"I overdid it." I cried aloud while trying to regain my breath.
I had run for 20 minutes straight and now stood atop the skull mountain, reaching it at a speed I did not think would have been possible for me any time soon.
"One stat point makes a huge difference... And to think I put them all into agility." I tried to chuckle, yet all that was audible were the pants I let out after every word.
My eyes darted around one more time as I crawled into the skull, still exhausted even after having rested for several minutes now.
"Maybe it's the sleep? Or maybe it's the food... Talking about food, I haven't eaten in a long time which makes me wonder, how the hell am I still alive?" I tried to chuckle but the sensation of my eyes becoming heavier by the second overcame me, forcing me into what seemed like a slumber that would force me to sleep for years.
When the darkness swallowed my consciousness, I felt the overwhelming anxiety, fear and pain leave my body. It was as if it had given in, simply wanting to fall into the deep sensation of nothingness, a place where neither my past nor my future could affect me.
I felt free for the first time in a long time.
I felt like I didn't need to do anything. A place where nothing was expected of me. A place where my problems were simply part of my past, a past which I could easily swim away from.
Yet then it hit me...
The visions.
The nightmares.
The dread.
No more was there a peaceful atmosphere.
Everything I knew and loved about this realm was flipped on its head, throwing me into the pits of my darkest memories. Back to the days when my nightmares had crawled out of my mind and come to haunt me.
'Death... Is... Inevitable.' I whisper spoke into my ear before being thrown into...
Even though I was trying to pull my girlfriend Crystal, along with me, she found it extremely hard to keep up with my speed due to her wearing heels.
I was holding her hand in an ironclad grip, making sure to not let go, making sure that both of us would leave this mess together...
It was in the last stride where I had felt it...
The feeling of emptiness...
Why were my hands no longer being warmed by the hands of the girl I loved most?
Why were my hands empty of her's when I had left the mall...
I swiftly turned around to catch her once again, yet, I was immediately tackled by my best friend Alex, and Crystal's best friend Julia, causing my sister and me to get launched out of the mall alongside them.
In the next instant, a beam of light several hundred meters in length shot right through the city while simultaneously vaporizing everything within its wake.
The laser bore through reality.
I could see it getting closer.
It was aiming for the mall.
The mall where Crystal was.
I must help her out.
I must save her.
She must live on!
How can she die while I am still alive?!
How can I allow that?!
How can I forgive myself?!
*ZZZZZZZZ*
The last thing I saw before the light had swallowed the entire mall within it was the warm and loving smile laced with dread, terror, and fear looking back at me.
She did not know what was about to hit her, yet she knew it would be her last moment.
The fear in her eyes... Her eyes then once shone like bright stars in the dark night.
The dreaded feeling of knowing you would die.
Her pale face filled with terror...
Yet, through all of that, I could see a single thing that stood out more than the rest.
Relief.
Relief that other than her, no one else had to die...
Relief that she had been the only one amongst us to land in such a miserable state...
With her last breath, she mouthed me her final words.
"Sur-vive." She spoke with a regretful smile. Regret washing over her as she knew that she would never be able to see me from that day onwards.
"Noooooooooo!" I bellowed while reaching my hand out towards her, just to see her disappear within the light.
I laid there frozen, not being able to move a single inch...
It was only then that my vision shattered and I was flung out of the vision and thrown awake but the sudden interference.
I was coughing and panting while the feeling of dread lingered deep within my chest.
'I steeled my resolve... I pushed past the fear. I pushed past the guilt, the sorrow, and the grief. So why does it still hurt so much?!' I began to sob to myself as my right hand clenched tightly above my heart as if it would stop the pain I was feeling
After a few more minutes of this, I rolled back into place and laid there with my back to the floor and my eyes facing the ceiling. Yet even though one might have thought that I had begun to randomly look at the ceiling of the skull, if one were to look closely they would be able to tell that I wasn't...
My eyes were dull again and lifeless.
"To think I would fall back into this pit again..." I closed my eyes once more, yet this time I had no intention of opening them any time soon.
I stayed like that for a while. I didn't know if it had been minutes, hours, or even days, but I had just stayed that way for as long as I could.
I recollected all the precious memories I made with everyone I knew. With Crystal, Alex, Emily, and my parents. I replayed a precious memory before bringing back the scene of their death again and again. Every time my body would instinctually wince as I was forced to watch the scene occur in front of me as if I had gone back in time to witness the scene again.
After what seemed like forever, I opened my eyes again however this time, they were no longer lifeless and as dull as they were before. No, they were filled with something else now...
'I will not fall to my own self-pity again!'
[Intelligence +1]
"Hmm? What's this? And why is everything black and white again?" I groaned while trying to get up.
"Hmm?" My eyes darted around, immediately allowing me to understand the situation without the need for the system to explain it.
[The Unknown Energy resonates with the Immortal's burning rage]
[The Unknown Energy resonates with the Immortal's grief and sorrow]
[The Immortality System understands your feelings of animosity towards the Elven race]
[Three-Part Mission Received]
[Mission 1/3: Locate the Elven settlements]
[Conditions: -
-Do not use more than 4 Immortality Tokens
-No time limit]
[Reward:
-20 Attribute points
-3 Immortality tokens
-Receive random affinity (Unique +)
-Receive the title 'The Will Of Humanity' alongside 'Sovereign of ???]
"The hell does ??? mean?" I cried out, my rage and grief completely dissipating in my moment of annoyance, while my vision automatically turned back to normal allowing me to see that the sun was setting.
"Hmm... If I remember properly, the sun had been around there." I used my index finger to point toward the sky before continuing with my other hand to my chin "Which means I've slept for at least 24 hours." I analyzed without skipping a beat.
"The sky does look beautiful toda-." My sentence was immediately interrupted by the sound of my stomach rumbling, something that finally snapped me back to reality and allowed me to recall when the last time I had eaten anything had been.
"Oh crap. If I don't eat anything soon, I might die!" I cried before kicking up and off the floor before running towards the entrance of the skull's maw, jumping over the teeth and beginning to run towards the forest as fast as I could to find something to eat.
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