Levi stared at his bleeding leg in disbelief, his mind racing to make sense of the situation.
"When did I get hurt?" he wondered, startled by the sudden pain that struck when he realized the injury.
The blood seeping from his foot was real—he could feel the wet warmth trickling down his skin—but he had no memory of getting injured, and there had been no pain until now when he saw the sharp stone lodged in his sole.
His breath quickened as panic began to set in. Reflexively, Levi crouched down, removing the stone and examining the wound more closely.
The injury wasn't deep, but the pain was sharp. His eyes then trailed behind him, where he saw a long line of blood drops scattered on the ground, here and there.
"How... How is this possible?" Levi murmured, his voice trembling.
He hadn't sensed anything—not even the slightest discomfort. Yet, seeing the trail of blood stretching far behind him, it was clear that he had been injured for quite some time.
"I didn't even feel anything—no pain, no impact... nothing."
As he pondered, his thoughts drifted back to the anger that had consumed him earlier.
'Wait a minute, why was I angry again?'
A cold sweat crept up his back as a sense of dread washed over him.
"This... this isn't right."
Levi was not the emotional type, he rarely ever got angry. But ever since entering this sanctum, he had felt a constant, inexplicable rage. And now, as he tried to recall the reason for his anger, he found that he couldn't even remember it.
Suddenly, a new thought struck him like a lightning bolt.
"A hex... This fucking sanctum! It's using some kind of hex!"
The realization hit him hard, and with it, a wave of clarity washed over him. Levi steadied his breathing, calming his raging mind.
'They are darkness itself, and darkness exists everywhere.'
He remembered the last line of the sanctum's description—how it spoke of the black wings being like the darkness that exists everywhere.
It seemed like the description was not talking about the monsters but this weird power that the sanctum was using to corrupt his mind!
Levi realized that he had been under some kind of hypnosis of the sanctum or it was also possible that it wasn't the sanctum but the black wing, mentioned in the description who had cast a mind hex on him, distorting his thoughts, feeding his anger, and dulling his senses.
"This is so fucked up…"
Levi's blood ran cold.
He closed his eyes, forcing himself to focus.
When he opened his eyes again, he noticed that everything around him was eerily clear.
'Wait a minute….'
There was a thick fog that had enveloped the area when he first entered this part of the sanctum but now it was gone, replaced by an unsettling clarity. He had been such a fool not to notice the change sooner.
"Is what I am seeing real, or is it also an illusion?" Levi muttered to himself, doubt creeping into his mind.
He no longer knew what was real and what was a trick of the Sanctum. The boundary between reality and illusion seemed to blur, leaving him in a state of confusion.
Levi began to suspect everything—even the injury on his leg. Was the pain genuine, or was it just another twisted mind game by the Sanctum? The more he thought about it, the more his sanity seemed to slip away.
"Breathe, Levi. Focus. This isn't real—at least, not all of it."
He repeated the words like a mantra, forcing himself to concentrate on the here and now. Whether the injury was real or not, whether the trees and the fog were part of the Sanctum's tricks, he had to stay grounded. Doubting everything would only drive him further into madness.
He clenched his fists, feeling the reassuring sting of pain in his palm. That, at least, felt real.
As he restricted his thoughts, slowly, the anger that had consumed him also began to dissipate, replaced by a calmness he hadn't felt since entering the Sanctum.
Levi focused on his breathing, inhaling deeply and exhaling slowly, concentrating on keeping his thoughts in check. He sat still, pushing all thoughts to the back of his mind, embracing the silence.
Time passed—how much, Levi couldn't tell—but then, without warning, a series of runes appeared before his eyes, glowing faintly in the dim light of the forest.
[You have broken free from 'Lunacy']
The rune hung in the air, pulsing with a soft, golden glow.
As Levi read the message, it felt as though a glass dome had shattered around his mind. The world snapped back into focus, and the illusion that had clouded his thoughts began to crumble. Clarity washed over him, and with it, the oppressive fog returned, swirling around him like a living entity.
"Lunacy... So that's what this is," Levi whispered, his voice barely audible as all the pieces of the puzzle finally fell into place.
The fog around him was dense and suffocating, reducing visibility to just a few feets ahead. The strange trees that had seemed so real moments ago were now obscured by the swirling mist. It was as if the forest itself had been a mirage.
Levi's breath hitched as he glanced upward, his eyes widening at the sight above. The sky, once covered by dark clouds, was now illuminated by a blood-red moon, hanging ominously overhead.
"It's already night? Wait, how does the time pass inside here in the first place?"
Levi didn't have answers to those questions and interestingly, he didn't seem to panic. Instead, Levi took in the information in a positive way.
If he didn't know about it - then he would find it out. It was just as simple as that - complex thoughts would only confuse him more, driving him towards madness.
The Sanctum had already tried to twist his mind but somehow, he had managed to break free.
And the clarity that filled his thoughts after knowing it was almost overwhelming.
Levi also realized just how close he had come to losing himself entirely.
His hands shook as he wiped the blood from his leg, the wound now seeming less severe than it had moments ago.
The pain was still present, but it was manageable. He even felt a sense of gratitude—if not for the injury, who knew if he would have snapped out of the hex?
"That was too close," Levi thought, swallowing hard as he rose to his feet.
The glowing trees around him no longer felt like a comfort, instead, they seemed like a threat—silently watching him, waiting for a chance to devour him whole.
The runes flickered before fading away, leaving Levi alone once more in the eerie silence of the forest. But this time, his mind was clear, and his thoughts were his own.
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