Darkness.
Even with the five senses greatly enhanced, Kirk wasn't able to see anything. He tried to move, but a sudden surge of weakness told him to stop. He suddenly realized that he could neither see nor move. The feeling of powerlessness and fear of the unknown almost overwhelmed him, but he managed to calm down a little by gathering all of his willpower.
His lips moved, but no sound came. For a second, he doubted his body existed in the first place. But the slight pain in his chest soon proved him wrong.
Kirk's senses were slowly recovering, and he soon witnessed a scene he would never forget.
"Am I in hell?"
This thought crossed his mind.
The smell was so horrible he could vomit his stomach with the rest of his organs. A dark red ceiling, walls made of rotting flesh, and eerie, pitch-black darkness that dominated half of the cave - all entered Kirk's vision and left an everlasting imprint in his brain.
"Master—!" Suddenly, he saw Halifax, who was suspended by hooks in the corner of the cave. His ribcage was ripped open with the heart exposed and still beating.
The scene sent chills down his spine and froze him dead in his tracks. But after the shock, uncontrollable rage filled his heart.
"Who did this!?!?" he screamed fiercely on top of his lungs. "You think I'm afraid of you?"
And the darkness answered him.
"Hmmm? Still struggling?"
The voice sounded very strange. No human being could mimic it even if they tried. It was cold, penetrating, and thick.
Suddenly a black hook flew from the darkness and pierced his flesh. Kirk dumbly stared at it, and only now did he notice that his heart was also exposed to the cave's sticky air while his innards hung outside his body, reaching all the way to the slimy floor.
"What... I... this is—" His pupils dilated from the primal fear that flooded his mind. It felt like a true nightmare. Nothing else mattered. Kirk's field of vision narrowed to one point, and the world turned silent.
A figure appeared from the darkness. It had black hair that covered its face and white, pasty grey skin. Its arms were ten times larger than its humanoid body and were now slowly stretching towards Kirk's face.
The moment one of its long, skinny fingers touched his skin, all thoughts ceased to exist. His mind collapsed, and his soul almost dissipated.
"Ahhahhahha!!! What a strong smell! Such a nice smell! Master will surely like it! I have to tell, have to tell! Just stay here, okay?" It laughed, clearly excited about something.
It retracted its fingers and merged back into the darkness.
***
Time went by in dead silence. Every second felt as long as a century, slowly eroding the mind.
Kirk stared blankly at the floor. He regained consciousness a long time ago – so long that he couldn't even remember. He had already tried every escape method he could think of but to no avail. Sometimes he heard someone screaming, but he got used to it and everything else that this place had to offer.
His Profound Core got shattered, to say nothing about his Etheric Body. He was utterly crippled and half-step dead. The hooks that pierced his body not only restricted all movement but also kept him alive. He could neither escape nor die.
His master's heart was still beating, but so what? This place was a dead end. After the creature made its first appearance, it hasn't visited him even once. Where did it go? Why did this happen? Where was this place? What was going on?
Kirk didn't care at all anymore. He just wanted to, no, he hoped and begged for...
*Mmmm*
Suddenly, a deep humming noise came from the darkness and filled the cave. Seconds later, it disappeared with a clap.
The sickly humanoid creature appeared once again, but this time, another figure was standing next to it. It was a tall man clad in a grey toga that covered half of his body. He had ashen grey hair and eyes black as night.
"I truly did luck out a great deal this time. Here," he waved his sleeve, and what was left of Halifax— the most respected and senior expert of the Fifth Southgate City—flew into the mouth of the creature and slowly turned into meat paste.
"Tasty, isn't it?"
The man looked at its bloated belly and then turned his eyes to the half-dead young man in front of him.
The sound of his master's breaking bones reached Kirk's ears, and soon two tears fell to the ground. "Did my father end up just like this?" he mumbled and closed his eyes. "That doesn't matter anymore. I will soon join him."
"Leave us," the tall man ignored him and gave a command. Soon, there were only the two of them left.
His demeanor changed instantly. With a crazy look on his face, he went up to Kirk and sniffed him a few times. After a loud gulp, he suddenly roared with laughter.
"Ahhahha! I will finally leave this damned place!"
Breathing heavily, he fiercely grabbed at Kirk's heart.
***
Today the sky grew dim for a moment. Meanwhile, myriads of lights gathered above the lone black mountain and descended with a huge beam, scorching the ground and destroying every living organism.
In the Fifth Southgate City, a woman who appeared to be in her twenties turned her head to look at a tiny flash of light on the horizon and felt her heart skip a beat. Only someone on her level could see it.
She glanced at the small translucent stone in her hand. After all these years, it still shone with the same soothing white light. A cat jumped onto her shoulder and started rubbing against her cheek.
***
In the meantime, three existences that lived high above the skies stared at the two celestial bodies, the Twin Moons, in confusion.
"Is something big going to happen? A change within the Forbidden Territories?"
One of them tried to calculate the future but wasn't able to get any answers. He rose to his feet and opened a plain wooden door, on the other side of which was a world full of stars. He took a step and the small wooden hut became empty for the first time in many years.
Somewhere deep in space.
His appearance was hidden behind a layer of light, his calm gaze piercing through the fabrics of the world.
Soon, another figure appeared next to him. It was an eccentric-looking old man with white hair that stretched for hundreds of meters. He was clad in dark, half-shattered armor and wielded a black scythe that was twice his size.
"Have you tracked it down?" the old man asked, swinging the scythe from side to side out of boredom.
"Yes. But those lands belong to Terranea the Dragonborn. We shall wait for her first."
"Fine, fine."
Shortly after, a ball of green light flew out from a spatial tear. It greeted them with something that could be interpreted as a nod and spoke in a pleasant, soft voice, "Hantir." It 'looked' at the person shrouded in blinding light.
Then it 'turned' to look at the white-haired old man who was still swinging his scythe, creating spatial storms that traveled for thousands of kilometers.
"Seten."
This time its voice sounded a bit colder.
"Don't just stand there. Let's go."
"Then let's not waste any more time." Hantir stretched out his hand and grabbed at the space, summoning streaks of light from his fingers that condensed into a white sphere; it shone tens of times brighter than its green counterpart.
Following the same procedure, Seten created his own version that was of deep grey color.
"I hate this feeling." He grimaced as he looked at it. "One day, I will get rid of these bloody shackles—"
"I will stay here for a while. Do you wish to join me?" Hantir asked him.
"Why not?"
The old man pulled a chair out of the empty space in front of him and sat down.
The ball of green light bid farewell and the two of them were left alone – a mysterious man and an old freak.
***
Three streaks of light descended from the sky and landed on the scorched ground. They looked around before assuming human form.
Two men and one woman traveled on foot through the black, charred lands of destruction before stumbling across a young man who lay on the ground and was covered in mud and bruises. He looked pretty handsome despite all the filth that had stuck to his naked body.
"Help—" he said and coughed up a mouthful of dirt. Disheveled black hair obstructed his vision as he tried to crawl in their direction.
He saw a woman in green robes reaching out with her hand and brushing the hair off of his face. He stared at her in shock and blurted out, "Kate?"
"Who is Kate?"
He heard her soft, ethereal-like voice.
Boom!
All of a sudden, the earth exploded, and a nightmarish creature crawled from beneath the ground. It used its long arms and fingers as swords to pierce through the two men and lifted them in the air.
"Die, you filthy creatures!" Its voice echoed and sent waves of highly destructive energy in every direction that crushed everything in their path.
The green-robed woman was sent flying, the same for Hantir and Seten, who had bowl-sized holes in their chests. Oddly enough, Kirk remained on the same spot, not in the least affected by the storm.
A chaotic battle ensued. The creature fought with all its might, but it was clear that it had been seriously wounded even before their battle began. Its clawed fingers left long marks on the ground, which soon became filled with dark blood.
Boom!
Another explosion followed, and a bird that spewed fire swooped down from the sky, adding to the chaos.
"Old freak!" The green-robed woman screamed in shock as the old man and his black scythe were torn to pieces and burned to ashes.
The world shook, and yet another creature joined the fight. This time it was a giant ball of flesh with countless tentacles protruding from small holes on its body. Although less than half of the monster's body was visible above the ground, its height had already reached tens of meters.
"My avatar is on its way!" the woman said, biting her lip.
"No!" Hantir's voice reached her ears. "Leave immediately!"
But it was already too late. The tentacles trapped and devoured her in just a few breaths.
His silhouette blinked from one place to another, avoiding all of their attacks. The next moment, the light around him exploded, catching his enemies off guard. The long-armed creature suddenly darted towards Kirk, shielding his body with its own. A good half of its humped back disappeared as a result.
It urgently vomited a small object, crushed it in its mouth, and vanished from the battlefield.
***
Kirk could barely comprehend the situation he was in. He could only watch as lights flashed and chaos reigned all around him. All of a sudden, someone bumped into him, and he soon realized that it was the monster who had eaten his master. He began to struggle fiercely against its revolting body, but his strength was nowhere near enough.
The sounds of battle suddenly disappeared, and he found himself lying on soft grass instead of scorched black earth. He looked at the monstrosity beside him that writhed in pain on the ground.
"I'm sorry, master—" it let out a pained groan, and its body finally went limp. Its skin began to rot at a speed visible to the naked eye.
It took Kirk some time to realize what just happened. He crawled up to it and kicked it in the face. "You dare die just like this?!" His spit landed on its large, bulging eyes, but the creature wasn't reacting at all. "C'mon! What happened to you, huh?!"
He tried to kick it a few more times and then suddenly burst into hysterical laughter.