"...I swear...I will find you…"
An echoed voice that reached no one in the pitch-black void.
That day…gave birth to a promise. The color Red tainted his vision, seeping out of the cracks of his eyes. Contorted limbs, squashed beyond recognition which resembles a child's messy color palate. His vomit stained the ground with shades..of Red.
Shadows crept up toward his disfigured self, scratching their nails back and forth on the rugged stone walls, waiting to pig out over his flesh. Despite the rabid drooling of what lurks in the darkness, for him only a single thought occupied his mind...
"-Didn't think I'd kick the bucket like this…".
***
"In the beginning, God created his greatest creation, The Human, known for the knowledge and wisdom that God taught. The pinnacle of God's wish and ideology.
But The angels were in dread, as they scurried around murmuring amongst each other. fearing that The Red Sea would taint the World again. God spoke against them, stating- "I knoweth which thee doth not"
God Proved them wrong. The humans were much more convoluted than imagined. The angels prostrated before the First Ever Human…
All..except One. One angel, however, did not prostrate…And thus God had cursed him with a promise, later banished from the Land of God…
This is the story that everyone in this accursed world knows about.
The Genesis of Humanity's downfall…But what if I were to tell you that was only the crust of the story…"
***
"I Still remember that day…at the time nobody saw it coming, that day…The world fell into shambles. To some, a fever dream but to all..it was like Hell gracing them with its presence. The screams of the living, the whispers of the Angels, the hilarity of the devils…and the cries of the dead were all ringing inside my head as if it were placed inside Big Ben which just hit noon…"
***
Recognizing an object's distinct scent without ever smelling it.
A sense of nostalgia hits when one comes across a forest in their childhood...But the catch is that They've never set foot in that forest…
That's how the boy described this place…A vast empty world that stretches out until the human eye can't discern its end. It held no life nor anything significant. Except for the floor, made out of black sand that shone like pearls. Delicate, the sand felt like stepping on glass. The crunching sound of glass rubbed against the soles of his feet.
He gazed at the boundless tranquil sky, a saturated shade of ultramarine blue.. stretching across until meeting with a shade of Crimson. He observed the place around him, gazing left and right. His nose twitched as he noticed no smell or any breeze and the tightness around his chest made him take deep inhales every minute.
In the middle of all this, a boy with black hair resembling bed hair with bangs hovered over his midnight-black eyes. His skin resembled someone who hadn't had a proper meal in weeks, the skin of his feet flaky as he rubbed his toes together. He sat alone on an aged wooden chair. In front of him stood a casket of plain design...But an odd set of colors. Black and white, split in the middle. The colors moved like water crashing against the shore, uncrossing each other like the 2 colored seas. He eyeballed it until without notice, He stretched out my hand towards the casket, so close to touching it…
"Don't Open Us"
Static. Like a CRT TV breaking out, only showing the static black and white haze with the noise heightened each second. But That voice…That voice felt so close yet coming from a place out of reach…He glanced back but the noise made his ears split…and just as he became able to take a gander…
"This is where I was-"
***
His eyes abruptly opened wide, Gasping as if he jolted up from a nightmare, his hand instinctively reached for that sky but only to be replaced by a ceiling full of dripstones. His head ran in circles with his blurry vision—however, a muffled calling in the sound of a man. The haziness cleared. A strange man hunched over the boy, Eyeballing at his movements.
A rounded face slightly towards the leaner side, long disheveled hair that reached up to his hips, and an unkept beard with gray ends.A stern look with a thinning hairline and heavy bags under his eyes. He wore some dust and grim-covered ragged clothes. seeing such a man hunching over him, petrified the boy.
He shoved back this mysterious man, desperately retreating only to notice the sharp sting, glancing at his left leg wrapped up with Blood-tainted bandages.
"...Kinda rude of you to push your savior like that." His tone sounded apathetic and his voice, coarse like sandpaper. He straightens up, turns around, and sits next to a campfire.
"Then again…that might've been a good call…"- The man said as he gazed at the fire. A brief moment passes before the silence breaks.
"Say… what's a brat like you doing out here?"
The boy scanned his surroundings. Rugged terrain with the soil somewhat wet. A ceiling full of dripstone that resembled icepicks replaced the sky. Giant stone walls and boulders—scattered across and the smell of freshly rained Earth. A sudden breeze sent shivers to the boy.
"Where…am I?.. Who are you?" The boy stared at the silhouette of this unknown man from behind, wary of his movements.
"Hmph" The man scoffs.
"This ain't a place for a flimsy brat…laying cold in the mud like some dead fish…" The man faced the boy, pointing the burnt-off tip of the stick at him.
"You talk first...brat" The man glared at the boy like a tiger eyeing its prey.
The boy scratched his head…His brows came together crunching his forehead. Reflecting upon the question. Alas, it bore no fruit. The more he pondered the more hazy his thoughts got. Noticing such awkward movements and his ineptitude to comprehend, the man sighs. He tapped the stick beside him. The boy takes notice, and he waddles, sitting beside him.
The fire flickered brightly as the boy gazed at it. The warmth of the fire reassured him, numbing the shivers. The man puts out his hand, holding a single piece of cold hard bread.
"Thanks" The boy accepted the bread while the man remained silent.
"Save your thanks for someone who deserves it," The man said in his apathetic tone.
The man's apathetic tone somewhat irked him. A puzzled look on the boy's face. Despite meeting such a mysterious person, his words remained unshaken. The boy takes a somber glance at his stale piece of bread.
"...you still patched up my leg..and gave me something to eat…" The boy faces the man's direction. The man's iris reached the corner of his eye to glance at the boy.
"You're a kind person" The corner of the boy's lips curled upwards, resulting in a big innocent grin.
The man flinched back for a split second. He hastily shoved more wood into the fire. He peeked at the boy's wounded leg, and also comically watched as the boy gave his best to chomp down on this single piece of bread as if his life depended on it.
The bread. Rock-like yet still edible, though biting it nearly made his teeth fall out. The boy kept chewing in silence until the silence broke again.
"I've treated your leg as best I could, walking should be manageable give or take…"- The fire crackled.
"I'd suggest you take it easy with that leg…but given the circumstances… we both might not survive for much longer…"
"Hm? Did ya say somethi-"
A vulgar Aura polluted the air, making it condensed. The slice of bread dropped on the ground as the boy hastily grabbed his neck and hyperventilated—the desperate act of trying to inhale and exhale with his clogged windpipes.
" What's happening?!"- Sweat dripped as his body burned up, his eyes watery as everything before him started to warp.
Thump Thump Thump!
Thunderous stomps behind them. The ground quaked violently with each stomp. The boy dug his nails into the soil in a desperate attempt to stand up. The man hastily stomps out the fire and darkness caved in. The man snatched the boy up in his arms as he bolted towards a small aperture to their left between 2 boulders. Tossing him into the aperture, The man cups his hand on the boy's mouth. He pushes his index finger against his lips.
" Quiet…" The man stared at the boy in the darkness. The boy nods in silence.
A glimmer of light emitted in the pitch-black darkness, A soft blue-tinted light, the boy's eyes darted off to this firefly-like light that danced in the dark. Alas, only a facade. A Demon. With 6 legs that crawled like a lizard, Its tail resembled that of a scorpion, leaking out that stench that polluted the air around. Its scales appeared as eyelids, darting over every direction as if to keep an eye for more prey and its jagged teeth protruded from its mouth. But teeth weren't the only thing protruding out of its mouth.
SPLAT!
A chunk of soft, moist meat drops on the floor. The boy's ear twitched. He dares took a risk and peeked from the corner of his eyes.
Horror struck. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped as he saw the monster carrying a dozen bloodied corpses of his kind. The sound of blood dripping from his mouth onto the floor rang in his ear. The Demon halts, It smells something as It flares out its nostrils, searching for something but shrugs it off. The demon continued its stroll, vanishing into the darkness as it left its horrid aura on the premises.
V drops to his knees, clutching his hands on his chest tight as he pants. The man tore off a piece of his clothing, wrapping it around a nearby stick. With the remaining alcohol, he splashes it onto the cloth-wrapped stick, lighting it on fire.
"W-What…was…T-That thing.." Cold sweat dripped down the boy's face as his hand clutched tight on his shirt, wrinkling it.
The man hastily began to pack up for departure. He shoved his belongings into his backpack near the destroyed campfire.
"H-Hey! What are you doing?" The boy asked with shaky eyes and vocals.
"The fuck does it look like? I'm getting the hell out of here" The man replied, not even facing the boy's direction.
"But where?.. Where are we??…what is this place??"- The boy grips the man's sleeve with his trembling hands. And yet, the boy kept a stern face, demanding an explanation.
The man lets out a wistful exhale. Nonchalantly smacking the boy's hand off of his sleeve, he continued his packing at a sluggish pace.
"We're in a labyrinth called Hel's Peak…This is a place where convicts are either thrown to pay for their sins or some debt…And sometimes some unlucky bunches stumble their way here only to get eaten alive…like you brat"-The man said in a frustrated tone. He finishes and picks up his backpack, taking a few steps toward the boy, and putting his hands on his shoulders.
"When everything went to shit, the gates of Hell opened, this place is one of those Hell...This place is a den for Satan and his devils and whatnot-"
Satan. The boy felt a strange pang in his heart."Satan?...why does that sound familiar?"- the boy thought. The man took his hands off of him as he lightly shook his head, regaining his composure.
"This is no place for a brat like you…How'd you even get so deep into the labyrinth in the first place?."- The man asked. The torch flickered as he kept staring into the troubled expression of the boy.
"I...I don't know… Everything's all fuzzy…Hel's peak… labyrinth…these are all new to me.."-The boy lowered his gaze.
The man scoffs." So a brat with amnesia…just great…Goodluck surviving kid...".
The man paced forward, while the boy stood up and sat beside the destroyed campfire with his arms wrapped around his knees. The man glanced back. "Tsk"- clicking his tongue, he paced back towards the boy. The man stood in front of the boy but the boy paid no heed
"...What I'm about to do is practically suicide but…"- The man thought with a frustrated expression.
"…team up with me brat."- The man puts his hand out. The boy gazed up and stared at his hand, skeptical of it.
"Why?"- said the boy.
"This place is lurking with shit…I haven't gotten a good night's sleep in a while…we'll take turns, one sleeps while the other stands guard..and if we're lucky then…we might just be able to get out of this shithole."
The boy gazed at the man's lit face, circling the brutal environment around him, he stared at his hand again for a brief moment before he grabbed the man's hand. The man pulls him up, transitioning into a firm handshake.
"I don't know if I can be useful but I'll follow you…in return, I want to know more about this place…"
The man smirked. He turns around, taking a few steps before looking back at the boy's direction.
"We have a deal then brat"-He said with his scratchy voice. And with that, they headed deeper into the labyrinth.
***
A few hours passed, and no changes to the surrounding scenery. The inevident passage of time left no clues as to whether it was day or night. As their feet started to feel sore and their posture worsened from carrying a backpack, they decided to take a break.
The man searched around, finding a pocket in the stone walls. The small entrance allowed protection from anything lurking in the shadows and with just enough ventilation to start a fire inside the pocket. The man drops off his backpack, planting the torch in his hand on the ground.
The man rustles through his backpack for wood and flint. The boy sat, wrapping his arms around his knees. The man glances in his direction, noticing the boy stretched out his toes. The man wanted to speak out but kept quiet instead. Fire ignites, separating the warm pocket from the cold darkness. They both sat across each other with the firepit between them.
The man glances over, only to see a flat expression on the boy's face. Devoid of life. The man averts his eyes before getting irked, he glances again.
"Hey, brat!... You got a name?"- The man asked, taking note of the boy's flat expression upon hearing his question.
"Name?... What is a name?"-The boy stared at the man with lifeless eyes. Not even a speck of glimmer showed.
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
"What do I call you… that's what I'm asking."-The man's eyes narrowed as he asked in an apathetic tone.
"...Ver..Va..i...Don't remember…but I think it starts with a Va or vei?…"- The boy again gazed back at the fire, carefully staring at its crimson core with the wood crackling as the color changed.
"Besides..what's the point of this...name thingy"-The boy questioned with an apathetic tone, irking the man.
"..Listen brat...Names are special…having a name means your existence has meaning behind it…It's one of the most important things for a man…learn to live..with the name you were given or you'll lose yourself"
The boy slowly tilts his head, gazing at the man's face with widened eyes. The man glanced at the boy, the corner of his lip rose slightly, turning into a smirk. The fire crackles, Adding more wood to the pit.
"Since you don't remember your name…V..that's your name from now on..got that?" The man stirred the wood in the fire with a stick. The fire's embers rose up and then soon dissipated.
"You're terrible at naming huh" V chuckled.
"Oh shut it brat, It's still better than nothing" The man's cheeks puffed out of embarrassment, crossing his arms. seeing V chuckle, that irked face soon turned into a gentle smile.
"Thanks for the name…" V stares at the fire again, not taking in the details this time, for some reason he couldn't wipe that grin off of his face. Shortly after V poses a question.
"Ah- What about you?" V glanced at the man, slightly tilting his head to the right.
"What?" The man replied, nonchalantly adding more wood to the fire.
"Your name…what's your name?" V asked with sparkles in his eyes, enthusiastically waiting to hear his name for the first time. The man, perplexed on how to answer his question. He gazed into the fire as if wanting to be lost in thought yet unable to. Finally, he spoke out.
"Cozbi…" The corners of his mouth peeked upwards yet his eyes remained stony. He brings out a pot from his backpack, hangs it on top of the fire, and pours some water into the pot. V stared intently, wondering what the water was for. The water boiled with various types of herbs and whatnot infused.
A warm drink poured into hand-made unvarnished wooden cups with rough edges. Cozbi hands out a cup to V.
"Well then…to your new name-" The man holds out the cup in front, V stumbles initially when holding the cup before bringing it closer to Cozbi's cup.
"And to our survival" Their cups pang as they hit together. Cozbi takes the first sip, V following along. But V flinches upon sipping his cup,
" Bitter" V said while sticking out his tongue.
***
Hours turn into days, days turn into weeks, and weeks soon into a month. Both coordinated on hunting food but the scarcity of food made it problematic resulting in starvation. Also searching for burnable scraps, and taking shelter in crevices and pockets to hide from monsters lurking inside the labyrinth.
Taking turns sleeping and keeping watch. This became their norm. The deeper they went in the less leeway they got. Countless sleepless nights, Just to keep moving forward and deeper…
The environment of the labyrinth drastically changed at this point, proof of reaching the depths of this colossal labyrinth. Rocky floors in the shade of red instead of sopping soil. Instead of the cold atmosphere, the temperature rose with dense yet breathable air. They reached a giant boulder, about the height of 10 elephants stacked on top of each other.
"We'll set camp here. V, start the fire while I unload" The man drops his backpack near the boulder, putting his arms up for a stretch.
"Alright," said V, searching for burnable scraps. A fire ignited in a span of a few minutes. They both sat around the campfire. Cozbi put more scraps into the pit, He glanced over to V, squirming and looking back and forth. Cozbi's eyebrow rose.
"You ok?" Cozbi said while stirring the pile.
"The hard floor makes my butt ach…" V said while jittering around trying to get comfortable.
"Well it's better than the mud…get the mat from the backpack... Even last night, you slipped and fell into that mud-sludge hahaha!"- Cozbi cackled as he repeatedly hit his knee with his hand.
"WHA- IT WAS DARK WHAT ELSE YOU'D EXPECT?!"- V's face burned red, stumbling over his words and steps. Cozbi's profuse laughter simmers down.
" I'll keep watch tonight," Cozbi said.
V yawns, nodding to Cozbi's suggestion that he stand up and reach for the backpack. He pulls out a floor mat that can accommodate one person. V spreads the mat near the fire while being somewhat close to Cozbi.
"I'll wake you up in a bit…Try to fall asleep as fast as possible" Cozbi said, adding more wood to the pile.
"Sure…G'night Cozbi.." V faces away from the fire. Cozbi glanced in V's direction with his baggy eyes. Wondering..he glared back at the fire.
"G'night..V," he said in a somber tone.
…A few hours flew by…or did it? The assurance of time is nonexistent when you're trapped in darkness with nothing but a small fire acting as your shield…Nothing changed. V slept in silence like a deceased person…As for Cozbi, he struggled to keep his eyes ajar. As if his eyelids carried a ton of weight. The sight of the fire fading under the influence of those heavy bags under his eyes.
"How long has passed?..." Cozbi thought. For a brief moment, he closed his eyes, letting the light of the fire fade out. The next second he tried his best to carry the weight in his eyes..The Abyss stared back.
***
"...Cold.." V pondered in a state devoid of form.
" Was this a dream? A dream…where leaving would inevitably be the end?.."
V's eyelids slightly twitch, opening his eyes at a snail's pace. He sat up on the mat, stretching his arms upwards as he yawned.
"Cozbi…I'll keep watch now-" V rubbed his eye as he turned to face the fire. His eyes widen with dread. Creeping from the darkness, A monster with the body of a skinwalker but the size of a large truck. Its body resembled that of a human's burnt skin. Contorted yet able to move. An artificial faceplate attached to its head. 6 eyes, a frown yet a big smile across ear to ear…A painful screeching noise came from repeatedly scratching its nails back and forth on the hard stone floor. The piercing sound of nails chipping off sent down shivers…and something like that..its face…inches away from Cozbi's face.
Glaring…at what?...Cozbi's soul?..no, something else. The aura around them changed. The monster lets out a deafening screech, making the air tremble. Its head violently jittering back and forth. Blood seeps out of Cozbi's eyes, ears, and nostrils.
"WHAT DO I DO WHAT DO I DO WHAT DO I DO?? AT THIS RATE COZBI'S GOING TO" V tremors—impossible to take a step. But enough is enough..V gritted his teeth, curling his fingers inwards.
"...Move…move…MOVE DAMMIT" He takes the first step, Kicking off the dust around his feet. A step turns into 2 and steps turn into a forward dash.
"DUCK!" V shouted. Cozbi snaps back, hastily covers his ears, and ducked. The monster flinches. The faceplate of the monster shatters from the impact of V's flying kick.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
The monster disappeared into the darkness. Cozbi coughs a ton of blood onto the floor, desperately covering his mouth to stop the blood from vomiting out. V jolts towards Cozbi, Putting Cozbi's hand on his shoulder.
"Q-quick…grab our stuff…we're on the run from now on," Cozbi said.
V nods with a stern expression. Letting Cozbi lean against the wall, V starts hastily packing for departure.
Cozbi gazes at the blood on his hand, his breath heavier by the minute.
"Fuck fuck fuck!!… Blood will attract more monsters…we gotta move as soon as possible"-Cozbi groaned.
V equipped the backpack. He took Cozbi's arm over his shoulder and hobbled deeper into the labyrinth. But the noise of nails chipping…remained.
Time passed..the walls got narrower and the ceiling started to decline. The bleeding stopped but they still hobbled in their weakened state.
"What the fuck was that…" V asked Cozbi as he noticed his fingers still shivering.
"Remnant…It's a demon…They have a special type of body and are blind against the light but can move well in the dark...They scratch surfaces to figure out if any prey is nearby…But I don't understand…" Cozbi frowns as he grits his teeth. Bashing hit hand against a nearby wall.
"Why is something like that here…sure we're on the deep end but they shouldn't be here at this level…". The loud echo of screechs…followed by sounds of scratching…
They hastily progressed, upping the pace..and the sound of scratching multiplied.
They came to an abrupt stop, facing a giant stone wall. Cozbi hesitantly looks around for any cracks, pockets, or any kind of path. But there were none.
Dread. Cozbi's face turns pale as he falls to his knees. His head lowered as his eyes or lips quivered. violently grabbed his hair and plucked out a few strands as he screamed, Stupefied about what to do in this inescapable situation.
"A dead end..Is this how I'm going to die?".
V steps up to the wall, desperately searching for anything helpful. V glances back to the fallen Cozbi for a brief moment. From the pitch-black darkness behind him, A soft glow like a firefly emanates from behind. It was quiet..too quiet. All hope is lost as a maw with thousands upon thousands of ragged teeth emerges from the darkness, ready to devour its prey. His upper half gets covered in a soft shadow as the mouth nearly closes on him.
"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HIM!" A swift right kick—directed at the darkness behind Cozbi. The kick landed on the right side of the monster's jaw, breaking it off clean. The monster got blown away, clashing with the wall, demolishing it into rubble, and dust flowing into the air. Cozbi gazed at V with widened eyes, shocked to see such a feat.
"V..were you this…" Cozbi said, a bit stunned.
"We don't have much time. We gotta move before that thing wakes up again" V said in distress. V glances back at the wall only to see the dead end opened up. He gulps as a drop of sweat falls down his chin. He scampers towards Cozbi, lending a shoulder as they progress on.
They were on the run. From behind, a gust of wind carried a deafening roar. But that didn't stop them.
At this point, the labyrinth felt eerie. They've been on the run but the environment gave them a sense of Deja vu. Soon they encountered that same wall.
"Shit!... Now what.." V searched around but found nothing. He glanced back to see the wall no longer there, leading that same straight path. V, Stunned knew Something felt off..But what?
This repeated multiple times. The ground started to rumble a clear sign of the monster's proximity.
"WHAT IS GOING ON??!" V shouted as he gnashed his teeth. Cozbi lets out an empty chuckle.
"It's a loop…a never-ending loop of getting lost and wandering around…the moment you think you've found the light, it snatches it away..this is the dead end of the labyrinth V…haha-" Cozbi grabs onto V's clothes, staring at him with widened, tearful eyes.
Hic..Hic..
"This is the End V…The end…" Cozbi silently sobs, leaving a bizarre haziness in V's heart. He felt like the most pathetic person for being able to be there for his friend. The image of his friend crying in front of him, this helplessness…V frowns, slamming his hands on Cozbi's shoulders.
"Hey hey hey! Look at me…I promise you…we'll get out..we'll survive!" V stared at Cozbi's eyes. One's filled with steadiness and one's nothing but a void…
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
"Footsteps?...No.." V thought.
They both turn their heads toward the darkness. The firefly emerges again but this time in a provoked state. Thump Thump, the ground rumbles. Pebbles jerk around at their feet with each passing second. The monster bursts through the nearby wall and heads straight towards them. V grits his teeth in hysteria, shoving Cozbi to the right.
"RUN!" V shouted.
Cozbi hits the floor. He recoils back. Time slows down to a snail's pace, as he sees the monster rams right into V. The wall behind him shatters into a million pieces with the wind powerful enough to send all the rubble flying across. One of those stones flew towards Cozbi, scaring his left cheek. The monster shows no signs of stopping its rampage. It lets out a shriek as blood starts pouring from one of its eyes. The monster jerks back and forth, Chaotically ramming against the surrounding walls before blindly retreating into the darkness.
Cozbi dashes towards the broken wall, He hesitates but moves past it. A new path opened. For a moment Cozbi's face glowed out of relief but soon enough his face turned upside down.
"Heh..eh..I-..I told ya..we'd make it.." A faint voice coming from his left. Cozbi hesitantly looks to his left, his eyes widen as a sense of dread washes over him.
"V..you..your legs.." Cozbi covers his mouth with his hands, desperately barricading his lips but no use. Various liquids poured out his mouth from seeing such a horrid sight.
Leaning against the smashed wall, The color Red blocked the vision in his right eye. His nostrils, flooded by blood forced him to breathe out of his mouth but that too was impossible. His legs looked as if they'd been put through a hydraulic press.
The thumping grew with distant roars. Cozbi scans around, picking up V as he gasps out of breath. They ran. Leaving everything behind, into this new path. The walls narrowed soon enough, the walls and the ceiling narrowed so much that it touched them, leaving barely any space for the both of them.
But in the end, They popped out of the hole, gasping for air. Cozbi props up V beside the wall, He gazes in front to see a cliff. Cozbi advanced prudently towards the end of the cliff, staring down. Darkness…along with the darkness came the shrieks that these demons devoured. The anguish of lost souls.
Cozbi took a big gulp as he tiptoed. His feet wobbled as a rock fell and vanished into the abyss below.
The rumbling returned, Suddenly bursting through the wall beside V, that monster returned for its revenge, noticing Cozbi with its remaining eye, dashed towards him. Pinning him with its claws. He choked from the weight of the monster's attack. His vision starts to fade as he suffocates. V's eye twitches as he watches from afar, gritting his teeth.
V shrugged over, digging his fingers into the wall, cracks forming around his fingers as he steadily climbed up, His nails bled as they got chipped off. But despite the excruciating pain, he gritted his teeth harder as blood seeped out of his lips as well. The monster bends its neck down. It Viciously glared down at Cozbi as its drool fell on his face. It lets out a disorienting screech for the final time. Blood poured out of Cozbi's eyes, This is it…this time there was no way for him to escape…
WHOOSHH…BAM!
"OOF- TIME FOR A REMATCH YOU SHITTY MOTHERFUCKER!"
V crashes down on top of the monster. He bites down hard on the monster's skin as the monster jerks back and forth like a wild bull. V gauges out another of its eyes, grabbing and tearing apart everything he touched. The monster shrieks in pain, ramming itself against the wall.
"DIE…I SAID DIE!"
V delivered the final blow, shoving his hands through its eyes and completely tearing off the monster's frontal lobe. The monster shrieks for the last time before unexpectedly jumping off the cliff. Time slows down for a bit as V looks around, trying to figure out what to do.
"Fuck fuck fuck!.." V thought to himself as he stared down the abyss.
"V! OVER HERE! YOUR HAND!" Cozbi shouts, putting out his hand.
Noticing, V used the remaining of his strength to propel himself toward Cozbi. And just barely...Cozbi got ahold of V hand. Cozbi struggled to pull him up as V dangled.
A big bang rang throughout. A giant gate, a strong breeze entered as the doors opened wide, emitting a strong glow of gold. Cozbi knew what the gate meant as he gazed to his right. The gate showed salvation..the gate showed the outside world...His eyes widened in shock and relief…A tear shed at the thought that his long-term suffering, finally came to an end…Only his suffering.
V could feel his strength leaving his body, barely holding onto Cozbi's hand, V glanced down. He gazed at his legs with empty eyes, he wondered if his legs could be fixed or not. His eyebrow rose as he pondered what took Coxbi so long. The silence between them felt… nerve-racking.
"Hey bud, could ya lift me alread-" Suddenly, time progressed at a snail's pace—no, much slower than that, maybe to burn the image into V's mind of what happened in the next few moments. As Cozbi lets go of his hand. Falling, the face of his friend staring down at him with frigid eyes. V descended the abyss, leaving a painful chilling sensation in his spine as if a sword thrust into his spine.
The face of his only friend whom he'd share many moments with…pulled the trigger to his demise without a hint of remorse. At this moment, V could only stare at the face…of a liar.'
***
SPLAT!
V's only good eye twitches open. The sound of water droplets hitting the hard floor echoes in the darkness. Too dark to see and too painful to feel the texture around him.
"I.. must've passed out huh"- V thought to himself as his almost corpse of a body lay flat on the cold floor of the abyss. He dug his declawed finger into the dirt, waving around his only functioning hand. He grovels on the floor like a worm..blindly searching for a wall to prop himself up, finally touching something that resembled a wall, Propping himself up quite easily, only due to the fact down below his torso, his hips had nearly severed off halfway, leaving only the contorted flesh dangling on his body. The agonizing pain…The heavy panting..the coarseness in his voice..despite all of this, he only thought of one thing…
"Why?" V questioned himself…countless times, yet no answer.
No one answered his question. Not even a complex question like how or where he came from nothing mattered. He just wanted to know "why"...
Static-noise, Like the broken CRT TV, the noise intensified with each passing second, as the broken CRT TV displayed an outburst of text, all labeled as "WHY?".
He asked himself countless times as he bled and blood attracted the unwanted. The sounds of nails chipping off and scratching the walls started again. Yet V felt nothing of it,
the sounds of the nails chipping off were nothing compared to this ear-wrenching static noise.
From the darkness, Their faces arise…Hundreds of them. Those damn skinwalkers… monsters..with that same vile face...
"I swear…I'll find you…" V put out his hand, curling his bloody fingers inwards, clenching into a fist.
"I..Despise this…I refuse this…" V thought as he gnashed his teeth. Determined to survive even in a situation like this…
"I'LL BE THE ONE TO DECIDE MY FATE…NOT YOU OR ANYONE ELSE!" V shouted, declaring his resolve. The monsters all bolt towards him, V attempts to recoil his only usable hand, curling his finger into a fist as he shouts.
***
"PFFT- HAHAHA!! GET A LOAD OF THIS SHIT!" A hysterical laugh echoed in the darkness.
V flinched back, his eye jitters around in the dark. Suddenly the darkness wavered, making everything more visible to his eye, But he wondered why.
Did his eye get customed to the dark or did something consume the dark?
Step Step Step…
"The poor soul…It would seem that the pain has gone to his head, don't you think so Vergo?" Another voice slightly chuckled.
"Huh? Who the fuck cares about that!" Vergo scoffs.
The darkness dissipated and out came 2 figures. Both wearing suits of opposite colors. One Black and one White.
The black one had long gray hair with bangs that covered his forehead. With fair skin, He wore a sleek black coat on top of his black shirt with a wine-colored tie. Inside his coat, various shades of red took on the form of spider lilies. And black gloves covered his hands.
The white one's black hair reached his shoulders with his forehead exposed. His skin resembled that of a ghost. He wore a sleek white coat on top of his white shirt with a vest just like his counterpart. Inside his coat, the embroidery of tulips in the shade of Aquamarine blue.
Both stood in front of V's broken gaze. Vergo steps forward, hunching down, his gaze inches away from V's bloodied face. A wicket grin forms as the ends of his lips reach ear to ear.
"You'll decide your fate? PFFT that's the corniest shit I've heard in years hahaha…tell me…how can you change your fate when you're already dead?"
Cold sweat drips down V's cheek. "Dead?..Am I really..dead?". V's eyes trembled as they widened greatly. He lowered his head, facing the ground, not even daring to look up at Vergo's eyes. He glances around, noticing all the remnants had stopped moving. No, it wasn't just the remnants..the sound of water droplets disappeared as well. Everything ceased at its tracks. The stiffness, the blood clot, and the pain ceased to take a toll on his body.
V lifted his head to Vergo, his eyes, stern yet refusing to shake. His body, cold as it wavered.
"W-who..are you…What do you mean I'm already dead?" V asked, swallowing an empty gulp.
"Hm? Did that not go through that dumb skull of yours?... You're a dead brat" Vergo offered a bemused smile, trying his best to swallow his laughter.
Cold sweat drips down from cheek to his chin, finally hitting the floor. The static noise intensified, aching his brain nonstop as it heightened his senses. Fingertips went numb.
"W-..What is this..whats this disgusting feeling… I… want… to-"
He placed his fingers on his face, digging his chipped nails into his face as he clenched his teeth.
"I… DESPISE THIS-"
V kept staring before finally making an alert gaze towards them, his eyes shaken yet something held on.
"I… won't die… not until somebody answers my questions…" V's eyes—trembling and yet never averting his gaze, his widened eyes only grew darker and darker.
"Good…those're the eyes I wanna take…" Vergo's smile widens, taking deep breaths, savoring this moment. He backs up a bit, unable to wipe that grin off of his face as if a rich kid found yet another toy to break.
" You're up Karma" V glared at Karma from the corner of his eyes to his left. Karma steps forward,
"Why not form a contract with us Mr.V"-Karma offers him a gentle smile yet his eyes remain dead. Only his lips curled into a smile.
V leans back, resting his body against the wall, his breath, shaky.
"Contract?...what sort of contract is it?" V asked as his body perked up from the sudden suggestion. Lowering his brow.
"It's pretty simple, Get us the things we want and in return, we'll grant any 1 wish…" Karma closed in, The darkness covered his eyes, hiding nothing but that empty smile.
"...Any 1 desire..simple isn't it?" Vergo proclaimed.
"Even if the conditions sound simple it surely will not be forgiving" Karma slightly tilted his head to the side, not breaking that smile.
Silence falls for a brief moment. V chuckles with a pained stare.
"H-ha..ha..why choose me in the first place…I know nothing about this place or what's going on in general" V glanced around, the monsters, still frozen in time.
"Making a contract with someone as useless as me makes no sense…making my wishes come true…sorry to tell you this but I have no desires…" V's eye narrowed, as his chin trembled.
Silence falls for a moment, Not until Vergo abruptly breaks it.
"Hmm..And yet it doesn't seem like that"
V flinches. He slowly gazed in front of Vergo's direction with squished eyebrows.
"...What?"
Karma tilts his head back slightly, glaring at Vergo with the corner of his eye. Vergo steps forward while Karma keeps eyes on his movements like a hawk.
Vergo squats down halfway, abruptly grabbing V's hair, and pulling him closer until their faces are inches apart. Vergo glared at V. No He glared directly at his unguarded soul with his crimson eyes that glowed in the dark.
"Such pitiful souls, believe me when I say seeing you guys suffer makes me
Belly laugh…but I gotta say..at this point, IT'S EXTREMELY BORING" Vergo's silhouette resembled scratched lines in a drawing. The static noise kept rising.
"Listen brat, if you don't know what your desire is, then how about you seek revenge on that guy that left you to rot in a shithole like this?" Vergo shoves V's hair back, his eyebrows curl upwards with a smirk.
" Or how about giving up your life for our entertainment HAHAHAHA!" Vergo chuckles before hysterically laughing.
V's face, cold like an antarctic yet his eyes told a different story. His body quivered, a raging heat, he felt as if his skin burned right off. Grinding his teeth until they cracked.
Karma watches from behind while Vergo glares down at this mess of a corpse. V slowly gazed up. With the dark circles around his one good eye, devoid of any emotions, or empathy, Vergo..won.
"...What do you want…" V asked, not even a slither of resistance in his voice.
"Now that's the spirit jackass." Vergo displays a wicket grin as his dark red eyes glow amidst the shadows.
"You're as crude as anyone can get… Vergo." Karma finally came forth—standing next to Vergo as his dark blue eyes also glowed amidst the shadows.
They both stared down at V, one's eyes, thirsting for enjoyment and another's, apathetic dead eyes.
"Since from the dawn of creation and in the time of God's existence, You people of land worshiped so many phonies, But now it doesn't matter anymore. To you mortal we ask of this-"-Their voices synchronize.
"WE ASK YOU TO GIVE THE VERY DAWN OF CREATION BY GOD'S HAND
THE BOOK OF BEGINNINGS
AND-
THE BOOK OF END."
V's eyelid widens. A surge of pain hits him like a truck. He screams as his body starts to morph. His limbs started to twist themselves into their original form. The lost blood seeps into his muscles, repairing his blood veins. The broken bones in his spine, legs, and more snapped back to their original place. His broken eye, starting from the rebuild of the iris to its optic nerve reconnecting to the brain before finally placing itself in its eye socket. Every single one of his nerves screams as it restores itself. His lower half, joints, skeletal structure, nerves, tissues, blood, and skin, restored themselves.. even if it meant feeling the pain of being ripped and put back together.
Karma watches as V's body jerks back and forth, screaming from the top of his lungs, not showing a shred of empathy. He turns his back and strolls off. Vergo also turns but stops midway,
"Oh… and here's a Gift kid… use it wisely now… hahaha…" Vergo laughs in a low pitch as he vanishes into the darkness.
Soon the screams dissipated, The sound of water droplets and scratches returned.
V stood up, hunched behind his back, gazing at the dark ceiling. His spine cracked as he straightened his back, now hunching forward with his head down and his arms dangling side to side.
Thumping Thumping.
The remnants, now full on sprinting towards V as they let out their horrendous screeches.
"Ha… Ha… HAHA…How strange… I can hear all of them..all the people that died here… their screams… I guess… this means…" V mumbled to himself as the thumping grew intense, but abruptly coming to a stop. V limply turns back to see a remnant's face merely a few inches away from his. That same grin on its faceplate. The monster tried to make the first move but V instantly gripped its faceplate tight.
"I can decide my fate myself…"
Something changed. His eyes violently shake as he grins violently. His wicked smile matched that of scratched-up lines. He slowly exhales.
"AVARICE-"
The faceplate of the monster started to dissolve in a shade of black quickly catching on fire but that was just an ignition. The skin on V's palm caved in and in an instant, Thousands upon thousands of mouths with ragged teeth—engulfed in a black flame that moved like fluids, much more dense and famished. They burst through his palms, biting down, tearing apart, and consuming everything in sight as if a hungry beggar were allowed to taste the luxury of eating a meal. It overflew.
The mouths shoot for the ceiling as they find nothing more to consume, going past the cliff, hitting the ceiling it chomped non-stop. Consuming everything on touch, in few minutes. A giant crater formed. As the mouths dissipated, V stood still as his hair covered his eyes. The soft, warm glow of the sun showered on him.
V slowly gazed up.
"..so..that's the sky."
Where V stood, he saw the pure blue sky..almost resembling that same sky from his dream…
" it… pretty..."
V survived…for now…
This is only just the beginning, As the story unfolds, soon enough it'll start to cannibalize itself. The whole world—shaken to its core from this day forth.
As the sky opened for the first time, the requiem of the lost souls in this wretched abandoned world…Hit their first note…