_Chapter Begins_
William stood frozen.
"This... was not what I was expecting."
A giant expanse of shattered glass covered as far as his eyes could see.
Some of the shards soared high into the night sky, while others were small and unassuming.
However, William could tell this glass was not of the mundane type—the shards looked like mystical gems.
William took a step forward and went down on one knee. There was a small shard on the ground right in front of him.
He picked up the palm-sized piece and studied it up close for a few moments.
"Well... looks like I was right."
William had sensed that these shards held some kind of mystical aspect, and now that theory of his had been proven with one glance.
Covering the shard were myriads of symbols deeply carved into its surface.
While checking the symbols, however, William suddenly frowned.
Confusion flickered in his eyes, and he decided to stand up instead of remaining on one knee.
"Why do I feel this way...?"
William couldn't explain it, but for some reason, he was now having a very intense feeling of dread.
But how was it hard to explain dread? Wasn't it something all humans felt at some point in their lives?
But no... this dread was different.
It was his soul that was feeling the dread—not his body or mind.
Suddenly, William was covered in cold sweat, and he began to twist his neck from side to side, scanning the shards around him for any threat.
And then, William felt a pull of force coming from his chest.
"Agh, what the hell?!"
It seemed that the purple orb was finally making its presence apparent.
But it wasn't just that... it was like it was signaling William to do something immediately.
But what was he supposed to do, exactly?
William's eyes lingered on the shard in his hand.
"Maybe this?"
Before he could try anything, however, something happened.
It was only the sound of a small piece of glass falling to the ground, twenty or thirty meters away, that alerted him to the danger.
But it was too late.
Before William could even react, an ugly abomination suddenly appeared in front of him—swiping at his head with its sharp claws.
It was so fast William couldn't even see the details of its body.
He only knew it had two long arms and legs, and strangely enough, the monster seemed to be made of wood.
The creature's giant claws connected with William's head.
Immediately, William was decapitated, and his separated head turned into a mush of flesh, bone, and brain matter.
The scene was gruesome, to say the least.
But William couldn't dwell on the brutality of it—because he was dead.
Again.
This was the second time William had died, and maybe—just maybe—this was also his last.
Wouldn't it be nice? To just be dead and remain in the peaceful embrace of death forever?
To not have to worry about himself or others? To finally be at peace?
But of course, that wasn't the case. Fate wasn't quite done with William yet.
Then William came to be again.
The skeleton, then the blood vessels, and then the organs and details of his body.
He was back.
"That's a disturbing sight."
Currently, he was looking at his decapitated corpse lying on the ground—devoid of motion.
And standing next to that corpse was the suspect of the murder.
"Gods... how revolting."
William wanted to gag at the sight of the ugly abomination.
It was a creature with a body so strange he couldn't even compare it to any animal that lived on Earth.
The closest thing would be a horse... if the horse's legs were broken and then extended to an unnatural length.
The abomination was made out of wood. It had two long arms that ended in a pair of very sharp claws, and two legs that seemed slightly shorter than its arms.
Those were the details William had caught while being attacked, but now that he had a few seconds to get a proper look at the thing, he could tell a lot more.
The abomination had a skull that resembled a mangled mix between a dog's and a horse's. It had two carved holes in the skull, and within those holes burned two small purple lights—ignited with fury and madness.
However, the most interesting detail he caught before it lunged at him again was on the wooden skin of the vile thing.
"Huh... so it's not only the glass shards that have symbols carved into them."
And then, William died again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
It was funny, really. Did he think the gods would let him get away with just dying twice? No—that would be far too light of a punishment.
It took William some time, and a few brutal deaths, but eventually he got the gist of it.
Hell was a really cruel place....who could have known?
_Chapter Ends_