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Sane floated in darkness. Disoriented and with sweat mixed with blood slid off his face. He felt the grasp of the figures loosen and soon found himself floating alone in the void.
"h-hello..." he called out, his voice shaky, fear and weariness evident in his tone.
Yet... nothing answered. Then suddenly, a flash of light erupted in front of him, blinding him as he was consumed in its brightness.
Sane once again found himself covering his eyes, and the slight feeling of deja vu crept at the back of his mind.
His eyes soon adjusted, and slowly he lowered his hand, and an ancient wonder stood before him. Imposing and awe-inspiring, the structure stood impossibly tall and wide. Four columned figures greeted him: grand statues of marble that stood at seemingly equidistant from each other, supporting an archway of the same material. Each figure was veined with a different color: red for the winged humanoid figure, green for the rotund beast, and gold for the feathered serpent, and lastly black for the headless mannequin.
A white stone path appeared underneath the archway, leading a straight path to what could only be seen as a white rectangular door. Sane felt an unknown force guide his body down, his feet softly landing on the rough stone.
With nothing behind him and a path laid before him. Sane took a weary step forward and walked, with the door being his only goal for now.
He looked around as he walked. The stone felt warm under his feet as if it were basking in an invisible sun. There was darkness all around, yet the path and the arch behind him were clear as day, as if lighted up by an unknown source. It was indeed a strange place and a bewildering situation. Woken up to the Facility under siege, then exploded to ruin, and now somewhat escaped death by being dragged into this place.
Not soon after, Sane contemplatively stood in front of the white, steel door. The door itself was unremarkable, just a plain white painted metal door, a complete contrast to the grand sight before. But despite this. He could feel an ominous presence behind it, a gut feeling of something predatory and powerful.
Suddenly- the door clicked and opened slightly, letting out a stream of crisp air.
Sane involuntarily took a step back. He felt a slight chill as the cool air passed through him. With the door seemingly impatient. Sane took a deep breath and entered through it.
His eyes widened in surprise as he found himself back in his cell. He turned and looked back, but he found the door was gone- vanished, and replaced by the familiar wall.
[{{ "A familiar place, I imagine." }}]
A voice spoke from behind him, and it made him freeze. It sounded inhuman—various male and female voices, speaking at the same time and overlapping, layering one another—yet it was crystal clear.
[{{ "You don't need to answer, I already know." }}]
Again, it spoke. Sane felt his body quiver. In his mind, he wanted to move, to turn, to face this being, not to have his back be vulnerable. But his body won't listen, stiff and unresponsive as if frozen.
[{{ "I have... a mission for you... an order." }}]
He couldn't bear any more of this, against his better instincts, and by his will. He turned his head and took a glance at the being.
[{{ "Brave.. or utterly foolish." }}]
But there was nothing, just his bed, blank walls, and his cell door. Was he losing his mind?
[{{ "Do you really believe that you are strong enough? To see the face of a higher being. }}]
The voice spoke again; it was in front of him now. He felt his neck stiffen and beads of sweat slide down his brow. higher being?
"w-what are you!?" Sane said, forced and strained as he turned his neck. And his body writhed
Again, nothing but the emptiness of a white concrete wall.
[{{ "Persistent... Very well then. My name is V, and I am what you would call a god. }}]
Sane froze in shocked revelation. A God? Was it something he could even fight against?
[{{ "Now I have given what you have asked. I shall offer you a question of my own." }}]
Hesitantly, Sane nodded. What would a God even want from him? And why him? There should have been plenty of others more qualified for this than him. But at the same time, who could argue against a God?
[{{ "For one destined to die young. And lived with knowing little pleasure. What makes you continue your desperate fight for survival?" }}]
"Huh..." Mistakenly slipped through his mouth, and it was his only reply. Sane only hoped he did not anger God, as he thought of a more proper reply. 'For one destined to die young-' V's word sank late, and despair washed over him. How could he have forgotten that most test subjects die at 25, and only a few have made it past their 26th year.
"For revenge. To make the mad doctors of this place suffer for what they have done to me. " Sane finally spoke, resentment and hate clear in his tone. That was his reason to live. To escape this hellhole and punish the people who stole his life from him.
[{{ "Your goal was already achieved. Not by your own doing, but by another. There was no other soul that could have survived the destruction of this structure. You yourself were lucky to be saved in your hour of death." }}]
A train of mixed emotions bore through him. Satisfaction was prominent, alongside skepticism, joy, and another emotion he could not identify.
"how-"
[{{{ "You do not believe me. And yet you yourself have seen the extent of such calamity. Know it in your very bones that I speak, Truth." }}}]
The voice was everywhere now, reverberating through the walls of his cell. It was foolish of him to question a God; he might have just made it angry, or was V annoyed? It wasn't easy to tell with V's unnaturally neutral tone.
[{{{ "What makes you continue your desperate fight for survival?" }}}]
"... I don't know.." Sane finally spoke after what he felt like an eternity of contemplation. With the people he wanted to punish already dead. What else was there left for him to do? He couldn't just escape and live his life; he had no idea where he was and would probably get captured by another company or by the government. And on top of that, he had only 4 years left to live.
"I don't know.. I don't have a reason, but I don't want to die either.. Maybe I just wanted to see the world and live my life," he spoke again, his tone flat and lacking conviction. That he himself found slightly pathetic.
[{{ "Then it seems that our goals have aligned." }}]
Before he could even react, he felt a hand on his back. It was warm like a mother's touch, sending waves of comfort throughout his whole body. Sane could feel his flesh and muscles relax to the soothing pulse, and his body felt heavy.
[{{ "Lost and broken soul, twisted and malformed..." }}]
The hand pushed into his skin, his legs buckled, and his knees fell to the floor.
[{{ "Born from torment and rejected by the light..." }}]
It was searing, now burning through his skin as it pushed deeper into him. And yet his mind was in utter bliss.
[{{ "...Become my unworthy vassal, My eyes, My ears... " }}]
His body writhed, rejecting the being entering his body. Strands of living flesh and muscle tore all over his body, coiling around the burning hand inside him, driven by instinct to reject the foreign object invading his body.
[{{ "...Descend upon the world as my Overseer." }}]
Boiling liquid raced up his throat, and he found himself suddenly vomiting on the floor, snapped out of his daze. Sane felt sluggish and breathless, and his strength was weakening, and his limbs were unresponsive.
"W-hat did you do..?" He said, breathless and gasping for air.
Sane collapsed to the floor, his vision slowly fading to darkness, lying unconscious in a pool of his own blood.
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Sweating and choking for air, Sane woke up from his unconscious state. Frantically, he sat upright and checked his body.
Everything was fine; he could still feel his heart beating, and his body was seemingly in one piece, and his clothes were miraculously clean. A long breath of relief escaped his lips. At least that was one less thing to worry about.
It was obvious that he wasn't in his cell anymore. Though the room looked like a copy, everything was almost the same, except for the fact that his bed was comfortable, and proper with a thick and soft mattress, a pair of fluffy pillows, and warm comforter sheets. Not to mention that the walls, floors, and ceiling were made entirely of white marble.
"How did I even get here..?" Sane muttered as he reluctantly got out of bed.
Unexpectedly, the marble felt warm under his feet, and he felt a smile grace his lips as he made his way to the door.
Disappointingly, the door remained as he remembered it. Rough, solid steel with the same scratched, grimed glass. Hesitantly, he reached out and gave it a light push; the door surprisingly opened with little effort.
'+, * , + * ' , + ' * + '* +' , '+
A light breeze carried the smell of fresh rain from below, and the beautiful wonder of a star-filled sky looming over the forest clearing.
"where.. Am I?" Sane muttered in confused admiration.
It was truly an otherworldly sight to behold. The sky glittered with stars, with long streaks of galaxies and large blots of nebulae painted the night sky in multiple shades of color.
[{ "You are in the northern Living Forest." }] V's voice came from behind him.
A shiver went down Sane's spine as he heard that inhuman voice. Quickly, he turned around. A few feet away from him, a robed figure stood, embroidered in gold and black, mimicking the star-filled sky. Pale and almost faceless if not for its wide ear-to-ear grin.
Sane felt his hand clench and sweat running down his neck as a familiar sense of fear gripped his heart. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves as he prepared to face God.
"Where am I exactly?" Sane said in mock confidence.
[{ "Right now, you're on Walein Island and currently in the northern Living Forest." }]
He forced himself not to quiver as he heard V's reply; Seeing its mouth not move as it talked made it even more unsettling. Again, he took a deep breath to steady himself.
It was clear he was not on earth anymore. The fact that he was on an unknown island and was in something called the 'Living Forest' made him believe that he was in another world.
But how could that even be possible? Or was this just a dream? or a simulation?
Sane shuddered as the night breeze blew in. It was definitely not a dream; he could remember everything so clearly, how he was dragged and-.
"What did you do to me?" Sane said, clutching his chest. The awful memory, playing in his head. How a hand touched his back, how it slowly burned and bore through him, and how it-.
[{ "I merely gave you a gift. Otherwise, you would not have arrived here alive." }] V spoke and took a step forward, Sane took a step back.
[{ "If it were not for me, you would have been dead, trapped, rotting beneath the rubble of that ruined Facility." }] V took another step forward and reached out a hand toward him.
Sane froze, feeling a sudden pressure stopping his movements. Out of fear, he closed his eyes and braced himself for what was to come.
But unexpectedly, there was nothing. Warily, he opened his eyes, and confusion quickly passed through him as he saw V holding out a hand to him.
[{ "By my will, I offer you a new beginning. And by your will, you will accept it." }]
He was sure that he could see V's grin grow wider than it already was. It wasn't like he had a choice to begin with. He'd been dragged around by others most of his life, by mad doctors no less, so being ordered by a God shouldn't be so different.
With a long sigh and much to little time for contemplation, Sane looked at V's hand and hesitantly reached out and shook it. With the slightest hope that his new life would be better.
"So... what will you have me do?" He asked, with resignation evident in his tone.
[{ "Live and explore or do as you please, you have already become what I needed of you." }] V answered, and before he could ask for clarification. V slowly faded and then vanished out of thin air, leaving only a foggy afterimage in his place.
And once again. He found himself alone, isolated in a foreign place.
"Great... Ahh, just great."
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