Heavy rain pours onto the cold, black pavement. The lights of nearby shops are reflected in the shallow puddles on the street. Civilians rush across the crowded crosswalks in the distance. Meanwhile, a teenage boy walks down a dark alleyway.
His smooth, wavy tresses shine in the moonlight, while the rustling of his billowy clothing resonates far and wide in the night.
Nearby, hides a little boy, crying to himself. The boy's lip quivers in fear as he desperately attempts to control his breathing. He knows that being seen or heard risks the chance of being killed. Wiping his tears frantically, the boy slides deeper into a corner. His only comfort is the cold brick wall surrounding him.
In an unjust act of damnation, the frosty air highlights the stifled breaths of the petrified prey. As he walks, a stream of blood trickles down the young man's pasty face, inching down his cheek like a small river. He cracks his neck from side to side. Suddenly, his ears detect the echo of a faint sniffle, followed by the sight of a puff of steam coming from the wall to his right.
The teen treads faster, getting closer to the boy by the second. In less than a few moments, he finds what he is searching for. A small, frightened animal, begging to be spared.
The young man's right eye twitches slightly as he carefully approaches. Leaning in, the young man whispers to the shaking boy. However, a loud crack and a squelching noise immediately interrupts the young man's gentle whisper.
The boy raises his head to see that the teen's hand is reaching into his own chest. As he rips it back out, his heart follows. Turning his palm over, an uncanny object sits there.
Though it is clearly a human heart, to the boy it seems mechanical in nature. It emits an unusual thumping sound. The noise isn't rhythmic but staggered. At that moment, the older boy falls to the ground. The lifeless teen's white tracksuit offers a vivid contrast to the deep red blood now pigmenting it.
The boy stays frozen with shock as his eyes widen in disbelief. His brother was dead.
***
Years later…
"How long's it been since we got here? I'm starving," Tei Akai says as he hops across a cluster of giant white cubes. They remain suspended in the odd, lavender sky by some unknown force. The edges of each cube are encased with a lemon-shaded metal frame that seems to glow upon contact.
Kaga Seiji's attention is focused on a whimsical, hovering staircase to the right of the cube pathway. He answers with little thought. "Uh, 'bout 10 minutes." Tei freezes, removing his grey baseball cap to scratch his charcoal-toned hair. The young man ponders the accuracy of that declaration momentarily before interrogating his friend once again.
"Leave it to the guy who believes a fat dude climbs down his chimney to deliver Amazon items once a year. Lemme just see it myself," he demands, disbelief evident in his dull grey eyes.
Taking great offence, the other boy confidently points to the minute hand of his watch. "I don't see you wearing the watch. Ya don't believe me? Just look, dude. 10 minutes." Three others lean in to catch a glimpse. "Oh, wait," he says shamefully. Rather than a sense of relief washing over the group, they are met with the sight of a broken, plastic, Hello Kitty watch.
"No way—that watch doesn't even tick." Shu Raki sighs, his chest tight from his longing to return home. The slim young man stands stiffly as his shaggy brown locks get in his tired, hazel eyes, framed by the large specs on his face.
The boy with the darker, curly hair, exclaims. "Oh, so we got a comedian now?!" Arima Akai seethes as he slowly draws his blade, which reflects his alarmingly angry, umber eyes. "That sh*t must've glitched a little after we entered. We've probably been trapped for 10 hours, let alone 10 minutes." Grabbing his hand, Shimano Kanio stops Arima before brushing her cinnamon-toned mane out of her face.
She leaps to the next cube, searching the area madly. The young woman's bright emerald eyes fill with dismay. "We've already encountered three monsters, and still have no way of confirming our targets. Time to play it safe and retreat for now."
"Counter-offer. I say we use the dumb one as bait," Tei says, smiling deviously at the auburn wavy-haired boy wearing the fake watch. Sweat drips down the fellow's skin. "It wasn't plastic when we left..." Feeling a bit guilty, Kaga averts his striking chestnut eyes. The mission is starting to look hopeless.
The group travels across the wide-spanning hellscape called Insomnium in search of eight targets to collect research data on. The targets were human before a rare ailment changed them. Said ailment causes people to become aggressive and unpredictable, to say the least.
Unfortunately, the targets seem to dislike the thought of salvation, descending into the depths of the nightmare world before the eccentric scientist, Dr. Raymond Wendatt, could reach them. Now, five incredibly ignorant 'volunteers' traverse the land.
Kaga frowns, watching his friends frantically look for an exit. He had held higher expectations for this excursion, disappointed by its anticlimactic conclusion. "Just hear me out. We already risked a lot to come here. Why not have some fun before we leave?"
"We can't let ourselves be scared out of a perfect opportunity when we haven't even done anything but run since we got here, you stiffs," the boy whines.
Arima replies as irritation grows in his heavy tone. "Use yer noggin. We don't just have our pride to protect, ya know!" Looking at the others, Shu nervously adjusts his glasses and focuses on the possible outcomes of lingering around for too much time. "W–we weren't trained for this, Kaga. We're average Joes…not demon hunters. This is shockingly serious."
Tei instantly bobs his head in agreement. "I, for one, didn't even wanna be here. We're not built for this sorta environment. We're from the suburbs after all."
As they bicker, the group reaches a large platform at the end of the path. It appears to be made of steel tiles. While they walk, a few tiles change at random, becoming a neon yellow or red or blue colour. The elevated platform stretches endlessly, partially constructing itself as they stroll. Defying the laws of physics, gravity releases its hold on Shu, and he is pulled towards a strange vortex above.
The vortex is a thin rift, akin to a tear in a sheet of paper. Like paper, the fabric of this world is delicate and easily breached. Strange, ruinous rifts frequently open as time goes on. They typically pull singular, sometimes multiple objects into them at random, doomed to an unknown fate. However, it's surely nothing good.
"Uh oh. Turbulence," Shu chuckles. "Okay, I'm losing oxygen!" He quickly shouts in a panic. The boy frantically flails his arms in the air, praying to be rescued. However, as the others reach out to grab Shu's arm, they are simultaneously lifted from the ground as well.
The nature of this world is cruel and unforgiving. Insomnium's magical appearance is only to detract from its deadly truth. Hell is not a plane of darkness and fire, but rather a deceitful wonder, elicited by bright skies and fascinating landmarks.
But denial won't drop the temperature by a single degree.