I was starting to wonder if this was even real.
The pain was not realistic.. I fall from high ground but only feel very little pain even though I hit concrete ground
I get crushed and I feel next to nothing...
I stood there for only a heartbeat before I forced my legs to move again. The thought of standing still made my skin itch.
The mont my boots hit the tile again, the sound followed — a violent slam behind as the crushing walls t. Dust hissed into the air.
Then ca the other sound.
A blade’s whisper.
Not the slice of air from before, but the deep tallic groan of a pendulum starting its swing. I whipped my head back just in ti to see the massive blade lurch forward — and stop. Dead.
The tip hovered just over the edge of the tiled floor, trembling slightly from the force behind it, but it didn’t cross.
I took a single step toward the sand, curious, and instantly regretted it when the blade inched forward like it was waiting for to try.
My heart was a steady hamr in my ears.
"Okay... so the tile is safe. For now."
I stayed on it, scanning the area like maybe an exit would just be taped to the wall with a note saying congratulations.
That’s when I heard it again — a different grinding, higher-pitched, like sothing heavy being dragged along rails above .
I tilted my head back.
Symbols again.
Not on the side walls this ti, but on a slab of stone the size of a house, descending from above.
"Oh, shit."
It ca fast. No ti to think, no ti to run.
—CRUSH—
Blackness swallowed whole.
The fall was beginning to feel routine.
"I’m so tired."
—THUD—
I barely waited to regain balance this ti. The engine sounds were already revving in the distance. I sprinted toward the tiles again, my mind flipping through every death so far like a deck of bad cards.
First: crushed by walls.
Second: swallowed and sliced in half by a giant blade.
Third: crushed from above.
It was like soone had put in the worst possible version of a children’s funhouse and decided the fun was watching die.
I reached the tile floor again, eyes darting around for... anything. Sothing.
The walls slamd shut behind . The blade creaked into motion and froze at the line.
Then ca the high grind of the ceiling slab again.
I looked left. Nothing.
Right. Nothing.
Left again—
A door.
A rectangular outline in the wall, impossibly white on the other side. It wasn’t light coming from it — more like a hole punched in reality that just happened to be shaped like a doorway.
It hissed as it opened, the whiteness bleeding into the dark like spilled paint.
I hesitated.
"What if it’s a trap?" My voice sounded smaller here. "Then again... better than being a pancake."
I started toward it — too slowly.
The ceiling dropped like a guillotine.
—CRUSH—
The fall again.
I landed, groaned, and instantly took off. My thighs burned but I didn’t care. I couldn’t care.
Tile floor. Slamd walls. Frozen blade.
The grinding above started and I was already looking toward the door.
White.
Open.
I didn’t hesitate this ti. I ran like every muscle in my body understood that hesitation ant being flattened.
The grinding got louder. The air seed to press down on as the slab descended.
Three more steps— two— one—
I dove through.
The world flipped. The sound cut out like soone had pulled the plug.
My shoulder hit smooth marble.
I lay there for a second, breathing hard against the cold floor. It was... clean. Too clean.
No dust.
No sll of oil or scorched tal. My fingers skimd the surface and found nothing but polished stone, smooth enough that it almost felt wet.
I pushed myself up, eyes flicking around. The space was massive, open in a way that made feel even smaller after the suffocating corridors. Pillars climbed into an unseen ceiling, and faint golden light bled from nowhere in particular.
It looked—holy. Not in the "I feel blessed" kind of way, but in the "I am very much not supposed to be here" kind of way.
I turned slowly, my boots echoing against the marble like I’d stepped into a cathedral.
And then—
There it was.
A statue, towering so high that my first step backward wasn’t enough to take it in. My neck ached from looking up.
It hadn’t been there when I first scanned the room. I knew it
. My stomach tightened at the thought that it could just... appear.
Its form was draped in a stone robe, the folds so precise they almost shifted when I moved.
A deep hood covered its head, leaving its face swallowed in shadow. The only color ca from thin veins of gold winding through the robe like vines, glowing faintly.
And in its outstretched hands—two entrances.
Not doors, exactly. Just perfect archways standing open, one blazing red, the other humming green. The light from them pulsed faintly, each rhythm making the gold veins in the robe flicker.
I stared. Long enough for the air to feel heavier.
"Yeah," I muttered, "I’m not going in there."
My voice bounced back to in the empty space, sounding even smaller.
I turned away from it, deciding that forward—anywhere forward—was the safer bet. My steps echoed again, stretching into the silence as I moved further and further from the twin arches.
Minutes passed. Maybe hours.
My thoughts drifted, circling the sa loop—what was this place?
Why did it feel both new and familiar? Why did dying here feel like being reset instead of erased?
I was still chewing on the thought when I saw movent ahead.
Sothing was approaching.
I squinted my eyes
A ripple of panic spread through before my brain had even registered its shape.
It was big.
It was fast.
And the closer it ca, the more my gut twisted with recognition.
"...oh no."
The shape solidified in the dim light. My chest tightened.
"Oh no."
I turned, glancing back over my shoulder—
The statue was gone.
The entrances were gone.
"...oh no."
When I looked forward again, my worst mory from this world was charging straight at .
The Abyss scorpion.
The first monster I’ve faced here.
The first thing that had really tried to kill .
Its armored legs clattered against the marble, each step clicking like a clock counting down my life.
The black plates of its body shimred faintly, reflecting the pale gold of the room.
I didn’t think. I just ran.
My boots slid on the marble as I pushed off, lungs screaming in protest, the echo of its legs chasing like a second heartbeat.
It was faster. Always just a little bit closer. I could hear its guttural growl now, low and hungry, vibrating through the air like sothing ancient and patient had finally found again.
"Oh fuck—"
The shadow over my shoulder swelled—
And then—
Darkness.
No falling this ti...
I groaned, opened my eyes.. and finally
I was in my room..
Avin’s room
And in that mont, I thanked god
I thanked The Primordial
-To Be Continued-
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