Chapter 5: Within the Abyss
"I advise you—choose your next words carefully." Casanova glared at him, his thoughts indecipherable.
"Who told you about me."
"What's their name, and especially, how do they look like."
He continued,
"And don't bother running, for you are aware that I possess abilities some people may regard as…unnatural."
Gray felt the air grow colder. His face began to sweat as he tried to speak,
"…W-What do you mean?"
The response made Casanova frown.
"You know what I mean." his voice was unnaturally calm, and that made it scarier.
Seeing the man's unwillingness to aid him in his and Kathy's survival, Gray started to plead,
"Casanova, please just listen to me. We don't have enough time. Everyone is going to die! You heard Zakaria talk about it this morning too!"
Casanova's green eyes narrowed.
"He didn't tell me anything. Now answer my question."
"…How is this possible…?" Gray murmured under his breath.
'Did something change the future? Did I do something to cause it?'
"Haven't you guys seen the sun rise in the west this morning?" Gray asked, growing increasingly frustrated.
Casanova replied sternly,
"…We didn't see anything."
"You better tell me who gave you the information about me. The only reason I haven't forcefully taken it yet is because I've known you for many years."
Casanova took a step forward.
"This is your last chance, Gray Montoya. Make things easier. Answer to what I have asked you."
Gray gritted his teeth and spoke,
"Nobody told me anything. I had a dream—it showed me all of the things I told you about."
He continued,
"When i woke up, the events began to follow the script belonging to my dream."
Gray looked at the sky.
"…Casanova, please. I beg of you, let's have this conversation later." he clenched his fists.
"We don't have much time—we need to prepare for what's to come!"
Gray checked the time and cursed,
"Fuck! It's going to sound at any minute!"
Casanova coughed lightly.
"…The sun rose from the east, like every normal day." he simply said.
Gray's eyes widened. He rebuked the man's words and pointed at the sky.
"What? Look!"
Gray's confusion then grew.
The place he pointed to…
lacked the presence of the sun.
It appeared that, while being preoccupied about his plan to save his sister, he had forgotten to check if the sun had actually rose from the west.
"W-What…"
Gray was utterly shaken.
"…Did you really dream about me having supernatural abilities? Tell me what I've done. Be specific." Casanova asked, interrupting Gray's chaotic thoughts.
Still shocked, Gray explained of how Casanova had defeated the giant mantis, all without omitting any gruesome detail.
The man stared at the boy intently throughout his whole story.
Gray could swear of having seen a faint, orange light flicker in his right eye as he was talking.
Once he was done speaking, Casanova opened his mouth for the first time in minutes.
"Don't tell anyone about the content of your dream."
"Nobody shall hear it other than me. I know that you don't want to have me as an enemy, and neither do I."
"To not let this happen…you must make a vow of silence."
Saying this, the man produced a yellowish piece of crumpled paper from his back pocket and handed it to him.
Gray, with a tinge of confusion evident in his voice asked,
"What do I have to do with it?"
Casanova took a small knife from the same pocket and handed to him.
The knife was pitch black and extremely thin, reminding Gray of a material similar to obsidian.
"Make a small cut on your thumb. If the dried blood were to disappear within the paper, it'd mean you told someone about the contents of your dream." Casanova explained sternly.
The man reminded Gray to be quick.
After all, his subordinates needed his help.
The realization of having wasted the man's time made Gray apologize profusely.
Gray cut his thumb, letting a few drops of blood stain the paper. Then, he handed it out with the knife.
Casanova rolled up the paper, making it resemble an ancient scroll, and put the items in his back pocket.
The man then reassured him.
"You don't have to apologize."
"Telling me about your dream was a good choice. Had you decided to tell someone about my abilities, then the situation wouldn't have been this...simple."
His words made Gray shiver.
"You know where to find me if you need any help."
He continued.
"Do the same thing if you ever get another bizarre dream."
Gray was a bit confused about the dream part, but still agreed. All in all, he was extremely happy about the outcome of this bizarre event.
Gray had gotten himself a bodyguard!
With supernatural abilities on top of it!
Following the strange conversation, Casanova went back to the house he was working at, while Gray went to the store.
"How strange…" the boy scratched his head before stopping in his tracks.
'Wait. I forgot to speak about my encounter with the weird monolith…Well, it doesn't matter now, does it? Or should I tell him to be sure?'
He then checked his phone, yawning in the meantime.
Gray noticed that his sister had sent him a text, reminding him to buy toothpaste since they didn't have any.
'I was about to forget.' he sighed.
'Thanks, Kathy.'
Gray quickly placed his phone inside his pocket.
The young man went into the home necessities aisle and looked at the many brands of toothpastes, trying to find the cheapest one.
"5 euros? How is that legal? What a robbery!" he shouted in the middle of the store.
'I'm glad there are other cheaper versions…'
Gray took the toothpaste costing 1.50 euros and went towards the fridges where they stored the food and drinks in need of refrigeration.
He bought a gallon of milk costing 2.49 euros.
As he walked towards the checkout, he felt something unreal.
He felt as if an horrifying, putrid, and utterly evil creature was looming behind him, feeling as if this 'being' was inspecting every inch of his soul, turning it upside down.
Terrified, he turned around immediately.
…But nobody was there.
'I'm sleep deprived…' he noticed, slightly worried.
He gave five euros to the lady working at the checkout, receiving one euro as change. He thanked her, soon leaving the store.
Gray checked the time and noticed it was 8:12 am.
He went back home as fast as he could, for the exhaustion had taken a big toll on his body, making him yearn for some sleep.
…
"I'm home!" Gray shouted.
"You took too much time!" Kathy hissed from her room.
'Huh, she's not at work yet.' he wondered.
He shrugged and went back to his room.
Once he was there, he removed his clothes and threw them on the floor of his room, preparing himself for the best sleep of his life.
'Now I can really stop worrying about everything…'
He opened one eye, and after seeing the condition of his room, he couldn't help but take back his past words.
'…Nevermind.'
'I really need to clean this place.'
His thoughts turned gradually sluggish, and he drifted off to sleep.
…
Monday, 13th November 2023.
19:22 pm.
After many hours, Gray finally woke up.
Getting out of the bed, he yawned incessantly in his way to the bathroom.
Following his answer to the call of nature, he washed his hands and brushed his teeth.
The young man then went back to his room and started to watch a horror movie.
Its name was–Terrifier.
…
As he was done with the movie, he wanted to make a fine dinner.
But once he noticed the lack of many ingredients, he settled on making some risotto with sausages.
He took a pot and filled it with water, putting it on the stove. Then, he took a pan and did the same thing.
Using a lighter, he lit the stoves on.
Gray opened the fridge, taking two sausages. He removed the inedible film and put them on the pan.
After some minutes, the water started to boil, making him drop two bouillon cubes in the water. He stirred the water with a wooden spoon so that the cubes would dissolve.
And just like that, the broth for the risotto was ready.
Once the sausages were cooked, he added the rice on the pan and poured the broth on the rice by using a ladle.
He waited until the rice absorbed the broth before adding some more with the ladle, repeating the cycle until the rice was fully cooked.
Satisfied with his work of art, Gray called his sister.
"Dinner is ready!"
After a brief moment, he heard the thunderous stomping noises coming from that behemot of Kathy.
He was always amazed of how a girl that skinny could make such loud sounds just by walking.
…
Gray stared at his sister while she ravaged on the food like a starving hyena.
He couldn't help but do that every time he wanted someone to rate his food, for he had to scrutinize every fleeting emotion of the people that feasted on his creation.
"Rate it." he asked.
Kathy thought for some moments.
"The other times you cooked were tastier. But it's still good. I give you a seven." Kathy said as she gave him a thumbs-up.
'W-What?' his eyes twitched.
That day, Gray Montoya felt the indescribable urge to jump off a bridge.
He stayed motionless for over twenty minutes, his thoughts chaotic, resembling an ancient statue riddled in cogito.
'That's impossible, It can't be only a seven… This has to be a conspiracy! Big-Foods payed her to say so!'
After he ate his food with a defeated expression, he sighed, going back to his room.
'Tomorrow I have to go to school. I just want to sleep all day. Can't help it, though. I have to go even if I don't want to.'
'I can't even remember what subjects I have to bring…I'll check right now…'
Gray went towards his black school bag and checked the notebook where he stored his timetables.
"On Tuesday, we have english on the 1st and 2nd hour, on the 3rd we have physics, on the 4th we have philosophy, while on the last 2 hours we have p.e…"
He then put the books and the notebooks inside his bag as he yawned.
After doing that, he went inside the bathroom and took an hot bath, risking to fall asleep multiple times.
He somehow never faltered to the temptation.
As he was finished, Gray dried himself and got dressed without bothering to match his garments.
When he was finally done, he went inside his room and lay on his bed.
The young man stayed some minutes on his phone before falling asleep.
…
All was dark, pitch black in nature.
Gray found himself inside a boundless void, devoid of any smell and sounds.
He, however, wasn't afraid, for he felt as if he had been there for an eternity.
Although there wasn't any earth below him, he could walk in the sea of nothingness surrounding him.
At some point, he got bored of walking.
With a thought, he started floating around the place.
This sensation was beautiful, as he truly felt as if he could do anything inside this domain.
Yet, he felt lonely.
He traveled within the dark realm, seeking for solace.
Yet nobody was there.
For the first time, he felt chained.
Was he truly free if there wasn't anything but the shadows?
Thinking of the realm as a prison, he moved large clumps of shadows to 'see' whatever was hiding behind of them.
But he only found other darkness.
He traveled and traveled for an infinitely long period of time, but the void had become the only neighbor he could perceive.
"…Is anyone here?" he asked.
An ephemeral voice then resounded across the shadows, its illusory words barely heard.
[—I'm…here…]
When the boy heard a faint response, he rushed with all the speed he could muster.
Realizing that the sound came from a large, pulsating amalgamation of shadows, Gray used all his strength to move them.
At last, he saw something that wasn't darkness.
Behind the cluster, he could see a massive statue depicting a man.
The statue was naked and had an enormous hole in the place where the face was supposed to be; while his head sported a beautiful crown.
The statue was showing his palms; they were producing a faint white light.
Gray was amazed, for it had been long time since he had seen something that wasn't the endless amalgamations of darkness in this word.
His amazement turned into confusion as he heard a voice coming from the void inside the statue's face.
[Gray…]
Gray suddenly started floating towards it, as if gravity was ordering him to move there.
The call was getting louder and more inpatient; the once gentle push had turned into a forceful pull, directing him towards the unknown.
[Gray…]
He gazed at the hole in a daze, trying to comprehend what was pulling him, ecstatic to comprehend the unknown.
Inside the beyond there was a figure with tremendously long, jet-black hair and pitch black, abyssal-like irises.
Its expression was filled with pain and anger…its eyes were bloodshot, possessing an endless amount of hate contained within them.
Gray's eyes widened.
He instantly recognized the figure who had been calling him this whole time.
The being was…
Himself.
[GRAY!]