Byron continued to shake his head until he felt better, he sat down shortly after, not caring about the dirty water or the hard flooring.

He looked up and saw Laubres hovering over him, his eyes filled with concern.

Byron wanted to say something, he tried to curse him for not telling him about the void.

But he knew that Laubres probably didn’t mean to hurt him, he probably didn’t even know the void had such an effect on mortals.

he lived in a time when the void didn’t exist after all. Byron had a hard time imagining how such a time existed without the world knowing.

“I-… I had no idea the void would leave you in such a sorry state!” he said hurriedly, leaning in closer to inspect him.

Byron wanted to speak, but full control over his mouth hadn’t come back yet, his lips moved slightly but that was it.

No matter how hard he tried to move them, they wouldn’t budge.

Laubres continued to inspect him from all angles while asking him a host of questions.

Byron could only nod his head to answer yes and didn’t nod when it was no.

This continued for a few minutes, over this time, Byron slowly felt more control return to him.

When he smelt himself, he almost emptied his stomach again, blood and bile had covered his leather armor a disgusting smell filled the air.

He ripped it off and threw it to the ground swiftly, his pants and boots were luckier only small amounts of blood got on them.

Byron shook and cleaned off what he could, by the time he was finished, what was left had already dried up and clung to his pants stubbornly.

He still managed to get some off, but it wasn’t efficient, so he stopped and moved on to other matters that required his attention.

Byron rubbed off the blood that had acuminated on his face to the best of his ability.

some still stuck in his hair and other places he couldn’t reach properly.

Some part of him, he was thought long dead, begged him to leave the dungeon and go clean himself, then come back, but he knew that would be too much of a hassle.

The part of him that worked in what he considered the stinkiest and nastiest place in the world agreed.

he had smelled worst and had been in worse conditions than this before, this was nothing.

He chuckled to himself as he recalled how he nearly starved to death on his first day of work, just because he couldn’t stake the smell of sewers.

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He refused to work, and thus he didn’t get paid, so he couldn’t buy anything to eat.

He planned to steal from the market, but he was too weak to run.

The guards would catch him and beat him easily.

Those were truly the most unpleasant times of his life.

he had a lot to contemplate and discuss what the snake had shown him.

If it was true, then everything he knew about the world he lived in was false.

The Gods were manipulating humanity, or what was left of it to suit their needs, he didn’t even think of them as gods anymore.

they were fake, the veritable gods were long dead, and the actual humans were dead too.

He and everyone else were copies of the original.

Byron didn’t know what to think, his will to live reached rock bottom, but it didn’t break.

The actual humans were dead, the fake gods were manipulating and using the cloned humans to get stronger.

Some illogical part of Byron deep in the back of his mind refused to believe it all, but he had seen it.

he glimpsed the void, and what it did to him was not magic.

He would put an end to them, and free himself from their plans, Byron wanted to be the shepherd.

He was tired of being a sheep.

The void had twisted and temporarily rewrote reality to suit its needs so casually, as if it was a normal action, such as breathing.

His existence bent and broke apart just from a simple glimpse, no magic could do that, at least none he was aware of.

Only now did he know how ignorant he was of the world and its rulers.

Byron finally understood why mortals went mad from just a single look, the void was a place no living beings should go not even the gods themselves could survive in it for a long period.

Eventually, they would succumb to its toxic influence and either go mad or die instantly.

That was what nearly happened to him, he nearly died.

It was a place of infinite knowledge and danger, disconnected from reality, all things come from the void. It was supreme he wanted to join the void; it was so beautiful, so great-

*snap*

Byron was sent flying into a nearby wall as something unknown hit him.

“Snap out of it!” Laubres yelled, breaking Byron out of his strange trance, Byron slowly got up, and his mind felt clearer than ever.

he brushed off the moss and water that fell on him during the collision.

The void was still able to influence him somehow, even with the protection of the system, he felt the barrier that surrounded his soul thicken as it took on a more complex and intricate shape.

He felt something vanish as its morphing stopped, he couldn’t quite tell what it was, but he felt safer now.

“Thank you…” He said, voice strained and tired, only now did he realize how damaged his body truly was.

He willed some of his life force into the damaged parts to quicken the healing process.

Byron sighed in relief when he saw that he could still use the innate abilities his race had given him.

He was still a little apprehensive about using his skills.

He didn’t want it to break like the system did back when he saw the void so he held back the urge to use them.