FVR
Chapter Five.
----------------------------------------
The cave's interior looked roughly dug and had murky walls that were rugged and uneven. The muddy floor squelched under Joel's feet as pebbles and lumps of dirt yielded slightly with every step. It's fine... It's fine, he kept telling himself.
Overgrown patches of olive-green moss and the veins of roots snaked their path through the belly of the cave and out of sight. The musty scent of damp earth and decaying vegetation flooded his senses as Joel pressed further in.
As the tears ceased, Joel's breathing steadied. With a deep sigh, his crying came to an end, replaced by a quiet resolve.
The heat of the sun, now too distant to reach him, had been replaced with a cooler, more stagnant air, which felt cold against the moisture on his cheeks. His vision dwindled with every step, but his ears slowly attuned to the slightest of sounds. Each step faintly echoed through the vast emptiness that stretched before him, replied by its own calls. Bit by bit, darkness began to envelope them both in a cold shroud, as the final vestiges of light were swallowed up.
Joel brushed his hand against the clammy surface of the cave wall, seeking balance as he walked further in, uncertain of their fate. The mud clung to his skin, its dampness seeping into his pores. He lowered his face to Fluffy, who gently caressed Joel's cheek with his nose.
Fluffy's presence against his chest radiated a sense of trust - his calm movements had become a silent reassurance amidst the looming shadows. His soft fur offered a flicker of stability to Joel's quaking heart.
Eventually, Joel saw a glimmer of light ahead. An exit. Relief filled him as his movements sped up, his eyes opened wider and wider the closer he got, his heart pounded with anticipation as they approached the source of light.
Before them stood a rusty iron door, its ancient hinges groaned with the weight of its own decrepitude, and chiseled writing embellished its frame: One soul at a time.
Soul? Joel wondered if Fluffy counted as having a soul, or if it were only for players of the game. If so, there really should have been others here... His thoughts prayed to find another group of people beyond what lay ahead.
With trepidation, Joel placed a hand against the door. Its cold texture sank into his fingertips when he touched it; his hand left its muddied print as he pushed.
The door groaned, creaking open slowly to reveal a dimly lit chamber beyond.
Before him lay a stone staircase, leading up to a grander, less weathered door, adorned with intricate carvings; shadows danced on it ominously in the flickering light.
Please don't disappear, Joel begged as he held Fluffy and stepped into the chamber. As Joel crossed over the threshold, the wave timer appeared in the centre of the room.
〘Time Until Next Wave:〙
〘00.44.17〙
〘00.44.16〙
〘00.44.15〙
Now what? Joel examined the chamber, noting five doors aside from the grand one with the staircase.
Fuck. No weapons.
His heart raced, and as he took another step, the timer plummeted rapidly and the door behind him slammed shut, sending a surge of panic coursing through him. His eyes ran rampant as he looked for a place to run. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck... He tried opening a door but it wouldn't budge. He tired another, and another, but all gave the same unyielding result.
He held onto Fluffy tightly, wondering what to do as the minutes ticked down into seconds, and the seconds drew closer to whatever hell the game had planned next.
〘Time Until Next Wave:〙
〘00.42.13〙
〘00.37.58〙
〘00.21.55〙
〘00.11.27〙
〘00.04.31〙
〘00.00.05〙
〘00.00.04〙
Joel placed Fluffy onto the ground by the entrance, along with the sash containing the two bottles - then turned back to face the room. They could come from anywhere! His inner voice trembled.
He looked at the five doors, waiting for something to come crashing through. Don't just focus on the doors, he had to remind himself. They simply appeared last time! He took off a shoe in his panic, and readied it like the battle axe he wished it was.
〘Time Until Next Wave:〙
〘00.00.03〙
〘00.00.02〙
〘00.00.01〙
〘00.00.00〙
〘Wave Zero. Complete Cognitive Calibration〙
〘Wave Zero. Complete Cognitive Calibration〙
〘Wave Two. Complete Cognitive Calibration〙
Joel's mind raced with images of what could come crashing through at any moment, that he again missed the system message as it popped up momentarily at the top of his vision.
His breaths came in shallow gasps, each one a harsh reminder of his inability to fight. His hands trembled and his muscles tensed. Thoughts of waking up in the capsule and returning to his life of pain flashed through his mind. Fight, Joel, he urged himself, fight, he urged himself with shaking hands.
With his shoe ready, Joel's heart stopped as the timer ended, and a sudden burst of light illuminated the room from above a door.
A vivid green fire glowed, casting an unsettling hue across the chamber.
Joel waited for the other shoe to drop, so to speak, but as the seconds ticked by, nothing happened. The other doors remained lifeless, and no monsters appeared from the void. He looked back to Fluffy, who stood tall and unwavering, then placed his shoe back on and walked slowly toward the door - his hands now tensed into fists at his side.
***
The door opened to reveal a lively room, identical to the one in his parents' house. It had the same sofas, the same wallpaper, the same everything, even the scratch on the mirror rested deeply in the same place. Except, this living room had balloons decorating the walls, and the air rang with the soft hum of laughter and chatter. Joel blinked, and before he knew it, he found himself standing inside the room. Whoa whoa whoa, what the fuck!? He turned to get out, but there were no doorways or exits.
Jubilant celebrations rang louder from the adjoining room as Joel turned. His eyes shifted around the room - still waiting for something to jump out - and approached the adjoining room with cautious steps and baited breath.
This can't be real, he thought. His heart fluttered and his eyes furled in confusion. Friends and family filled the room, all drinking wine and eating cake. A banner sprawled across the wall, happy anniversary.
Why are they celebrating?
"Hey," Joel called out, "what about me?" But his voice fell silent to the noise of the crowd. Why aren't you looking for me? He must have been missing for over a day by now and expected his parents to be worried. Not this. He hadn't expected this.
His dad picked up a fork which rested beside a half-eaten cake, and clinked it against his half-empty glass of champagne. The room fell silent.
"I'd like to thank you for coming," he started, a radiant smile beamed across his face, "as you know, this past year has been difficult." A quiet hum of agreement filled the air.
What are you saying? Dad!? It's not because of me?
"But, now that we've had time to relax and actually enjoy ourselves, we've decided to start again. Properly this time." He held his wife, and gave her a gentle kiss.
"So," Joel's mother continued on his father behalf, "we've decided to have another child!" The cheerful atmosphere filled the vibrant faces of the crowd, which contrasted sharply with the heaviness in Joel's heart.
"What are you saying?" Joel cried out, forcing his way through the crowd, "I thought you'd be sad that I was gone," he said as he approached his parents, "why aren't you looking for me?" Tears welled up in his eyes.
"Oh," his father said with a smile, "well, it's just been so much easier without you."
Why would you say that? "Mum?" Joel begged. "You're both joking, right? You miss me, right?"
"I'm sorry, but you were just too much hard work. Too grumpy and isolated," she replied.
"And smelly," his father added with a laugh which the crowed echoed unnervingly.
"I don't believe this," Joel cried, "I can't believe that you would do this..." He shook his head in disbelief. "This isn't real... this can't be real!" The crowd disappeared around him as he turned back and ran out the room, suddenly appearing back in the chamber.
What the fuck? What was that!?
He steadied his footing as his legs trembled beneath him. "They would never say that!" He called out, denying the possibility of it.
The green fire above the door rose into the air as the door slammed closed. The fire floated toward the entrance Joel had walked through, drawn to a brazier suspended above the door; it's flickering light created dancing shadows on the walls.
Fluffy rested peacefully underneath. Joel tried to walk to him but he felt stuck in place. What's happening in this fucking place!?
Once the brazier lit, a second flame ignited above the next door along. This time, a chillingly blue light emitted an unsettling glow across the chamber.
"What's happening!?" Joel called out in anguish. This is meant to be a fucking game! "What's wrong with you people!?"
The second door opened, and with a blink of his eyes, Joel transported again.
***
He found himself sat on a cushioned chair surrounded by the sterile white walls of his doctor's office. He shifted uncomfortably, adjusting the pillow behind his back in a futile attempt to alleviate the familiar discomfort. It felt like he had woken from a dream, and had forgotten what he had dreamt of. All he knew were the present sensations that controlled his senses - remnants of a faded dream. A stabbing pain in his calf ran up his leg, causing him to wince. The air filled with the faint smell of antiseptic jells, mixed with the aroma of freshly brewed coffee and something he couldn't put his finger on. His doctor sat relaxed in his chair, studying a computer screen.
Joel's thumbs rubbed the area to dull his pain, with little effect. A brief sense of nostalgia, and anger pinched at his heart, but faded quickly when the doctor spoke.
"So, Joel," his doctor said with an emotionless smile, "unfortunately, the scans didn't reveal anything, as you can see on the screen here." He rotated his computer to show Joel a black and white image of an MRI scan.
"That can't be right," Joel urged, "there HAS to be something causing this pain." The discomfort in his back flared up, prompting him to stretch from side to side in a feeble attempt to alleviate it. The stabbing in his leg increased bit by bit until he felt the familiar urge to hit himself.
"Unfortunately, there's not. It's all in your head," the Doctor stated calmly. "You can alleviate the pain with yoga, and I can suggest group therapy."
"No, no, I need pain medication or surgery. I NEED to get rid of this pain," Joel pleaded desperately. The pain became so severe that he could hardly bear it. Tears streamed from his frustrated eyes as they begged. I need I need I need I need...
"There's just no way I can do that, Joel. There's nothing physically wrong with you." The doctor stood and opened the door, inviting Joel to leave.
"Please, please!! There has to be something you can do," Joel pleaded, his voice yelling and strained in desperation as he attempted to bargain for his old life back. "I can't live like this. I'll do anything! ANYTHING! If it means getting rid of this pain!" His back ached, but with every movement to get comfortable his leg would stab in pain. He rubbed his leg but the movement agitated his back, and so the cycle repeated.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Joel reached out a hand and suddenly found himself sat on the chamber floor, tears streaming from his eyes and his breathing haggard.
The blue fire above the second door rose into the air as the door slammed closed. Like before, the fire floated toward the brazier, igniting it in a large flame. Once lit, a third flame ignited. Its red hue filled the chamber in a ferocious light.
Joel looked up in search of help, but Fluffy remained unfazed, sat peacefully by the exit. Fluffy? Joel cried silently as he struggled to breath.
The pain had faded, but the emotion in his mind swelled. I want to leave.
He lay still for a few moments and curled himself into a ball. I want to leave.
***
Joel found himself in another empty room, surrounded by an empty void that seemed to stretch on endlessly.
A solitary computer screen flickered on, grabbing Joels gaze and casting an eerie glow into the darkness. On the monitor he saw Simon talking to a blurry figure, the screen stuttering, as if were a CCTV recording. Simon shook the hand of the figure with a wide smile, "thanks Doctor Babbage," he said. He stood up slowly, and walked towards the screen. Doctor Babbage? Joel's mind raced with confusion. Is this a recording of the past? The screen abruptly turned off and disappeared into the void, only for another screen to turn on a short distance in front of him. This time revealing Simon entering the same capsule Joel had.
Doubt gnawed at Joel's mind. Was any of this real? Why hadn't Simon mentioned it? The previous visions of the other rooms having completely faded from his mind, the images before him were all that existed.
As the screen vanished, another appeared in the distance. Joel walked curiously towards it and watched in disbelief as Simon struggled through the initial wave. His balance looked terrible, and his reactions were slow and easy to predict. Joel had seen him place virtual reality games in the past, but this looked like a completely different person. His mistakes with his footing meant he kept sustaining injuries, so his teammates had to support him with healing spells. He screamed in pain with every slight wound, yelling at the people around him while complaining of their incompetence. He was shit? That's why he asked me?
Joel couldn't understand why Simon had agreed to the trial if he were so bad at the game, but as he watched on, a soft ember of anger grew in his chest.
Again, the screen was replaced with another, now showing Simon climbing out of the capsule, visibly flustered.
"The game is shit," Simon declared as he nervously laughed, "the setting are all shitty. There's no way anybody could enjoy it." As Simon expressed his desire to have nothing to do with the trial, Joel's temper flared. Why hadn't Simon warned me? He knew! He knew what the game was like! He knew how realistic it was and he knew I wasn't any good at these kinds of games!
The screen vanished again, replaced with a final recording of Simon and Doctor Babbage talking in a hallway.
"You can't just quit," Doctor Babbage said calmly, "you need to find a replacement."
Simon hit a wall before turning back and smiling, "I know just the guy."
As the screen vanished, Joel felt consumed by a rage unlike anything he had ever felt before. "This fucking guy," he yelled, "why did he do this!?" He looked out into the void. "WHY!?"
Footsteps approached, and a bewildered Simon walked into view. "What's going on?" He asked, dazed, "why am I in the game?"
Blinded by rage and consumed by anger, Joel furiously stepped toward Simon with short but fast steps. He shoved Simon back with clenched fists as an unfamiliar fury coursed through him.
"Why didn't you tell me about this fucking game!? I've seen people die! You lying fucking bastard! This was never about my pain! This was about you and your own incompetency!" Joel's fists shook as he held them tightly at his side. His scrawny figure seemed to tower over that of Simons, and for the first time in his life, Joel felt like the dominating one.
Simon held up his hands and laughed, he grinned as he spoke, "it was a win-win, there was no harm! I get to quit the trial, and you get to live without pain," his tone sounded dismissive, and unapologetic. "Come on, I was doing you a favor. You should be grateful!"
Grateful!? Joel stepped forwards with a swift, forceful motion, and swung his fist, striking Simon's jaw. "GRATEFUL!?" The impact sent a sharp jolt of pain shooting up Joel's wrist.
Simon crumpled to the floor, his outstretched hands acted as a barrier between him and Joel, but Joel didn't care. He followed him to the ground and threw heavy blow after blow in a blind frenzy.
"This it your fucking fault!" He screamed as he punched. "You gave me hope, but all I've found is this fucking nightmare!" His fists stung more and more but he ignored the pain. I've felt worse, he thought. "I can't even go back because I'm too scared of the pain I felt! You've trapped me here! Why did you trap me here!?"
Suddenly, everything disappeared, and Joel found himself back in the chamber - his knuckles bloodied from repeatedly striking the floor.
The shock of the abrupt transition left him breathless, his mind reeled from the intensity of the confrontation and how real it felt.
Reality crashed back in waves as the aftermath dawned on him. What the fuck? Bit by bit, he remembered the other rooms and pieced together the reality which had eluded him. None of it's real. What the fuck!?
The red fire above the third door rose into the air as the door slammed closed, following the others into the brazier. A fourth, orange flame ignited above a new door.
"No more," Joel cried, "no more..." He hung his head to the ground, his anger having not abated. "NO FUCKING MORE!!"
With another flash of light, Joel again suddenly found himself in another void.
***
In the depths of the void, Joel floated aimlessly. An oppressive darkness swallowed him.
No light, no sound, no hint of life nor movement - the darkness enveloped everything.
He stood slowly, stumbling as he did, then wandered through the endless expanse. Each step felt weightless; with no air on his skin or feeling on the soles of his feet, he lacked any sensation to tell if he was moving at all.
"Hello," he called out in a desperate plea for someone, anyone, to hear him. But nothing responded. Even his own voice dissipated into the emptiness that stretched on forever.
As he walked, hours stretched into days, days into weeks, and weeks into months. It felt like a dream, an endless one where time skipped forwards and the mind made it make sense.
Joel's fatigue grew with each step, his muscles ached with a heavy exhaustion. He collapsed onto the cold, invisible ground, as he had done dozens of times already, and his eyes closed as he dozed off to sleep. Even in his dreams, however, he found no escape from the suffocating darkness, and no respite from the sense of isolation that engulfed his heart.
As time continued to tick slowly by, months into years. Joel could feel the weight of time press upon him like an unyielding mass. Black, lifeless eyes sat hollow in his scrawny face, his unkempt beard grew bushy and wild - a tangled mess of strands that mirrored the jumbled chaos in his mind. His hair hung around his shoulders, streaked with traces of grey that whispered of the countless years he had spent alone in the darkness.
Each passing day dragged Joel further into isolation as he became a mere shell of who he once was. But, despite the cycle of loneliness, Joel clung to the small joy of having no pain.
No pain had been the only thing that kept him going - the slight happiness from a life without his physical suffering, and the mobility it offered. It's fine, he told himself every lonely day. So long as there's no pain, I can go on forever.
As the years continued to pass into decades, Joel's small joy eventually corroded by the feeling of loneliness. Every night, he cried himself to sleep. Every night, he muttered to himself incoherently - the sound of his own voice offering nothing to soften the solitude he felt.
In a moment of clarity within the dream, Joel couldn't tell if the loneliness felt worse than the pain he had left behind; too much time had passed to remember how the pain felt. But, in the depths of his heart, as his chin quivered and his eyes welled up once more, he had a brief thought. Maybe pain is better than dying alone...
One night, or morning - he couldn't tell which - as he lay on the ground he reached out into the darkness with a weak and scrawny arm, yearning for some semblance of human connection. Yet, his fingertips caressed nothing but time.
Despair and depression found him as his tender breaths begged the vastness before him to end it all.
A way out still existed - an escape from the endless torment of the void. Death is better than this. He finally decided. With a heavy heart, and a mind clouded by sorrow and a sad surrender, he made his decision. He reached into his pocket, and pulled out a knife. Has this always been here? He questioned. It had and it hadn't - the logic of all dreams. The thought resolved itself the moment he held it. It's always been here.
He placed the blade to his chest, and pushed down slowly.
Just as he felt ready to take that final, irreversible step, a slither of light illuminated the void around him, and he found himself laying once more on the familiar chamber floor he had seen all those years ago. He blinked in disbelief as he saw Fluffy, unaged before him; his heart raced in his chest as he realised no time had passed at all. His wide eyes looked around the chamber and a sense of gratitude washed over him, quickly squashed by the metallic silver light of the fifth door as it illuminated the room.
He wanted to scream, to ask to exit the game. But his mouth wouldn't move. All those years of his mind being alone had momentarily made him forget how to speak.
***
This time, Joel stayed in the chamber as a figure emerged from behind the fifth door and stepped into the chamber.
The figure's appearance looked like the glimmer that danced on every speck of dust in the light of day - completely ephemeral in its willingness to be seen. It had no discernible features, no head, no legs, no arms, or torso. It was just a mass of emptiness, shaded by the absence of light.
Joel tilted his head up to where he imagined a face would be. His shoulders tensed as he knelt on the ground, his body failing to muster the energy to run.
"What is your greatest fear?" The figure asked, its voice gravelly and inhuman, ancient in tone as it stammered out the words.
The question reverberated through Joel's mind as he hesitated to answer.
His thoughts swirled with the memories of what the other doors had chosen to show him, and he realized that each one contained a fear he hid within himself.
The emotion overwhelmed him as he recalled each encounter, but one truth remained undeniable.
He breathed softly, mouthing the word before his body could speak. "Pain," he whispered dryly.
"Whose?" The figure asked.
Joel understood the weight of the question and what it meant to answer it. He swallowed hard, the weight of the question settling heavy in his chest. It wasn't just about naming a fear; it was baring his soul for all to see. Pain, he thought, the word echoing in his mind. Not just physical agony, but the relentless ache that gnawed at him day and night. The fear of enduring it alone, and the fear of it defining him. Saying it out loud meant acknowledging the raw, hidden corners of his soul. It meant confronting the scars that ran deeper than anyone could see.
The emotional torment he had felt from the rooms felt nothing compared to the fear of his own chronic pain. In a moment of vulnerability, Joel confronted the stark reality of his own suffering. His pain was his fear, and it had become a burden that he carried alone, a burden that threatened to consume him if left unspoken. Or worse, a suffering that could not be healed by the words of another person. A lonely suffering.
With a heavy heart, Joel realized what the true answer was.
He looked to his fragile hands and saw the weakness he had tried to hard to stay blind to. Denial, despair, anger, depression - grief - they all depend on others. People are the cause of so much suffering, so much pain, whether they mean to be, or not. But, they can also heal that suffering. His thoughts paused, and as he gazed into the abyss of the figure before him, a moment of clarity led him to the words he had longed to find.
The most isolating form of suffering is the one you have to endure alone, whatever it may be.
Joel cried a single tear as his answer left his lips, "mine," he replied. "My pain is my greatest fear, for I suffer it alone, and nobody can help with that."
The figure withdrew slowly; its elusive appearance vanishing like smoke as the door slammed closed.
The metallic-silver light floated to the brazier, joining with the others to create a white light which shone on the steps that led up to the grand final door.
Fluffy hurried over to Joel, who knelt on the cold stone ground, hands pressed against it, exhausted and shattered, yet feeling a touch lighter. Fluffy meowed softly and rubbed his face against Joel's arm, his tenderness providing the final nudge Joel needed to ground himself back in reality.
"I think, I think I'll be okay," Joel said softly.
He attempted to lift himself up, but the exhaustion in his body weighed too heavily. The years he had spent alone may not have physically aged him, but the mental affect it had was crippling.
I... should sleep. Words were hard to form, even in his mind, and his head felt as if it could burst open.
Fluffy nestled under Joel's chest, meowing softly, and gently nudged him upward with his head, his small legs trembling under the effort. It was a small gesture, but Joel understood he had to stand.
"Okay," he murmured weakly. "Let's go."
With Fluffy's encouragement, Joel pushed himself upright, drawing a deep breath to steady himself and wiping tears from his eyes.
Just as he prepared to speak, however, he noticed his shadow stretching ominously under the stark white light.
The shadow expanded, further and further, extending across the room until it reached the steps; its movement eerily resembling that of a living creature.
From the shadow emerged a gaunt figure, its silhouette flickering menacingly in the white light. The temperature of the room dropped, as if the sun had been ripped from the sky and all that remained was the cold and the dark. An eerie whisper filled the room, a low, unintelligible murmur that came from everywhere, all at once.
Joel's breath quickened, his heart pounding in his chest. His wearied stare fixed upon the gaunt figure before him and a peculiar sense of recognition pulled at his sunken gaze. The scrawny frame mirrored Joel's, and its weary eyes held a plea akin to his own. Its pale, stubbled face resembled a distorted reflection in a cracked mirror - familiar, yet unsettlingly altered. He half-expected it to grimace, but its lips were pressed tight, as if it were unable to muster a smile.
This fucking game...
The suffocating atmosphere tightened around Joel, squeezing the air from his lungs. His skin trembled and pricked with fear as the scent of decay filled his senses.
Clarity washed over him as he looked on with paralyzed thought. That's me... that's my face!
The shadow mirrored Joel down to the smallest detail, except for the small knife gripped tightly in its hands. It advanced with a menacing stride, its lanky legs carrying it forward with purpose, and its eyes burned with a determination Joel had never seen in his own.
Joel braced himself, and raised his clenched fists, but he felt too exhausted to keep them up. Drawing on the same anger that fueled his confrontation with Simon, he managed to keep them taut.
Without hesitation, the shadow lunged forward with the knife. Its movements were sluggish, as if mimicking Joel's exhaustion, and the thrust unfolded in slow motion, affording Joel ample time to react. Yet, his legs remained rooted in place.
The knife sliced through the air, and Joel instinctively reached out, grasping the blade with his hands. A scream of pain escaped his lips. It's fine, he told himself, this is nothing compared to what I've been through! With adrenaline coursing through him, Joel seized the shadow's wrist and sunk his teeth into its thin flesh until the knife clattered to the ground. The shadow retaliated with a weak punch, but Joel fought through the agony and drove it back.
He pushed the shadow back, then took a step forward and threw a punch, which hit the air - straining the muscles in his body. With a frenzied flurry, the shadow swung back, landing a blow that sent Joel crashing to the ground. His head thudded against the stone floor, but he managed to raise his hands just in time as the shadow unleashed a barrage of punches - each one driving the breath from Joel's lungs.
Shit! Shit! Shit! This is what I did to Simon!?
The irony wasn't lost on him as the weight of the shadow pinned him down.
He tried freeing his legs, or pushing the shadow off, but nothing worked. Seconds passed and Joel quickly became more and more bloodied. The shadow's fists were wild and had no real weight behind them, but they stuck hard enough to knock Joel's head on to the ground with each punch, and soon, Joel's hearing became an echoed pitch. Then, his thoughts became a tangle of panic and pain.
He felt trapped. Weak. Alone.
Blood spilled from his nose and ran into his mouth. His fat lip and swollen eye screamed for it to stop as the shadow continued to strike relentlessly.
Joel closed his eyes finally, unable to muster the strength to carry on.
I... I just...
The urge to sleep overwhelmed him. The urge to give up and wake up in that chamber had become all consuming.
Suddenly, a soft feline murmur pierced through the echoing chaos. Fluffy lunged forward, sinking his teeth into the shadow's leg, drawing a substance that ran thick like blood. The shadow howled in pain and swung at Fluffy, who took a strike to the face.
Undeterred to help his friend, Fluffy continued to clamp down, his tiny paws swatting at the shadow in an attempt to dislodge its hold on Joel.
Joel's adrenaline surged as he seized the moment, landing a powerful kick that sent the shadow crashing to the ground. He scrambled to his feet, his eyes scanning the room for the knife, which lay just a few feet away. He sprinted as fast as his weary body could manage, stumbling with each painful step.
Just as he leaned to pick the knife up, the shadow tackled him to the ground. It pinned him down in the same position, and it raised both hands into the air, forming two heavy fists for a final, devastating attack.
Joel shifted the knife around in his hand, and drove it into the shadow's chest.
With a hollow sigh, the figure's form flickered, and its hands fell to its side.
Its tight lips relaxed into a gentle smile as the shadow slowly dissolved into the light, taking the knife with it.
〘Congratulations!〙
〘Wave Two. Complete!〙
〘Inventory Unlocked〙
〘Equipment Unlocked〙
〘Skill Page Unlocked〙
〘HUD Management Unlocked〙
〘Title Unlocked: [Conqueror of Shadows]〙
〘Reward For Title: Five Skill Points〙
〘Title Unlocked: [Friend of Vulpine Felis]〙
〘Reward For Title: Two Skill Points〙
〘Time Until Next Wave:〙
〘21.59.59〙
〘21.59.58〙
〘21.59.57〙