“Is it…calling for me?”

A sharp breath took me out of my trance. The thread's mere presence had driven me to touch it. I grit my teeth slightly. Although the thread caused my rationality to be focused solely on it, so much so that I felt myself slowly getting closer to it…a strong guilt still tore me in two. The corpse of my adversary was still. It did not even move an inch from where it had fallen.

I had killed someone. A living being.

A person that had made decisions. A person who had made mistakes and who had learned from those mistakes. A person who had desired. My heart ached as I looked at the results of my ruthlessness. I knew it was in self-defense deep below my miasma of guilt, I knew that it wouldn’t help or solve anything if I wallowed in self-pity yet I continued to do so. Not without my selfishness trying to help me feel better about myself by arguing that I had no choice. Of course I rejected this notion however. My guilt was great, and I knew it would always be.

I did not know this person, and I knew I probably never would.

I slowly felt these thoughts seep into my very core. Like a toxin that seeped into the very veins of my suppressed emotions. Crying was not gonna solve anything. Fear permeated me as I was naturally afraid of anyone finding out I had killed him. It was a deep primal fear that drove me to slightly want to run away. I knew death and murder was natural in this new world I had been trapped in…yet I felt as if I had committed a cardinal sin.

Because I had.

I had never thought for a second that it was right for me to kill. Not before this battle, and not after. Even if small doubts and thoughts suggested otherwise, my courage and self-confidence was too measly to even dare say I could kill without guilt. Much less have the right to it. My shoulders felt heavy as I stared at the frozen corpse. I was a sinner.

There was a saying, which suggested murder becomes a habit.

Something like that…I couldn’t remember all too well. All I knew was that it was true. At least in this world where dreadful situations and decisions were all too common.

Enough. I swatted my emotions and guilt away to the best of my ability. Even if I felt cracks begin to appear in that facade of apathy that I had been so desperately clinging onto…I continued to suppress my emotions. I needed to keep moving forward. Although I slightly believed I did not deserve to…I had to uphold my promise of living.

I took limped steps towards the monstrous corpse. Its size truly was the difference between me and him. I had gotten a lucky chance. If he had reacted quickly and recalled his flames, spread them throughout my body or even just had aimed a little better…I'd be dead.

I shivered at the vision of it, and a feeling of restlessness and adrenaline invaded my body as I thought of my near death.

The fiery red thread still floated in place. It was hard to understand its position. It was ethereal and did not affect the environment yet it seemed to emit the effect of it actually being there. Meaning that it was there, and it acted as if it were in my eyes…yet it also looked as if it wasn’t. Even if I could not say why…the thread clearly did not belong in this world. I glanced at the chasm that was the hood of the robe.

I didn't wanna look at his face. My shame was too great.

The robe he wore was stained with blood and torn apart all over. I had really devastated it with that barrage of stabs. The stone was quite large, so it wasn't a surprise that it had served as a good weapon. Not that it made it any better for me, as I had still suffered nearly fatal injuries.

Blood pooled around the body.

After a bit of hesitation to do it…and coercion that was primarily emitted by the thread itself, I reached towards the fiery thread. I swallowed hard. I had no idea if this was dangerous or not, what this thread was, or why it was here…yet I felt drawn to it.

My hand was mere inches from it when I felt a sensation envelop it. I reflexively stopped in fear of something happening. The sensation was slightly repelling my hand away.

My injure-ridden body felt sore as I attempted to formulate an explanation of the repelling force. Several random theories and reports popped into my head as I pondered over the sensation. Dozens of seconds passed. One particular theory stood out to me, though I could not remember the exact reasons for the theory.

All I knew was the foundations of it which were...

That modern (human) science theorized that the Vast’s strangeness and mysterious way of preserving itself was a result of its nature. Essentially. The Vast was alive, and it made an effort to protect itself, meaning...

That essentially this sensation of my hand being repelled away…was the Vast likely attempting to draw me away from the thread, now I did not know the reason, or how it had detected it...but it made the most sense.

I was quite confident in human science, as we had probably developed way past many civilizations and entire races in the aspect of study and philosophy…at least to the point that I knew

I pushed forward. The sensation grew stronger but it clearly could not stop me as it was now. I flinched when I wrapped my hand around the thin thread. It was ethereal…so much so that it felt as if my hand could go through it. Yet it didn't.

A strong sense of impending danger filled my psyche. I wanted to let go…but I had gotten this far. Pins and needles once again invaded my sense of touch. My hands tingled slightly as they felt the ethereal string be played with in my fingers. It felt different than anything I had ever touched.

I breathed in…and pulled.

The previous sensation of repulsion exploded. Wrapped around me, pierced through me…it devoured me. The pins and needles turned into a sensation of what I could only describe blades and fangs piercing deeply into my flesh. I could not even scream. I was too frozen in place. In this state I could not fathom to continue testing this mysterious string and yet…I continued to pull. Even when I could not move an inch. Even when I could not cry a tear. Even when the pain told me to give up. I pulled.

The barrier that rejected me began to fight against me. I felt the repulsion of the world intensify. Slowly I pulled harder. I pulled with the measly will I had built in less than a day. I pulled with the promise I had made. I pulled with the pinky that had given me purpose. The hand that had won a battle against all odds.

The rejection intensified according to my effort. This tug of war against a formless force became a tug of life. I felt myself beginning to stammer. It wasn’t easy to visualize, or to even imagine…and yet the world itself was making an effort to prevent me from pulling whatever this thread was attached to. Even so I continued to pull!

Even if temporarily I looked past it all. Past my fears. Past my doubts. Past my guilt.

Past my sanity!

Everything was nothing in the face of the desire I felt to pull this damned string!

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

I felt it begin to shatter. The space around the thread. The world itself seemed to scream as I pulled out a bright light from the corpse of my enemy. My muscles felt as if they were going to burst from the pain, the crown seemed to be tightening in a panic once again, just as it had when I was fighting the furry creature. Blood trickled down my forehead. My wounds ached with fresh pain. My shoulder and the laceration in my chest begged for me to stop. My left arm was threatening to be pulled off!

I could see black ethereal cracks begin to form around the space of the string. The space around me bent and contracted. Sure enough…the world was attempting to stop me!

I felt my grip weaken. My muscles were giving up.

“No!”

The string began to slip from my hands. It threatened to take my arm with me if I did not let go…yet I would not! My worries were interrupted by an extremely loud sound. My vision darkened as a shadow stretched above it. The pain I felt intensified as I saw the horrifying sight emerge into my vision. “W-What?!”

Seemingly stemming from the crown…countless ivory-white vines exploded outwards. I could not see them very well, due to focusing on the thread, yet I imagined they looked something akin to antlers. Like a canopy of deadly, soul-piercing thorns.

My hair stood on end as I saw what came next.

A single vine lowered itself from above me and wrapped around my arms, piercing deep into them with its legion of thorns. I wanted to scream. To stomp my feet in pain. Yet the crown was helping me! The crown no longer pierced simply into my soul. It opened holes all over my arms as it pierced into them…strangely I felt strength seep into me.

The vine tightened around my arm, which made me hiss in pain. Yet instead of weakness…strength flowered within me.

The tug of war shifted towards me.

I grit my teeth as more vines stretched downwards. Some pierced into the ground, more wrapped around my legs and body, ripping through my clothes. Some even attempted to seep into the black cracks around the thread, as if trying to invade the world it came from. Tears welled up in my eyes. The pain was catastrophic.

It hurts. Pain. Why? Why was I being subjected to such torture?!

Why did it hurt so much?!

Pain was all I felt. Questions were all I had. Yet even among all these questions which I already knew the answers to…I continued pulling.

I felt my heartbeat wildly as the crown supported my deadly tug of war against the Vast itself. A blinding crimson light at the end of the thread slowly revealed itself as I pulled with all my might. Only a few seconds had passed yet it felt like an eternity. A pair of vines stretched out in front of my face.

A deep panic settled within me as I realized what was to come next. I wanted to let go and run away.

Amidst my thoughts, the vines…plunged into my eyes.

A scream bellowed deep within me. Even as I was blinded by the vines I felt the pull strengthen as the pain tore my sanity into pieces. I was going to win! I felt the repelling force grow weaker…and with it’s weakness came more strength for me.

I no longer cared for my body.

I could still feel the string wrapped around my hands. I felt the pain of the world itself rejecting me…the pain of the crown and most importantly…the desire to win this damned tug of war!

A sea of pain enveloped me as I felt each and every thorn pierce into me. However even as the pain caused my rationality to shatter I felt pure unbridled strength seep into my very being as the suffering continued. The drum of my heartbeat beat wildly as I used the last remaining ounces of strength to pull! The vines also pulled along with me. I heard the ground beneath me crack as the dreadful vines invaded it and forced it to pull along with me.

The repelling force dispelled itself bit by bit. Otherworldly cracks and screeches filled my hearing. Even if I could not understand what was happening…or what I was hearing…I understood one thing! This repelling force…it was begging for me to stop!

Then before I knew what was happening…and as the vines threatened to consume me…an earth-shattering force shot outwards from the cracked space.

Almost instantly I felt myself be lifted off the ground, and thrown violently. The explosion caused my impact against the ground to be explosive…so much so that I was temporarily deafened by the sheer impact of it. Yet I was alive. The vines served as a shield to the explosion, not without some being utterly pulverized by it of course.

I gasped for air. I had forgotten to breathe. In between exhaust-stricken breaths I questioned myself. “D-did I lose?” I felt the newfound strength of the vines slowly leave me…and so did they.

The vines slowly seemed to retreat back into the crown. The ones who had not survived the explosion simply began to turn into a whirlwind of dust, and were blown away. The pain of them ripping themselves off my flesh was insane, but at this point I was too numb to it to care. Not that it meant I didn’t scream and yelp with each vine’s movement. Not that it meant that I didn’t feel the tears roll down my face as the torture seemed to never end.

And yet…

It was over.

Soon I was miraculously able to see again. I blinked a few times, and I could tell there was a difference in my eyesight…but I did not have time to care about that. I lay looking at the still unmoved sunset. It was again…beautiful. I laid there unmoving for as long as I could before I felt myself slipping from consciousness.

I was launched quite far from the corpse where the thread was, and had smashed onto the ground like a rock skipping in water a few times. It was kinda funny imagining my body wrapped in solid vines being bounced around the forest.

I coughed only to hiss in pain as I did.

“Ah…”

A sticky and warm feeling made it through the wall of pain that was blocking out all my senses.

“Is this all…my blood?”

I was losing too much. Of course it had to be this way. After all, the holes the vines had left still bled fresh blood. Thankfully they were not extremely big, and instead were tiny holes and lacerations, yet there were so many of them that their size did not matter, I would still die if I did not find a way to stop the bleeding.. It was certainly an experience to see my flesh look like some sort of twisted target practice doll.

Even so, it was not as bad as my flesh turning into shoe leather.

“Y’know, if this is a simple elemental power, I wonder how the others must be to deal against…” Memories of my melting corpse as I faced the Ophanim rumbled in my mind as I attempted to stand up, only to fail with a pained groan. Although I was unsure what the hell that chant had been when I was initially attacked, I didn’t quite expect such a violent outcome.

My uninjured…or well LESS injured arm supported me as I weakly stood up. Huffs of pain and exhaustion were all I could muster as I limped like a dog, heading towards where the ashes had all been blown away.

Yes. That’s right.

Around the area where I had been subjected to a forceful game of tug of war against the world itself…all the ashes in the area were gone. They had simply been eradicated. It seems like they were weak against the shattering of whatever was preventing me from pulling that string.

I slowly approached the corpse as my blood dripped down onto the ground below. The thread was gone. The corpse still lay unmoving, which made me feel a cold goose bump. However that feeling also stemmed from the crimson light that lay right next to the corpse.

I had managed to win against the world’s rejection. That was clear by now. My reward lay in front of me.

I leaned down, which threatened to collapse my balance, and picked up the crimson light.

“A-an apple?”

I sighed. All that. For an apple. So many feelings and questions thundered within me. My bottle of emotions, tightly sealed from the world around it, threatened to shatter and expel all its contents for the world to see. My injuries threatened to kill me on the spot, and leave Fright alone to learn I wasn’t able to keep my promise.

I frowned as I thought of the saddened face the girl might have if she learned of my death.

My stomach rumbled in hunger as I stared at the apple. For an apple it was way more vibrant than it should be. The skin of the apple had a beautiful texture, even if it was trippy to look at. Orange and red streaks spread across the apple, rolling down from the stem of the apple. These streaks seemed to represent fire as it rolled down the apple.

The apple was warm to the touch, and seemed to invigorate me with energy with its mere touch. Although I wasn’t exactly sure…this apple seemed to hold value, maybe even beyond simple money.

A deeply rooted greed burned in my heart as I stared at it.

Well. I had a promise to keep.

I hesitated very lightly…and brought the apple towards my mouth.