Chapter Seventeen: In Between

Just a few minutes after losing consciousness, Devon found himself in a dark space once again, but this time, things were a little bit different.

The whole area was quiet, but he could hear water drops on both sides and then on the far end, he could see a glimpse of light, it was like he was in a cave and that was the exit that he had to get to.

He didn't start moving toward the light immediately because he had a lot to go through.

"How did I end up here?" He muttered as he slowly looked around trying to find anything that would give him the slightest clue of where he was but alas the darkness was greater than his will to see.

"Hey, Erina!" He called but there was no response. "Old man!"

After calling their names without getting any response, his mind quickly shot back to when he got stabbed by the spider, and the possibility that he could be dead was starting to come to his mind now.

He quickly touched the left side of his abdomen to see that there was nothing there not even a scar.

"I see now, I've been here before, last time I got out through some sort of light, I just have to repeat that process here."

After convincing himself of what he needed to do, he slowly began to slowly move toward the light.

"Erina must be crying her eyes out there now just like Emma that day." He muttered to himself as he moved toward the light.

The more he thought about that, the more restless he became, and before he knew it he was running toward the light.

Running in the darkness wasn't really a bright idea as he ended up tripping on something as soon as he started running, but it didn't look like that was going to stop him as he immediately picked himself up and kept running toward the light.

He didn't notice it at first, but the closer he got to the light, the farther it moved away from him.

"You think that's going to stop me?" He muttered under his breath before amping up his speed.

His breathing was getting louder because of all the running he had been doing, and that should have had an effect on his body because if this was the real world, he would be on the floor now, but for some reason, his body wasn't feeling the effects that much but the respiratory reaction was still the same.

The light kept moving farther away from him no matter how hard he tried to get to it, but despite that, he kept moving toward it with the same intensity and determination he had from the start.

"Hey, just let me out of here!"

All this while he felt like he was running around in circles but right now, it felt like he had just broken the barrier with his words because his advances toward the light was something he could see now, it was no longer moving away from him.

His face was now beaming with a smile as he quickly closed up on the light which he understood to be the exit from this strange place.

It didn't take long before he got close to the light leading outside, but even after getting close to the supposed exit, all he could see was just white light that seemed to have gotten a bit brighter.

He proceeded to get closer but ended up tripping on something, but just before he could fall flat on his face he stretched his hands toward the exit's wall and used it as a wedge to prevent himself from falling.

After that, he slowly pulled himself closer to the wall and let out a sigh of relief.

"Finally, now I just have to go through here and meet Erina."

Just as he attempted to step his right leg through the exit, he felt a firm grip on his shoulder before he was suddenly yanked back into the darkness.

He was only pulled a few feet away from the exit but now it was back to where it was when he began running toward it.

"What do you think trying to do?" He heard a menacing voice say just before he could utter the words he had on his lips.

"Who are you, and why did you pull me back in here?"

There was no doubt that he was quite scared now after all he didn't know who pulled him back in, and that voice didn't sound very friendly, but it wasn't like he was trembling.

"Hey, I'm right behind you." The mysterious person spoke again before giving him a little tap on his back.

This time his voice sounded calmer but the menace and terror emanating from it was still present.

Devon quickly turned around to see who it was that dragged him back in here but he couldn't see anyone.

I mean, he could see his own body even in the darkness so he should be able to see anyone close enough to tap him, but that didn't seem to be the case.

"Hey, are you playing with me?" He asked before taking a quick glance around.

"No, I'm right in front of you."

He felt a sudden sense of fright because his gaze was right on where the voice just came from but he couldn't see anything, he could tell this mysterious person was really close to him.

"But, I can't see you." He stuttered trying as hard as possible to keep his calm.

"Oh, yeah that's right, you can't see me because you aren't dead yet."

"Huh?"

"Don't worry, I'll put my hand over your shoulder so you don't have to worry about where I am." The mysterious person offered before slowly putting his hand over his shoulder.

Devon felt chills letting someone he couldn't see put his hand over his shoulder but there was nothing he could do about it.

"Hey, what did you mean I wasn't dead yet?"

"Oh, yeah, that, you're supposed to be dead now but somehow you're still breathing which is really strange. I guess your friend out there helped by healing that deep wound on your body, but even with that, anybody would be dead by now after losing that much blood."

"You're saying I'm supposed to be dead?"

"Yeah, and you would have gone through that door if you were dead but sadly, I'm not allowed to forcefully take people who are very very near death but not there yet." The mysterious person explained.

"I got stabbed by a huge spider so it makes sense that I am near death but where does that exit lead to?"

"To the land of the dead, of course, it could be a happy ending or a dreadful ending depending on how you lived your life, I trust you already know where you would have been if you were really dead now."

"Yes." The youngster replied with a gulp.

"You should just be grateful that you're not dead yet."

"Is it because I was going to get a dreadful ending?"

"Yeah, that too but you should also be glad that you can't see me."

"Huh?"

"I think this conversation is over, time for you to go back, this world will come to an end pretty soon anyway and I will have a lot of damned souls to feed on." He said with a disturbingly cold chuckle. "Time for you to go back, Devon."

"Hey, what do you mean the world will come to an end soon and who are you?"

"Oh, I am but just a gatekeeper with the name Pocustos, and for why I said your world will end, you'll have to live to see how that unfolds."

Devon still had more questions, but just before he could say anything, he felt a touch on his forehead and his body suddenly turned to dust.

_______ _______

Just before Devon had his encounter with the Pocustos, his body was lying cold in Erina's hands as she cried herself into a stupor.

The first thing she did as soon as they found themselves beside the river was use her ability to completely close Devon's wound.

This wasn't something she really liked doing but she had to do it in this Situation, and it ended up draining her.

While she was healing his wound, she could feel his body growing colder and colder but she tried to convince herself that he was going to be okay.

That didn't help the matter and when she finally checked his pulse, she finally realized that her thoughts were just wishful, Devon no longer had any sign of life in him.

"Oh, no, Devon." She cried before slowly sinking her face into his cloth.

The old man regained consciousness a few minutes later, and just before he could ask how he ended up there, he heard Erina crying by the side with Devon's cold body in her hands.

He let out a deep sigh before slowly turning to look at the flowing river.

The atmosphere had gotten pretty gloomy and it looked like the heavens were also feeling it as tiny drops of water began to drop on them but it didn't move beyond that.

"What am I even going to tell Michael and the others?"

She sobbed on his body for a while before suddenly closing her eyes.

She stayed like that for a while without making any sound until the water she was feeling from his body suddenly began to get warm.

"Huh?" She muttered before slowly opening her eyes and just after that, Devon quickly shot his eyes up.

"Erina, aw, you're crushing my bones." He groaned before placing his hands on her head trying to push her off.

"How?" She muttered with a shocked expression on her face.

"Huh?"

"You're still alive!" She chortled, but it didn't take long before she started crying and wrapped her arms around him. "I thought I was never going to hear your voice again."

After hearing her voice go up like that and what she said, the old man slowly turned her gaze toward her to see that Devon was indeed moving.

"The brat is alive?"

[ System is back online ]

[ 2/100 HP ]

[ Normal Energy: 2/100 ]

[ Warning: You are at risk of sudden death ]

[ You need blood ]

'That doesn't look good.'

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