Alex awoke with a sudden, sharp intake of breath, as though he had sprinted a mile. Drenched in sweat, his body felt so heavy, his eyes wide open and darting around the room in search of something, anything that would explain this sudden panic. He leaned against the cold floor as he attempted to ground himself.
"Etheric entities." he muttered, his voice shaking, fresh fragments of the dream still clear in his mind. His hands instinctively rubbed over his face as if he could rub off the confusion and fear that clung to him.
He drew a deep breath. "He said I'm the only one left. But why? What makes me different?" His voice shook with the questions that weren't coming.
Alex slid down the floor, his back against the wall, still shaking in his hands. "All those entities. they faced something I don't understand. and none of them made it." The thought finally hit him, dread filling the spaces between his breaths.
"But what's the threat?" he muttered under his breath, fighting to remember the dream's cryptic warning. "They don't even know what it is. How do I prepare for something like that? How am I supposed to survive when they didn't?"
The more he thought about it, the more it sounded like some kind of cruel joke: "Continue advancing. but faster," he repeated, the words echoing from his dream like an echo. "Faster towards what?"
His mind raced, trying to put the pieces together. "Maybe. maybe I can learn from the echoes of myself, from other times. Maybe they missed something that I can't afford to."
Alex struggled to his feet and moved slowly, brain fog still in. "I cannot just disappear as they did," he whispered to nobody, staring fixedly at nothing, yet his jaw set. "I have to find a way."
Just as he was starting to gather his thoughts, a familiar itch flared across his forearm. His eyes darted to the tattoo-the one that had been there so many times before. Only now it pulsed, glowing faintly with some sort of green light.
"What.?" he murmured, the words barely audible. The markings on the tattoo, previously lifeless, were suddenly in motion now as the light grew in power, casting an eerie glow about the room.
The pulse hastened, as if it wanted to tell him something; and, before he had fully comprehended it, a message was in front of him, with letters clear as life, stating:
"You have received a special mission."
Alex looked at the notice, his heart thumping against his chest. "A special mission?" His hand rubbed over the tattoo, feeling its heat under his skin. "Why now? I've never seen this type of message before."
His anxiety increased as he tried to still his racing thoughts. Then came another notification, this time clearer and more specific:
"Raise all of your stats to 10 points."
Alex's breath got stuck in his throat as his eyes widened in disbelief. "Raise all my stats to 10? How am I to do that?" And the panic made him remember how little progress he had reached.
Then, the final blow:
"Deadline: Seven days. Failure of mission, there will be consequences."
Alex's heart had sunk. "Seven days?" he screamed, tugging at his head as if to hold panic inside. "This. this can't be happening!"
The pressure weighed heavy in his chest, as his thoughts spiraled out of control. "How am I supposed to raise my stats in seven days? And I still have daily missions? Impossible!
In a flash, he felt a surge of anger well up inside, and his fist came down hard onto the ground. "And to crown it all, even at the university, I am not allowed to train because of that stupid ban!" His voice broke from pure anger; the unfairness was choking him. "Where the hell is this supposed to be done?"
The bitter truth struck with full force: every way out seemed barred, every road shut.
"Why does it have to be that everything falls apart at the same time?" His voice cracked under the weight of it all.
A few seconds later, Alex sat still, gasping for breath as his mind was racing with questions and doubts. "Come on, Alex. You have been through worse. You cannot quit now," he whispered, trying to fight this overwhelming dread.
But even as he forced his mind to clarify, one gnawing fact would not leave him alone: time was ticking, and it had never felt as though the weight of defeat could be heavier.
Alex sat, gasping shallowly, his mind filled with the turmoil of anxiety and indecision. His gaze was fixed upon the glowing tattoo, as each notification weighed a little more with gravity upon his chest. He was being tugged by fear, but by something deeper, too: hesitation, an abrading uncertainty holding him fast to the spot.
And then, memories hit him. Punishment Land. It fell into his mind like a stormy sea—black, thick with repression. His throat clamped down as that place's image came back to his mind once more: an endless wasteland filled with creatures that defied comprehension. Monsters, towering and pitiless, roamed free there, and the survival portion had seemed a mean joke.
Punishment Land. he whispered, barely audible. A cold shiver went down his spine. "It was a nightmare, that place.
He could still envision the grotesque forms of the creatures he had encountered, feel raw terror at facing something so far beyond his strength. The harsh conditions, the constant threat-it was all too real. He could remember just how powerless and small he'd felt every single time he'd crossed paths with one of those monsters. "If I go there. I'll be surrounded. And I barely made it out the first time."
His hands found his head, clenching tightly as he tried to push the memory away. But his mind kept circling back to hard reality now. "Time is slipping away here," he muttered, a note of desperation in his voice. "But there. maybe I'll have more time to get stronger, to raise my stats."
Torn, the mere thought of having to return to that hellhole sent a wave of nausea through him. The other option-being here-meant sure defeat. The ticking clock would just not stop, and the pressure kept mounting until his heart beat against his ribs as anxiety reached a fever pitch.
But what if I can't survive again?" he asked as the fear clawed louder and more insistently. "What if it's worse this time? What if I'm not ready?" Every muscle in his body seemed to tense, a physical manifestation of the terror that had seized it. His hands were trembling while memories of pain, fear, and exhaustion from his last trip there flooded his mind.
Mired in indecision, Alex sat there. "If I stay… there's no way I'll make it through this." The words cracked under the weight of their truth. "But if I go to the Punishment Land…" He caught the words in his throat. "Maybe I'll be able to survive. Maybe I will get stronger. If I'm lucky."
He fisted his hands, looking down at them as if he was searching for answers. "I'm scared," he whispered. "I don't want to go back. but I don't have a choice. Time's running out."
He exhaled heavily, hoping that the eye of the storm would leave him with any shred of calmness. Deep down, he knew the Land of Punishment was literally his only real shot-no matter how terrifying that returning home sounded to him. If there was any place that could make him go to the edge and grow, it was there.
As if he fought long enough with his fear, Alex finally made up his mind. "If I'm going to do it… I have to face it." His voice wasn't trembling that much anymore, but he was still afraid. "I need to endure. I don't think there's a better option."
It had been a day since he got his first notice, and the burden continued to grow heavier as the second ticked away. Seated in the room, his heart racing in his chest, smothered by his thoughts, his decision weighed heavy on his shoulders.
Then, without warning, the tattoo on his arm flared to life, glowing a deep, ominous red. Another notification flashed in front of his eyes, the words like a kick to his stomach.
"You have exceeded the time limit for physical exercises. You must face the consequences. You will be transported now."
To be continued...