I Get The Worst Vacation Ever

Sometimes I wonder if I've somehow subscribed to a lifetime of streaming nightmares. 

If so, I'd like to cancel my subscription and demand a full refund. I'm just so tired of these relentless horrors.

Like always, I found myself beneath a crimson sky dotted with black stars. And I'm not talking about a sunset crimson or anything remotely beautiful. 

No, this was a vast nightmarish canvas, the color of fresh blood, with black stars flickering in and out of existence like dying embers.

The air was thick with the metallic scent of blood, and the chill in the atmosphere sent shivers down my spine.

Lowering my gaze from the sky, I looked down, baffled by what I saw.

"This is odd," I muttered, standing knee-deep in a vast sea of blood that stretched endlessly in all directions.

An eerie crimson mist hung low over the surface, not thick enough to block my vision completely, but enough to make me strain to see beyond it.

This was unlike the nightmares that usually haunt me, where I stand on countless corpses and severed body parts, some of the people I know and love, all while a looming presence hunts me through a nightmarish landscape of death.

But this was different. The sea of blood was unnervingly still, and there was no presence chasing me.

I narrowed my eyes, scrutinizing the crimson surface, half-expecting to see a familiar face float into view.

Nothing.

"Weird. This doesn't feel like a nightmare," I muttered.

"Are you disappointed?"

I spun around, blood splashing as I disturbed the pristine stillness of the sea. 

The voice was feminine, regal, and seemed to emanate from everywhere at once.

It was nothing like the maniacal, playful voice of the Haema Incarnus I'd heard before.

"You look very cute, spinning around like that," soft laughter echoed all around me.

Certain memories surfaced, memories of my past life. Memories of my mother. 

The voice's laughter reminded me of hers, whenever she played with me as a child in the nearby woods and fields of Orkney.

A dry chuckle escaped my lips. "So, the Goddess of Madness can change her voice now? Trying to make me nostalgic?"

The voice chirped back, "Oh, I'm not an Incarnus, my child."

I frowned. "Wait. You're not the Incarnus?"

"No. I sensed an abnormal surge of Madness emanating from a single existence and decided to check it out," the voice explained, amused.

"The Madness weakened your mental defenses, so I thought I'd use a dream to visit you."

"I'm quite impressed by your resilience to the Madness," the voice continued with a note of admiration in her tone. 

"It seems that child has taken a liking to you. Perhaps that's why she's kept the worst of her Madness from overwhelming your mind."

I blinked, processing her words. "Did you just call the Haema Incarnus a child?"

Her soft laughter echoed again. "Yes, I did. To me, she is a child."

"I still remember when that little halfling tried to escape from the Queen's hunters," she added with a chuckle.

I stared blankly. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"That's for later in this story," the voice mused before changing the subject. "But you, you are an intriguing existence. An interesting soul reincarnated into an even more interesting body."

A strange numbness spread through me. "You know I'm a reincarnation?"

"Oh yes, I do. You're from Eravon's universe, after all. He told me about you, Sir Mordred," the voice affirmed. "But your soul… it's fascinating. Possibly the most interesting I've ever encountered, and I've seen many."

"I must say, Eravon has truly outdone himself. He reincarnated you into the body of a parallel version of yourself, who also happens to be the latest in my bloodline."

"Your bloodline?" I frowned, realization dawning on me. "Hold up! So you're—"

Before I could finish, a sharp tearing sound drew my attention skyward. My eyes widened at the spectacle unfolding above me.

Massive cracks spread across the crimson sky, threatening to shatter it into millions of pieces. 

Waves began to form on the sea of blood, splashing around my legs and making me lose balance.

"Ah, it seems our time here is ending," the voice said, sounding disappointed. 

The crimson mist began to dissipate, revealing distant mountains. 

A faint rumbling filled the air, growing louder as the mountains seemed to grow larger.

"What's happening?" I asked, panic rising as I watched the world around me begin to break apart.

"Am I waking up?" I realized.

"Indeed," the voice confirmed. "You won't like what you see when you wake up. Your journey ahead will be the most harrowing and toughest one you will ever face. I just hope you won't fall into despair, my child."

The rumbling intensified, and I realized with horror that the mountains in the distance weren't mountains at all. 

They were a massive wave of blood, sweeping across the crimson sea, growing larger as it approached.

"That's going to hurt," I muttered, trying to flee, only to find my feet stuck to the bottom of the sea.

"What the-?" I struggled, but my legs remained firmly anchored.

"This is a fitting end to our dream, an ending with a great red splash!" the voice giggled.

A massive shadow fell over me, and the rumbling filled my ears. I looked back, just in time to see a colossal wave of blood towering over me.

"Well… shit," I managed to say before the wave crashed down.

*******

I opened my eyes and screamed, pure agony tearing through me.

Every cell in my body felt like it was being scorched from within, as if doused in acid that gnawed at my flesh, searing through muscle and bone. 

My bones seemed to liquefy, while every muscle shredded itself under an impossible strain. 

My head pounded fiercely, as though a red-hot spike was drilling into my brain, burrowing deeper with each pulse.

So this is the after-effect of accepting the Madness and removing my limiter.

I have to say I'm not a huge fan.

Except the only thing coming out of my mouth were my screams of utter agony.

Tears blurred my vision, and my body trembled uncontrollably as it desperately tried to adapt to the pain. 

The damage was extensive. I could feel it. 

My muscles hadn't just torn; they had shredded themselves to pieces, unable to withstand the strain of using Kay's and Vanis's skills together.

Gritting my teeth, I activated Blood Reconstruction.

My back arched as I screamed, my voice ragged and hoarse, the searing pain only intensifying as the code repaired my ravaged body.

Blood reconstruction took only a minute, but each second of maddening agony felt like an eternity.

When it finally released me, I was left trembling, hollowed out by the sheer intensity.

"That was hell," I muttered, sitting up and wiping the tears from my eyes. Now that my vision had cleared, I looked around.

"Huh?" I rubbed my eyes and looked again. "Am I not awake yet?"

A soft whimper escaped my lips as I gazed up at the crimson sky, a familiar, nightmarish sight. 

The heavens were dominated by that eerie crimson, dotted with black stars that seemed to devour all light.

Despite the absence of a sun or moon, the nightmare sky was still visible, casting an otherworldly glow over the landscape. 

The sound of water lapping against land filled my ears, drawing my attention to the strange beach I found myself on. 

The sand beneath me was stark white, glaringly bright against the oppressive darkness of the massive body of water that stretched out behind me.

But the water was different.

It was an abyssal black, an inky liquid that swallowed light, merging with the crimson sky at the horizon. 

It lapped softly against the edge of the beach that stretched endlessly on either side, the rhythmic sound being eerily soothing.

The sand was coarse and fine, biting into my skin as I shifted to a more comfortable position. 

I grimaced, the lingering pain of Blood Reconstruction and the removal of my limiter flaring up with every movement.

Gingerly, I placed a hand on the stump where my right arm used to be. The wound had closed, replaced by a huge scar.

Well. This sucks. I can't regenerate my arm using my strand. 

Haema can only reattach and close up wounds while protecting my body from infections and diseases. It cannot regenerate a lost limb.

Looks like I will have to use a prosthetic if I manage to get out of here.

But where is 'here'?

The dead silence was oppressive as I stood up and looked around. 

The endless expanse of white stretched out before me and the vast inky sea or ocean went on forever behind me.

Nothing stood out of the desolate expanse that could help me make sense of my bearings. 

It's either the creepy sky or ocean of liquid darkness or the vast empty plain of white that harbored not even a single molecule of life.

A chill spread through me, and I shivered, realizing my uniform was in tatters. 

Cold, battered, and utterly lost in this alien wasteland. 

Cold, tired, and injured in an alien landscape with no idea where to go. 

Great. Just great. 

That rooty son of a bitch really did it this time. 

Peeling off my tattered and blood-stained clothes, I muttered. "So this is the Abyss."

"This has to be the worst vacation ever and I bloody hate it."