Awoken by a moving floor, Dell opened his eyes and found himself in the middle of an ocean, on a small, black wooden boat. The water, assuming it was water, was completely still, not even rippling as the boat moved - he stared at the water, but couldn't see past the surface of it, it was too dark. He gazed around the boat, only to have his vision obscured by thick mist all around him. Looking up, all he could see was a huge glowing circle radiating through the mist. In the centre, there was some symbol that he make out. Dell shivered.
' On sea... I've never been on water like this before. '
In his hand, there was a black oar of the same material as the boat. He was also dressed in black robe with a hood covering his head. Looking overboard, he stared at his reflection in the water. His face looked the same, but his hair was longer and rougher, and his eyes had a glowing ring of purple within them, he shivered when he saw them. His body appeared weak and skinny, though he felt strong, very strong. Stronger than himself in the real world.
' Huh... I thought I was supposed to just get my abilities here. Why am I so strong? '
He picked up the oar and just decided to row forward, which he felt he could do effortlessly. The boat moved with decent speed. Thinking about it for a while, he came upon an answer for his strength, which made him grip his oar tightly.
' There's no way... is my ability just strength amplification? '
He groaned at the thought of his power just amplifying strength. Dell wanted something that was cool, and high utility. He sighed, and just continued to row, staring into the endless mist. Hours passed by on the sea, it was oddly calming being out in the unknown - Dell felt relaxed, soon becoming bored. He spent most of his time staring at the strange moon in the sky - everything around him seemed drained of colour while that body still possessed a pale yellow colour. He thought of it as a moon at first, but maybe it was a sun.
' I'm running out of things to think of out here... '
What felt like a day passed by before finally, something began to shape itself in the mist. His eyes widenend and his chest tensed up.
' Land... '
-
What he saw was a small, tropical island - brooming with tall trees, flowers and exotic shrubs. The island, like the ocean and sky, was also completely void of colour, decorating itself in a variety of blacks, whites and greys. It seemed eery, and he felt reluctant to come close; but, he wasn't going to conquer this trial if he didn't advance. Rowing further, he reached the silver seashore which inhabited a miniscule, black dock made from some type of wood. Further behind it was a hut, made from the same black wood.
' Is someone living here? '
The thought of something intelligent living here made his heart beat quicker. Gripping his oar tightly, he realised that if he was going to be thrown into sudden combat, the oar would his weapon. It felt sturdy and unusually strong, despite it's wooden appearence. Though he was never used to using something long like the oar to battle with - in combat it would act like a spear, which he had never tried sparring - he let out a sigh.
' I hope I find a sword, or something of the sort later. '
Reaching the dock, he let it drift to the planks of wood slightly above the water, and stepped off the boat. Looking back, he saw that familar mist covering the endless expanse of sea. Though surrounding it faded out, allowing him to see it in clear view. Keeping the oar close by his side, he walked forth further down the charcoal road, reaching the lifeless sands. Upon closer view, there were several rocks, spiky shells and other small things burried in the sand. But what caught his attention most were the black bones of a creature drowned in sand, revealing only it's long skull with 4 eye sockets and 2 sharp horn above the surface. It's appearence made him shiver.
' Maybe there was life here long ago. Wait, what am I saying? This is just a dream that the Drive is making up for me. Still.. it's hard to believe that this is all fake, it seems so real. '
Dell walked the black hut, he didn't really know where else to go after all. Arriving at the hut's doors, he pushed them open and noticed a few things in the darkness. Firstly, the hut was quite grand, comparable to the cheapest homes you could purchase back in the city, which wsn't that much but for a seemingly makeshift hut out on a random island it was decent. Secondly, there was furniture like chairs, tables and a bed inside the open room, confirming his suspision of intelligent life; however, they were all broken or miss-shaped in some way.
Lastly... there was a strange black liquid splattered along all the walls and furniture of the room, occasionally having some sort of hand or finger printed using the strange liquid. Dell bit down into his bottom lip, halting it's quivering and stepped out from the hut.
' Blood... That's got to be blood... '
He didn't think of the scene inside as the remains of a battle, but a slaughter instead. Before leaving the hut, he decided to check something. Taking a small cloth off of shattered table, he approached some of the liquid on the wall, and swiped it with the cloth. His eyes widenend, and his situation became a lot scarier.
' It's nowhere near dry! This must've happened recent- '
Plip.
A sound of a droplet tapping against the table cut his thoughts early. His head turned to the open doors immediately though his eyes were met with the same colourless shore he had arrived on.
Plip.
He turned again and looked around the hut in it's darkness, eyes wide to percieve everything. He looked at the shattered table for a split second as he caught another droplet smacking against it.
Plip.
He looked up at the wooden beams forming a stable roof, and noticed that same black liquid shining in the darkness - Dell's body trembled as he noticed something else. There were 2 round, glassy balls staring right at him, and 2 fangs coating in the source of the droplets.
' W-what is that? What is that?! '
His muscles exploded as he leaped out the hut, rolling across the sands as he felt something fall from above behind him. Using his oar to lift himself back up, he sharply inhaled as he saw a small black figure emerge from the hut, carrying a mangled and unrecognisable body seeping with black blood.
The 2 black glassy balls were it's eyes, fitted into a small ant-like head shape, with 2 obsidian tusks beside it's mouth. It's body was skinny, but covered in a dark chitin. It's arms were also skinny, but had incredibly lethal scythes acting as hands. It's legs bent inwards and stood on 2 feet, which had sharp obsidian talons on each leg. As it walked towards Dell, it hissed and blinked, one eye at a time.
' There's the predator... eating up in the ceiling huh? Creepy.. '
Breathing in, and readying himself, he gripped the oar and faced it's tip down the to the ground. He tried to pull a smile, but there was sickening fear behind his face, coursing throughout his body. The small creature's body led him to believe that it was quite nimble, so he felt reluctant to engage the fight himself, incase he would be countered and punished.
' Wait... is this thing even intelligent? '
Throwing his thoughts aside, Dell dashed forward towards the creature, breaking the silence with a scream. Swinging his oar forward, the creature immediately dropped the body it nibbled on, and jumped backwards, dodging the swing - it suddenly sharpened it's scythe hands and let out a vile shriek. Dell stepped back, grasping his oar tighter than before.
Without a thought, the creature dashed forward with incredible speed and brought it's scythe upon his head, which he blocked in the last moment with the oar. But, with it's other arm, he swung the scythe round into Dell's side, cleaving into his flesh. A spray of red contrasted the colourless sands.
" Aurgh!! Bastard! "
Pulling out it's hand, it leaped backward again and licked some of the blood pouring off of the scythe blade before spitting it out and unleashing another terrorful shriek. Holding his side, Dell assessed the wound.
' It's not too deep... but still hurts like crazy! Damn it... '
It leaped forward once again, this time sending it's talon forward, to impale Dell's chest. But Dell understood this fast, and countered accordingly. Brandishing his oar, he lunged it forward into the creature's chitin chest as it leaped forward...
And suddenly, he heard a crack. Flying away, the creature hit against the hut walls, creating a hole where it lay dazed inside. Worried, he checked the end of the oar... but to his surprise, it was perfectly okay.
' What..? I'm sure I heard a crack... '
As the ant life form rose from the wall, putting his scythe against his chest, Dell noticed something. The chitin exoskeleton on it's chest had cracked and shattered, exposing a leaking black liquid. A smile grew on Dell's face as he glanced at the oar.
' Holy crap... this is stronger than I thought. '
The ant creature whailed in anger flailing it's scythe hands in a fit. Entering the same stance, a flame of rage ignited in his eyes. He felt motivated, moreso than before. Leaping forth, he swung the oar down, which the creature dodged, but then he swung again, again and again, the creature dodging all of the attacks. But it began to grow slower, while Dell didn't even slow down. Eventually... the oar swung down once more and landed on it's head, staggering it's movement. Dell, without waiting, gripped the oar tightly and jabbed it forth into the chest of the creature, shattering it's body further. But he didn't stop there.
" Rot in hell, vermin!
He unleashed another flurry of stabs and swings with the oar, until the cries of the ant creature fell silent, and a pool of it's blood leaked deep into the sand. With one final strike, the creature's body lay there, mutilated and unrecognisable from it's former self. Dell looked at it before turning to his oar, dripping in black blood, moving to the rythym of his body inhaling and exhaling sharply.
" Wow... this oar, no... this body is incredibly strong. "
He looked has his hand, opening and closing it. Although the oar was incredibly sturdy for a piece of mysterious wood, he had not really won with skill over his enemy, rather, his body simply out performed the critter in every way but speed. Swinging like a mad man and tiring his opponent led to his chance to win - furthermore the only wound he had recieved was not that deep, but only because of his deceptively durable body. If it was his real body, there's no doubt that it would have gutted him like a fish. Maybe it would take a while for him to adapt to his new body... though hopefully he wouldn't have to be here for too long.
Suddenly, the body of the ant wriggled a tiny bit. Dell's eyes were drawn to it, he frowned disdainfully at the barely alive corpse. Using the oar, he crushed the neck of the ant, and left it to rot on the shore. As he killed it, he heard a weird whisper in the back of his mind, stopping him in his tracks. Listening closer, he heard...
He heard the same shriek of the ant creature...