I didn’t get a response.
Was the phone broken? I looked at it again, fiddling with the numbers.
However, there didn’t appear to be any change.
’Why is it not working? Why is no one responding?’
I started to panic a little, my breath growing heavier. I didn’t know what was happening, images flashing across my mind as bits and pieces of mories surfaced. No, I rembered who I was.
...But my mind was ssed up.
It was stopping from speaking properly.
"Is anybody there?"
I tried to speak again.
But yet again, I received no response.
My heart sank, but I continued to speak nonetheless.
"...I need your help. I... just barely managed to get the phone working. I can only call three tis for a minute each ti. Please help ."
Wait...
But how did I know this?
I looked at the phone, the confusion growing.
The situation didn’t make sense at all to . There was so much confusion in my head, and the more ti passed, the more confused I beca.
Things that I wasn’t supposed to know popped up in my mind, and things that I was supposed to know started to leave my mind.
I licked my lips, looking around .
"I don’t know where I am. Concrete walls... I’m underground. I think. I hear water, but... it doesn’t drip right. It echoes too long."
Driiiip! Driiiip—!
The water didn’t sound right.
It didn’t drip so much before fading, each drop elongating unnaturally before breaking apart. When it finally hit the ground, there was no splash, only a dull, soundless impact.
Sothing about the sound made feel unsettled, and as the drip continued to echo, my ears pricked up as I heard a certain noise coming from behind .
Step—
".....!"
It was the sound of a step.
My breath caught, my eyes shifting in all directions as I brought the phone next to my ear, and my gaze fixed on a nearby tal shelf. Without a second thought, I slipped behind it, crouching low as the cold tal pressed against my back.
Step, Step—
"I hear sothing moving. I’m crouching under a shelf... I hope it doesn’t hear ."
The air around seed to close in.
A crushing weight filled the air, tightening around my chest until breathing felt like dragging air through mud. My body sank lower behind the shelf as if the pressure itself were forcing down.
A presence soon stepped into the room, and I held my breath.
Step—
A shadow cast on the floor, my eyes tracing the shadow as it walked around the room, my heart beating so loud that I was afraid it would hear .
With every step, the air seed to grow heavier, pressing down until it felt as if the walls themselves were closing in.
But despite this, I continued to speak.
"...It slls like copper."
I didn’t know why, but it felt like I had to speak.
Drip! Drip—
"....Like blood left too long in the air. I need your help. G-et out of this place. I really need you to help !"
My voice trembled, the fear finally starting to get to as my stomach started to churn.
Images continued to flash in my mind.
Faces. So that I felt were familiar. So that I felt like they weren’t.
But then—
I felt it.
Step—
The presence stood right before , a large shadow casting over the area that I was in.
I pressed the phone closer to my ear, my entire body shaking from the fear as I spoke.
"O-oh god. I... sothing is in front of . I can feel it. Please don’t find . Please..."
I begged.
I prayed.
I hoped.
But—
BANG!
It still ca, a loud smashing sound filling the surroundings as sothing smashed against the shelf.
’Oh, no!’
I ducked further down the shelf, hiding my presence as much as possible.
But that was useless.
Deep down, I knew that it had sensed .
And sure enough...
BANG! BANG!
The banging continued.
It was louder than before.
Pieces started falling from above as the shelf started to break down before . I wanted to scream, to run away, but I was paralyzed. I couldn’t do anything at all.
BANG!
I heard a crack, and the table shattered.
The phone call ended.
My expression changed drastically. I felt a shadow appear above , hovering its head over the hole above to stare at .
An eye stared right at .
The mont I locked eyes with the eye, my mind was dazed.
mories flooded my mind, and I was suddenly reminded of everything.
The cult. The quest. The phone call.
That was also the mont that I managed to curb a lot of the fear that I felt as I processed the situation before . Not a mont later, I saw the eye move with a large movent, and my second node churned.
[Trait Transfer]
The surroundings darkened around as the presence faded completely.
I seized the mont to step out from behind the shelf, but the instant my foot touched the ground, a sharp pain shot through my node. The skill flickered out, and before I could react, I was facing the back of a towering man clad in white, his grip firm around the handle of a massive axe.
Pieces of tal splintered from the spot he hit, as its large body turned to face my direction.
I didn’t give him the ti to turn.
A dark figure manifested before the man clad in white, lunging towards it and blocking its movents.
But as it did, the man’s hood fell away, revealing his face, and my heart sank at the sight before .
What greeted was a face.
Yet not his own. It was stretched unnaturally across his features, pinned in place like a mask, the edges pulled tight as if forced to fit where it didn’t belong.
For a mont, I froze, unable to process the sight.
But I was quick to snap out of it.
’Shit, is that his face or is he wearing soone else’s face?’
"Would you like to know?"
".....!"
I grew startled by the man’s sudden words.
Staring at him, I grew tense.
’Did he just read my words?’
A grin spread across the man’s face as he gripped the axe tightly. The Realmwalker imdiately got into action, tightening its grip over its body, but the man’s power proved to be incredibly explosive as he still managed to force a step in my direction.
Step!
I didn’t move.
I watched as the man drew nearer to .
Step, Step—!
The Realmwalker continued to block it, transforming its body, but despite its best efforts, it couldn’t stop the man at all as he took one step after another, drawing nearer and nearer to where I was.
"...Seth Thorner."
He began to speak my na, his hoarse voice filling the room.
"We know a lot about you."
His skin stretched further apart as its grip over the axe tightened.
"You’ve been giving us a lot of trouble."
"...."
"We’ve been watching you closely. Waiting for you to co. And now, you’ve co."
A large, grotesque smile filled his features as he stooped right before .
"I’ll greet you in the Architech’s st—"
Ziiiing—!
A sudden tune filled the air, stopping the man’s words halfway.
Instantly, the smile wiped off his face as he turned his attention towards the figure that stood not far from where I was, its long hands holding onto a violin as its lips pulled into a smile.
"It always pleases to see soone who might appreciate my music."
Ziiiiiiiing—!
The Conductor drew the bow across the violin, and a low, trembling note filled the air. The sound resonated through the room, making the very walls quiver. As the lody deepened, I stared at the man before , his features shifting, the once-present smile slowly lting away from his face.
Standing behind him, the Realmwalker finally managed to make him co to a stop.
I stood in silence, staring at the scene.
The tune continued to fill the air as I stood, making no noise.
On the other hand, the man looked to be struggling.
Ziiiing!
A look of raw struggle twisted across his features as the music continued, his face trembling under the weight of each note, as if the lody itself was tearing sothing out of him.
"K-kh..."
His face twitched, and his expression started to twist.
The mask glued to his face began to slip, peeling back to reveal raw, pallid flesh beneath. My heart, which had been racing, sohow found a steadier rhythm as I slid a knife from my pocket and studied him for a long, asured mont.
In that mont, my mind throbbed once more, the world’s color fading right before my eyes.
Gray.
It all soon turned gray.
And soon, a thought crossed my mind as I stared at the knife in my grasp.
"....."
Should I...?
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