Chapter 44 A Saga of Heroes [1]

... [Skill, {Immersion} <Level ???> has been forcefully activated.] ... As soon as those unexpected words filled my vision, my world dissolved into darkness, and the last thing I saw were the strange and bizzare characters on the walls come to life and flutter around me like leaves in the wind. And then the next moment, my consciousness was warped and pulled inward sharply. 'Not again....! ' I barely managed to hold on to a final thought which also quickly faded and ceased at once.Nôv(el)B\\jnn Suddenly, everything became still and distant. As my world blacked out and my consciousness turned thin, my mind was suddenly raided by the prescence of abstract thoughts and information. Deep within my blackened subconscious, strange letters and characters flowed like a raging blizzard then died the rest of my consciousness in a sharp bright light. Then, after that, everything was over. * * * * * * The 'First Great Calamity ' Those words... reverberated deeply within my subconscious. Then everything shook. The depths of my darkness shifted, and the black empty scene of vacuum unraveled to a different scene. What could be described as 'otherworldly' presented itself to me at point black. My eyes were widened to their extremities. I couldn't move, and everything was black. No. It was black, but there was something even darker... something sinister undulating like lightless tendrils in front of me. I couldn't move my body, but I could also tell there wasn't anything like solid ground or surface in this 'dream" which I assumed it was due to my past experiences with the [Immersion] skill. That was because the endless vacuum of space surrounded me in its cold and empty embrace. And in the very depth of this vacuum of 'space', there weren't such things as distant twinkling stars, or even the heavenly bodies that comprised of the sun, moon, and planets. Instead something very dark, very sinister.... Something repulsive took their places. It was shapeless. It was formless. It only continued to grow and expand, devouring even the furthest non-existent extremities of space. Then a group of words reverberated deeply in my soul. And instinctively, I knew what that 'thing' was. [@$!#@!$#$¥@$!#@!$] My head thrubbed. It was like I just got hit by a jackhammer. Was it from staring at the blot that was the beginning of everything, or was it simply for 'imagining' the 'name' of 'that thing', i didn't know. And I also wasn't left the room to ponder it for too long. The black blot wasn't the only thing undulating in the vast vacuum. A hot boiling ball of 'gas'. An infernal 'point' who's radiance alone challenged the sinister tendrils of the black blot, burned fevently. It was increasingly getting harder to hold coherent thoughts. I couldn't feel anything but the pain of my broken and shattered body. But just then, from the corner of the eyes of my dimming world, I saw a black and distant figure streak through the blood red sky. They weren't just one, but many. It was an entire army that flooded the red skies. A group of them circled above me like vultures awaiting the final breath of their prey. They were still far, but at the same time close enough for me to study their features. The figure were strange and twisted creatures. They had pitch black and ugly skin, and were humanoid in nature. They were crowned with horns, stood taller than man with two black and large membranous wings sprouting from their backs. As they circled above me slowly, they had a thin tail that wagged through the sky. 'Demons.' I recognized. These guys were demons. Blood red eyes, pitch black skin, a crown of horns and a pair of jet black wings. The terrifying creature crackled and chuckled ominously like hyenas circling their prey. I was the target of their urges, but yet, strangely I couldn't be bothered. Maybe it was because I was already dying. As soon as I thought that, a portion of the red sky was flooded in a great white wave of brilliant light that illuminated the world. As the brilliant rays of the brightest light enveloped my existence, I watched as the black and ominous figures of the demons scream and wraith as they vanished into nothingness inside of this light. To me, the light was like the final flash of my life. I let it wash across me and slowly closed my burning eyes in death's eternal embrace. It hurts.. everything hurts...but...at least it'll be over now... I had already given up on trying to make sense of anything that was happening. I was done, I just wanted to be over with all of this pain. How many times have I died now just in this life? Was this fair? A vision or an illusion, wasn't it to cruel to make it this realistic? Why did I have to suffer along with my body and mind during events that most presumably happened in the past, or would happen in the future? I just wanted to live in peace, was it too much to ask for?! It was regrettable, but at least it was over. But alas, the vision went on. As the light swept by, a new scene presented itself before me once again. "Huh?" This time around, I wasn't in the depth of space, or plummeting like an asteroid through the sky. Instead I was laying on the bare ground. "I don't want to get up..." For justifiable reasons, I didn't want to see what this part of the vision held for me. 'I'll just die again.' I gave a tired sigh. I was languid. My mind was depressed, and my body just wanted to sleep. 'But it won't end if I don't see it through.' I thought fleetingly. And so I forced myself up. Since the vision changed again, my body wasn't crushed and broken like before, but my mind still clearly remembered the scars. I gritted my teeth and rose to my feet. The sky was still red here, and my surroundings lay in utter and complete chaos. Boiling mass of asteroids broke through crimson skied, leaving dark black fuming trails. I felt the ground underneath my shaky feet rock as one of the asteroids met the earth kilometres again. Next moment, there was an immediate wind pressure that was like a tsunami, quickly accompanied by the radiating heat that spread from the point of impact far away. I didn't struggle nor pose any opposition against the force. Feeling only nothing but hate and contempt in my heart at myself for my own weakness, I gritted my teeth and be swept up by everything. My skin burned, and my bones crushed again. I streaked through the air like a broken rag doll and tumbled into collapsed structures before meeting the ground. -drip drip! I raised my head as red beads if blood trickled down my forehead. My vision was hazy and my left leg was crushed, but I still forced myself up. I felt lifeless...hate, anger, pain, and fear, all of the emotions creates such an empty vacuum inside of me. But I was still going to see it through. After all. The vision still wasn't over.