Chapter 3
1603 Words
The air was thick with tension.
The basilisk, a colossal creature with shimmering scales and green eyes that loathed sunlight, emerged from the small cave. Hye, the leader, and the other survivors found themselves face to face with death.
‘Yo...’ confusing words started to form in Hye's mind.
Hye looked at the leader, their eyes met, and a silent understanding passed between them. They had to run. They had to survive.
A single glance was more than enough; immediately after looking at each other, they all made the same decision.
They ran. They ran like they had never run before. The forest became a blur of green and brown as they moved at high speed, desperately trying to distance themselves from the basilisk.
The first to fall was the squire. His trembling body tripped over a tree root and fell face-first to the ground.
Before he could get up, the basilisk was upon him. With a swift flick of its tail, the squire was hurled away, his body crashing through several tree trunks only to end horribly; smashed against the barrier marking the end of that world.
The woman in red armor screamed as she saw the squire struck. She stopped for a moment; running made the poison spread even faster through her body, causing unbearable pain.
For a moment, she looked back, but that was all the basilisk needed. With a swift movement of its head, it opened its enormous jaws, one part dragging on the ground while the other towered higher than the huge trees around, and swallowed her whole.
Hye and the leader kept running. They could hear the screams of the others behind them, but they couldn't stop. They couldn't help.
‘You...’ The voice returned, clearer this time.
One by one, the others were caught by the basilisk. Each scream was a cruel reminder of the reality of their situation. They were being hunted. They were dying.
Finally, only Hye and the leader remained. They ran until they reached the end of that dimension, with nowhere else to go.
Without exchanging a word, they split, each going in a different direction. Now it was a matter of luck. Who would the basilisk choose?
Hye was the "winner."
‘You want...’
He could keep running at that speed for days, but it would never end. After some time, when he reached the dimension's edge again, Hye disappeared.
The monster was visibly confused, looking around. It could sense him, but seeing him was impossible.
[The skill Invisible Steps has been activated]
[Description: You will be invisible to all around you, but those stronger than you can sense your presence.]
Hye ran towards the creature, but due to its size, even though it couldn't see him and wasn't moving, attacking it was as hard as dodging its blows. Let alone causing any significant damage.
As he approached, he leaped. Attacking directly one of the monster's eyes.
‘You want...?’
[The enemy has been poisoned by the venomous dagger]
The colossal monster thrashed continuously, while Hye moved away.
With each tail strike, the forest trembled, everything was cracking. That place was falling apart bit by bit.
Then, from a dark, cold place where light didn't reach, the same place the basilisk had emerged from, a haunting roar echoed.
The creature stopped.
From that moment on, it ignored the pain of having one of its eyes split in half and silently returned to where it came from.
It was like... a child receiving an order from its parents.
And that... is frightening.
When the basilisk disappeared, everything became calmer.
Silent.
But as calm often precedes a storm, it took just one blow for the whole place to collapse.
The ground beneath his feet fell, and Hye looked down. He saw a creature of epic proportions, so immense that its size defied comprehension.
Its scales were a deep black, each one gleaming with a sinister shine that seemed to absorb the surrounding light. They were as hard as steel, forming an impenetrable armor over its colossal body.
Its eyes were a burning red, glowing with a malevolent light that seemed to burn with the fire of hell. They were hypnotic and terrifying at the same time, ensnaring anyone who dared look directly into them.
The basilisk's fangs were enormous, longer and sharper than any sword. They glowed with a deadly shine, promising pain and death to anyone unfortunate enough to cross their path.
‘This is no ordinary basilisk...’ thought the leader. He was falling along with the debris, quickly heading towards that monstrous being. ‘This creature should not exist.’
For a brief moment, he looked directly into the creature's eyes, his own eyes widening in shock and terror.
Then it happened. A red light shone in the basilisk's eyes, and the leader felt his body stiffen. He tried to move, but his muscles refused to obey. He could feel his skin becoming hard and cold, his breathing becoming slow and labored.
He was being petrified.
The leader fought against the growing fear in his chest, desperately trying to move. But it was useless. The petrification was happening too quickly, and he could feel his consciousness fading.
And then, everything went dark.
‘You want more...?’
With the strange voice in his mind growing clearer, Hye jumped from stone to stone in an attempt to get away from that being. Until the stones ran out.
‘You want...?’
Hye was falling, his body descending towards the black-scaled basilisk.
The colossal creature was below him, its enormous fangs and red eyes glowing in the darkness. Death was practically guaranteed, an inevitable fate drawing closer with each passing second.
But Hye felt nothing.
There was no fear, no despair, not even a hint of regret. He was empty, as he had always been.
A hollow shell of a man who couldn't feel any emotion.
He had come there just to feel. To experience what it was like to have emotions, to understand what many spoke of. What it meant to be "human."
But all his journey had brought him were fleeting moments of a strange emotion, a whirlwind of sensations he couldn't comprehend and only more questions.
He had expected more, hoped that he could finally feel something. But all he got was a confusion of emotions that made no sense to him.
As he fell, he looked at the basilisk below him.
The creature was imposing, its presence dominating the arid area around. Its black scales shining under the light, each one like a piece of night.
Hye could see the basilisk's fangs, enormous and deadly. They were like sharp swords, ready to pierce his flesh and end his life. But even in the face of this terrifying sight, Hye felt no fear.
He was falling, his body descending towards certain death. But instead of fear or despair, all he felt was... nothing.
He was empty.
Empty of emotions, empty of feelings.
Just a spectator in his own body, watching impassively as he fell towards the end.
As he fell, he couldn't help but think how ironic it all was.
He had come there to feel something, only to discover that the only thing he could feel was the lack of emotions.
‘You want more po...?’
‘If I see her again..., will it happen again?’ he wondered.
Those eyes...
She was a vision of unparalleled beauty, a woman whose appearance defied the very definition of beauty. Her presence was like a golden ray of light, illuminating the world around her.
Her eyes were a brilliant blue, as deep and vast as the universe itself.
Within them, stars twinkled and galaxies danced, a cosmic spectacle that left anyone who dared look into them mesmerized. They were windows to a soul as mysterious and fascinating as the universe they mirrored.
Her lips were a work of art on their own.
They were beautiful, sculpted with such perfection that they seemed to have been created by the gods themselves. They were soft and inviting, promising sweetness with every smile and laugh.
Her hair was like strands of pure gold, cascading over her shoulders and shining even when wet and clinging to her face. Each strand seemed to have been woven from the very sun, radiating warmth and light.
Her skin was of a unique tone, neither pale nor dark, but something in between. It was smooth and flawless, without a single imperfection in sight. It was as if she was made of marble, sculpted with such skill and precision that she seemed almost unreal.
Her face was the definition of perfection. There wasn't a single flaw on it, each feature in the right place, creating a symmetry that was almost hypnotic.
Her eyes were the focal point, drawing everyone to them with their magnetic beauty.
Everything about her was perfect.
She was a vision of unparalleled beauty, a woman whose appearance defied the very definition of beauty. She was like a living painting, each detail meticulously crafted to form a masterpiece.
But her beauty wasn't just superficial.
She radiated an aura of grace and elegance that only added to her greatness. She moved with such grace that she seemed to be dancing even when she was simply walking.
She was an enigma, a woman whose beauty couldn't be described in words. She was more than just beautiful; she was stunning, captivating, and absolutely unforgettable.
Hye closed his eyes. In his mind, something now seemed so obvious and indisputable; experiencing something doesn't mean you will truly understand it.
[The skill Invisible Steps has been deactivated]
- Writer
