As usual, the streets this morning looked quite deserted. Most people had already left for work or school earlier—around 6:30 or 7:00—so at this time the streets were starting to become empty. Only occasionally was there a vehicle passing by, or housewives shopping at the morning market.
Nova walked quickly yet casually, his hands in the pockets of his black hoodie, his backpack hanging on one shoulder. His eyes stared ahead.
Suddenly, Nova's steps stopped.
His eyes focused on something in front of him, right in the middle of the deserted street, about five meters from where he was standing now.
"What... is that?" he muttered softly, his eyebrows furrowed with a confused and wary expression.
Nova stepped closer carefully, his steps slow and full of caution. When he stopped right in front of the strange object, his eyes narrowed trying to understand what he was seeing.
Its shape was like... a puddle of liquid? But not water. Its color was dark red, almost black, with a thick texture like blood that had dried but was still wet on the surface. Its size was quite large—about one meter in diameter—and strangest of all, the puddle seemed to be moving on its own with irregular patterns.
"What is this actually?" Nova muttered while squatting slightly to see more clearly, but still maintaining a safe distance. "And... why is there no one else seeing this?"
He turned left and right quickly. The street was indeed deserted, but a blood puddle—or whatever it was—this large should attract the attention of people passing by, right?
*Strange...*
"Maybe this is just red paint spilled by someone," Nova tried to rationalize what he was seeing. "But... is there paint that can move around like this? And the smell is also strange, like rusty metal mixed with something rotten."
Nova stood back up, deciding not to care about the strange object anymore. He was already quite late, and didn't have time to think about strange things that couldn't be explained.
"Alright, I don't have time for this sort of thing," he said to himself while lifting one leg, preparing to step past the puddle at a safe distance.
But right when he was about to move away—
GLUUUK!
The blood puddle suddenly churned violently, its surface rippling like water being boiled in a pot. Large bubbles appeared and burst. Its size expanded rapidly—two meters, three meters, continuing to widen—and within seconds, the puddle transformed into a very strangely shaped hole.
Not an ordinary hole.
Its edges were like red flesh that pulsed rhythmically resembling a heartbeat. There were black vessels spreading around its edges, moving and contracting like a living creature. Inside the hole, there was only pitch darkness that seemed to swallow the light around it.
"Huh?!" Nova jumped back reflexively, his eyes wide open.
But it was too late.
An incredibly strong suction force emerged from inside the hole, like gravity pulling him forcibly. Nova tried to resist, his feet trying to grip the asphalt, his hands trying to grab anything—a lamppost, a tree, anything—but everything was too far.
"NO—!"
SYUUUUT!
In an instant, Nova's body was sucked into the flesh hole. His vision spun, the world became blurred, and everything went dark.
His consciousness faded.
◇◇◇
"Ugh... What... What just happened?"
Nova's voice sounded weak, hoarse. His head felt heavy, as if it had been hit with a large hammer. Slowly, he opened his eyes, his vision still blurry and unfocused.
The first thing he felt was cold.
Cold that seeped to the bone, not cold like AC or a refrigerator, but cold that felt... wrong. Unnatural.
He tried to move his body and realized he was lying on his back on top of something hard and rough. Not asphalt. Not ceramic.
Soil.
"Soil?..." Nova muttered softly while slowly sitting up, his hand touching the surface beneath him. The texture was rough, damp, like forest soil rarely exposed to sunlight. "Why is there soil here?"
He lifted his head, and that's when he realized something very strange.
The sky above him was dark.
Dark like nighttime.
"Why... is it night?" Nova whispered in a disbelieving voice. "It was still morning earlier..."
Nova slowly stood up, his legs slightly unsteady. He turned his body 360 degrees, trying to understand where he was now.
"What other strange thing am I going through now?" he said with a frustrated tone. "Am I now inside... a forest?"
Around him, in all directions, stood tall trees towering so high he couldn't see the top because it was too dark.
Nova tried to walk, stepping carefully among tree roots jutting out from the ground. He tried to find the edge of the forest.
But no matter how far he walked—five minutes, ten minutes, maybe more—he couldn't find the edge of this forest at all. Every direction looked identical, every tree appeared similar, as if he was walking in an endless circle.
"Alright," Nova stopped, his hand resting on a tree trunk beside him, his breath slightly labored. "This will only waste my energy in vain. This forest seems to have no end, or at least I don't know the right direction."
He let out a long sigh, frustration beginning to creep in. "Now the question is... how can I get out of here? Haah, why is my life suddenly filled with such strange things? Can't I live peacefully and normally like other kids my age?"
Nova leaned against the tree trunk, trying to calm his chaotic thoughts. He closed his eyes briefly, regulating his breath, trying to think clearly—
TAP. TAP. TAP.
Sound.
The sound of footsteps.
Nova's eyes immediately opened wide. His head turned quickly to the right, into the deeper darkness of the forest.
*The sound of footsteps...* Nova stared in that direction with a serious face, his body tensed. *What is that? An animal? A monster? Or... another human also trapped here?*
He prepared himself for the worst possibility, his muscles alert, his eyes unblinking staring into the darkness.
And slowly, from behind those large trees, a figure of someone began to appear.
Not an animal. Not a monster.
Rather, a figure whose shape was very similar to a human—sturdy body, about 180 centimeters tall, dressed all in black from long pants to his long-sleeved shirt. His hair was jet black, slightly long covering part of his ears.
But there was something very wrong with that figure.
His eyes.
His eyes were red, like blood, with sharp pupils like a predator.
Nova felt his instinct screaming to run, but he forced himself to keep standing, staring at the figure with a serious and wary expression.
"You..." Nova spoke first, his voice sounding calm despite his heart pounding hard. "Who are you? Are you the one who brought me here?"
He showed no fear at all, even though every cell in his body was screaming danger.
"Brought you?..." The red-eyed man stopped a few meters in front of Nova, his lips curving into a thin smile that felt mocking. He put both hands in his pants pockets, his body posture very relaxed.
*I can understand his language,* Nova thought, slightly relieved but also suspicious. *So he's not a monster?... But... is he really human?*
Something inside him—whether intuition or instinct—said clearly: *No. He's not human. There's something very bad about this figure.*
"Yes, I'm the one who brought you here," the man answered in a casual tone. "Through the blood I placed in the middle of the road earlier. You know, my blood has a special ability to create small dimensional portals. Quite useful for trapping prey."
He observed Nova from top to bottom with a gaze that felt like a predator assessing its prey.
"I didn't expect you to approach that blood," he continued while laughing softly. "I thought a kid your age would be scared and avoid it. But it turns out your curiosity is greater than your fear. Well, that's natural, because you're still a kid. A kid always likes to do stupid things out of curiosity."
Nova clenched his hands, his jaw hardened. "You... You're not human, are you?"
"Hm?" The man raised one eyebrow, as if the question was interesting. "What makes you think that?"
"Red eyes, a strange aura, and the ability to create dimensional portals with blood," Nova answered firmly. "Normal humans don't have abilities like that."
"Wow, you're quite smart for a kid," the man clapped slowly, the sound of his clapping echoing in the forest silence. "You're right. I'm not human in the sense you understand. Maybe what you're thinking now is correct, but you also need to know, there are also humans who can do what I do, not just me who can do this!"
"In that case," Nova maintained his distance, his body ready to run at any time, "why did you bring me here? What do you want from a kid like me? I don't have money, don't have special powers, there's nothing valuable I can give."
The man fell silent for a moment, his smile widening.
"What do I want, huh?..." He pretended to think, his index finger tapping his chin with a theatrical gesture. "Hmm... Well, of course to kill you. What else?"
That answer was said so casually.
And when the word "kill you" came out of the man's mouth—
Nova's instinct immediately screamed danger.
Every cell in his body suddenly felt great pressure, as if something very dangerous would happen in a matter of seconds. He didn't know how he could feel it, but his body reacted faster than his thoughts.
RUN. NOW.
Without thinking long, Nova immediately ran with all his strength to the right side, looking for protection. His eyes caught a large rock—about two meters high—located not far from where he was standing, about ten meters away.
And his decision to run was the decision that saved his life.
SREEEET!
The red-eyed man moved both hands quickly forward. From his palms, dark red blood flowed out rapidly, forming two sharp weapons resembling long swords with very sharp tips. In an instant, he threw—or more precisely, shot—both blood weapons toward Nova.
SYUUUUUT—BOOM!
The attack hit exactly where Nova had been standing a few seconds ago. The large rock Nova used as protection—its top part shattered into pieces, rock fragments flying in all directions like bullets. Several large trees nearby were also affected—their trunks split, collapsed, and fell with loud sounds.
KRAAAAK! DUUUM!
Nova, who had managed to hide behind the rock, felt a strong tremor, his hands covering his ears because of the very loud explosion sound. Rock fragments hit his back, but fortunately they weren't large enough to cause serious injury.
*Crazy... What kind of power is that?!* Nova felt his heart almost jump out of his chest. *If I hadn't run earlier, I'd definitely be dead now!*
"Wooh!" The man's voice sounded from a distance, his tone sounding very pleased and entertained. "You're not bad, kid! Even though I haven't released my power yet, you could already sense danger and react quickly!"
He laughed, his voice echoing among the fallen trees.
"Really an interesting kid! Looks like this will be more fun than I thought!"