The entity started to walk toward him.
With each step it got more and more close.
Its steps were slow; with each step a creepy chill crawled along Soryn's spine.
But the more Soryn tried to look at it, the less he could understand what he was looking at.
Its body refused to take shape.
Instead of a clear form, the creature looked like a distorted with laggy patterns in space. Its outline constantly shifted and glitched, as if reality itself struggled to display it properly.
Soryn's breath started to become uneven.
"What… is that…?" he whispered.
Instinctively, he tried to step back.
But his body didn't move. Not even slightly.
His arms remained frozen at his sides while his legs refused to respond.
It was as if his entire body no longer belonged to him.
Panic surged through his chest.
Move.
Move!
Inside his mind he screamed at his own body, forcing every muscle to obey him. But nothing happened.
The entity continued walking toward him.
The floating fragments of the broken room slowly drifted away from the creature, as if even the remnants of reality were trying to escape its presence.
Soryn's heart pounded violently.
Move…
MOVE!
But his body refused to obey.
The entity finally stopped directly in front of him.
Up close, it looked even more unnatural.
Slowly, the entity raised its arm.
The scythe lifted into the air.
The motion was slow… almost ceremonial… as if it had done this countless times before.
Soryn's breathing stopped.
Am I… going to die…?
The thought formed quietly in his mind.
The entity's distorted head tilted slightly as if staring directly at him.
Then, in a low, cold voice that echoed through the void, it spoke a single word.
"Die."
Soryn stared at the descending blade, his mind strangely calm despite the terror gripping his chest.
So this is it…
A bitter thought surfaced inside him.
What a pathetic death…
The scythe began descending toward his neck.
Instinctively, Soryn shut his eyes tightly.
Sorry… everyone…
The thought slipped through his mind as he waited for the blade to tear him apart.
One second passed.
Then another.
But nothing happened.
No pain.
No impact.
Only silence remained there.
Soryn's eyebrows slowly tightened in confusion.
Carefully, he opened his eyes.
The entity was no longer standing in front of him.
Now it stood several meters away, its distorted body flickering violently like a corrupted shadow. The scythe remained in its hand, but the creature no longer paid attention to Soryn.
Instead, its head twisted sharply to one side.
Then the other.
Its movements were sudden and jerky. It looked like that it was searching for something through the darkness.
Soryn stared at it with confusion.
What… just happened?
The entity suddenly let out a deep, creepy shout.
"I know it is you, *****!" it roared into the void.
Its voice echoed across the endless darkness, vibrating through the broken fragments of the crumbling space around them.
"Come out!" it screamed again, raising the scythe slightly as if preparing for another attack. "Show yourself!"
For a brief moment, nothing happened.
Then-
Another voice echoed through the void.
But the sound was distorted.
The words themselves seemed erased, as if Soryn's mind refused to understand them.
"***********."
Soryn frowned.
He could hear the voice clearly… but the meaning never reached him.
Before he could even process it, a crack suddenly appeared behind him.
The empty space split apart like shattered glass, revealing a dark fracture in reality itself.
The crack started to break more and more wider. Then a violent pulling force erupted from it.
Soryn felt his body jerk backward.
"What—?!"
His feet dragged across the invisible ground as the force pulled him toward the crack.
"What is this now?!" he shouted, panic flooding his voice.
The pulling force grew stronger and stronger.
His body started to lift slightly from the ground.
And then in a flash, the crack swallowed him whole.
He again found himself in darkness.
He felt himself floating again. Drifting slowly through an endless void where neither light nor sound existed.
Then after floating in there for an unknown time.
A faint voice appeared. It didn't sound human. It was as if the words were being spoken by something that did not understand feelings.
"You are *** the *******, Soryn."
The voice echoed softly around him.
But before he could understand what it meant—
A sudden, sharp pain exploded inside his eyes.
"Agh—!"
Soryn's entire body jolted violently.
His eyes snapped open.
And instantly-He froze. Right in front of him stood a gigantic spider.
The monster towered over the ruined street, its enormous body easily the size of a truck. Its long, jagged legs stabbed into the cracked pavement as it twisted its grotesque form.
Dark blood poured from its many eyes, running down its face and dripping onto the ground below.
The creature shrieked violently, its piercing scream echoing through the shattered city.
But before the creature could move, a sudden force grabbed his arm from behind and pulled him backward.
"Hey!" Soryn shouted.
"Mister!"
The voices broke through the chaos.
As those words echoed through his ears he quickly turned around.
In front of his eyes stood Isaya. The boy was gripping Soryn's arm tightly, pulling him away from the monster.
But it was not what he wanted to see.
Isaya's clothes were completely soaked in blood. Dark stains covered his shirt, his sleeves, even his hands.
Blood trickled from the corner of the boy's mouth as he struggled to breathe, his small chest rising and falling rapidly.
Yet he still held onto Soryn with trembling determination.
On the other side stood Serenya. She stood there forcing the spider to stay away from them. But her left hand was badly injured with blood dripping down from her fingers and her movements were not correct even. She was staggering.
"Serenya, come here." Soryn shouted as he finally stood up and cleaned blood from his eyes.
His eyes were no longer in pain and blood also stopped flowing out of it.
The moment Serenya heard his voice she rushed toward them. Her eyes were filled with a worry that he could clearly see.
"Are you alright?" she said.
"I am alright." He replied calmly. "Worry about yourself. Both of you are injured."
Suddenly, a gigantic spider landed in front of them with a thunderous crash. The ground cracked beneath its weight.
It was far larger than the others.
Not the size of a truck. The size of a house.
Its blood-covered eyes slowly turned toward them.
For a moment, Soryn's mind went blank.
This… is bad.