"How did I end up here? Where am I?" A young man asked. He had currently found himself in quite a predicament, he was surrounded by nothing but darkness and bound by unbreakable chains. He saw countless dark beasts and creatures staring at him from the darkness. He had tried to escape many times but to no avail, at some point, he stopped trying to avoid dying of exhaustion. To find out how he ended up here, we must see the past.
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Once upon a time, a child was unmatched in his abilities to create art. Critics and experts alike would praise his every work and many people admired him, but alas he was not perfect. He would often join competitions to share his work with the world but there was a problem, He would never win. Time after time he would give it his all but he would never be at the top. He eventually stopped trying, he disappeared and the memories of him in people dissipated.
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"It's already 7:00 a.m?" The young man said
The young man hurriedly got up from the bed and lazily scurried toward the bathroom. The man headed downstairs after taking a bath.
"Chroma, You should teach yourself to wake up earlier. it'll be troublesome later on if you keep waking up late" a middle-aged man commented
Chroma sat there in silence.
A Middle-aged woman looked at her son and thought to herself about what she had done wrong.
Chroma was unfazed and ate his food in silence.
Chroma left for the house for school, while he was walking he saw a black cat wandering around. He petted the cat and asked if it was lonely, He sat there in a daze. After some time he regained his senses and glanced at his watch and noticed that it was almost time for class. He rushed to the school and thankfully arrived before the school guard blocked the entrance, waiting to scold the students unfortunate enough to be late.
As he entered the class he heard an annoying yet familiar sound.
"Chroma you're here! How are you doing?" the sound of his friend greeting him.
As usual, chroma ignored him and continued to his chair, where he was greeted by yet another person. The boy in front of him turned around, He blabbered about how if he was in the same position he would surely respond differently.
"It's none of your business" chroma coldly said as he opened his book and started reading.
"Ouch, that kinda hurt, well talk to you later!" The boy replied as he faced the front.
"Good morning, sit down and take out your textbooks," the homeroom teacher said as he walked in.
__________
"I'm so drained, classes are boring," Blanka said while stretching his arms.
"Don't you think so chroma?"
"A little I guess" chroma whispered quietly
Blanka looked at chroma and smiled.
"Ah but anyway, that story about Orpheus we studied last week will be included in our exams" Blanka continuedly blabbered.
________
Blanka waved as they parted ways while chroma stared at the street in front of him. Chroma reluctantly looked back to respond; however, Blanka had already turned around. Chroma lowered his hand and continued walking.
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As he arrived at home, his dad immediately asked how school went.
"The same as any other day" Chroma replied in a slightly irritated voice
His dad frowned but held it back " Is that so, go take a bath then come down for dinner"
"I've got something to do, so just leave me with some leftovers"
"You can do that after we eat, we haven't eaten together in a long time," his dad said as he slammed his hands on the table.
"You can go eat together, I'll only disturb you two" chroma said as he walked up the stairs and into his bedroom.
His dad stared at him with a regretful face
______
"Why can't you just leave me alone?" He said as he sat on his chair.
Chroma took a deep breath and looked around his bedroom
Scattered around his room were ripped pieces of paper and tape barely attached to the wall, A memorial to his past. After a few minutes of thinking, Chroma stood up and hurriedly picked up the pieces of paper and ripped the pieces of tape from the wall, and carelessly throws them into the trash bin. After he cleans his room he looks around the room and something strikes his interest. He heads towards his desk and opens his drawer. He picks up a newspaper from his drawer and looks at it with a cold gaze.
'Art prodigy disappears after losing yet another competition'
"I'll put it all behind me, my past and everything else related to it," He said as he threw the newspaper away
"I should focus on the present," he said as he grabbed a pen and started doing his homework
___
(How weird, he's never missed a day of school before) chroma thinks to himself as he walked down the street. Blanka, his friend was nowhere to be found today.
"Whatever, I'm sure he'll come back tomorrow"
Even though chroma had said that there was still a lingering feeling that something had happened.
(Maybe something weird will happen?) Chroma gave it a thought
(Maybe it's a sign that I'll get good scores on the test)Chroma said as he looks up at the sky.
___
"I'm hungry," he said after arriving home. He gazed at the fridge and after a while, He walks up to it, and after heating some food He grabs a chair from the table and picks up the utensils. As he's about to dig in the drops the spoon.
As he picks up the spoon "Should I try to do it again?" He thought to himself as he noticed that he was holding it in a matter similar to how someone would hold a pencil. It was trembling and he barely holding it. After a moment of silence, chroma laughed to himself.
(I must be going crazy from all that studying) chroma gave it no more thought and continued eating his food. After eating, chroma immediately headed for his room. He opened the door and immediately closed it. Upon entering he saw a pencil laying on the floor.
"Did they go through my stuff?" He immediately thought.
He picked up the pencil from the floor and clenched it.
"I'm...I'm never going to do it again!" He said as he threw it aside.
"I'll...I'll forget all about it and move on" he calmed himself.
He climbed onto the bed and muttered words while staring at the ceiling.
'Semper procedendum sine more
" I must keep moving forward... without fear," he said as his eyes slowly closed.
Little did he know, that this particular night would change his entire world.
______
Chroma jolted awake, With his eyes closed he tries to reach for his phone; however, he only feels grass.
"What?" He said as he opened his eyes and viewed his surroundings.
"Where...where am I!" He shouted into the empty fields. after carefully analyzing his surroundings, he quickly asked himself if he was dreaming.
"Maybe I got reincarnated?... No that's not possible, right?" He asked himself as he stood up and noticed a tree beside him.
"But besides that...Why is everything black and white?" He said as he looked at the charcoal-colored tree and white leaves falling from it.
He then looked down at his feet, the grass was white. Even the ground beneath it was white as well, no animals could be seen and all forms of sound apart from his own were non-existent.
"It seems so real," he said as he kneeled and softly touched the white grass. As he was deep in thought, he suddenly felt the ground slightly shaking. He quickly stood up and stared into the distance. He spots something in the distance, A short of the black wall; however, it seemed to be getting closer. As he was observing the black wall he failed to notice the darkness above slowly approaching.
"I wonder what it is" as he said this he noticed that it was slightly darker than before. He changed his view and turned to the sky, he gasped at what he saw. The black sky was approaching, seemingly drowning everything under it in darkness. As he was frozen from the frightening sight he heard something behind him, The black wall was seemingly closer than before, by a lot. The black wall upon closer inspection was made up of black humanoids.
"Are those humans?" He said trying to see further
Chroma dropped his arms and stepped back in shock, frightened by what he saw. Monsters, this word was the only thing that he could use to describe them. Humanoids with different characteristics face full of anguish and pain. For chroma who had only seen these in books like most people, it was horrifying. He froze.
(What am I doing!) He said as he focused himself. After a moment of thought, he decided to head into the darkness. Before he headed into it, he took one more look towards the black humanoids. It was close enough to the point where he could see each of them individually. He hardened his resolve and clenched his fists. He took a running position.
"I won't die!" He said as he pushed his foot against the ground. One after the other he took a step until he could feel the breeze hitting against his face. He ran like his life depended on it, every step he took the darkness got closer until he was only a few feet away. He braced himself and ran straight in.
As he entered the darkness he suddenly felt weightless, like he was walking in the air. He couldn't see where the ground was or where the sky was, He was in a void.
"I have to keep running," he said to himself in an exhausted voice
Chroma eventually stopped running, he turned behind him to see if it was still there, but to his surprise, nothing was there except for darkness.
"Is this a nightmare? what's happening!" He said
"No, being like this won't help," he said as he realized he won't be leaving this mysterious place. He looked at his hands and noticed something.
"Wh-what?!?!" He said as he noticed his legs starting to be consumed by the darkness.
"I have to get out!" He said as he ran, not knowing where he was going. He slowly started to feel numb, he couldn't feel whether his legs were moving or not. His consciousness started to fade in and out and in his last moments of being awake, he reached his hands out in the hope of being saved.
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"Ah right, that's how I ended up here" chroma said in a worn-out voice. He had tried everything to break these chains but nothing worked. He eventually stopped trying in the fear of losing all his strength. From his perspective, he had been here for at least a week, and to make it worse these voices were ridiculing him. It was unbearable.
"You feel like you're worthless? So you avoid people? How pathetic" one of the voices said
"You think you'll be judged, so you become cold on the outside to avoid ridicule. How childish" another added..
"Stop!" Chroma said to no avail. The voices continued to bombard him with words, the worst part was that they were all true.
"How do I get out!" he asked desperately to whoever could hear it.
(Accept the truth) a voice said in his mind.
Chroma was shocked, he had asked the same question many times but no response was given. He was confused at first, but he immediately figured out what it meant. He began crying, he clenched his fists and he shouted.
"You're right, All of you are right. I'm a brat! I failed so many times I lost hope, I gave up" he paused and looked down, his tears were flowing down his face.
"I was scared of being ridiculed, Of being seen as worthless and trash. So I pushed them all away, I acted cold and like I didn't care so they wouldn't see my true self. A failure" he said in a low voice.
"But I failed to realize that all this time I had these people around me. They always helped me, supported me, and admired me. I failed to realize that my mistake didn't matter to them, And I failed to realize that my failure didn't define me." He said as his tears intensely ran down his face.
"So please, give me a second chance!" Suddenly light gathered around him and broke his chains, a brush and palette appeared in his hands.
As this happened all the creatures who remained still suddenly rushed toward him. Chroma who was shocked quickly recovered and used his newfound weapons to defend himself.
"Disappear!" as he said these vibrant colors suddenly filled the darkness. The creatures disappeared and the world changed into a color-filled paradise...
"I did it... I escaped!" He said when suddenly.
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The sounds of his alarm could be heard across the room, Chroma quickly got up.
"It was all a dream?" Chroma said as he looked down at this hand.
"I guess it was crazier to think that it wasn't," chroma said as he laughed. He suddenly thought of something. He quickly got up from his bed and got something from his drawer.
"It's still here," he said as he looked at the worn-out brush and palette.
"Chroma come down for dinner!" A voice said from downstairs.
Chroma slightly hesitated before saying "yes...yes I'm coming!" He stared at the door before turning to the window. He approached it and looked out to see a tree outside.
" I must keep moving forward...without fear"