Boshi slowly regained feeling as he sat up. The dull gray of the room pressed against his vision, featureless and smooth, stretching in every direction.
"Ugh… my head…" he muttered, rubbing his temples, he blinked and noticed another figure on the opposite side of the room, stirring. Taller than any human he'd seen, with broad shoulders and long limbs, the figure's skin had a faint grayish tone, with deep green eyes, it was a Oni.
"Hey…" Boshi's voice was cautious. "Are… are you awake?"
The figure straightened, letting out a low groan. "Yeah… what… who are you, what is this place?" His voice was deep and had a strange accent that Boshi had never heard before.
"I don't know," Boshi admitted, still cautious. "I was taking the entrance exam at the Jade Heaven Obelisk, then… something happened, some kind of—" he gestured vaguely, "…I don't even know."
The Oni frowned, running a massive hand through spiky black hair. "I was walking the streets and then… then time…poof just stopped. Eyes… floating everywhere in the sky… and then poof, I'm here."
Boshi's eyes widened. "You… you're not from the green continent are you, sorry but I've never seen Oni's in my entire life?"
The Oni nodded, his jaw tight. "Yeah, name's Kale." He studied Boshi with a wary glance. " I guess you're a greenie?"
Boshi swallowed. "Yeah, the green continent if that's what you mean."
There was a pause, the two of them sizing each other up. Boshi noticed Kale's features tall, muscular, broader than any human he'd seen. He remembered hearing about Oni being from the Colossus Territory. Humans, yes, but bigger, stronger with insane endurance and a very big appetite.
"So…" Boshi began cautiously "you can understand me?"
Kale's green eyes flicked to him. "I can… somehow, your words make sense. Your accent, it's… different though, but I get you." He shook his head slowly. "This is… strange, you are strange, this room is strange....."
"Yeah," Boshi said "I mean… it's airtight, look." He waved a hand along the smooth wall. "No cracks, no vents, and yet… we're breathing."
Kale looked around. "Ain't that the oddest thing, No air… but we breathe." He flexed his arms as the numbness fades and gave a dry chuckle. " Someone's messing with us, maybe."
Boshi nodded, tension easing slightly. "So, you saw the eyes too?"
Kale's eyes darkened. "Yeah, everywhere, hovering, watching. Then, poof—they grabbed people, or should I say swallowed? Some kind of force enveloped the people and then poof gone, I ran as fast as I could, but… nothing. Everything just froze, I felt… pressure, something in my chest, then here."
Boshi swallowed hard. "I thought I was the only one, I saw them too, my desk… everyone stopped paused."
Kale exhaled, leaning against the wall. "Well, looks like we're stuck in this… gray box together, gotta figure out what's going on, ain't like we got much choice."
Boshi nodded. "Yeah, but why us?"
-
Hours passed by boringly, the gray walls gave nothing, no seam, no crack, no hint of an exit or an exit to be made. Boshi's hands were sore from pounding, his throat dry from calling out and his mind tired from all the thinking.
he slumped down, back to the wall.
"This place…" he shuddered, shaking his head, "it's hopeless."
Kale paced a while longer hitting and punching, his heavy footsteps echoing before he finally gave up and sat across from Boshi, his broad frame looked oddly cramped in contrast to this room.
"Never seen stone like this, even after all of my testing, it hasn't made a dent"
after that for a while, they sat in silence breathing the air that shouldn't exist, listening to nothing but their own thoughts.
Time passed they both were visually disturbed by the thought that they could be trapped in here foreever, finally Boshi spoke breaking the heavy silence.
"So, Kale, You're from the Blue Continent, right? What's it like there?"
Kale scratched at his chin "Blue's different from your Green, colder, harder. The Colossus Territory takes up half the land, stone plains, broken mountains, and cities built into the bones of giants, my people… Oni… we're children born of that land. Born big, with bigger. Everything's oversized there, animals, insects,storms, even the trees. You eat or you're eaten, simple as that."
Boshi leaned forward, curiosity pricking at him despite the dread. "So… is that why Oni are so strong?"
"Strength don't come for free," Kale replied. "Our appetites match our size, three times what a normal man eats, at least. Some of us never grow out of the hunger and become just beast chasing our next meal, but in return you in return you get endurance and sturdiness, stamina that doesn't end, my father said the Colossus watches us, sitting on his throne–Glutton'sPeak, watching, seeing who devours who.
Boshi shivered slightly. "That sounds… harsh."
"That's the Blue," Kale said simply. " Our cities like everything else, build walls like mountains, and still the waves sometimes climb over them. We learn young, to fight, to climb, to carry more than our weight." He leaned back against the wall, his voice lowering. "We've got warriors who wear the skulls of the giant beasts, and use their bones for weapons. You Greenies worship nature, we Blue? We worship endurance, survive first, then think.
Boshi nodded slowly, letting the weight of the words sink in, his world of jade towers and exams suddenly felt very far away in this grey gloomy box.
"So…" Boshi hesitated "Why were you… walking the streets when all this happened?"
Kale smirked, "Looking for work, Fights, guard duty, whatever paid man. My kin say an Oni's fists are coin enough, but I wanted more. Thought maybe I'd head south out of the territory of the Colossus, learn some Movements that wasn't just about breaking bones, guess fate had other ideas, what about you?"
Boshi began recounting "I… I guess I never told anyone much about where I came from" he began quietly. "I grew up on a farm, somewhere between the Godbeast, Spore, and Apothecary Territories, it's… nothing special, just fields, livestock, the occasional wandering traveler from a Territory, and my family trying to scrape by. Life was… ordinary, hard, but steady."
He shook his head, "even though it was small, I loved it, but I always knew I had to leave it behind if I wanted… something more. I spent every spare hour reading, studying Ti, learning everything I could from any old scroll or worn-out book I could find. Day and night, I pushed myself just to get close to taking the entrance exam, and here I sitting in a gray box with stranger Oni, wondering if all that time meant anything at all."
Kale remarks "Sounds… exhausting, greenie. You put all your years into chasing a door, and now you're stuck in a room where there isn't even a door to chase."
Boshi managed a weak smile as he remenisced on all the trouble he had to go through. "Yeah… that's… one way to put it." He glanced at the ceiling pondering "I guess all that… studying, all that effort… I thought it would prepare me for anything."
A sudden voice, low and hollow sounded through the room or was it directly in Boshi's head, echoing without a source, Boshi froze.
"To get out one must die."
His stomach twisted at what that meant, and he shot a glance at Kale "Did… did you hear that?"
"Heard it. Whoever… whoever put us here isn't playing games and they don't sound… friendly."
Boshi's hands shook slightly as he clenched them together. "Kill… eachother, I'm not going to, but… why?"
Kale letting out a low growl. "I don't know, and I don't like it, but if this is some kind of test… then
Boshi swallowed, heart hammering. "All that… all the life I've lived, my family, my farm… I never thought I'd… I mean…" He trailed off.
The room felt much colder now as if they've been suddenly dropped in cold ice.
"And we're supposed to..?" Boshi tried to get the words out but couldn't .
"No we won't we'll wait and try our hardest to get out" Kale quickly responded.
-
In the grey room, time passed slowly, with each hour being identical to the one before it. Boshi moved a little and rubbed his stomach, which had started to growl loudly and persistently. It started out as a dull ache that was easy to ignore and went away when he tried to concentrate on the walls or Kale's big presence. However, as the minutes turned into hours and then days, it became more intense, gnawing at his focus.
He made an effort to divert his attention by thinking about his farm, the smell of the tilled ground, and the sound of his favourite pig's livestock—that juicy, delicious pig—but even these things dimmed as the hollow feeling spread and his limbs started to feel slower and heavier.
"Boshi... Are you okay? There was a note of worry in Kale's voice, which rumbled low but steady.
Boshi rasped, "I… I'm… fine," but his voice broke in the middle. He pressed his trembling hands to his stomach, hoping the pain would go away, but it didn't.
Kale exhaled slowly and flexed his massive hands. "Greenie, you appear to be on the verge of passing out. That hunger I am aware that ours is more powerful, but what about yours? You can't ignore it.
The edges of Boshi's vision flickered. The room tilted slightly with each blink, the colours faded to grey. His voice was hoarse as he whispered, "I… I can't…I need.."
He couldn't finish. Every thought became clouded, replaced by the pounding, insistent, animalistic cry of his body, food, water, relief. Weakness spread like a disease, his arms trembling uncontrollably, the room spun, shadows lengthening and twisting across the smooth walls, he could barely think straight.
Kale's green eyes watched him carefully. "Stay with me, greenie. Don't… don't let it get inside your head."
Boshi swung at the wall, he struck at the closest thing, a violent, uncontrolled motion, a loud crack could be heard as Boshi's fist fractured.
Kale reacted instantly, his massive body lunging to restrain Boshi. "HEY! Breathe, greenie! Focus!" The Oni's hands gripped Boshi's shoulders, holding him back, their size enough to anchor Boshi until he calmed down.
Boshi's chest heaved, eyes wide, sweat mixing with tears, a mixture of fear, shame, and pure panic. "I… I—" he gasped, words failing, throat raw. "I didn't… mean to—"
Kale's grip loosened slightly, still watchful. "I know, I know… the hunger, the thirst… it's twisting your mind, but you gotta fight it, greenie, you can't hurt yourself cause of it.
Boshi sank fully to the floor, shaking, every joint trembling with weakness. The room felt impossibly large and crushing all at once.
"I… I can't…" he whispered, voice barely audible. "I can't hold it… the hunger… the thirst…"
Kale sat beside him, his massive form dwarfing Boshi but radiating a steady, terrifying calm. "You're human, greenie, You can survive this longer than you think… look at me I'm doing worse than you and I'm staying rational".
Boshi's eyes traveled across Kale's features after who knows how long Kale at one point became extremly thin, his face and bones could be scene, as skin hangs off of them, but even still Kale still has a clear look in his eyes.
Kale's hand fell on his shoulder. "Rest, we'll get through this. You'll see, but you gotta keep your head, greenie… even when everything inside you says to give in."
Boshi nodded weakly, voice a whisper. "Yeah… I'll… try…"
-
Leaning his broad but thinning back against the smooth grey wall, Kale shifted slightly. The silence of the room weighed heavily on him, oppressive. Hunger gnawing unrelentingly, three times worse than any human could fathom, his stomach twisted in protest. But he had learned to accept it, to bear the suffering without allowing it to interfere with his thoughts.
Every motion felt like dragging a stone behind his limbs, and even he was weak. Normally able to tear trees from the ground, his arms shook and now resembled the sticks of those trees. He sensed a deep, nagging force that cried out for fulfillment in every muscle fibre and joint.
He whispered, "Focus," as his green eyes darted to Boshi, who was huddled against the wall, shaky and frail. The human's mind couldn't withstand it for long because he was young, inexperienced, and already on the verge of collapse.
Observing the tremors and the sagging skin, he flexed his enormous boney hands. An Oni would typically drink a lot of blood and eat mountains of meat to satisfy their thirst, but nothing was available here. He refused to accept this grey emptiness in the absence of food, blood, or water. Not now; it took discipline, patience, and endurance to survive.
It took effort to even sit up straight. His ribs appeared to tighten, causing his chest to hurt and making breathing difficult. He endured despite the sweat trickling down his temple, or perhaps he was just imagining it because he hadn't had any liquids in a long time.I lose control if I give in. I can't let go. Not in this place. Not right now.
When he looked at Boshi once more and noticed the human's trembling, Kale experienced an odd mix of pity and frustration. The boy had never had to control his body in the way an Oni did in order to simply survive; he had led a normal life, safe among farms.
His stomach twisted again, sharper this time, like being punched in the stomach, but Kale's training, his life in the Colossus Territory, had forged him for this. He had learned to sit with it during those cold hard days, scavenging for the least bit of food when no prey came.
His thoughts wandered to the Colossus, to Glutton's Peak, to the endless stone plains and the lessons of his youth.
Slowly he studied the room every subtle imperfection, no cracks, no seams, no hidden edges. Nothing, but he noted the air, clean, breathable, steady. That alone was a clue, something to anchor his mind.
And as he sat there, trembling, weak, but unbroken, he resolved: whatever this was, whatever awaited them… I endure. I survive and I protect that fragile human beside me.
The hunger soon took hold