「 CHAPTER 3: Unfamiliar Surroundings 」
When I came to wake, I found myself laying down on a dark and empty room. There was not a single light can be seen. It was a Void.
"It's dark... why is it dark? Is the afterlife? No, it must be my brain, seeing as my surrounding is nothing but emptiness and void."
Suddenly, my head began aching badly as questions begin to fill my head with faint whispers.
* CRUMBLE *
* CRACKLE *
The clattering of rubble colliding, scraping, and muffled screams echoed. "Rocks? and... people..?"
* CRACKLE *
* SCRAPE *
* CLATTER *
My body jolted and suddenly I was covered with debris. Everything hurts. I tried to move but my legs were crushed by the fallen debris. The sounds of rocks falling are getting closer and so are the muffled and faint voices.
"HELLO STUDENT?! CAN YOU HEAR ME? ARE YOU OKAY?" I heard a voice of a man coming from the other side of the pile of debris covering my body.
Rescue? Didn't I die...?
Everything was blurry and dark, I could barely see anything, my only source of light was a single ray of sunlight passing through a tiny gap above me.
"HANG ON TIGHT STUDENT! WE WILL COME AND GET YOU, STAY THERE!" The man yelled as I heard footsteps slowly getting further and further from me.
* BOOM! *
* CRACKLE! *
* CRUMBLE! *
For some reason, an explosion blew away all of the debris that was crushing me. I lifted my head to see what was going on, and the sunlight quickly illuminated the dark place I was in.
Have I been... rescued?...Did I survive? Did I just... overcome death?
"Can you hear me, student? Are you okay?"
A man came up to me, reached out his hand, and asked those questions. Sunlight shone behind him, a hero, someone that would only exists in stories. As my eyes adjusted to the blinding light I saw the face of a middle-age man, smiling.
He carried me like princess with my crippled and broken legs dangling in the air. A single tear dripped down from my eye. But still, I was thankful.
I looked behind the man and saw the school which was in ruins. I was confused because the school looked like it was a hundred years old, it was almost unrecognizable. I looked up and saw something that left me stunned.
It's the remains of the Black Dragon that killed us. All that was left now was his bones combined with nature. It's almost as big as a football stadium. I could not believe my eyes and felt shivers in my body.
We were surrounded by very large and tall trees, trees as tall as city buildings. I suddenly felt a really bad head ache after seeing all of these things.
"T-thank you but, W-where are w--"
I suddenly became dizzy and my vision slowly faded away.
"Now student, listen well to what I have to te-- h-hey! are you okay!? hey! HELP! get the nurse!" As he was about to answer my unfinished question, my body gave out due to the fatigue and blood loss, and I passed out.
...
...
...
I felt water slowly covering my entire body while I was laying flat on the ground. My body reacted instinctively and I got up as quickly as possible. I opened my eyes and took a moment to catch my breath and at the same time looked around me trying to understand where I was or what was happening. And once again, I was inside the Void.
Once I got up, the water that was slowly covering me quickly disappeared and the floor became solid and dry. I looked to my left, right, up, and down, and there was nothing but darkness. But strangely I could see my limbs perfectly.
"I'm in the darkness once again. But...why am I naked!?"
* DRIP *
* SCRIBBLE *
Out of nowhere, I could hear water dripping and echoing. The floor started rippling like water. After a moment, it stopped, I panicked a little because I didn't know what was happening, and soon writings made of blood suddenly started appearing on the floor.
It startled me quite a bit but I later realized that It was questions that filled my head earlier. I walked around the large dark space to see how much there was, until I came across a question I never thought I'd see.
"Why did she leave me?" A question written ten times larger than the other questions.
It was the question that would always pop into my head after my girlfriend broke up with me and left. Ever since then, I have become something that I wasn't used to being. I became very different from my normal self.
I never wanted to think about it again because I wanted to move on and move forward with my life, but something inside me couldn't just accept it.
Amid the darkness, a bright light shone behind me, I turned around to look and it was a door made of light. I walked cautiously towards the door, and right before I grabbed the handle, everything began shaking intensely, the floor shattered like glass and I fell.
My heart lurched as I felt the solid ground give way, sending a jolt of panic coursing through my veins. For a split second, I was weightless, suspended in mid-air, my mind racing to process what was happening. Because of the fear and shock I felt, I woke up like I had a nightmare.
I opened my eyes and was blinded by the light above me, It was a lantern. I slowly sat up on the bed and took a good look around where I am. It was strange, I was not in school or a hospital, but in a wooden hut with medical equipment.
"...My clothes? They're different..."
I took off my blanket to see my crippled legs but I was dumbfounded to see that it was perfectly normal, and the pain I felt throughout my body back then disappeared as well.
"Strange... How long have I been sleeping?" I thought that maybe my body recovered while I was asleep. As I was about to get out of bed, I heard the sounds of running footsteps.
* THUMP *
* THUMP *
* THUMP *
* THUMP *
I laid down again on the bed as quickly as I could. I felt scared. My body was shaking underneath the blanket, I took the scissors that were placed on the table beside my bed as a weapon and hid them under the blanket, ready for an incoming attack.
* THUMP *
* THUMP *
* THUMP *
* THUMP *
I blew away the fire lighting the lantern. I gripped tightly of the scissors and pretended to sleep but with one eye remained ever so slightly open. A narrow slit through which is enough for me to see.
The running footsteps got closer and closer and stopped when they reached my door. There were no locks to the door so they opened the door very easily and slowly.
My body was trembling. I adjusted the scissors in my hand for a better grip. The door opened slightly revealing a shadow of a man from the light outside.
As the door opened slowly, the outside light started illuminating the hut and I got blinded after I saw a glimpse of the man's silhouette. The light made me flinch and close my eyes, my hand was still gripping tightly to the scissors.
Then, a voice spoke.
"Come on bro, I know you're awake."
A familiar voice. A voice that even without seeing its owner's face, I knew very well who it was. I opened my eyes, sat up, slid the scissor away from the bed and grinned.
A quiet chuckle came out from my mouth as I realized that I was scared for nothing.
"You bastard. You scared the shit out of me."
"But wait! How is this possible!?"
"Cad! What is happening right now!? I remember a Dragon killing us all and I was trapped and when I woke up, I'm here!" I said as I felt paranoid and disbelief.
"Calm down! man. Calm down! I will explain everything!"
I started sweating and veins started appearing in my head, I needed to calm down. I took a moment to breathe and I managed to calm down. And I looked at Cad who was looking at me as well with a grim look on his face. He put his hand on my shoulder and said.
"Kayden, what I will tell you right now might sound crazy, but please believe me." He said as he looked into my eyes with a serious gaze. It's my first time seeing him this serious, so I listened carefully.
And so, Cad explained to me what happened and where we were. To summarize what he said, basically, everyone survived, and when they all woke up, the school was already in ruins and the dragon remains were already there.
We are in the middle of a forest surrounded by tall and large trees with unknown plants. I already know that because I saw it after I was rescued. Cad then continued.
"After I woke up, they thought that I was the last one. But then I asked all around where you were or if they'd seen you but they said no. I asked the School Head for help."
"I told them that you were missing and If everyone survived then surely you will too. So we searched for you for a month."
"Wait, so you're telling me, I was the last one and you guys searched for me for a month?"
"Yes." Cad nods.
"Lucky, the School Head was able to find you and get you here in the clinic."
"And after you were rescued, you were unconscious for a week."
"So I went missing for a month and I was unconscious for a week?" I asked to clarify and Cad nods.
"And here's the last one, please follow me"
I couldn't believe that I was missing for a month and was unconscious for a week. It was a lot for my minuscule brain to process but it did. I got up, walked towards the door, and Cad opened the door for me to get outside.
[ The Camp ]
When I stepped outside, the bright sun blinded me for a moment. As my eyes adjusted, I was fascinated by how everything was different. I couldn't see it properly earlier, but the trees made me feel like an ant because of how tall they are.
There are colorful and weird-looking plants. I covered my eyes to see what the sun looked like and it was also different, it had a bluish-white color.
"I'm sure you've finally figured it out by now that, yes, this isn't Earth, but a different world." Cad told me as he shut the door behind him.
At this point I didn't know how to react, I just stood there speechless and kept looking around.
"I'm surprised, you're awfully calm about all this." Cad said with a smile and chuckled.
"Y-yeah, I'm not sure either."
"I... guess I'm just good at assessing things around me."
I also don't know the reason why I'm calm in a situation like this. I've felt this multiple times before, where I can be calm even in dire situations. Cad walked past me swung his hand.
"Hey, follow me, bro. I'll show you to your room, I haven't told you the best part yet."
As Cad and I were on our way to my room, we came across many huts made from leaves, sticks, and logs, there was also a campfire outside the huts where they had food cooking.
"What else happened while I was unconscious?"
"Just wait, I'll tell you when we get in your room. It's gonna be awesome!"
As we were walking, I continued to look around and I suddenly felt an unsettling chill in my back, It could just probably be the cold breeze, considering my tattered clothes.
But something else lingered, an almost imperceptible shift in the atmosphere.
"Oh? Did he sense my killing intent? intriguing... very intriguing."
「 END OF CHAPTER 3 」