[Synchronizing....]
[You have been registered as Creator 401.]
[You are being transported into the first sanctuary...]
The world around him finally dissipated.
It all turned blank and empty, it wasn't as painful as he thought it'd be, but the sensation of being warped through temporal gateways wasn't exactly a pleasant feeling.
It was his first transportation through two realities, the world around him dissipated, and it all turned blank and empty.
It wasn't as painful as he expected it to be, but the sensation of being warped through temporal gateways wasn't exactly a pleasant feeling.
It was a feeling he could never get used to. Then when it was all over, he opened his eyes and found himself standing in a bright room.
There were no sturdy reinforced walls, no doors or windows, everywhere was just white.
It felt... Systematic, like he returned back to the avatar customization settings.
Then a mechanical chime in his ears brought him back to his senses.
[Welcome to the first trial of the Sanctuary.]
The voice felt too real, almost like he was trapped inside some sort of video game.
[You have been chosen to partake in the trials of the Sanctuary. You have only one mission, survive. The fifty Sanctuaries rests above the others like steps in the heavens. Every sanctuary is a separate realm, with its own landscape, trials, and dangers. To ascend to the second sanctuary, it is necessary to obtain the Soul Fragment which rests in the middle of the first Sanctuary. Good luck.]
The voice in his head disappeared just as quickly as it came.
"What?" Renatro tried to make sense of it, from what the system of the Sanctuary said, the fifty Sanctuaries was each like it's own paradise, having it's own different trials and dangers.
The light dissolved all around him, and almost immediately, several piercing screams tore through the air, startling Rentaro at once.
Rentaro slowly opened his eyes, only to find himself standing in the middle of a forest. For a moment, he thought he was dreaming, but the air felt a bit too real, too heavy against his skin.
The trees towered high above him, stretching endlessly into the sky. They were far taller than anything he had ever seen, their massive trunks rising like pillars of an ancient temple.
But that wasn't all.
The leaves of the trees were red, and not just a few, all of them.
Every branch was covered in deep red leaves, and even the bark, the branches, and the long roots spreading across the ground looked stained in the same color.
And all around him, were the mutilated and corpses of three humans.
His stomach churned immediately, and he vomited immediately. The corpses had their stomach and chest ripped out, and from the disgusting sight he saw, their internal organs were missing.
Rentaro took a step forward and examined the trees carefully. The thickness of the red liquid that dripped down the leaves, the repugnant that smell filled the air, and the swift change in the atmosphere.
It all suggested the same thing.
That was the blood of the three corpses.
"Is this the trial of the sanctuary that voice was talking about?"
Almost like a response, a sharp and loud voice tore through the air. Rentaro turned to his back immediately, and he found a woman dressed in an adventurers gear running towards him.
"HELP ME! PLEASE HELP ME!!"
A cold chill ran down Rentaro's spine, and his eyes widened as the unease in his chest spiked.
His instinct took over, and without thinking, he rushed behind the nearest tree and pressed himself against the rough trunk, barely daring to breathe.
Then it happened.
In the very next second, something massive dropped from above.
Rentaro flinched, and his heart pounded hard against his chest as he peeked out slightly and what he saw made his blood run cold.
A huge creature, shaped like a monstrous werewolf, had slammed into the woman and pinned her to the ground. Its body was large and powerful, it's muscles pulsed beneath its dark fur, and its presence was overwhelming and violent.
"HELP ME!!" Her screams pierced through her throat as the wolf-like tore through her raw skin. It's sharp canines and fangs crushed her bones with little ease, and it feasted like it hadn't eaten in several weeks as her screams faded away.
Every cell in Rentaro's body trembled as he watched the horrific scene unfold in front of him, by himself he couldn't move, but his instincts that he developed throughout his time on the streets saved him.
The beast raised it's head up immediately, Rentaro's body tensed, and he immediately hid his head back behind the tree.
He didn't dare to make a sound, he didn't even dare to move an inch. The beast remained motionless for a moment, relying on it's sharp sense of smell to detect whatever was in it's sensory rage.
But the repugnant smell of dead corpses, and the thick stench of blood made it difficult for it to sniff Rentaro out.
In the end it gave up, and it charged away searching for it's next meal.
Rentaro sighed heavily, and his trembling legs gave out as he fell on the ground. In the end, it was his street smarts and survival instincts that saved him. But this was on a whole different level from what he was used to!
He took a moment to gather himself, then he peeked out of the tree at the remains of the woman the beast had feasted on.
His face twisted in disgust and fear, the beast did not hold back, it ate all it could. All that remained of the woman was her bones and a few chunks of flesh that clung to it.
"What the hell is this place..."
Everything about this place had him on edge, but what particularly disturbed him the most was the other three corpses.
From their smell, to the freshness and blood that almost dried up, it meant that they died not long ago.
Rentaro stared at his palms, and he found remnants of dried blood that clung to his skin.
When he hid behind the tree, his hands were stained by the blood that dripped from the leaves, but it was a bit too soon for it to dry.
And this couldn't have been one of those marked by the sanctuary like him, that is, those Soul Awakeners like him entering the Sanctuary for the first time, because it happened simultaneously.
"Which means... I entered into another body?." He didn't know how to describe it, it still felt like it was his body, but the conditions in place suggested otherwise.
But a bigger issue arose, if the beast that cleanly devoured the woman moments ago wasn't the cause of those corpses death, what was?
That was a question he didn't want to find the answer to.
He gathered himself immediately, and carefully travelled through the canopies of the towering trees that provided cover for creatures that might have the ability to fly.
As Rentaro cautiously travelled through the forest, he glanced at his surroundings, and what he saw petrified him. Dried up bones filled the red soil, several broken skulls formed a heap not far away from him, and the truth became clear to him.
This wasn't an ordinary forest.
There was term used in his previous life to describe a situation such as this, in several known texts, this forest was referred to as Hades Playground.
The distant cries of help and helpless pleas faded away slowly into the distance, and the forest fell a bit silent.
But Rentaro didn't dare drop his guard, if two years of living in the streets taught him anything, those who wanted to claim your lives weren't always as far away from you as you thought.
And as his instincts had it, the snap of a twig caught his attention immediately. He sidestepped and hid behind a tree swiftly with precision, like it was an evasion technique he had diligently practiced over the years.
He peeked out carefully, and observed his surroundings from afar.
From a distance, he could see the shadows of three humanoid creatures approaching carefully. From their well calculated movements, to their constant vigilant as they moved, it was obvious that whatever they were, they were clearly intelligent.
'Is it a monster? Or a human?' He thought as the shadows got closer and closer, and as it got close enough.
Rentaro's eyes widened a bit as the three figures came into view.
They were humans.
One was a bulky bald man dressed in body armor, brown leather pants and a large sword sheathed behind his back, the second was a slimmer man with a considerable physique in a black tank top, a black pants and brown boots, and a smaller sword that fits his size.
And finally, a stunning woman in a white suit of armour, she had a pale skin and clear blue eyes that complimented her white silky hair and curvy waist.
"Humans? Are they Soul Awakeners?"
"Who's there!?" The slimmer man drew his sword immediately, and pointed his sword at the tree Rentaro his behind.
'What?' Rentaro's body tensed a bit, and his eyes widened as he tried his best not to move.
'How did they know I was behind the tree?' Their senses was sharp, sharper than he imagined. He barely moved a muscle, and somehow they still managed to sense him?
Rentaro sighed, then raised his hands and walked out from behind the tree. There was no point trying to hide, if they could sense him when he wasn't moving?
Then what was stopping them from easily cutting him down if he tried to run?
"You are..." The bulky man's eyes widened a bit as he saw Rentaro.
"A human?" The slimmer man dropped his guard, they weren't expecting to see a human in Hades Playground, alive at that.
"Who are you?" The stunning girl asked with a firm voice, and the two men clutched the hilts of their swords tightly.
"I am Rentaro Mizuno, a Soul Awakener who was just summoned into the sanctuary."