On Thursday afternoon, during a boring math lesson, I casually browsed Amazon to make a purchase.
"Check this out, Dul. A ritual book to another world. Gotta buy this."
"Pfft, what is this, Mat. Buying nonsense books. Better buy FF diamonds. Let's play together later."
"Whatever. I'm checking this out."
Saturday afternoon, the book arrived. I carefully opened the package.
"Whoa, damn, this book is so cool. Looks like a legendary book, man."
I opened the book page by page. The paper was still thick but of very poor quality. Some edges even had holes, as if they had been eaten by termites.
"Here it is! How to go to another world. Hmmm... the ingredients are chalk, red candle, salt, and my own blood... easy enough!"
I enthusiastically read word by word, though the writing was somewhat faded. "It says here: draw the pattern, place the candle, then... whatever, time to experiment."
I didn't read the final part of the book because I felt too lazy to read everything. The writing was very hard to read without knowing that this would become my biggest regret.
I drew the pattern and placed all the ingredients according to the instructions.
"Okay, the last step is just my blood."
I dropped my blood right in the centre of the pattern.
"Hah, nothing happened. Stupid scam boo..."
Before I could finish speaking, I lost consciousness. No light appeared. No phenomenon occurred. I just saw myself lying on the floor.
"W-what! Isn't that me? But why can I..."
I wondered until I realised my consciousness had left my body. I became a bit scared. What if I couldn't return to my body?
In my confusion, a hole sucked me in. I knew I shouldn't be pulled into that hole. But my non-physical body couldn't resist and was finally sucked into the hole.
I lost sensation. I couldn't see or hear anything. All I knew was darkness and silence. There was only a point of light at the end. I tried to reach it with all my strength. Finally, I reached it, and I began to see something besides darkness - a glare.
Immortal World, year 6359.
"Ahhh... so bright, damn. But what is this?"
I started to feel my senses returning. My body began to perceive sound. But what's this smell?
"Hey, you! Wake up! Don't pretend to faint."
A voice accompanied by a whip struck my body.
I thought this was a dream. But it felt too real to be a dream. When I opened my eyes, a terrifying scene appeared before me. A dark cave, lit only by oil torches, creates a gloomy and uncomfortable atmosphere.
That wasn't the most terrifying part. A group of masked adults with swords at their waists was whipping underage children. It made my hair stand on end. Reflexively, I spoke. "Hey, what are you doing! This is clearly against the law!"
"Shut up! I never told you to speak," said a man with a body as big as a gorilla while swinging his whip right at my chest.
"Arrggh!" I grimaced in pain. The pain felt so real. Impossible for this to be a dream. But I felt somewhat unfamiliar with this body. Isn't it too thin? I thought to myself, comparing it to the body I was familiar with.
"You! Useless brat! Trash who can't use qi. Don't make trouble!" the man continued while whipping, kicking, and stomping on me until I almost lost consciousness.
The beating didn't stop until my body could no longer endure. Then a world message appeared.
Name: Karman Sutejo.
Status:Injured (recovering).
Qi:Undetectable (cannot use qi).
Mission:Become a true human.
I was very confused. Everything happened so fast. My brain was too overwhelmed to understand what was really happening. I was completely speechless.
"I like this defective child. Other children would probably be dead by now. HAHAHAHAHA!" said the gorilla-bodied man loudly.
"Take that useless child, lock him up and don't let him escape," the man continued. "Maybe in a few days we'll see something interesting. HAHAHAHA!"
Nothing special. Except for the dark prison, the damp soil was blackened by dried blood. Insects covered the walls, and a pungent smell filled the room.
One by one, the children who were with me earlier were put into prison. Now, in this prison, I was accompanied by several children who had just arrived.
"What are you looking at! Want to mock us?! Damn special kid," said a child with a slightly larger body.
"I-I, I mean, sorry. If I may ask, where are we?" I said.
"You! Don't pretend to be stupid just because you're special," said the large-bodied boy.
"We're at the Blood Cult headquarters," said a child in the corner with a body smaller than mine. "And we will become their experiment materials," he continued.
"What do you mean???"
"I mean, we will die here," concluded the child while turning his body and cleaning the floor to lie down his tired body, sweeping away insects with his hand.
Days passed with repeating routines. Our bodies were pushed to their limits. Ruthless training. One by one, the children fell, becoming fertiliser for the Blood Cult's grand ambitions.
Initially, I was a very weak child. Slowly, after several months and even years had passed, my body began to adapt. In fact, it now seemed that this training wasn't tiring at all.
A voice accompanied by laughter. "Kekekek... Is this the boy you were talking about?"
From the darkness stood a middle-aged man with snake-like eyes, staring sharply at me, piercing through my soul. My intuition told me something bad would happen.
"Take that child to my room."
A cold aura immediately penetrated to the marrow of my bones.
It seemed the small thing I did was a step that brought death to me. No turning back. I was helpless. All I felt was despair, powerlessness, and regret.
Will I die? Mom... help me...