Stupid, stupid, stupid!
Norman chanted so in his heart as he slowly walked through the dark caverns, his eyes darting around in abject fear, hoping no horrors would come out and strike him. It's only a matter of time before something comes, but a boy like him can hope for miracles, no?
He could only blame himself for being in this Singularity. Had he run back home instead of standing up and shouting back like an idiot, James and his stupid gang of bullies wouldn’t have thought that it’d be fun to throw the ‘dumb nerd’ into the Singularity that newly formed behind their school.
No, it extended far before that. If only he didn’t decide to call them out, he wouldn’t have been their target for the rest of the school semester. If he’d only told his caring mother instead of his father then he wouldn’t have the fear of speaking up seared into him. If only he’d stayed quiet and avoided them, everything would’ve been fine, just like they used to be.
Now, all he’s left with was his clothes, and feeling like he’d faint in any moment.
He sighed and shook the thoughts away. It’s far too late to wonder about ‘what ifs’. He’s here now, and he could only deal with the consequences…whatever they may be.
Slowly, he continued his trek through the unlit caverns, pressing his hand against the rocky walls as guidance as to where to go. The sounds of his steps ring through the empty halls, echoing all around and back to him. Distantly, he could hear something splashing, most likely water droplets falling from the rocky ceiling.
He didn’t quite expect to feel extremely cold.
Then, he heard something tumble onto the ground, and his leg tripped against a jagged rock on the floor. He crashes forward, and it’s then that he noticed something wet and slimy sticking on his face. With slow dawning horror, he brought up his right arm to touch his cheek, only to then not feel anything.
Because there wasn’t any hand to move.
“A…Ah…” Blinding pain and crippling weakness hits him all at once. Ironically enough, the darkness around him began to lift, and he could see three figures surrounding him, their skin an almost emerald green. Their bodies were short and stubby, and their heads were obscenely big, making it look like something a 5-year old would draw in his free time.
Lügmen, children of sin and lurkers of night
They had no face, no mouth, no eyes, but the knives in their hands were enough for him to start crawling backwards. Everything began growing numb, and the sound of his growing heartbeat filled the entirety of his mind. Then, he hit the wall, and the three monsters surrounded him, their knives dangerously gleaming in the dark.
Strangely, the scene felt familiar, and he found himself slowly easing up, the tension in his bones melting into the darkness. It was…comical almost, like a panel in a comic book. Soft tears gathered in his eyes, but he didn’t allow them to fall.
One of them stepped forward, its arms raised and knife pointed downwards. In that moment, his mind flashed back to the beginning of the second week, when he’d been sent crashing onto the wall, with James and his stupid gang around him, their mouths twisted in manic glee. He could remember how they laughed and shouted as he sat there, crying, hoping for something to change.
He thought he was going to die that day.
I don’t want to die.
He lived and came back the next day, but not before his father shouted and ranted about all his hypocritical shit. He wanted to talk back, to say that he did nothing wrong, but fighting him would bring nothing, so he kept his lips shut and silently left the house.
I don’t want to die.
Everything continued. Any prospect of friendship vanished as his treatment continued, and he’d began to find peace knowing that he’d once again found his routine. Things began to blur together, and the torturous treatment he received began to grow shorter, mixing together as he went through the day.
I don’t want to die.
But then James had to go and insult his mother. The lid he’d kept shut from the beginning had burst open, and he’d shouted back with all the strength he could before it was drained away. Satisfied as he was to see the moment of shock pass through his face, the things he did after hardly made him feel any better.
Ah, so that’s why.
Then, everything made sense. Everything he did, everything he experienced was to lead to this moment. He could feel at ease, seeing everything falling back into a pattern. In that moment, the three monsters turned into James and his gang, and the knives poised at him into fists and books. He could almost imagine the wicked smile of glee at their faces as they closed him down, stabbing their knives into his flesh and ending his life.
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“Wouldn’t that be nice?” He heard a part of him say, and he agreed to it. But he’d remember the home he once had, the mother he’d found comfort in, the father he’d once shared his stories with, and the sister he once confided in.
And that’s why,
I DON’T WANT TO DIE
The knife was driven down, but he’d moved behind it the moment its arm began going down. Taking inspiration straight from James’ book, he kicked the Lügmen onto the wall and began stomping on it, his attack growing stronger from his rising adrenaline. Then, a sick crunch echoes through the dark, and the skull inside its obscenely large head cracks.
Before he could get his breath back, heat rushes through his system as he’s suddenly pinned down by another Lügmen, its knife stabbed deep into his back. Painfully, the Lügmen twisted the knife, drawing an even larger injury, but it gave him enough time to scoure the rocky floor and find the first Lügmen’s fallen knife. With his remaining hand, he twisted his body and jammed the weapon deep into the side of the Lügmen’s head.
The second Lügmen falls, bleeding from its head, dead.
The last of them steps back slightly, its stubby legs shaking in what he assumed was fear. He didn’t have enough blood or energy to care, so he simply bent forward and stabbed it in its neck. It fell, and he gave the knife one last kick to send it through its neck and into the ground.
Silently, he wondered how the hell he managed to do that, but he didn’t have enough time to ponder before his anemia caught up and he fell onto the ground.
I did it.
He smiled, and everything went dark after that.
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Norman awoke to a painful ache in his back. It took him a while to break out of his post-waking daze, but memories came rushing in, and he immediately sat up, before regretting it as he felt the wound on his back open slightly.
Hey, at least I’m alive.
He heaved a long sigh. He’s…alive, somehow. He was pretty sure the loss of a limb would kill him, especially with how much blood he’d saw he lost. Granted, he still felt weak and numb, but having acute anemia was still much better than straight up being dead. Then again, whether he could survive until he reaches the very end is debatable.
He gave the knife beside him a short glance, before he picked it up and stood up. He hadn’t been inside a Singularity before, but surely there must be more of those green monsters, right?
And so began his first dive into a Singularity, with him navigating through the slowly expanding caverns. The further he went in, the more fluorescent blue crystals began to appear on the walls, giving the previously dark caverns a gentle blue glow, something he was extremely grateful for, since he had eyes and the Lügmen don’t.
So he could easily sneak up behind them and shank them in the back.
Over time, the entire experience turned into a power trip for the boy, taking all of his repressed feelings and shanking them deep into the backs and faces of the Lügmen.
Though they did seem to have enhanced hearing, so they’d still occasionally realize he’s creeping up on their back, but he managed to kill them first…most of the time.
Obviously, he didn’t have any prior training before this hell of an experience, so his knife swings were sloppy, and there were a lot of instances where he missed the Lügmen. His kicks were surprisingly strong however, most likely because he had a lifetime worth of running to strengthen the thing.
Then, as he stepped through a small opening at the end of the long cavern, he came out into a large expanse, an opening lit by the many sharp glowing crystals growing on the walls.
And there, at the center of the room, was a particularly large Lügmen, its size nearly twice of his.
Slowly, it turned its head to him, and the rest of its body followed, and he nearly went catatonic when he saw the tens of human heads sticking out from its belly, their faces twisted in perpetual horror and fear, their mouths slightly hung open.
Was this why there was so little information about this? Because this damned Lügmen ate all of them before they could escape?
His eyes roamed over all the faces, and his blood ran cold when he noticed one certain young girl, her eyes black and tear tracks visible on her cheeks as her mouth remained opened. He knew who that was. He’d talked to her several times, and he remembered her sudden disappearance from the school a month ago.
Everything clicked into place then.
He leapt forwards, running up to it and stabbing its leg before it could move. Its body jittered, and he quickly pulled the knife and jumped back as the monster began slamming its fists down, cracking the stone and sending clouds of dust into the air. The Lügmen then came charging out from the cloud, and he managed to twist his body away from the incoming cleaver.
But it did leave his side open to be kicked by it, and he was sent flying into the crystal-filled wall, crashing him deep into the stone and stabbing the sharp crystals into his back. His previous wound was reopened along with many new ones, and he could only cry out as he slowly extracted himself from the wall.
He freed himself, and just in time to roll to the side to avoid the Lügmen’s incoming cleaver. With a clear target, he rushed forward and drove his knife into the Lügmen’s arm, painfully twisting the sharp weapon before kicking its handle through the arm, blowing a bloody hole through it.
It jittered again, and in pain, it dropped the large cleaver. It clangs loudly, and with its enhanced hearing, the large monster flinched, giving him another opportunity to retrieve my knife and jam it into its other arm. He reared back his leg, and with as much strength as he could give, he kicked the handle upwards, sending the knife spinning upwards and severing its other arm.
He was also pretty sure he sprained his leg in the process.
He could confidently say it was worth it though. Seeing the giant Lügmen bumble around as it stared at its dysfunctional arms was oddly satisfying. It then tripped, and it flopped down onto the floor, its belly facing upwards toward the ceiling.
With a slow sigh, he picked up his knife and limped his way towards and up onto the downed Lügmen. He stepped up onto its belly, ignoring the many faces it had on it and stared into the Lügmen’s face. He could almost see its none-existent eyes twisting in fear.
Oh well.
He jammed the knife deep into its head, and with his left leg, he stomped the knife down deep into it. It squirmed one last time, its legs flailing around, before it finally died.
It’s over.
And as everything began to fade away, he smiled once again, wondering if all the people who died to this thing would be proud of him.