Run (4)
Right after Ciemnosc threw himself at the sudden emptiness that appeared randomly at one point through his digging, he saw blackness engulf him as a cold that was yet not capable of affecting him began trying to seep into his bones. He 'fell' without direction for minutes in this absolute darkness which neither his eyes nor Spirit Sense could see through, if there was anything to see through in the first place.
And that wasn’t the worst of it. Just as Ciemnosc was getting the sensation that he threw himself into a never-ending hole, he began seeing… faces.
These faces were not from others who might have thrown themselves as well, nor were they illusions from his past. On the contrary, Ciemnosc was witnessing factual and actual faces that, more likely than not, were alive once upon a time. Ciemnosc had gotten himself amidst something that no living being would voluntarily throw themselves to.
Faces the size of 3 adult male torsos, both in length and width. They would appear from below while Ciemnosc kept falling. They had no ‘live’ color that made them human, beast, or even Creature. But they all had skin, humanoid faces whose eyes, mouths, and wrinkles moved with perfect life-like motions.
Whenever they came close to him, to his ears, and to the back of his head, and his back. They would make noises. Such as slurping noises whenever they were right beside his ears and drifting upwards while he kept falling. Breathing on his neck and hair when they completely disappeared from his senses and most primitive awareness. But the worst was whenever they pressed themselves against his back. They would simply rub their faces against his back, like a dog, but a delicate and intelligent dog, as they kept murmuring and seeking comfort.
And just when that was already the worst and couldn’t possibly be any worse, Ciemnosc would then feel tiny little hands with teeny little arms coming out of somewhere and be used in between by whichever face was behind him, giving themselves some strange type of massage off his back. As if a bunch of monstrous babies with arms the size of a teenager were all behind him, asking him to stay, perhaps play, and die if he could. Only if he wanted to, of course.
Their murmurs were also the most disquieting, sounding like a mummy’s inside their coffin but also as soft yet with a vibrato that somehow made it through into their hearts despite being pretty low in volume.
Sometimes, only 1 of those things would occur whenever a face passed by, as every face would go towards him as soon as he was seen. Some even made surprised and content, jolly expressions as soon as they saw him, like someone imprisoned for life seeing a family member out of nowhere and becoming simply content. Only, they were not family members and even less of any friendly nature.
But other times, it went from suffering 2 types of harassment from the faces to all 3.
More time passed, and even though they were as creepy as ever, Ciemnosc kept silent and no longer made any more movements. Though those faces never stopped going at him to harass him. But at some point, other people began appearing in his field of vision. They couldn’t see him back in the darkness, but Ciemnosc could see them reacting and enduring the same thing he was. Some were ‘enduring’ as that was what they were doing, but others were ‘reacting’ since they could no longer move after doing so.
They wore robes and uniforms from the 4 major organizations, so Ciemnosc knew they were his pursuers. Of course. But from him being chased, they became hopeless and utterly terrified. While he simply looked at their facial expressions, and they could only look around while avoiding meeting whatever those faces were with their eyes, afraid to even land their eyesight on them for even a moment.
The first few he saw were rather powerful in terms of will. They were barely moving, and though a female held her knees and was already crying, she still held on to herself and made no reaction. Later on, a few who reacted immediately to what they were experiencing appeared.
One, who was at the Conflagrate realm 1st stage, immediately became startled upon seeing a female, gray, wrinkly and life-like humongous face come close to him. Sending deadly techniques towards it to keep it away, too afraid to fully form his deadly ‘technique’ not even halfway done. In response, however, the ugly female face simply enlarged until it was as large as a mountain. With its left nostril, it engulfed the cultivator sending deathly techniques to itself.
It didn’t stop there, and as the female face that had overgrown itself continued to go up, more and more people appearing around Ciemnosc were slammed away by it. The moment they made contact with it, they became half-mangled limbs and half-pools of blood. Exploding to the sides and forming a trail of limbs and blood before dissipating into thin air. Ciemnosc wasn’t sure, but he could tell all those limbs and blood were eaten away… somehow.
“!” But just as Ciemnosc looked down once more after witnessing the massacre above, the casualty numbering the thousands in just a few seconds, Ciemnosc saw a large baby face with overly grown jet black hair. Its size had also been enlarged to no end, grander than a mountain range already. Its eyes separately aimed at different top-corner sides, and its mouth was like a pair of adjoined sausages forming an uneven, intensely elongated oval-shaped circle.
It had no nose, and from its jaw to its neck, which became visible, unlike any other face, was just a bunch of endless wrinkles the size of large hills one after the other. It also had some similar wrinkles at the center of its forehead. And as everyone watched the baby, its eyes slowly began to direct towards those around, and Ciemnosc himself.
“Aaah!” - “WAaAaAAh!” - “Nohaaah!” - “Heelp, ahuu, ahhuu… nooo!”
Some nearby cultivators began yelling out, bemoaned, and struggled during their fall ever so futilely. Those people suddenly began to stiffen, as if petrified, and turned into paralyzed ordinary people before their bodies began to be sucked out of their bones, blood, and shit with an imaginary straw attached to their feet. From the top of their heads to their feet, they disappeared in that order before their liquefied forms were pulled into the baby’s eyes, right into its pupils.
“...” As soon as the baby’s eyes began to be filled up, it formed a smile on its already disturbing face. Many immediately gasped and looked in terror. Essentially becoming additional nourishment soup for the baby, or better yet, its eyes.
Nothing was seen below the baby, but the more Ciemnosc and those around him continued to fall, the more the baby’s neck elongated. When the baby was just a few tens of meters away from Ciemnosc’s feet, its neck was so long that their eyesight could no longer differentiate it, despite being cultivators.
Wrururrrrup.
The baby’s eyes had become somewhat bigger, becoming ‘fatter’ and distorted as time passed. It became watery as if touching it would make anyone into water… A few cultivators went right into those eyes after falling for a truthfully long time as if they had ridden a slide directly to those monstrous, watery eyes. They could hear baby noises at last, but it was right before they were consumed by those eyes.
The moment they were in touch with those eyes with the soles of their feet, they would suddenly bolt before stiffening in the next moment, macabre. But then, after a few hundred were sent into the baby’s eyes. The baby suddenly looked at its right as if it had found something else and was much more enticing than whatever it was getting to eat already.
In Ciemnosc’s eyes, seeing how many tens of thousands of cultivators were acting like scared cats, only the reactions of more than a hundred thousand cultivators could make this glutton distracted and look entranced by what could very well be another ‘group’ of ants.
A minute later. The baby suddenly disappeared as it ‘went lower’ to hide its appearance. It didn’t forget to look at the cultivators it couldn’t eat anymore. Of course. And as he gave them a last smile right before disappearing, Ciemnosc felt like he was specifically targeted by it, exposed to everything going around, and was definitely ‘unholy’ to say the least.
“AAAAAAH!” - “AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!” - “GRWAAGHH!” As soon as the baby left, the speed of the fall increased. Ciemnosc and everyone around him began falling at an incredible velocity. Even Ciemnosc felt his body uncomfortable by the gait he was now falling with, his vision quickly blurred, and he felt his organs begin moving about in his body.
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Many around him began vomiting blood, while others directly started having seizures. Some even shat themselves. But just as Ciemnosc was uncontrollably raising his arms in the ‘air’- he and everyone else felt like their foreheads were bumping against an impossible-to-avoid barrier. However, that barrier was like a cushion and was harmless to anyone who was about to crash against it.
Ciemnosc and everyone else also had a vision of sorts. They saw themselves moving from ‘the outside’ towards a room, or what seemed like a room at least.
If Ciemnosc already had problems with his inner body becoming messy and his organs dancing about, bouncing, and rushing amok. Considering his bodily strength and body manipulation, granted by his All-Devourign Force Chronicles, were already like this. Then it was only evident what others suffered and felt with their ‘normal’ and unprepared bodies. Power Energy was practically nonexistent here, after all.
Futomp… futomp, futomp, futomp, futomp, futomp.
Suddenly, Ciemnosc felt his world rocket around, and his mind and eyes were thoroughly overcome as he lost consciousness for a split moment. When he recuperated, he saw himself appearing in the same room as his vision. And by the looks of it, he also emerged strictly where his ‘vision’ had been focused before, where his body was now standing, and he tumbled back and forth a little before gaining his balance.
It felt like days went by, falling from that endless black chasm. It was no wonder that Ciemnosc would feel relatively exhausted and lost his balance despite being in perfect condition. He was the only one to have done so, or so he thought right as other cultivators began appearing here one after the other. He was just the first person to have entered this place, and the one in the best condition, just as he was the one farther away from the baby's face before.
There were several other cultivators around him. But they were either busy vomiting their food from before, their blood, some even their organs, and pieces of bones. Others were too busy looking around in terror, wondering to themselves: what kind of retarded bullshit all of this was?
‘...’ That was when Ciemnosc noticed something else. Behind them, many tunnel holes were recently used, with dirt coming out of them and dirtying the floor they were on. Ciemnosc was just asking himself if all that happened was an illusion when his face changed, and he stepped away from those tunnels. ‘No, it wasn’t just an illusion! But what kind of illusion can… make something like this possible?’
Roll, roll, roll… splash, sssshhglaaagghhh, bugsh bugsh.
“!” Everyone noticed Ciemnosc’s movements and also recognized him. But for sure, nobody was in the mood of pursuing him or questioning him for anything. Merely, they looked at him, annoyed and venting their gaze on him, when they all heard the sounds of ‘something’ else coming from the back. As soon as they became surprised by the holes, they saw some blood rushing out of the tunnel holes, bringing layers of skin and fabric along.
“My god!” - “Those are real… Those are- those… AAAH!” - “
Naturally, those weren’t things that would scare cultivators off, who would eventually come used to seeing such things on their path. But they were actually having the same thoughts as Ciemnosc, only their mindset barely allowed them to process. Seeing these things and coming out from the same holes they came from was a brutal confirmation. One that almost made them go crazy.
“...” Meanwhile, while Ciemnosc was feeling overwhelmed, he looked around the room. His Spirit Sense was there but couldn’t go through any walls, ceiling, or floor. There was some light on, somehow. There wasn’t any lamp, torch, or light bulb to emit light, but there was light in the room nonetheless. It wasn’t so wide, barely 3 meters wide and about a meter and a half long.
The walls were thick boulders plastered all together. The flooring was a kind of wooden-looking material. But it felt like plastic at every step, yet it also felt like metal when stepping laboriously against it. The walls were gray and decrepit, while the floor was a squeaky clean orange. The ceiling was of the same gray as the walls, without any visible rock or boulder.
“Shit, get away from them!” - “Everyone, get together. Let’s get out of th- this- the- th- this damned place already…”
Whoosh.
A single breeze went off in the room, which had its one and only door closed. No dust, dirt, or coldness was lifted, but skin became numb, and pores opened. They looked at each other, silenced by the atmosphere alone and in precipitation. The lights dimmed, not only in their room but in different rooms, from which sounds of other cultivators could be heard as they screamed.
“SSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!”
“!!!” Ciemnosc reacted, as did others, gasping and even screaming while pissing their pants. A shushing sound came from their door, but also from the other rooms nearby, whose shushing sounds were so loud they felt as if they were right beside their ears. Let alone the one of their room’s door, it was like their ears had become ultra-sensitive, and the loudest thing ever exploded in their mind and physically in front of them simultaneously.
The lights dimmed down at last. The entire room didn’t lose all clarity however. A black-gray, obscure atmosphere descended upon the room, leaving Ciemnosc and the rest feeling like quietness was the answer to survive this ordeal.
Creak~.
“AAAAA!” - “Guwyaaaaaaakkh!” - “Ughaa- kughh! Blaarggsh- psshk!” To the right of their room, Ciemnosc’s room heard the neighbor’s door opening by a hand. But before even a step could be heard from the neighbors, screams and agonizing shrills went off from dozens of cultivators. All at the same time. Only Ciemnosc could hear thumping, noiseless sounds of footsteps, if they were even feet. On the walls of their room from outside and in the corridors, numbering in the hundreds as they went into the neighboring room.
“...” - “...” - “...” - “...”
Everyone in Ciemnosc’s room was silent. They could hear chomping, dragging and then breaking noises and flesh-slamming sounds to the right. Lasting for a couple of minutes. The others couldn’t hear and thought they were gone, but Ciemnosc could tell they were right in front of their door, waiting as they sat in front of it, so orderly and with patience.
Step- fwoosh, phhshk- splassssh~.
A couple of cultivators in his room wanted to check the door now. Everyone knew staying in one place was death or death. But as soon as the first cultivator took one step, the second cultivator was paralyzed as Ciemnosc moved, his left arm covering the first’s mouth and neck. With his strength, the fucker couldn’t even blink, and his right hand went Claws Out, to which he then penetrated the first’s back right at the vertebral column.
Being so careful to not make a single sound or noise. Only blood could be heard as it came out from the first’s front, painting the floor red as time passed slowly. After stabbing a couple times more, Ciemnosc ‘helped’ the corpse fall on the floor without making another noise.
“...” Ciemnosc’s face, though expressionless, revealed signs of relief as he heard the noiseless tapping footsteps depart from their door. They were even showing dissatisfaction as if they knew Ciemnosc’s actions and had become displeased with not having another sumptuous meal right after another.
“!” Ciemnosc suddenly looked behind. A young girl in tears who had been forced to keep quiet by the other cultivators nearby seemed to want to say something now. But Ciemnosc’s slightly pale skin, obscured by the lights dimmed out, scared the shit out of her brains and got her situated. At first, they might’ve been against all actions Ciemnosc did. But after thinking better than an ape, the cultivators recognized Ciemnosc’s intentions.
The girl, however, seemed to have known the person he murdered. Sister or cousin, perhaps, as their smell was very similar. Ciemnosc ignored it and went over to it in the middle of the room, nobody dared to talk, but they did walk around a bit to see if they could figure out something.
At some point, another cultivator gestured that he was about to go check the door and saw Ciemnosc not pay attention to him, which meant it was alright. As such, the cultivator went over the door and, with another 4 accompanying him from behind, he walked up to 2 arms’ length from the door. He stopped there to take a good while breathing long rounds of air into his body.
STEP STEP STEP STEP…
“!” Suddenly, the sounds of footsteps made him start to tremble. But quickly recognizing they were from a cultivator, he didn’t just become calm, but also hopeful! Yet, just as he was going to take a step forth and began raising his left arm, the cultivator screamed a shrill sound despite being a male, sounding more like a rat, before slamming harshly against the door from the outside!
Pah, whoosh, thud- ta- tah.
“...!” The cultivator at the front saw first-handedly how the one from outside was already with his entire back being chewed out of flesh, his spine fully visible from the back, and still being searched for more meat by a humanoid, monstrous being!
“...Grrriiiyyyll,” the monster groaned as it lifted its head and chin. It had the same skin and color as the faces from before, but this one had a look and skull that looked like an elongated skeleton altogether. It had slightly large eye sockets and a way-too-big mouth hole without a nose.
Its body was covered in some rags strangely, as it had naked bottom down to its feet. Its arms and most of its chest were bare, while its head only had empty holes with seeming emptiness that held a secret contained space of their own.
However, just as it appeared like the monster didn’t have much creepiness, and as it gave them the thought and hope to be fought against. It took out several tongues from its mouth hole, vastly sharp fangs and teeth from its eye sockets, and thick, long lips of a brownish color yet putrid from the center of its mouth hole.
“GRRR- GRAAAH!”
Thud- slam, thud. Ckrsheeeeeerrrrr, ckrsheerr ckrsheerr ckrsheerr…
“Aah aAhaHAAAA AAAH! Take it off me, off m-mg- akwakaaaaggghh!” The cultivator at the front was slammed without him doing anything to attract its attention. Proximity was not the reason. Another cultivator stood just half a meter to the left of the one who took the lead first.
Yet, he was ignored as the thing lunged towards the one at the front. It immediately shut its mouth with its face dancing and rubbing off all around. Only then did everyone and Ciemnosc feel their backs growing weird, remembering the things those faces from before had done to them.
Before long, the thin turned the cultivator, now faceless, around and began to eat at its back just as it had done with the cultivator who was running through the corridors.
…