[Awakened, your time has come... In your case, it was a forced measure...]
A mechanical voice resounded in Kain's head, the same as when his Rune Brand was activated.
[Accept the call or stay in your world, waiting for the next one... The whole world will wait for you to make a decision, but your time is limited.]
Kain's eyes went wide - everything around him went gray, almost motionless. The phantom had to kill him, it needed a little more than half a second to do so, yet the monster still hadn't gotten to him.
The only thing out of time was the door.
Crack.
With a creak, the door began to close, the blue glow hiding the darkness of the unknown.
Then, Kain realized everything.
Either he would take his very first call now, or the phantom would kill him as soon as the door closed.
'Am I lucky, or have I been doomed again?'
It was unknown what the answer was, but Kain knew one thing for sure.
'I don't want to die!' he inwardly exclaimed before rushing forward.
No matter what was ahead of him, even if it was death, it would happen later, meanwhile, the phantom was right in front of him.
Before he could even take the first step, his frame shuddered into a blue flash, disappearing through the door.
Crackle.
At the same moment, the phantom crashed into the wall, reaching only stone debris.
The bewildered monster turned around, looking for Kain but only saw Zoran striding menacingly in its direction.
"Well, well, he's only been here one week and he's already gone back. This kid had good potential," Zoran wheezed, bringing his arm up to strike.
The impact smashed the phantom onto the wall, leaving only a dark stain.
Zoran turned around, glaring at the dissolving runes. "Hmm, on the bright side. If it wasn't for a call, he'd be dead by now. If it's a matter between life and death, any odds above zero are big enough to take advantage of."
...
A torrent of memories raced through Kain's mind - Valkyra, the Hollow Patch, countless chases, and the stone throne.
For a moment, he thought he saw the Sacrificial Plateau again, before falling into darkness.
At the same time, Valkyra, who was pacing amongst crimson candles, abruptly turned her head around. Her eyes went wide as she immediately tore forward.
After only an hour, she found herself on the Sacrificial Plateau. The cold wind was still blowing around the swords embedded in the ground and the skeletons in cloaks.
"What the hell...?" she gulped, staring at the ruined throne.
Debris with dried blood was all that was left of the throne.
Then, the strong odor of blood enveloped Valkyra, obscuring her vision with red runes.
"It's..."
She didn't dare speak her thoughts aloud. It was dangerous.
But, she was sure she felt the power of the deity from the Sacrificial Bridge, the same as her master - the Crimson Reaper, but much greater.
Valkyra quickly dismissed those thoughts.
"Kain, time after time, you manage to escape, but you almost lost last fall."
She looked up, looking at the blood moon.
"Where are you this time?"
Unfortunately or luckily, Valkyra had yet to realize that Kain was not from her world.
But it wasn't a big mystery to everybody in the Astral Dimension.
Crackle. Crackle. Crackle.
The cart drove over the rough road, shuddering with every bump and rock that fell under the old wheels.
Two black horses rode forward, watched over by a man hidden in shadows and loose robes.
With difficulty, Kain opened his eyes, awakening from a deep sleep.
The breathless bodies of men and women, young and old, became his first sight.
In a panic, Kain crawled away to a corner, hitting the edges of the carriage.
'Where the hell am I?! I was just in front of the door!'
Suddenly, a calm voice came from behind.
"Be quiet, young Wanderer. You woke up too early. I recognized something unusual about you right away."
Kain turned around to see a dark silhouette who continued to stare ahead at the road.
Without hesitation, Kain pulled a dagger from his belt, preparing to attack.
"No need." The man slowly raised his hand. "I have no intention of attacking you or harming you in any way."
His calm, detached voice managed to overcome Kain's desire to fight for his life. Kain's eyes locked onto the bare rocks around, black mist passing along the sharp peaks under a cover devoid of light.
There was no moon or sun or even stars, the only sources of light were the white strands seeping through the black sky.
"W-Where are we?" he stammered. "And, why did you call me a... Wanderer?"
Without turning around, the man replied. "We're at the Hollow Horizon. This is one of the chambers of the Ascension Construct. Here, the Awakened find themselves for different reasons, but they all have the same goal - to find the runes. This is the only way the Awakened can evolve their Core to the next stage.
"But... You should have heard this a bit later. I should have dumped the corpses in the pit and then waited for you to awaken. Usually, people like you wake up in carts alone."
"Bad luck, I guess."
Kain snorted.
"Anyway, who are all these people? They're dead..." he lifted his foot, thick blood dripping off his boots.
"The Awakened like you. Some of them came here on their own, and some, like you, were brought here by the Arcane Scripture. Look closely, some of them are your fellow."
Kain narrowed his eyes as he saw the sparse runes, most were white, but there were a few purple ones, the same as Morbia's.
Crackle.
The cart abruptly stopped as the man jumped from the coachman's seat.
"As you see, you're not the only one," the man said throwing four bodies on his shoulders at once as he headed to the edge.
Kain followed him, unable to discern any of the man's features, he looked like a living shadow, only his bright violet eyes were apparent.
The man dropped the bodies into the abyss with the darkness emanating upwards - the Pit. It was the place for anyone who failed.
"What do you mean I'm not the only one?" Kain was wary, standing a few feet from the cliff.
"Wanderer... The thing is, I can see your runes."
The man's eyes turned into two swirls.
"I know you are not of this world, young man."