Moon took a deep breath and rummaged through the ocean of memories swirling in his mind. They felt boundless and inconceivable, like a dream, a fantasy that felt so familiar. He found himself unable to think straight, lost in a labyrinth.
The ground trembled violently, almost throwing him down. Gritting his teeth, he tried to forget all his worries and did just as he was told; he turned to the other side of the wide chasm and ran as fast as his freshly healed legs could take him.
The view in the distance, where the radiance of the azure light guiding him ended, eluded him, appearing close and impossibly distant at the same time. He tried to ignore the strangeness of it all, moving quickly across the rocky floor.
The sound of his feet hitting the countless rocks scattered across the chasm floor continued to echo in a tenuous rhythm, chasing away the silence. The noise of his ragged breaths remained muffled, and with every step he took, his rejuvenated muscles slowly turned sour.
The ethereal glow suffusing his skin was slowly dimming. Moon believed that it was aiding him in many ways, augmenting his body so he could move faster and tire much more slowly. He was moving far faster than he was usually capable of and was still filled with energy.
Enough energy to run for a bit longer.
At some point, the rumbles of the battle happening far behind him died out completely, his mind still reeling from the memories of the torture he had endured just by being a witness.
But the end of the light still remained out of reach, growing more distant the faster he ran. The sound of his hoarse breaths soon drowned out the silence completely, reverberating against the never-ending walls at his sides. The darkness remained deep and silent, indifferent to his mounting agony.
Moon staggered and swayed, collapsing to the floor on his knees. Sweat glistened on his porcelain skin as droplets rolled down his face, falling in tiny reflective drops that seemed to absorb the hue suffusing his skin. The azure shine had now all but disappeared.
"Damn it."
He cursed, straining to stand up. He looked around him, finding nothing but darkness stretching behind and before him. Moon looked at his palms, where the glow he was emanating shone brightest. And as he stood up, about to take another step forward...
The light guiding him suddenly dimmed. He looked at his palms once more, his brows twisting into a frown. Folding them into fists, he took a deep breath and turned around. Then he took a step, another step, one more step.
He was heading back in the direction he had come from, trying to satisfy the curious thought that had emerged in his mind. He made the fourth step, the fifth, and by the time he raised his foot to make the sixth, the light finally dimmed to the point that he could barely see.
The azure shine on his palms finally died out, leaving only the chilling embers of his deep blue pupils. But they soon died too, leaving him to drown in darkness once more.
"Well, that's a bummer."
He sighed, reaching his hand forward in an attempt to find the nearest wall. The distance between them was great enough that four armored trucks could easily pass through, but it wasn't something a few steps wouldn't be able to cover.
The total absence of light left him vulnerable, and he almost stumbled each time he took a step farther away from where he originally stood. Soon his luck ran out, and he tripped, falling face-first onto the rocky chasm floor.
Moon pushed against the ground as his lips and nose bled, drops of blood rolling down his upper lip before falling to the ground. A dissonance of a thousand voices suddenly exploded from all around him, each carrying indescribable screams and wails.
The boy forgot to breathe. His heart skipped a beat, and his fingers trembled, almost throwing him back to the ground. The cries sounded so chilling and painful that for a moment he wondered what could have caused such agony, almost as if he were the one suffering the dreadful torment.
What could have let out that dreadful wail? What could have caused it to cry out in such horror? Moon wanted to run, to get up and run, to get as far away as he could. His body continued to tremble, betraying him. So he fought, he struggled until his body listened and he slowly rose from the ground.
That was when the discord resounding all around him multiplied, and the chilling wails fused into one, sending forth a distressing call that crashed into his soul like a sonic wave. It sank into his spirit, aiming to tear the very foundation of his entire being apart.
His mind and soul were being attacked simultaneously.
'What am I even thinking?'
What were these sudden intrusive thoughts flooding his mind at every possible moment? They were hindering and annoying, heavy and oppressive. They seemed to belong to him, but at the same time he believed they did not.
An orphaned life. A dead village. A missing friend named Nuel. This burning hatred that he had come to feel for these people, the vile cult that had sent him plummeting into the very depths where he was now stranded.
Had the decision to make that jump not been his? Yes, it was. It had been his choice to take the risk, even if it meant dying, as long as he denied them the joy of his suffering.
'Just get up and move, damn it!'
These thoughts could be pondered later. He could wonder how he had come to be so stupid some other time when this was all over. But right now he had to get out of here, as far away from whatever it was that was assaulting his soul as possible.
Once again, jagged rocks bit into his palms as he pressed them hard against the ground, pushing himself up with all his might. His spirit writhed in torment and his mind churned in distress, but he still kept fighting.
The litany of voices drew nearer, their eerie screams having fused into one. It continued to crash into him, tearing the foundation of his existence apart.
Moon was out of breath, barely holding on. He wanted nothing more than to close his eyes, to give up. And yet he didn't; he refused to.
Peering into the darkness, he yelled.
"Shut up!"
Even as the essence of his being was continuously torn apart, he got up. Barely able to feel his feet on the ground, he swayed as he raised his leg. Unable to see where he was going, he continued to move forward.
Moving while knowing neither where he was nor where he was headed, he kept going. All he needed to know was that he had to get away as fast as he could.
His legs were spent, trembling with each step he took.
In the end, he lost. His eyelids shut tight and he collapsed to the ground, deep in the throes of pain.
"I'm impressed."
The voice sounded foggy, as if drifting through mist. The air was suffused with a pleasant scent, and he felt pleasantly warm, lying on something hard.
Gasping in shock, Moon sprang up and looked around him in a daze. Everywhere around him was illuminated by blue torches hanging from the stone walls. He was lying on the chasm floor, and in front of him a man was sitting on the ground, staring back at him.
His eyes were like two pools of eternal darkness, and his skin was flawlessly white. So white, in fact, that he seemed a bit ghostly, much like the lady Moon had met earlier.
Moon studied the man for a while, then turned away to look at his own body. His brows twisted in confusion at the sight of the armor that now contoured his body like a second layer of skin. The armor was scarlet, glinting faintly under the light, and seemed to be fashioned from a special kind of glass.
It looked like something that was made to be seen, not worn. But that was something to think about later. For now, his gaze returned to the man sitting in front of him with a weird smile on his face.
"What happened?"
The young man's eyes gleamed with something dark for a split second. The smile twisting his face widened, and he leaned forward.
"Well, do you want the short version or the long one?"
Moon furrowed his brows.
"The short one?"
The man looked him deep in the eyes and said in an even tone,
"You died."