"—urry, Get—," "C'mon, wake up." The muffled shouts slowly pierced through the fog of his mind as his consciousness began to return. Frantic voices, hurried footsteps, the feeling of someone shaking him—it all felt distant and strange. But then he noticed it.

Darkness.

He screamed and jolted upright, his body reacting before his mind could even process the shock. He opened his eyes in a panic, expecting nothing but the endless black void, only to be met with something else entirely.

Color.

He blinked in disbelief, taking in the vibrant green grass beneath him, the clear blue sky above. His breath came in ragged bursts as he stared, almost unable to believe it. But there, at the edge of his vision, it lingered—the darkness. Not the all-consuming kind that had haunted him, but a shadowy tendril of it caressing his feet, reminding him of the malevolent fog he'd barely escaped from.

Sitting up fully now, he glanced around. He was on top of a mound, one of many rising out of what seemed to be a valley. Below, the darkness pooled, creeping up the slopes, corrupting the ground beneath. It was strange and terrifying in equal measure. He crawled to the edge of the hill, peering over, but there was nothing. Just a black abyss where the ground should be.

“You’d better not lean too far, lest you tumble down to your death,” a warm, pleasant voice said from behind him.

He jumped, snapping his head toward the source of the voice. A young girl stood nearby, hands on her hips, staring at him with a curious expression. She looked calm, casual, as if the sight of the darkness didn't bother her in the slightest.

"I’m guessing Fore brought you here, judging by the light we saw," she said, her voice quickening. "If so, you must have been lost in the darkness down there. What was it like? Scary, I assume. How’d you survive? How long were you down there? What would possess you to even go down there in the first place?"

The barrage of questions came so fast that he barely had time to register them. His mind was still spinning from everything—the darkness, the light, and now this girl who seemed far too eager for answers. Raising a hand, he cut into her rapid-fire speech.

"Hold on," he said, holding up two fingers. "Before I answer your questions, I have two of my own."

The girl chuckled, clearly amused, and then quickly composed herself. "Sorry, sorry! You just woke up, and here I am, pestering you. Sure, sure, ask away."

Taking a deep breath, he lowered one finger. "First, how did I get here? The last thing I remember was passing out in a world of darkness."

He paused, thinking back. There had been something else, something important. "Oh yeah, there was a light. I saw a light approaching me before I blacked out."

He raised his second finger. "And second... where is 'here'? And why is the land covered in darkness?"

The girl tilted her head and grinned, her eyes glinting with curiosity. "Oh, you've got some big questions," she said playfully. "Well, I'll answer as best as I can." She paused dramatically before adding, "You’re in the Valley of Lost Souls. And that," she gestured to the creeping darkness, "is where souls go to die. Or worse."

Worse? The thought crept through his mind, sending an involuntary shudder down his spine. What could possibly be worse than death? A flicker of memory flashed in his mind—the cold, mocking laughter that had echoed through the darkness. He winced slightly, trying to shake the thought away.

The girl noticed his reaction and made a slightly troubled face. "Yeah… worse," she continued, her voice now more somber. "Calling it a valley is a bit misleading though."

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"What do you mean?" he asked, confused. "We're clearly in a valley, right?" He turned to look at the surrounding landscape again, mounds of earth rising from the ground, the thick darkness pooling below. It looked like a valley in every sense.

"And 'Lost Souls'? Me? I understand the 'lost' part, but I don't remember seeing any souls down there," he added.

The girl chuckled, though it was half-hearted this time. "Well, like I said, the name’s a bit misleading." She pointed toward the distant horizon, where the sky met the far-off edge of the land. "The darkness actually spreads all the way to the horizon, beyond it even. It covers nearly the entire world... or at least the part of it we know. And worse still, it's slowly expanding upwards."

He frowned, not quite believing her. "That can't be right, can it?" But then he remembered—the darkness creeping up his legs, stopping only at his knees. He had no idea how long he'd been asleep after that, but when he woke up, everything around him had been swallowed by blackness.

"Is that going to happen to the whole world?" he muttered, half to himself.

The girl glanced at him and sighed, shaking her head slightly. "Hopefully not. But... from what I know, there's no way to stop it." Her tone was grim, and it made his stomach twist.

He hadn’t realized he'd spoken aloud until she answered. The thought of a world consumed by darkness was horrifying, something he didn’t want to experience ever again. That inescapable dread, the eyes watching, the laughter… no, he couldn’t go through that again.

But there was something else. Something she'd said earlier, something that had made his blood run cold.

"What’s worse?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper.

The girl’s eyes darkened, and her playful demeanor vanished completely. For the first time since he woke up, she seemed genuinely serious. "Worse than death… is becoming one with the darkness."

He felt his heart skip a beat. "Becoming one with it? What do you mean?"

She glanced around, as if checking for something lurking nearby. Then, lowering her voice, she said, "Once it takes hold of you, the darkness consumes more than just your body. It takes your mind, your memories, your soul. You become... something else. I'm assuming you saw those creatures down there right? Those glassy-eyed things? They used to be people, too."

His eyes widened in disbelief, the weight of her words sinking in slowly. The glassy-eyed figures he had glimpsed in the dark, the ones that had haunted him, were people?

"That's what becomes of those who give in to the darkness," she continued. "They lose themselves. No thoughts, no memories, no will of their own. Just... empty shells that wander aimlessly, forever trapped in the darkness."

A wave of nausea washed over him as he remembered the laughter, the mocking echo that had clawed at his sanity. Was that the fate he’d been spared from? Just barely?

"Once you become one of them," the girl added softly, "there’s no coming back."

His mind struggled to process everything the girl had told him. He didn’t want to dwell on how close he had come to losing himself, to becoming one of those things. He forced the creatures—and that haunting laughter—out of his thoughts. That’s when something else struck him.

"The light! There was a light in the darkness! And... a man. He was guiding me somewhere." He tried to focus, to recall the beautiful man who had held his arm, the warmth that briefly replaced the cold, and the anger that had shattered it all.

The girl’s eyes lit up. "Ah, yes. That was Fore."

"Four?" He frowned. "Like the number?"

She gave a soft laugh, shaking her head. "No, not like the number. Fore’s... well, it’s hard to explain. He’s not really human... or at least, not entirely. Honestly, I don’t even know what he is. But he’s definitely something... special."

"Special?" he echoed, still confused. "He seemed pretty human to me."

The girl smiled slightly. "Trust me, there’s more to Fore than meets the eye." She shifted her stance and continued. "As for how you got here, it was Fore who found you. He’s the only one who can move through the darkness without being harmed, so he goes in and out regularly. He brought you back with him."

Before he could fully digest that, a young boy came bounding over the hill, waving his arms excitedly, with a large, burly man trailing behind him.

"Sis! I found him!" the boy shouted, his face beaming with pride.

The girl smiled at the boy’s enthusiasm, visibly relaxing. "Looks like it’s time to go. I’m sure you’ve got a million more questions, but you can save them until we get back to the village."

He glanced at the boy and the man as they approached, then sighed. "Yeah... I’ve got plenty to think about."

She turned to lead him away, but he called out, "Wait."

She paused and looked back at him, curious. "What is it?"

For a moment, he hesitated. "What should I call you?"

With a light chuckle, she said, "Everyone calls me Sis. You got a name too?"

He paused, searching for words. "Yeah, my name is…"