[Participation Confirmed]
As the same mechanical female voice echoed, the golden glow started to grow in intensity until it covered the silver world in an incredibly bright light.
Rael felt a tingling feeling crawling up his arm to his chest as the light enveloped his sight.
It was a strange feeling. His body started to feel warm, then cold, then there was an extremely disorientation feeling that reminded him of a rollercoaster, yet he strangely felt stationary.
This feeling persisted for a few moments before he felt it start to fade and he felt the comfortingly familiar feeling of a stiff bed under his back and the uncomfortably unfamiliar feeling of... cuffs?
Aah...? W-where...am...I?'
Scratch that.
The bed wasn't comfortable at all. Almost like he had slept on the
Floor...?
Suddenly, a wave of weakness washed over him, causing him to sway slightly where he sat in the middle of a dark room, his hands chained behind him to some sort of pillar.
His mind was still hazy as the sensations of having a body were overloading his mind. He tried opening his eyes but could only make out a hazy outline of a man through his heavy eyelids as he slowly approaching him. Looking past him, there seemed to be a bright orange light behind him which cast flickering shadows on his face.
"G...u...fi...hyma...ot!"
Aah...my head hurts.
Why is it so loud?
What kind of bullshit test is this?
He tried to focus on the light but his mind was still too foggy to process anything. Meanwhile, the voice only grew louder and more angry.
His head suddenly started ringing as a sharp headache assaulted him, causing him to wince. The ringing only increased in pitch until that was all that he could hear. Then...
BANG-!
Suddenly, he felt a metal bar slam into the side of his head, nearly sending him flying and definitely cracking a tooth or two. If not for the fact that the chains that bond his hands were attached to something, he would have been sent flying across the room.
"Wha..."
"You fucking Maggot, I said get up!"
Suddenly, the pain cleared the haze enough for Rael to make out a face that was easily one of the most ugliest he had ever seen. His guant face was overly rough and scarred in a way that was almost sickening to look at. His green, straw-like hair was short and unkempt, making him resemble one of the homeless people on the street from his home world.
He was tall and dressed in a sort of oversized black robe. He looked like a man with a foot in the grave, yet his eyes blazed with visible madness and rage.
"Useless pieces of shit. Your meat better be worth the trouble." He spat hatefully...and quite literally.
The man seemed to tower over Rael as he spat on his cheek before dragging him by the hair to a larger, darker room with a taller pillar where many more prisoners sat slumped in the dark.
Rael was already on the verge of losing consciousness but he managed to see the weapon he had been hit glow slightly with a faint, flickering green glow.
"Fucking assho..."
[The Void Trial has begun.]
————
A few hours later...
SPLASH-
A splash of water woke Rael up as he was suddenly drenched in a foul-smelling water.
He stumbled awake but soon slipped and fell face-first into the 'water' due to his hands being chained up.
"Fuck. Is this piss?!" He spat out the bit that has entered his mouth and quickly backed away from the yellow puddle.
He looked up and immediately spotted the same guy who had slammed his head with a bat holding an empty metal bucket with a sadistic smile on his face.
After snickering and again, spitting on the floor, he left.
Rael listened to the fading sound of his footsteps until they ended abruptly with the sound of a heavy metal door closing.
He sighed and looked around.
The room he was, in fact, a cell. Or whatever you would call a room used to bind clearly unwilling and malnourished people. The walls were all metal and about ten metres wide on all sides and twenty metres tall. Instead of a ceiling, there was just a metal net with rusty chains hanging from them. And in the centre was a three-metre long pole, connected to chains that bound the necks and wrists of all inside.
It was obviously a dungeon.
It currently seemed like morning, though a thick haze obscured most of the light, making the atmosphere extremely dreary.
Not that a lot of light would have made a difference since this was a room full of abducted and abused people.
There were about two men, three women, two teenage girls (probably siblings) and a young boy and girl that sat huddled up in a corner.
Most of their eyes were dead or scared, mostly both. Both men were riddled with bruises and were resting in a corner of the room, eating something that might as well have been a rock. The women sat at the other side of the room whispering to themselves and comforting the children, seemingly wary of the men, even if they were injured. And the twin girls, well they've just been staring at him for a while.
Yep, definitely a dungeon.
Though...
'Did he have to hit me that hard?'
Rael winced as pain flared in his head as well as his ribs. That guy must have started kicking him in the chest after he lost consciousness. That plus the fact that he hadn't eaten anything was causing his stomach to act up.
GROWL~
Suddenly, everyone in the cage stared at him before returning to do whatever they were doing before. He sighed before standing up and stretching his stiff body.
He realised that his view was a bit taller than normal and his formerly short brown hair was now jet black and almost reaching his shoulder. Plus, it was a bit more fit than his original body.
Not like it made a difference when it was all beat up and sore everywhere.
And tired.
And hungry.
Really hungry.
"What am I supposed to do now?" He groaned into his hands.
[Ding!]
Huh?
[Void Trial has been initiated]
Eh?
[You are now participating in a trial for voidwalkers]
[Difficulty: High]
[Quest type: Hunt]
[It has been discovered that the Duke Feron Velkmeir has been experimenting on humans to fuel a secret project. He is aided by demon cultists and various mercenaries to secure test subjects. Kill him and destroy the project.]
[Rewards: Grade 1-4 skill,???]
[Penalty upon Failure: [Full Death] ]
[Time limit: ?]
"This is a starter quest?!" He shouted out loud, attracting a few annoyed looks from he others.
He flashed a middle finger at the screen, though since no one else could see it, it was conveniently directed at a passing guard.
"Oh you piece of...
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A/N: I know, I know, this isn't what y'all thought you were gonna see but I'm trying to push some stuff here. Trust me, it gets better.
And PLEASE! Comments! Lemme know what you think. I'm fully open to critics and compliments.
Peace.