In a place filled with darkness, I took small, trembling strides, each step harder than the last. My body was soaked in sweat, clinging to me like I'd just come out of the bath. I could feel my heart pounding against my ribs as I moved forward, on a path that seemed to lead to an endless abyss.

"Where am I?"

"What is this never-ending darkness?

A thousand questions echoed in my mind, ticking away like the steady hand of a clock.

I tried to remember, gripping my hands and even punching my head in desperation. But no matter what I did, the memories refused to come.

All I rembered was that I was standing before my personal computer when suddenly a hand plunged out of it and pulled me inside after which I found myself in this dark never ending solitude.

Anxiety clawed at my chest, and fear clenched around my heart like a vise. Nothing made sense. I didn’t even know who I was or why I was here. All I knew was this path in the darkness, stretching on forever, as if I were a hollow puppet, twisted up and left to walk in place.

I couldn’t tell how long it had been. Hours? Days? Time seemed meaningless here. But then, through the vast emptiness, I saw it.

A door.

A white door, shining with light.

My heart leapt, and I stumbled forward, hurrying my steps until I stood before it. My fingers brushed its cool surface, and, without another thought, I pushed.

"Ahhh!"

Blinding light flooded my vision, searing through the darkness. I covered my eyes, but it was too late. Memories erupted within me, filling my mind with painful intensity. My head throbbed as images and feelings poured in, a torrent that overwhelmed everything else.

......

As the world blurred further, my consciousness began to fade, consumed by the enigmatic darkness that had befallen the sunlit morning.

And then, I awoke.

I found myself in an unfamiliar place, surrounded by impenetrable darkness. No light, no sound. It was as if I had been cast adrift in a void of nothingness. Confusion and fear gripped my heart as I struggled to comprehend my circumstances.

"What is happening?" I whispered into the abyss, my voice swallowed by the void. The silence was deafening, amplifying my disorientation.

Questions raced through my mind, each one a desperate plea for answers. Was I dead? Was this some kind of twisted afterlife? The absence of any tangible sensations left me feeling disconnected from my own existence. What was this world?

I walked so far, I transited the place filled with never-ending darkness and finally reached the light to only end up like this.

What is this shit?

Is this torture?

Is this my punishment for refusing the person who wanted me to reincarnate?

AHHH!

This kind of solitude is sickening and it's killing me.

Staying in such a world with one except my own self..

Even calling it a world was maybe wrong.

I attempted to move, to break free from the oppressive emptiness, but my efforts were futile. I realized with a jolt that I no longer had a physical form. I was a mere consciousness, untethered from the vessel I once inhabited.

'Why is this happening?' As I was lost in thought, my attention was abruptly drawn to something entering my field of view, accompanied by a chorus of voices.

Yes, it was a sound…

While I examined my new existence, I discovered that despite my physical limitations, I still possessed my senses. I could see and hear the world outside, although I was unable to interact with it. It was a peculiar sensation, observing the world without the ability to influence or participate in it.

Lost in thought, I yearned for answers, for a glimpse of understanding in this bewildering existence. Time passed, and yet, I remained trapped in my ethereal prison, a mere observer of a world in which I could no longer participate.

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Even though I didn't know what this world was, I just stood there and watched until I got a clue. In the end, there was nothing I could do after all.

..........................

Days passed…

That peculiar sensation of not being able to intervene with the outside world was eating me alive.

Imagine you are a baby, just a newborn. But you have your consciousness intact. You are able to feel everything, see everything, hear everything, but you can't move your body at all.

You can't do anything since your motor reflexes have yet to develop. It was such a feeling.

And that feeling was eating me alive.

The solace, the nothingness…

But, of course, I was not just staying idle and waiting. Even though I was not able to move my body, I was able to see subtle glimpses and feel the world around me.

There was only one action that I could take in this place. Thinking and observing.

Something I always liked to do.

Be it in high school, be it in college, be it while playing the games.

The thing that I always have done.

Watching and observing. Looking for those little details.

And strangely, it made this place bearable enough. Even though I wanted to feel the world again or wanted to see the world, I still managed to keep my sanity.

However, watching and observing do have one simple result or output, others may say.

It is the information. The information that would come whenever you choose to observe.

And that information was entering my consciousness.

At first, the only thing I saw was a ceiling. But soon, that started changing as the scene started moving in front of me.

It was like I was looking at the world from the eyes of someone.

And then, I started hearing the voice of the body. It was a voice that was familiar, but I couldn't put up where I had seen it.

My memory of hearing was falling behind a little.

In any case, the voice I had been hearing was the voice of a young boy.

But something was amiss. As a person who played quite a lot of VR games or FPS games, I noticed one little thing.

And at that moment, I noticed. I was looking at the world from the eyes of someone else. Like a far screen, it played the video of the world as if I was watching a TV while floating in a bottomless abyss.

But the scene wasn't a pleasant one.The earlier days of just watching and feeling fun disappeared and soon the real thing started.

The experience of the man was gruesome and so tragic that I felt like vomiting.It was because the mother of the boy tried to kill him.

Not the real mother but a spectre hiding in the shell.Fortunately, a hunter saved the boy and then took him to orphanage where he was taught, and trained a bit under the Empire program of compulsory education of younglings to increase the chances of their awakening.

The boy who hung up on revenge did his best.

But after 10 years of age, nothing good happened rather it worsened and kept on worsening.

It was at that moment that I realized where I was, where this world was.

I was inside a game.

The game that I played day and night traversing through countless scenarios, cracking my head to clear all hidden routes despite completing it a hundred times cause each time something new popped up.

Bloodborne

And the name of the man was Lukas Star.

Difference on the play of choices, the boy was either bound to stay in shadow being an extra or become a part type villain after accepting a contract from a high level wraith.

In various routes the boy third-rate villain is just there to show off the protagonist's difference from others.

He was a simple extra who would die at the start of the storyline because he was envious of the protagonist's achievements but if by chance the route deviated, he would be hung down and disappear into the background like nobody.

Bloodborne boasted an unlimited route to the point no one had yet to reach the true ending.

The game starts with the protagonist at the academy, a place where strength is revered, and weakness is scorned. He faces the weight of his choices doubting his path but he gradually rises in strength.

Using this thirst for knowledge the extra would soon become a pawn only to be killed and discarded later.

But that's not important, rather it's my confinement.

With each passing day, I delved deeper into the art of observation. I became attuned to the subtle nuances of human behavior, the interplay of emotions, and the underlying motivations that guided actions.

Over time, the monotony of my existence grew suffocating, threatening to erode my sanity.

It was during this tumultuous period that I sensed a change. The boy's consciousness seemed to transmit to the feeling he faced.

His despair, his agony, his anger, his hatred and all those negative emotions were slowly perceived by me.In the beginning, it was just the feeling but slowly I started to perceive the pain also.

The beating and all the pain felt by Lukas was slowly transmitted to me. This made me crazy as I wasn't unable to vent my feelings while being on the receiving end.

Just what was crazy thing.

Why the fuck am I suffering with this guy?

If I was in his place, I might have fucked all those son of bitches.

The feeling of pain finally peaked as Lukas fell down from the building and before my eyes, I saw him choking and slowly stopped breathing until darkness settled in.

And then, I felt something crumbling and felt my consciousness slipping and merging into something.

Before I could guess what was happening, I opened my eyes and what greeted me was the sight of a cold drenched bloodied floor with dirt caressing my cheek.