?”

The officer couldn’t hide his dumbfound expression, forgetting the intense pressure the woman before him.

“What about the academy? Will they be….alright?”

Without even looking at the man she began to walk towards the gate.

“They will do fine without me”

Trailing behind her the officer did not dare bring it more afraid to annoy her.

Signaling to the men on the side to open the gate for the woman he carefully took out a map from his inner pocket.

The loud sound of the iron gate made him raise his voice to be heard.

Thud Thud Thud

“Then you may need this map, it show all the location were the previous team had search”

“No need for that, I won’t be going there. I will investigate much deeper”

“Oh...Then you may need a map of the middle region then? I will bring one to __”

“It won’t be necessary I said”

“What if you get lost the middle region is quite big”

Visible concern could be seen on the man’s face as he said that.

“I’m not going to the middle region either”

“Then...don’t tell me”

The gate was now fully open, letting the officer behind she carefully walk out the base.

The dry air of the place and the hot temperature would make any normal person faint.

But she just looked at the horizon before turning to the officer.

“I will go to the Faraway of Perian”