The abyss was blinding. The sudden change from the radiating white of the snow to the lightless darkness that had consumed the blue sky was nauseating. Your eyes having to adapt to the tiring black continuously, then to the luminous snow. It was similar to having your skull penetrated by nails.
The ominous night Max had dreaded for so long had finally arrived. And by change, they couldn't be in a worse spot for it. The border to the Forsaken Field. The real danger wasn't any monster that was somehow able to get out of that wicked place, or another charming plant like before.
The border to the Forsaken Field is a giant waterfall. The height is unknown, like everything else in it. Yet it is said that the fall takes around three hours. Normally this would sound impossible, but it's the Forsaken Field we're talking about, that place doesn't follow the same rules as the world. Instead, it made its rules, nothing makes sense there. It isn't obliged by physics.
It shouldn't exist, yet it does.
The Forsaken Field covers more of the Human continent than all of the kingdoms combined. Yet the humans have decided to not conquer it. It isn't like they haven't tried, but it was impossible. Many of their tries had turned into apocalyptic disasters.
Once, a party sent to make a step forward to its conquering had awakened a fatal fungus disease.
When they left for that ruthless place, they were filled with joy, happy to make a change, for their children to see how awesome their parents were. Yet when they came back, not even their mothers would recognize them.
Their faces were, to say the least, deformed. Their jaws were hanging down, hardly still attached to the rest of their faces by a piece of muscle filled with worms and mold. Their teeth had grown green. They were destroyed, shaped in a way for their bite to be piercing.
Their face was filled with holes, having spider colonies growing inside them. Their nose had lost all of his skin and muscle. Roaches crawling inside. And their eyes, oh their eyes were horrible. They were intact and completely normal. Yet staring into them made everything more terrifying, making you realize that the monster you were seeing was once a loving father.
They had fungus growing all over their body, but their back was the worst. It was full of them, this must have been the place they had chosen as their breeding ground.
And the way they got rid of this monstrosity was even worse. The guilds didn't waste time taking care of it. At any time a report was announced of an infected, they would call the strongest flame users and completely annihilate that region. Was it humane? Not even the slightest. More innocent lives were lost to these repercussions than to the virus itself.
It had worked, but behind it was left a trail filled with innocent cries and lives lost.
Those places once bombed by the guilds, have been now consumed by the Field itself. It was like it was human, how it somehow attracted people with its mysterious and horrible stories, and how it had a continuous growing hunger just like any human.
Between those passionate about this cruel place, was none other than Max. Since youth, he had read countless books about it. He had practically learned how to survive in that ruined place, well at least for some time. After all, it's too unpredictable to ensure survival.
It's a place straight out of a fairytale, containing your wildest ideas.
...
Max stopped for a second, his feet resting on the cold snow. He looked at the sky. The night was dying, that thought made him smile. He had successfully traversed the border with no inconvenience. But of course, he did, he was a professional at anything related to the Field. Or at least that was what he thought.
But as he resumed with great confidence, he quickly lost balance and almost fell. He looked down, and he saw that he had stepped in the abyss, and not the snow.
Was the border getting narrower the further they went? That isn't a nice thought. Well, good thing he regained his balance, or else he would be falling to his death for three hours.
The waterfall was dead silent, the Field wouldn't make such a mistake as give sound to its traps. After all, for it humans were like flies, waiting for them to fall into its traps so it could feast on their bodies and souls.
There is a theory that the Forsaken Field was artificially made by a group of powerful people who were mistreated by the world and wanted to get revenge. And to keep it alive they would bring humans for it to eat and savor their souls for power.
It is said that a riot broke out after people heard of their doing, and they were forced to retreat into their creation.
It is said that they are still hidden somewhere in the Forsaken Field.
Max kneeled down and reached with his hand into the abyss above the Field. This gesture was to mock the Field, showing its powerlessness beyond its territory.
But as his guard was down, he felt a little push. His eyes widened and his heart stopped. He clenched his fist, as his eyes began to shake.
Time began to stop as he was quickly falling into the abyss. The wind blew into the back of his head as he turned to see what had happened.
But it was too late, he was already falling to his doom. Even if he survived the fall, there was no way he was going to survive there alone and injured. Who knows what horrifying creature would get attracted by his blood?
He couldn't muster a word, his mind hadn't fully realized his situation.
He was dead. But how? Did the Field manage to get its revenge on his mocking?
Or had it been Ryan? Had he been betrayed again, and so early on?