Nei instantly rolled over the earth, away from the crack. However, that wasn't the end of it, he wasn't yet safe, more cracks started appearing all around him and they grew in size.
He had to do something now if he didn't want to be swallowed whole!
"I can't die here!" He screamed and pushed himself up the ground with all his strength, into the area where he saw no cracks.
"puff…" Falling on the hard ground and dirtying his robe, Nei instantly turned his head to make sure he was really safe.
Seeing that the crack had stopped expanding half a meter from where he lied, Nei moved a little bit further to make sure he wouldn't be in any more danger, after which he finally let out a sigh of relief. "That was dangerous… almost."
"Shiieee…" When the edges of the long crack suddenly broke off.
Luckily, Nei was a careful person and had moved his body a few meters away from the edge, if not he would have surely fallen into the depth of the hole too.
Still a little bit fearful of what could have been his fate too, Nei slowly worked up his courage to go and look inside of the, what could already be called a canyon.
Carefully testing the safety of every step he took, Nei finally arrived. Peeking into the full-fledged canyon, Nei was surprised by what he saw.
He couldn't really see far, because of the fog that had already invaded into every inch of the canyon and blocked his eyes from spying. But what he could make out, was that the walls of the canyon were made out of glass, more precisely mirror glass that had his own image reflected inside of them.
"… That is me? But why can't I remember? Who am I really?!" Nei clutched his head in pain.
Seeing his own appearance for the first time, was a terrifying experience. Especially as the face looking back at him through the mirror was unfamiliar.
"Why is it like this? All this shit… I won't take it any longer!" Nei screamed at the top of his lungs, with his voice echoing through the void.
'What can I do? I walked for such a long time and the only thing that happened was an earthquake almost killing me. Is there something I am overseeing, or is it just impossible to leave… '
"Arkk… "
"Ha? A scream… it came out of the canyon!" Unsure of what he really heard, Nei stopped in his track and listened quietly for more. But after a few moments of hearing nothing else, Nei started considering if he was really becoming crazy and it was all a hallucination of his.
"Arrkkkk!"
However, not a beat later, another more clear sounding howl appeared from the darkness of the canyon. Promoting Nei to take it seriously. 'That's not a scream, more like a beastly screech… ' He thought seriously. "if it is, that's not good. I wouldn't be able to communicate with it and it might even be dangerous." Nei began considering.
"Who knows what kind of animals live here, hopefully not the kind I saw in the shadow… anyway, how can something live down the… '
"ARKK"
The scream interrupted Nei and a sudden wave of realisation hit him. "It's coming up! How can it climb up so fast?! Damn!"
Not knowing for sure if it was friendly or not, Nei decided to turn tail and run back into the direction from where he first came.
Turning his head back from time to time, he kept an eye out for anything following him from behind.
"Why do so many bad things have to happen at once." Out of breath, Nei stopped and lied down in exhaustion. "Let's wait here first, it won't be able to find me in the fog"
"ARRRKKKK"
However not a minute later, the beast howl was heard from the edge of the canyon. It had climbed out!
'So fast… Its physical ability must be far higher than mine.'
"ARRRRKKKKKGG"
'NO WAY!... Why is it coming here? Just a coincidence?' Slightly panicking, Nei forced his body and mind to calm down.
But when he heard the vibration, that was created by the steps of the beast coming ever nearer. An unexplainable feeling went through his body, pushing his adrenaline up to new heights, similar to a warning.
'...Could it be, it knows?'
Fuck, It's a beast! How didn't I think about it, most animals don't rely on their sight but sense of smell!
Realising his own mistake, Nei jumped up from the ground once more and ran. Of course not as before in a straight line, but in ever-changing ways.
Although this helped him keep the distance with the beast, Nei understood soon that he couldn't escape a confrontation.
Mainly because of his swindling stamina and the energetic murderous cries coming from behind him.
'It's definitely not friendly to me, it's more like it enjoys hunting me.' Nei's expression distorted.
He had to fight, but what could he do to increase his winning chances? Although its strength was higher than his, he still had his human intellect. But what use was intelligence in this place and situation? How could he make it into an advantage?
Looking around himself, the only thing that fell into Nei's eyes were the endless weed and dirt on the ground. 'Is it hopeless? What can I do with garbage?'
Closing his heavy eyelids, inspiration slowly streamed into every part of Nei's brain and created an idea. 'This might work.'
Motivated to survive, Nei went to make his thoughts into reality.
Moving a few meters into the direction of where he predicted the monster to come from, Nei crouched down to where he could touch the weed, beginning to pluck the weed from the dirt in an orderly fashion and putting them to the side. After which he dug a small hole at the part where the ground was freed from weed. Lastly, he carefully put the weed back over the burrow to hide it from sight.
"That the best I can do right now…" Nei spoke while putting two handfuls of dirt into his pockets and slowly walking back to his beforehand position.
"Now it's up to the Mistress of Destiny." Nei looked up into the distance, where the beast was coming from.
Adjusting his body from casual to a battle stance, so that he was flexible in the fight, Nei stared into the fog without blinking.
"AAARRRRKKKKGG"
When the beast ripped through the curtain of fog and finally appeared before him, it's appearance was completely different from Nei's expectations.
Anything would have been fine, he was prepared for it, but what he saw in the end, was worse than the most horrible thing he prepared himself for. Transforming him into an immovable stone statue. With an expression of disbelief and fear.
"Me?"
The monster that was still rushing with an incredible, humanly impossible speed at him, looked exactly like Nei.
It had the same brown, golden hair, the same tanned working-class skin tone, the same defined muscles, and the exact same blue eyes as Nei.
A clone of himself…
Feelings of confusion filled all of Nei's thoughts, the moment he saw it.
Why did it look like him? Did that mean that his appearance wasn't only his? So how did he really look? Will I ever get my own past back? I don't understand!
I don't understand!
I don't…