"The darkest paths often lead to the brightest discoveries."
(POV: Edgy Narrator)
A land where no creatures dare to dwell.
A land where even the ground is cracked, as if it had went through droughts for decades.
A land where there is no sign of vegetation for miles.
In such a land, one could see a caravan-like procession, comprising of many people who were young enough to be students, as well as a few older people who led them.
These were the students of the Academy, going towards the ruins for the final battle.
Sukuna was standing quite forward in the procession, with about 80% of the people behind him.
Eva was walking to the left of him, her face expressionless. To his right was Nect, bouncing around as the procession proceeded.
Ryogaku was standing with Alexia and Johan further back, with about only 20% of the students behind them.
Silvas was leading the procession, walking in the front of the students, while all the teachers stood around the group, maintaining order.
There were a few carriages that were carrying various important items, such as food, water, and weapons.
It should be known that in this world, the quality of items like mana stones was much higher than their original world.
There was no need to say that many people had brought some with them, so that they could sell them in the original world for huge profits.
If they live, that is.
.
The ruins were said to be found through a doorway that was present on the side of a mountain.
The doorway in front of which Silvas was standing right now.
Sukuna had walked much closer to Silvas, now standing right behind him, due to his curiosity.
Eva, also intrigued, had followed Sukuna, while Nect had blindly accompanied him.
The stone door frame looked withered, covered with soil, but the carvings of words of an unknown language were clearly visible.
The doorway was slightly opened, through which white mist came out as if inside, there existed something ethereal.
Everyone standing behind the doorway felt a mixture of awe and nervousness, as they knew that going through it will lead to adventures unknown.
Silvas took a deep breath as he pushed open the doorway. The door opened with a deep creaking sound, the white mist rushing out.
The white mist was weightless, but when it touched one's skin, it gave a feeling of both dread and comfort.
The door revealed a dark stairway, which seemed to go downward endlessly.
Silvas was the first to enter through the door, students following behind him.
A smell of damp earth and ancient decay wafted up from the stairway, mingling with the mist. The air grew colder with each step they took, the oppressive silence only broken by the echoes of their footsteps.
Sukuna's eyes scanned the surroundings, his senses heightened by the ominous atmosphere.
Eva walked beside him, her expression only a mask to her determination, while Nect's enthusiasm had been replaced by a cautious curiosity.
The group moved cautiously, the darkness seeming to put a pressure on their bodies.
The walls of the stairway were lined with more carvings, intricate and mysterious. The language was lost to time, the images unfathomably deep.
Sukuna was quite interested in the carvings on the walls. Every time he glanced at them, he felt a deep connection to the ruins.
Shaking those feelings away, he continued walking downwards.
.
A soft, flickering orange-yellow light emanated from the end of the stairway, as if fire was burning peacefully amongst the darkness.
The echoing footsteps got closer and closer to the end, until the students reached the end of the staircase.
There was a short hallway following the steps. It was lit up by burning wooden sticks fixed on the walls.
The orange light flickered as everyone continued slowly walking.
At the end of the hallway, Silvas could see a huge room, which was lit better than the other rooms, glowing gems fixed on the walls.
He exhaled deeply, steeling his resolve, before walking forward, entering the room.
Silvas's eyes scanned around, the room seemed like a dead end, but on the other side, there was something carved onto a rock.
Silvas glanced back, calling for someone.
An old person slowly walked from the back. He was wearing a robe, not suitable for free movement at all.
He was an archaeologist provided by the kingdom for assistance with the expedition.
Many other people had also come to help, nurses, chefs, etc.
He walked up to the carvings, taking out a notebook and a pen, scribbling words and lines in it.
He stood there for about 2 minutes before opening his mouth to say one word, his voice coarse and weak, but full of excitement.
After all, it was quite rare for him to explore a whole new ruin, especially such an important one.
"Sacrifice"
That was the only word he could discern from the ancient language carved on the stone.
But, as soon as that word came out of his mouth, a whirring sound emanated from the depths of the ruins.
The room started vibrating, but not strongly enough to make anyone stumble.
A few people panicked and tried running back, but the stairway had disappeared, now replaced by a huge rock that blocked the hallway.
The whirring sound got louder until, something black and circular formed on the floor.
"DON'T MOVE," Silvas shouted in an authoritative voice, which made almost everyone stop in their tracks.
The black circle slowly moved around, looking for a sacrifice.
After a few seconds it stopped under...Sukuna.
The black circle disappeared, revealing an equally black, deep hole under it.
"Son of a b–"
Sukuna's voice disappeared and his sentence was cut off as he fell into the hole.
Both Eva and Nect shot towards him, attempting to catch him and pull him back up.
But regrettably, none of the two could reach him in time. Instead, after he had fallen down, the hole disappeared.
The two girls, now shooting towards each other, bonked there heads and fell onto the floor.
Eva quickly got up, but she was frozen in place, her eyes watering, but no tears fell out.
Silvas turned, his eyes scanning the terror-struck faces of the children.
"Sukuna..." Eva whispered. "...he can't be gone."
After a long while, Eva finally felt something for another person, she finally started caring for someone. But now, that someone was gone, possibly dead.
Her usual composed expression had twisted into one of shock.
Nect was still on the ground, tears streaming from her face as she punched the place where the hole had appeared.
Nect thought that she had found her family, someone she could rely on, but now, he was gone forever.
Ryogaku clenched his fists. He regarded Sukuna as a rival, he would go to the afterlife just to kill him again if he died in such a manner.
Alexia placed a comforting hand on Nect's shoulder. "Sukuna is strong. If anyone can survive down there, it's him. We need to stay focused and find a way to help him."
This seemed to calm her down quite a bit, her waterfall of tears soon stopped, and she got back up.
Johan was just watching everything from a little far away, his face eerily stoic.
Recently, his thoughts had been preoccupied by other things. He had gotten more detached from everything around him, even Ryogaku and Alexia.
Silvas took a deep breath, his voice steady as he spoke. "Everyone, listen up. This place is full of dangers we can't predict. We need to stay together and stay calm. Sukuna wouldn't want us to lose our heads over this."
He glanced towards Nect to se her reaction.
She sniffled, wiping the tears off her face, her resolve strengthening as she looked at Eva.
"He's right," she said to Eva, whose expression had hardened, and eyes had filled with determination. "We him back, Eva."
She walked forward towards Silvas, as if wanting to lead the group along with him.
Silvas spoke up. "I think we should continue."
He pointed towards a wall, which seemed to have automatically opened into a pathway as soon as Sukuna fell inside.
"LET'S GO," Nect shouted, her loud voice echoing in the silence of the ruins.
Though, one could still hear the sadness it carried, her hope had been rekindled, and she would do anything to bring Sukuna back.
.
.
.
(Following Sukuna...)
"–itch"
A deep voice rang out, completing its previous sentence.
Sukuna fell for about 5 seconds before landing in a huge room.
A cracking sound emerged from his legs, his bones damaged as he landed on the floor.
He quickly started healing them with Reverse Cursed Technique, quickly getting up, his mind alert.
His eyes darted around the room.
It was quite a huge room, but had nothing but a few skeletons on the floor, with carvings of tally marks on the walls.
The room was thick with the pungent smell of rotting flesh so potent that it seemed to sink into one's bones.
The only sound resounding in the room was the sound of Sukuna's breathing. It was so silent that he could hear his blood pulsating in his veins.
He looked up, noticing that the hole from which he fell was now replaced with a roof made of rough rocks.
He sighed, not wanting to get in too troublesome of a situation. He walked to one of the walls with tally marks, and counted them to say 65.
This '65' may even mean years, which could be quite disastrous if there were people stuck here for so long.
He put his hand on the wall, his expression stoic as cursed energy began to concentrate towards his arm.
"Cleave"
He chanted, a loud SWISH echoed in the room, pushing out rock dust from the walls.
As the dust cleared, the result was not what Sukuna was expecting. His eyes widened as he gazed upon the wall.
The wall was undamaged, not a single scratch. He had put a lot of cursed energy into this attack.
Seeing that it had no effect, he concluded that trying to force his way out would not be possible.
He quickly turned around, his eyes dancing around the room, trying to figure out what to do next.
He walked to the skeletons, thoroughly searching them in case they possessed something useful.
After going through about 40 of the skeletons, he found one holding an old book, which was in terrible condition.
On it's cover page was written...
"The Prison"
.
.
.
(Following...everyone else, I guess)
The students, still scared by what happened to Sukuna, kept walking through the ruins.
Right now, Nect didn't care if she lived or died, but she couldn't bear the fact that Sukuna might be dead.
She would happily sacrifice herself if it meant that she could save him.
The group didn't wait any longer, they continued on their expedition through the seemingly infinite pathways.
Most pathways led to a dead end, but after a long time, they came across a room with many pathways on varying heights. Bridges and stairs opened up a way to every single one of these paths.
There were about 15 ways to go, but other than that, right in the middle of the room, there was a huge statue.
The statue was made of stone, greatly and precisely carved, as if done by intricate use of mana.
The statue was of a man wearing only pants, while is upper body was bare.
His body could be seen to be toned quite well, and a statue of him being there means that he must be influential.
He was standing in a pose with his hands wide open, and a grin on his face, as if mocking someone to try to harm him.
The person in the statue looked like a king overlooking his subjects...no, like a warrior gazing down on a battlefield.
Some students instinctively stepped back after locking eyes with the statue, that seemed to be glowing red in the dark room.
A crimson gem was placed on each eye, which shone due to the little light that the room had, and it made the person look deadly, as if ready to end the existence of anyone without blinking.
Near the statue, a few feet in front of it, there was a round stone kept, with a few words carved on it.
The words seemed rough, as if the one carving them was not skilled, or as if they were shaking while doing so.
The archaeologist went up to the stone, closely observing each and every one of its details.
"This might take some time," he finally said, taking out his notebook and sitting down near the stone.
All the students rested for a bit in that place, some roaming around to explore the well-built ruins, but none daring to go too far.
.
After about 10 minutes, the archaeologist went to Silvas, holding a piece of paper where he wrote his findings.
Silvas took the paper. As soon as he read its contents, his eyes widened to an unimaginable degree.
It would be safe to say that he had never been more shocked in his life, he almost let a voice of confusion leak out.
He unintentionally dropped the paper. Mean, noticing this, picked up the paper to check it out for himself, and he was not less surprised than Silvas.
On the paper was written a poem...no, a prophecy...
"The Savior of millions and Destroyer of billions
The Supreme Ruler shall return to The Prison to take what he left
When he does, Chaos shall ensue
All Hail...
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.
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...Ryomen Sukuna"
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Exams finally ended, and I gotta get back on track with the uploads.
My daily views dropped from 8k to 500 bruh.
Anyhow, if you have any ideas, please write them here, I'd love to incorporate them in the story :3
These chapters take waaayyyy too long to write tbh.
gimme POWER STONES, I need them for my daily dose.
cya next time.