They had never seen them this way before, which made the arrangement peculiar. The servant frowned and began pulling his young master to hurry.
Each step they took felt like they were on thin ice.
The armored warrior's eyes follow them every step with an aura of intent that felt like daggers stabbing their hearts.
He, the young master, trembled in the unknown as the male servant hurried and held his hand, calming his breath.
Strolling through the hallways, suddenly they hear faint footsteps in the left hallway.
A woman and a child are walking in the same direction as them from a distance.
The young master directed his head toward them as the warriors bowed before the child and the woman's presence, deliberately ignoring them.
He removed his hands from his master, crossed his arms, and then bowed afar from them with a blank face.
Before him, a thin gold panel materializes at his mouth.
"I bow in respect to the great 'Aspiring star of the youth, Young lady Cheon Ran,' the male servant said softly and eloquently.
In each movement of his lips, letters in white gradually filled the panel.
"'Cheon Ran, The Aspiring Star,' 'Yuna, The Peony'. " The servant said each like a chant in silence.
The inscription on the panel flies towards them, leaving vibrant white trails.
A message for two.
One for 'Cheon Ran' and the other for Yuna, the servant, a love letter.
They don't sense it, but the young master knows.
As soon as the message arrived, Ran then whispered, "Yunyun…" while gesturing at her to come.
Yuna quietly went towards her and then ducked at the same level as her head. She whispers in her ear whilst looking at them in disgust.
After a brief Yuna, as quiet as she is, spoke to the guards, something that Ran ordered.
The warrior moves out in synchronicity, marching towards them. One by one, their eyes centered on him, the servant began to raise his arm, surrendering before them.
They didn't do anything to him as they turned their gaze toward the young master.
Afar, the servant notices Yuna's expression, looking at him grudgingly.
He runs towards the warriors, attempting to rescue his young master and raising his arms to chant a spell.
A white tattoo gradually appears at the top of his hand as he finishes chanting. It was too late, as the guard surrounded the young master.
Unfazed by their sheer number, the young master shouted a kiddish war cry and threw a punch at them. Each punch he threw didn't connect as they dodged its incoming.
"Get away from my master!" the servant yelled, so loud that they felt it reverberate on their shoulder.
The warriors suddenly stop as they begin to return to their original position. Bruised, the young master suddenly shivers in fear, as if he saw something in front of him.
"What, afraid of my wrath!?" Sung, dismayed, shouted.
As out of nowhere, in just a second, the space before them shatters, revealing a dark atmosphere that felt like a bad omen —a void from which a looming figure emerges.
All of them started to kneel and started synchronously breathing in his presence, except the young master, who couldn't appropriately act in his mere presence.
The young master trembles in fear; it was he whom he had sensed earlier, the fear the looming figure exudes strangles their hearts out.
He faints…
—Xin, lying down upright in the shallow water, opens his eyes.
Before him, in the far skies, he sees the moon, spewing waters. Taken aback, in question, as he was certain that the phenomenon wasn't definitely normal.
He brushes it and ponders in confusion, as he definitely had a dream, but he didn't remember. But as hard as he thinks, he still doesn't remember anything, but he knows that he definitely dreamed.
Xin hears a faint, mysterious sound of stones clapping that echoes throughout the shallow waters. A gentle sound of conversation fills the foggy air.
"The moon is sure making it rain," Someone said awkwardly in an old man's voice.
—Surprised, he understands them and instinctively hides behind the triangular lid—subsequently, he eavesdrops on their conversation.
"Lim'ur, are you sure you saw and heard Simurgh here?" Said the first man, as he deliberately stopped in the middle of the shallow, barren waters.
—Xin sneaked and peeked, then saw three men who looked somewhat similar walking with spears and an indistinct look, with skin as dark as ink, all of which felt ancient to him.
"Yeah, it was here, the divine creature walked like a chicken!" Lim'ur said, pointing in the same direction where he, Xin, woke up, whilst he was scratching his neck.
"You have an idea why?" the first man questioned, striking a serious look.
"Why, probably lim'ur got tired and saw something," — The third man said, as he then saw Xin in the corner of his eye, despite that, he continued talking, "something, something like that."
—Xin felt uneasy as soon as their eyes met, but he just continued to talk.
He clearly saw him, as their eyes met for a brief moment, he glanced away and continued talking.
In anxiety, Xin hides behind the protruding structure.
"Come on, I saw it clearly, the simurgh, the winged wolf?" Tim'ur said in a genuine tone.
The two fought like a couple, though they looked like three black men. In Xin's eyes, it felt weird to him.
Gradually, he saw one conclusion: 'hide within the structure'.
The first man then says, "Don't know, maybe you stumbled upon a fruit called Taec, which is missing, and if you put two and two together, it explains the simurgh you saw."
Hiding like a rat, he opens the structure and sees a glaring issue; it was too deep.
But how can he escape if he hides inside?
Tim'ur says, "Kras! Trust me on this, I really —" The third man walked towards the structure, said, "That's weird, where does this come from?" Shifting the tone.
As footsteps slowly closed in, he decided to go inside.
Clunk.
Hanging at the lid's ring and the lid shuts, pressing his fingers. A silent scream tore through his mind, raw and agonizing.
Flustered, Tim'ur looks in the third man's direction in anger.
"This is new," Kras said, as the third man jumped up to the top of the structure.
—Xin hears Someone talking above him, followed by a heavy thud—the lids pressure heavies.
In pain, he let out a faint grunt.
Shuddering in paranoia as he hears it echoed all over inside. Thinking that they heard him, his eyes left a tear-blinding whilst he hung in pain.
"You're acting weird today, Tutu!" Tim'ur said in anger.
"I just saw Interesting things today." At the top, Tutu looks at them and says, whilst he moves his hair with his spear.
Thud.
It was a light thud this time, reminiscent of a stick producing that sound; he felt the pressure tighten.
Tim'ur suddenly stops, just below Tutu, and sees a structure he didn't know existed before.
"Relax, it's just a flower, an orchid flower," Tutu said as he held his spear.
Xin, in tears and pain, endured the searing waves of pain he felt in his arm joints.
Tim'ur's eyes brightened at the mention of flowers. He asked, "Wait, you mean a woman, you saw the witch here?"
"What!?" Kras yelled, unamused, as he then stared him point-blank. "You saw a witch? Why didn't you tell me!?" Kras yelled as he then punched Tim'ur's head.
"I wanted to have fun," Tim'ur whispered while crying. Bewildered, Kras yelled, "You wanted to have fun?" "I can't help it; the witch looks too good for —" "How can you tell she is a witch?" Tutu said.
As soon as Tutu asked, the two of them stopped arguing.
Tim'ur then says, "Well, when…" In a brief, Tim'ur told them the whole story of what had happened.
He said that as the woman spoke, water formed into a ball, and as he saw this, he hurried home, for the Simurgh ran like a chicken.
In a corner, Xin feels a musty texture touch—a dead body beside him. The dead body of some creature, dwelling beside him.
Xin's body tried to vomit, but nothing came as he arched his back in disgust.
"Believe me, she looks so beautiful, her white—" "Is she really gorgeous?" Kras said to Tutu. "She might, I just saw her eyes, her jewel-like eyes," Tutu said flamboyantly, whilst he held the decapitated head of Tim'ur.
"Right?" Tutu said, as he then spins Tim'ur's head like a toy.
Xin hears Tutu whistling a joyous tune.
It was only him; the early quiet settled in as he didn't hear the other two, and soon, blood drips down Xin's forehead, painting his white clothes red.
Talking to the decapitated head, Tutu then skewers it with his blood-soaked spear, revealing another victim, Kras, a woman wearing a man's mask.
"Such a unique weather and such unique creatures, at such will bore you to death," Tutu said, jumping down the platform.
He felt the pressure lighten and waited.
"Welcome to the 1st realm, the world of endless night, 'The Everell'," Tutu said, upbeatingly.
At once, it became too quiet.
The body beside Xin convulsed as worms crawled out of it, and he felt worms gnawing at his clothes.
Desperate and unrelenting, he clawed away out into the world. Xin braced himself and opened the lid to the outside.
The moment he left, a sharp brightness seared his eyes and erased all detail, accompanied by a steel-like smell.
He covers his eyes in pain, painting his face red. Slowly, the glare begins to fade, softening at the edges. Shapes—just vague shadows—start to form behind the veil of light.
"Shit!" Xin yelled. In horror, his eyes teared up as he unconsciously tried to vomit.
Before him, two headless bodies lie on the concrete surface—a psychopath's work.
Their bodies intertwined like dogs, headless as they bleed like flowing fountains.
His hand trembled as it bled, his arm joints were beaten violet, it gave up, as he couldn't move it anymore, sending an excruciating pain.
His vision blurred, and he felt as though the world was spinning; his empty stomach ached with hunger.
"The 1st Plain, The Evernight Hell," "Is this the world I deserved?" "Am I gonna die Again…" Xin whispered.
—Many questions filled his head: who to blame, did he deserve this, is this it.
"Tutu, I'll fucking kill you, you sick, disgusting freak," Xin yelled, as he then vomited his innards.
The thought of him dying again sends tears to his eyes. It was inevitable; as he closed his eyes, he heard someone whispering.
"You can't," A kid with a blindfold said in a ghostly tone.
As he opens his eyes again, everything suddenly becomes white, a white void stretching endlessly.
It felt ethereal.
He looked around and saw no one. He tried to talk, but he had no mouth, just an eye without a body.
At the white void, he alone floats and sees before him, floating alone, a stat panel.
Ye Xin /█/ Lvl. I
HP: 10/10 Stats: Normal
Mind: 22/30 Stamina: 09/15 RP: 10
STR: 10 AGI: 5 DEF: 3 INT: 12
◙: |Survivor|5| Inventory: [][][][][][][][][][]
↓Maximise↓
"I'm dead… Again," Xin said in his own thoughts.
"You can't," Someone whispered in a mysterious voice.
In an Instant, his injured body materialized.
Thud.
As he instantly fell flat on the ground like a vegetable, water then protruded and gradually converged into a pillar enveloping him.
It straightens him into a standing position; it feels numb.
Benumbed, he sees his blood move in a circular motion into his body.
He can't breathe as it veils around him, from top to bottom, it repairs him, rejuvenating him.
-A colossal silhouette looms over and shifts like a living thing; waves of air fan the whole area, clearing the waters into a ground.
Sounds of wood creaking and groaning spread across.