Chapter 10: Is This the Afterlife?
"Where the hell am I?" Evel opened his eyes slowly and looked around.
Evel found himself in a hazy, dream-like world where he couldn't see a single particle of light—everywhere was darkness, only pure darkness.
He tried to remember what had happened to him to end up in this situation.
"Am I caught and currently in a prison cell waiting to be slaughtered?" Wild thoughts started to run through his mind.
After some time forcing his mind and memories, he finally remembered what had happened.
Evel's expression turned from curiosity to sadness and finally bewilderment. "I had died from the Python's tail due to my stupidity, so how am I alive now?"
"Am I really alive now? Did God listen to my prayer, or have I become a ghost?" He considered every possibility.
"Don't tell me I am in hell now. I am sure I wouldn't have gotten to heaven, after all, I had eaten that delicious human meat. 'Delicious'—I am sure now I will be burned and fried in hell. Good for them, I didn't get to eat the fried meat, only the raw meat."
"Why are my thoughts running so wild?" Evel tried to calm himself.
While he was doing so, his surroundings suddenly changed, but he didn't notice.
After some time, Evel opened his eyes, and when he did, they widened in shock and fear.
The place was very familiar; he was in the middle grounds of his clan, and at the very center on top of that.
The surroundings were dark, and there was no moon in the sky. It was a moonless night, and strangely, it was very peaceful—more peaceful than necessary. It felt like the silence before the arrival of a storm.
Suddenly, the painful cries and bloody screams started to come from every house in the clan.
Every person was crying in extreme pain and screaming the same name, "Evel...Help me," "Evel...help me."
He tried to control himself, knowing that it was not real, but it felt so incredibly real.
At last, he was still a kind soul; how could his heart allow him to just stay there while his clan members were being slaughtered?
"But how can I help them? If I just go there without anything, I will just join them in their death," he tried to think of a plan.
"I should first head to the weapon hall of the clan," he planned, his expression firm without any hesitation.
But the next second, Evel felt like crying, but tears didn't come out of his eyes, so he just screamed, "Why the heck can't I move? What's wrong with my legs?"
He looked at his legs, but there was nothing strange about them. When Evel tried to move them, he couldn't get any response from them, just like they were not listening to him.
The painful screams continuously rang in his ears.
"No, I want to help them. Move, you fucking legs of mine, move!" But no matter how much he screamed, his legs stood there like a rock.
Evel felt like cutting these disobedient legs, but he didn't have anything sharp.
So, he started to continuously beat his legs with a flurry of punches. His fists and legs were covered with blood and wounds, but he didn't let his punches slow down.
After some time, his fists suddenly stopped in mid-air.
Suddenly, the painful screams of his clanmates stopped, and the surroundings became eerily quiet with not a single sound coming from anywhere.
Evel turned his head towards the clan's houses. It seemed there were no people inside or...or they had died.
He felt so emotionally broken that he wanted to kill himself, but the next second he felt something wet on his legs.
His instinct kicked in, and he tried to run, but he forgot that his legs were frozen. Due to his sudden motion of his upper body, he fell to the ground.
He tried to get up, but his hands were numb from pain, and he couldn't maintain his balance.
"Ahh, fuck this," he opened his eyes, but what he saw next made him scream in horror.
Lying beside him was a dead, bloody corpse, its wounds still fresh.
This was the second time Evel had seen a corpse. The first time, he felt hunger, but this time, he felt terror—extreme terror.
He quickly pushed the corpse away and stood up. His numb hands started to move due to fear, like a miracle.
Evel could also feel that he could move his legs, but when he took a step with his left leg, his right leg stopped in mid-air as if something was grabbing it.
He knew what was grabbing him, but he didn't dare to look.
But how can anybody do what they want? He slowly turned to look at his right leg and saw a very bloody and cold hand gripping it tightly.
He tried to push it away, but he couldn't. Instead, another hand grabbed his left leg.
He hadn't observed his new surroundings carefully due to fear, but when he did, he nearly fainted.
There were corpses laid all around the ground, bodies of all types—some children, some adults, and a few elderly.
The most terrifying thing was that all of their eyes were staring at him with disappointment.
As if this was not enough, a river of blood started to flow from every clan's house, like a dam breaking and a flood arriving.
When he was almost drowned by the river of blood, the surroundings changed again.
All the corpses and blood vanished, replaced by two familiar people—not just familiar but extremely familiar.
He slowly walked towards them to make sure they were who he thought they were.
When he was almost two meters away from them, he felt like running to them.
When he got near enough to see their faces clearly, he realized they were his parents—his father and mother, standing there as if they had been waiting for him.
Tears started to flow down Evel's cheeks, his emotions overwhelming him.
He wanted to run and jump into his mother's lap, to feel the comfort and safety that only she could provide.
He longed to hear his father's reassuring voice, to feel the strength of his embrace. Without thinking, he began to run towards them, his arms outstretched, his heart aching with longing.
But no matter how fast he ran, the distance between him and his parents grew further and further.
It was as if the ground itself was stretching, keeping them just out of reach. Evel pushed himself harder, his desperation fueling his efforts, but it was futile.
He couldn't close the gap. His parents remained distant, their expressions filled with sorrow and regret.
"Mom! Dad!" Evel cried out, his voice breaking with emotion. "Please, don't leave me!"
His parents' figures began to blur, their forms becoming less distinct with each passing second.
Evel's legs burned with the effort of running, but his heart ached even more. The realization that he might never reach them, never hold them again, was like a knife twisting in his chest.
"Why can't I reach you?!" he screamed, his voice filled with anguish. "Please, I need you!"
The world around him seemed to warp and twist, the darkness closing in once more. Evel fell to his knees, his strength finally giving out.
He sobbed uncontrollably, the weight of his grief and loss pressing down on him like a physical burden. His chest heaved with the intensity of his emotions, each breath a struggle.
"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..." he whispered, his voice hoarse and broken. "I couldn't save you. I couldn't save anyone..."
A Second time,
While he was sobbing, the surrounding changed again and he again came back to the middle of the clan's ground, the darkness and loneliness again surrounding him.
The scene was eerily familiar, a haunting replay of the night his clan was slaughtered. He was in the center of their settlement, surrounded by chaos and destruction.
The air was thick with the cries and painful, bloody screams of his clan members. The cacophony of desperation and agony echoed in his ears, making his heart pound with dread.
He wanted to rush to their aid, to do something, anything, but he again found himself unable to move.
His feet felt like they were rooted to the ground, his body paralyzed with fear and helplessness.
The screams continued for what felt like an eternity, each one a dagger to his heart. He could feel the desperation and fear of his people, their pain and suffering tearing at his soul.
He tried to call out, to scream, but no sound came from his lips. He was trapped in a nightmare, forced to witness the slaughter of his clan without the ability to intervene.
The faces of his kin were twisted in agony, their eyes wide with terror as they called out to him, their voices blending into a single, unbearable chorus of suffering.
He could see children clutching at their parents, elders trying in vain to protect their families, and warriors falling under the relentless onslaught of their attackers.
Each face was a cruel reminder of his helplessness, each cry a reminder of his failure. After what seemed like an endless barrage of cries, the screams abruptly stopped.
The sudden silence was almost as deafening as the previous noise. Darkness enveloped him, a thick, oppressive blackness that swallowed everything.
Evel thought that it had finally ended, that perhaps this was his mind's way of coping with the horror.
But as his eyes adjusted to the darkness and he looked down at the ground, his breath caught in his throat.
The ground was littered with corpses as before. But it was still scary as hell.
They were the bodies of his clan members, lying motionless, their lifeless eyes staring up at him. The sight was horrifying no matter how many times he experienced it.
Even though the bodies were still, Evel could feel that they were crying out to him. Their eyes, filled with disappointment and sorrow, seemed to bore into his soul, accusing him of failing to protect them.
Evel screamed in horror, the sound tearing from his throat, raw and primal. He felt a wave of guilt and helplessness wash over him, drowning him in despair. He wanted to look away, but he couldn't.
The eyes of his fallen kin held him captive, their silent accusations tearing him apart from within.
Tears streamed down his face as he crumbled to the ground, his body shaking with sobs. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..." he whispered, his voice hoarse and broken. "I couldn't save you. I couldn't save anyone..." The weight of his grief and loss pressed down on him like a physical burden.
His chest heaved with the intensity of his emotions, each breath a struggle. He reached out to touch the nearest body, his fingers trembling, but as soon as he made contact, the corpse vanished, disintegrating into a cloud of ash.
He pulled his hand back in horror, watching as one by one, the bodies of his clan members dissolved into nothingness.
.....
The Third time,
.....
Fourth time,
......
Fifth time,
......
This scene was like a nightmare repeated again and again, like a loop.
Evel even forgot the count of how many times he had experienced this bloody hell.
Hundreds of times, no, not so little—at least thousands of times—and it was still continuing.
The scene didn't change a bit, but Evel was entirely changed upside down by it.