Once again, I was making my way down the dark path towards the next ruin. This time, like all the other times before it, I felt more empty and worthless than ever before.

Even with all the resting I had done, I didn't feel like any of me energy had been replenished. This was becoming a sick routine. I was constantly going in and out of ruins facing all kinds of challenges, but even though I succeeded and survived, I didn't feel relieved because I knew what followed was another challenge.

It was hard to imagine an end to it all. I was starting to simply go towards the next challenge mindlessly like a zombie.

As I walked, the brightness of my surroundings changed drastically. I raised my head and noticed that the dark tunnel had morphed into a mossy, gray, stone passageway.

I looked backwards to find that there was a wall there. After realizing that I only had one way to go, I began walking forwards once again.

In a few minutes I saw something up ahead, and after walking some more, I was at a point where the passageway branched into three different passages. One in the middle, one on the left, and one on the right.

'Is it a maze?' I thought, and went to check all the passages, but contrary to my suspicion, all three ways went straight ahead.

'Am I supposed to just pick one?'

I was at a complete loss in the face of such a choice. There were no clues or really anything I could use to gain insight into the puzzle. After some pondering, I figured it was no use just standing there and chose to go down the passageway on the left.

I had no idea if I was making the right choice, but I had to choose one, and none of them were safe. This was how life choices were always made. Under stress and with no guarantee that you were going down the right path.

***

"I'm glad to welcome you to our academy, Akir. I hope you will do well," said the headmaster with a smile as he handed me some papers.

"Thank you," I responded with a nod and walked out.

I made my way to my new apartment, and after I arrived, I put some sheets on my bed and sat down on it while I rubbed my eyes and forehead.

I had thought about lots of things that I could do. Like starting a business online or making money in some other anonymous way, but I came to the conclusion that spending the rest of my childhood in school would be the safest option, which brought me to this place.

Here I could acquire some skills, spend some time like a normal human, and maybe even find something that made me happy.

***

I looked backwards, but there was nothing there for miles. I had tried breaking the wall, but I couldn't damage it, so there really were no tricks I could try. Walking until I found something was all I could do.

'Maybe I should turn back,' I thought, doubting I had taken the right path after all.

'No, I can't turn back. I've been walking for hours already. If the end is just as far on the other paths, I can't afford to waste time and stamina. The different paths are just for mind games. They're all the same. Relax and keep moving,' I talked myself some sense and took my own advice.

However, it didn't take long until I was once again in doubt. This time, I had to take a longer break to sort out my thoughts.

I sat down with my back against the wall and rubbed my eyes and forehead which were sweating, even thought walking for a few hours shouldn't have made me sweat.

'Should I start jogging?'

'No, if the path is extremely long, it's best to walk. This ruin most likely aims to drain me and make me die from thirst, so jogging could easily lead to me dying quicker.'

***

It had been a few weeks since I was accepted into the academy, and I was already starting to feel something I had never felt before. Before I hadn't had a choice, but to follow my usual routine, but now that I had more freedom, I was starting to feel I needed more and more of that freedom. My current freedom wasn't enough. I needed all the freedom in the world to enjoy my life fully. Now that I had one foot out of my misery, it made me more miserable than ever.

I looked around the shopping district, where all kinds of people were having fun, in the hopes of finding something interesting. I had some free time, and I had nothing better to do than to wander around.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

I then discovered something called an arcade, and looked inside. It was a fairly large place full of weird machines that made all sorts of noises and projected a myriad of colors all around.

I walked in since the place seemed lively and walked up to one machine. It was some kind of game where you collect dots that attach to the piece you're moving and form a snake-like thing that you move and collect new dots to attach to the snake.

Tried starting the game, but nothing happened. I tried slapping the machine lightly, and then wondered if it was broken.

That was when I heard a boy's voice coming over my shoulder, "You need to insert a coin in it."

"Ah, of course," I said and started walking out, since I had no coins on me.

"I can give you one, if you don't have any," the boy said before I left.

I turned around and looked at the innocent boy who was a couple of years younger than me, "Thanks."

I took the coin he handed me and inserted it into the machine and began playing.

***

It had probably been a day since I started walking down the passageway. My legs were weak, and my hunger was continuously bothering me more and more. My mind was wandering into the past as I glanced around the boring passageway.

I didn't know if I had gone the wrong way and tried to avoid thinking about it since it was too late to switch now.

I hadn't slept, but I got some rest from closing my eyes once in a while because my vision got blurry at times and started to sting. I had trouble breathing through my nose, so I kept my mouth open as I walked, and sometimes I drooled a bit.

When I felt bored, I tried imagining walking somewhere beautiful, but occasional stumbles always brought me back to reality, after which I contained my fury with a deep sigh.

***

"Wow, you like... obliterated the record. You got that game at home or something?" the boy who had been watching me play asked, awed by my performance.

"Yeah," I lied, and then left the arcade more bored than when I came.

"See you around," the boy's words reached my ears as I left, but I didn't bother to say anything back.

I then looked around some more, and found a movie theater, that was full of people since it was a Friday night. I inspected the prices, and even though I found them ridiculous, I decided to buy a ticket to the next movie that was coming up.

I went and sat down in the theater, that was mostly empty. Soon, however, people started flooding in. Once the movie was starting, almost all the spots in the theater were taken, the ones next to me were empty though.

I hadn't done anything to keep anyone from sitting next to me, and I was in the middle, where I assumed most people would want to sit.

The movie started off with loud action scenes and continued similarly. There were barely any scenes of people talking, and the story was too boring and confusing for me to keep up with.

After half an hour, I called it quits and stood up. I then walked past the people on my left, of which most were couples focusing more on each other than the explosions happening in the movie. Once I made it out of the theater I kept wandering with no intention to ever go see a movie again.

***

My legs were numb, and my shoulder were slumped, but I kept moving forward. That was until my eyes closed involuntarily, and I tripped over my own feet.

This time, however, I didn't have enough energy to stand up, and instead crawled to the side and sat with my back against the wall and my arms limp on my sides.

"Aahhh, haaah," I breathed heavily, even though my condition was stable. "Ahhh. Aaaahhh!" the heavy breathing turned into frantic screaming as I disheveled my hair.

Once the creaming stopped, I pressed my hand against my eyes, "It's the wrong way. I went the wrong way. I can't make it back. I'll starve. Just like I saw it in the vision," I muttered while I pressed my head against the wall.

I then hit my head on the wall a few times, each time a little harder than the last, but I didn't feel a thing.