Darkness swallowed us the moment we stepped inside the cave the cave was silent except for the faint resonates of our footsteps. The air was cool, almost unnaturally so, and the deeper we went, the heavier it seemed to press against us.
Jaipa hovered beside me, his wings barely making a sound. "Sooo… how much longer until we get to the part where we regret this?"
I didn't respond to his question
We walked for what felt like hours. At some point, I even considered turning back. But just as the thought crossed my mind
A sudden lighted area came to our vision
It was faint at first, barely a flicker in the distance. But as we continued forward after chasing the light for another hour it grew, expanding until it consumed the darkness entirely And suddenly, the cave was gone.
We weren't underground anymore.
We were somewhere else.
Jaipa's wings fluttered as he turned in circles, looking around. "Okay. What… the hell IS THIS ?"
It was a vast, endless sky, stretching in all directions. But instead of clouds or land, giant pages floated like winding paths, twisting and overlapping as they formed bridges, staircases, and platforms in the open air. Each page was covered in strange, ancient text, moving and shifting like it was alive. Some of them had pictures scenes of battles, landscapes, and creatures I didn't recognize.
Jaipa landed on one of the floating pages and stomped on it. "Huh it feels Solid." He peered at the words, then immediately recoiled. "Oh. Oh no. Nope."
I raised an eyebrow. "What?"
He pointed at the text, his expression grew darker. "Read that"
I don't know how to read that I said flatly and jaipa shiged
I stepped closer. He said The first page we had landed on wasn't random. It was a table of contents
Path of Blood , and beside that their was the same mark of my chin
-History of the Demon
-Leaves of Blood
-Night of Darkness
-Corpses of Kindness
-Eye of the Demon
-Broken Blade of Blood
-History of the Fallen World
Then i glanced at Jaipa
Jaipa shook his head. "Yeah, see? Creepy. All of it. Every single word." He threw his hands up. "This is exactly the kind of place where people DIE in horror stories."
I looked back at the pages. "It's a book."
Jaipa scoffed. "It's must be a cursed book."
Ignoring him i took a step forward
Jaipa flinched. "Rudra"
The moment my foot landed on the page's, something changed a red glow glowed beneath the pages.
And a thick, viscous liquid red as blood seeped up from beneath, rising too fast. It devoured the page under our feet, spreading outward in tendrils, crawling up our legs.
Jaipa yelled something, but before I could react
Everything shifted.
The weightless sky was gone. The floating pages vanished. The red liquid swallowed our vision
And then…
We were standing in the middle of a street.
Jaipa and I stood frozen in the middle of the street the air was warm, filled with the scent of food and the distant sound of laughter. People actual humans moved around us, chatting, shopping, and going about their lives as if nothing was wrong.
But everything was wrong
Jaipa stiffened beside me, his four eyes darting around. "Uh, Rudra?"
I didn't respond, My mind was still trying to process what I was seeing.
There were no humans in this world.
They shouldn't exist and yet… here they were.
A woman in a bright yellow dress walked past us, carrying a basket of fruit. A group of children ran through the street, laughing as they played. An old man sat on a wooden bench, whittling a piece of wood into the shape of a bird
It was peaceful, Warm ,Happy,
" but why the hell all of this people's look red "
I was not talking about there skin colour and other obvious stuffs , i was talking about everything, in hear was coloured in red Like this world was painted in red colour then i looked at jaipa, he appeared normal to me
Jaipa leaned in closer. "I don't like this."
I agreed
As i turned to look around then I saw it
The text in the sky was written with black ink burning above us it seemed like it was written by a large brush on sky
"Fill the well with red lequid"
That's all it was written , Those creepy words were hanging in the sky above us
I exhaled slowly. "Do you see it?"
Jaipa nodded. "Oh yeah. It's hard to miss."
I looked at the crowd. No one else seemed to notice the words. They just continued their lives, completely unaffected.
Jaipa rubbed his arms. "So, uh… quick question , what the fuck it's saying ?"
I stared at him.
He pointed at sky "is this is some kind of sick game, I'd just like to formally request to be on the winning team."
I ignored him and looked around again. "We need to move."
Jaipa nodded quickly. "Agreed to move
We took our first step in the crowd
Jaipa and I moved carefully through the streets, avoiding drawing attention to ourselves. Despite the creepy atmosphere, the people continued on as if nothing was wrong laughing, talking, and living their lives under the ominous words hanging in the sky.
" Fell the well with red liquid "
Jaipa tugged at my sleeve. "Alright, genius. Where are we going?"
"Somewhere quiet," I said.
Jaipa let out a dramatic sigh. "Oh, great idea! Let's just wander around a mysterious, cursed city filled with people who may or may not try to murder us. No way that could go wrong."
I ignored him and kept walking.
After a while, we found a small, empty courtyard tucked between two buildings. It was a peaceful space, shaded by a large tree, with a stone bench in the center. A single lantern hung from a wooden post, flickering dimly.
Jaipa landed beside me, folding his wings. "Alright. Now what?"
I sat down on the bench "I took a glance at those pages ahead of us."
Jaipa frowned
Ha.. right he brusted into laughter then he said you can remember all the characters and letters right "
I nodded and said "And you know how to read them."
Jaipa blinked. Then his four eyes widened. "Oh. Ohhhh." He pointed at me. "Wait, you memorized the pages, but I'm the one who can read them?"
"Yes."
Jaipa threw up his hands. "Oh, fantastic! So now I'm your personal translator? Is that it?"
I ignored him and stood. "We need a brush and paper."
Jaipa groaned. "Of course we do."
With no other choice, we made our way back into the streets.
After a while of wandering we spotted a stall i approached the stall that seemed to sell writing materials. A man was seated behind the counter, arranging rolls of parchment and ink bottles. He glanced up as I stepped forward.
Jaipa walking behind me. "Okay, what's the plan? Politely ask to borrow some paper and hope he doesn't try to murder you?"
I didn't respond. Instead, I calmly pointed at the ink and brush. "I need these."
The shopkeeper raised an eyebrow. "You want to buy them?"
I reached into my pockets. I had nothing of value.
Jaipa grinned nervously. "Well, this is awkward." i considered my options. Stealing wasn't ideal not because of any moral reasons, but because I didn't want to cause unnecessary trouble.
So I picked up the brush and parchment, looked the shopkeeper in the eye, and said, "I'll return them."
The man stared at me. I blinked my eyes making my child face Then, slowly, he shrugged. "Just bring them back before sunset."
Jaipa gawked at him. "Wait, seriously? That worked?"
The man waved us off. "Go, go."
Jaipa grabbed my arm as we walked away. "I swear, your deadpan face is some kind of cheat code."
Back at the quiet courtyard, I placed the parchment on the stone bench. Jaipa sat beside me, watching as I dipped the brush into ink and began writing down everything I remembered from the floating pages.
Jaipa leaned in. "Alright, let's see what kind of nightmare fuel we're dealing with."
As the characters formed on the parchment, something strange happened
The ink started to move like a living thing
before settling into place. A faint red glow glowed beneath the letters.
Jaipa immediately backed up. "Nope. Nope, I hate this."
I didn't react much "Read it."
When I said that Jaipa hesitated for a second but , then he exhaled and leaned forward. His four eyes looking as he was scanned the words. His expression darkened within a second
"…This isn't just a book," he muttered. "This is a record."
"A record of what?"
Jaipa's voice dropped to a whisper
" A record of world that fallen "
" And this city is the first step towards that knowledge of fallen world "
" And what is that first step that you are saying " i asked
" its a...path of blood !