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**Chapter 2**
[Unknown POV]
With no sense of time and a constant, dull pain, Adam continued shooting through the bright light tunnel. Shaking himself out of his depressing thoughts about the past, he tried to figure out what was happening, but he was limited in what he could discover. All he could see around him was a bright gold tunnel, and he seemed to be heading straight within it. "If I had known this would happen after entering the crack, I would have just stayed in that void," he sighed. "At least the pain is lessening somewhat now, allowing me to think more clearly."
Trying to distract himself, he continued ranting in his mind. Hours? Days? Having no sense of time made it difficult to figure out how long he had been there. After what felt like days, Adam finally saw what looked like the end of the tunnel. "Finally! I don't even know how long I've been here. I hope the other side or exit will be better than what I've currently experienced."
As Adam got closer to what seemed like the end of the tunnel, his headache started intensifying, and the tunnel became unstable. "Agh! Fuck! Why is it always the fucking headaches?" Unknown to Adam, his absorption of the surrounding energy was accelerating, causing the tunnel to destabilize. Before it could completely collapse, Adam was ejected into the white light at the end, resulting in strong disorientation. He felt confused due to the sudden loss of speed.
Calming himself with deep breaths, he tried to figure out where he had been ejected to. Suddenly, before he could get his bearings, his instincts flared danger, causing his body to enter combat mode. Rolling to the right, Adam opened his eyes and jumped backward.
Quickly looking around, Adam suppressed his shock and confusion, preparing to fight. He found himself in a war zone, with dead bodies scattered on the battlefield and people still fighting. "There seem to be two sides fighting each other, while some look like they just got caught in the middle. Where the hell am I?" He glanced towards his attacker, who was holding a sword while wearing strange armor. Adam searched for a weapon he could use.
His opponent started rushing towards him, swinging his sword in an attempt to cut him down. Abandoning the need for a weapon, Adam stepped forward, bending his knees and getting right in his opponent's face. Without giving him time to react, Adam struck with his palm towards the opponent's elbow, forcing it up, while sending another quick strike to his center, forcing him off his feet. Quickly grabbing his outstretched hand, Adam flipped him over his shoulder, disarmed the sword, and used the momentum to stab the now-dead aggressor.
Not given any time to breathe, Adam was forced to dodge again as a few ninja stars embedded themselves in the ground where he had been standing. Looking back, Adam saw another person running at him, screaming something that he completely ignored. Time seemed to slow down for Adam as his eyes darted around, taking in the opponent's movements and the surrounding area. Seeing that he was a little further from the battlefield, Adam relaxed a little. "After taking care of this one, I'll try to blend in and find a way to get away from here. I don't need to involve myself in some samurai battlefield. I've got my own shit to figure out. Hm, something seems strange. My abilities seem to be more enhanced. My perception is improved; I can see further with my 360° vision, and my bullet-time perception, as I've come to call it, seems to last longer. I'm already counting a 7:1… how interesting."
Focusing back on his opponent, he prepared to take him out quickly before noticing him doing something with his hands. "What the fuck? Is this fucker throwing gang signs at me?" Adam didn't have much time to contemplate what his aggressor was doing, as his instincts warned him of considerable danger. He got serious, watching in slow motion as his opponent sprayed a bullet of water out of his mouth. Dodging it and rushing towards him, Adam quickly slid down, slicing his ankles and stabbing the sword into his heart from the back. "What the fuck is going on? I need to leave now!"
Not taking any more chances, he dashed towards the nearby forest and started running in a random direction. After running for about an hour, he came to a stop, panting slightly from exhaustion. Scanning the area with his eyes and seeing no one within 100 meters, he slowly relaxed. Spotting a stream nearby, Adam headed towards it to wash up and get a drink.
While washing his face, he looked at his reflection in the water. What he saw staring back at him was a 15-year-old boy with white hair streaked with red and misty blue eyes. Somewhat recognizing the reflection as his younger self, Adam sat back, contemplating what he had just gone through. "First, I'm in a dark void space. Then, I decide to enter a crack, getting stuck inside a tunnel that blasts me off to who knows where. Now, I'm in a battlefield with people throwing gang signs and shooting water bullets at me. As if that wasn't enough, I now look like a 15-year-old. Although, I have no idea where those red streaks came from. I never dyed my hair. I also seem to have de-aged by seven years. *Sigh* Just what is going on?"
As Adam continued pondering, he decided to find a place to spend the night. Walking around, he found a nice cave behind a waterfall and decided to temporarily live there until he figured out where he was and what to do.
Catching some fish and roasting them over a fire, he waited for them to cook while looking through the gap in the waterfall at the starry sky. "This is nice… no need to pretend to be obedient or hide my emotions or be monitored every hour of the day. Just relaxing over a campfire and looking at the starry sky… maybe this is what I've always been dreaming of, an adventure… I'm finally… free… aren't I?"
Relaxing his body, Adam fell asleep to the sound of the waterfall.