A Step Towards Death

Well, who can complain in such conditions? Certainly not these monstrous, disgusting creatures, and definitely not me. Although, I'm guilty for ending up in this hole.

Wait, why am I guilty? It's that bitch's fault. Wasn't five years in a prison cell enough for her? She sent me straight to my grave... Hmm, it's been over a month or three since I got here.

That's for sure, but there has never been a night here. I look at this gloomy sky and wonder: is this the matrix? Many people - scientists, prophets (charlatans) - have said that we live in a matrix. Or maybe I'm the hero of the story and someone is watching me? Is this nonsense?

I'll think about how to survive and save myself from this place.

Looking at his hands, he saw a pair of wings, or rather skin that had been cut off. Putting the trophy aside, he approached the creature's muzzle. Its mouth was full of teeth, all of which were like needles and approximately the same size. But only two teeth were larger than the others, two or even three times longer and three to four times thicker. At the end of the mouth was a small hole, probably for sucking blood.

"A vampire. That's what they look like. And here I thought they were sexy nobles who always suck blood (or maybe something else) and have sex with their dildos. All my dreams are shattered." - He began to kick the beast's corpse.

After a few minutes, he stopped and then, using a saw, began to cut the teeth from the very base. Blood splattered everywhere. He happily looked at his hands, covered in blood and teeth.

Putting the teeth on the ground, he looked at the fur, or maybe mouse hair. It was so long and sturdy that it couldn't be torn off. He happily began to tear the hair with roots and flesh. Clearing each hair, he started to look at one of the two teeth. Seeing the hole, he began to insert the hair into the tooth like a needle.

"Success!" He happily began sewing the two wings together, making them into a long cloak. But then a new problem arose: how to fasten it so that it wouldn't fall off. With this thought in mind, he began cutting the remaining skin off the corpse to make a long cord that went around the cloak. After which he tied it around his neck.

Finishing up, he looked at the teeth, and then at the claws of the corpse. Thinking to himself, he said:

"I can't carry everything with my hands, I also need a bag. Without it, it will be problematic to carry future trophies."

Looking at the furry belly and the hand sticking out of it, he began cutting, struggling for 10 minutes.

Then he started tearing off the skin along with the meat. Looking inside, he saw unexpected things - not muscles and intestines, but decay and a terrible stench. It seemed like this was a dead creature that had been decaying for thousands of years. The hand started to rot as he tore the skin off with the meat.

All of this looked like spoiled canned food that looks beautiful and perfect on the outside, but has already gone bad on the inside. Sometimes you don't know that it's inedible until you check the production date. But even then, you can't always be sure that the production date hasn't been changed.

So it was with this corpse. At first, it looked ugly but was still alive. But it turned out to be a walking corpse, or perhaps it was its particularities.

"Standing there, and the cockroach didn't decay before my eyes... No, I didn't cut it open to see what's inside..." Puzzling over this question, he abruptly stopped, gathered all his belongings in his hands and his coat, and ran away as fast as he could. After an hour or so, he heard the cry of a very powerful bird and, looking up at the sky, saw a huge bird that was too large by the standards of earthly birds.

The bird flew towards the corpse, and after five minutes it landed next to it. Then there was the roar of a tiger or something similar to it. A battle began just a few seconds after that. After a pitiful 10 seconds, a new cry was heard, but from whom it was, remained a mystery.

"Well, I'm glad I ran away. In the end, I was right in my decision. If I were there, I would have left a long time ago."

Looking at the place where the beasts were fighting over their prey, he ran even further. Maybe he had been running for an hour, but he couldn't compare to the speed of the birds because they were still too close to him. He needed to find shelter before the noise of the battle subsided.

"I'll definitely die from any blow, or even from a shard of a blow. So to speak, dying from a stray bullet or a random hit. And what's this hole?"

Running away further from the beasts, he noticed a huge tree, next to the roots of which was a hole. But it was the size of an average dog.

Approaching, he stuck a stick in the hole. At first, nothing happened, but the further he progressed inside, the more the hole widened until it stopped at something soft.

Quickly grabbing the stick, he ran away from the hole five meters and waited.

Slowly, the head of a white mouse emerged from the hole. Its eyes were clear, and it stared intently at him. Then it began to squeak and disappeared into the burrow.

"Stop, this isn't a mouse, it's a real rat," he thought, watching as it opened its mouth, revealing its teeth, and started to run away.

"Was it scared? It doesn't matter. Right now, I need a place to rest, create a weapon, and wait for these monstrous creatures to fight over something trivial," he decided, approaching the former house.

He prepared a stick just in case, but nothing happened.

Looking into the burrow, he saw a hole that was 2 meters high and 3 meters long. Inside it was clean, with no belongings or even a rat's toilet.

"Maybe it was a clean freak and pooped somewhere else..."

Entering the burrow, he began to close the entrance with black sand or dirt. After that, he fell dead on the ground.

"Ugh, I can't stand dust, I don't even have the strength to finish the job..."

He looked like a corpse, with wrinkles all over his body, and his skin was gray-black. He didn't understand why, but his skin slowly began to lighten in color.

Sitting motionless, he thought about all his achievements since coming here. It was like a story where the hero was transported to another world.

"But I'm not a hero, and no one even noticed me. I'm just an ordinary... Maybe this is the world after death, as the church says, hell and heaven. And I ended up in hell... I'm slowly losing my mind, talking to myself, and then what will happen?"

"Phew, I don't even know how much time has passed since I ended up in this hell. According to my feelings, it's been 3-4 months. Who knows?"

"I'm tired, not physically, but spiritually. I'm tired..."

Closing his eyes, he began to remember his childhood, university, work, and his parents... What would his father say in this situation?

He began to regret. Only today did he realize how much he hadn't managed to do.

Sitting on the floor, he looked up at the ceiling...

"Hey, wait. What do I see in the darkness?"

Looking around, only now did he realize that there was no source of light that could illuminate this place. All that remains is what he can see in the darkness.

"And why am I not surprised?"

Standing up, he began to examine this place more carefully. In a world where the strong kill the weak, one always needs to be on guard.

Having looked around all the places, he saw nothing. Falling back on his back where he dug up this sand to close the entrance to the burrow.

He sat, but boredom did not give him peace, and laziness was also insistent. In one place there was laziness, which said "Rest", and boredom said "Boredom is deadly! Move, damn it!".

And so he began to move his arms and legs through the sand. If it were snow and not sand, then he would have made an angel. But...

Feeling around with his hands and feet in the black sand, at some point he stumbled upon something hard. Looking at that place, he saw something that looked like... a book? Digging it up and examining his hands, he made sure that it really was a book.

"What is a book doing here? And in such good condition," he thought.

Looking at the cover, he noticed a skull. He had seen many skulls of different kinds in his life, even skulls of cats.

But this skull was strange, even a little creepy. He was ready for danger, but he was already in hell and... dead.

"Well, it's all my curiosity's fault. This damn book was so dark, with a skull drawn on the cover, and all of it together with the aura of antiquity that it radiated," he decided.

Trying to open the book, he couldn't. How come? The book had a lock, and it was closed.

But curiosity drove away laziness and boredom, and he wanted to know what was inside the book. He tried to force it open, but it didn't yield. Looking at what was keeping it closed, he saw a clean, almost untouched by time lock.

"How do I open it?" he thought. "Maybe the key is nearby. There's little chance, but there's still hope."

And he began searching for the book key, digging through dozens of holes. But he found nothing. He fell back next to the book and closed his eyes regretfully. His thoughts began to gradually disappear.

It seemed like he fell asleep, but at the same time, the skull on the book cover began to enlarge until it started making sounds. It stopped only when only half of the skull had come out. After that, two dots appeared inside the two holes where the eyes had been, one green like a swamp, the other purple like an amethyst.

These dots began to move in different directions until they noticed the man... but no, that was a mistake - to call him a man. He was a black corpse with a faint grayish tint, and it was more accurate to call him that. The skull continued to inspect him, as if not noticing that he was still alive.

From his eyes, which served as his only senses, it was clear that he was in a stupor. He was not an animal nor a corpse. No, he was not a walking corpse nor a fully functioning living organism. If there had been any mana within him, he would have been almost alive, but practically there was almost none. The few energies that were present were not being utilized at all. They were there just for show.

Even for a skull, he was unusual. And even a little appetizing. The points in his eyes increased, and he began to see what was hidden inside. As expected, there was hardly any mana within him, but there were not so few spiritual energies. For him, this was contempt for such a small amount of energy. But the skull was not an ordinary individual, and these were difficult times. Hmm... spiritual energy was gradually being consumed to heal the corpse. But what about his soul? It... it was pure.

No, not in the sense that it was sinless and embodied goodness and justice. But in the sense that it did not touch the dirt of this world. This purity tempted the skull to desire sleep.

The skull began to burn with blue flames. At the same time, the black body slowly began to rise, then approached the skull. At the same time, the skull, opening its mouth, released black smoke, which began to envelop the non-human.

At the same time, if the skull had a face, a terrifying smile of a madman who had hungered for centuries would be visible.

The points that served as his eyes decreased and then disappeared altogether. It seemed as though he had closed his eyes. But the fire that enveloped him did not disappear.

At the same time, a white rat emerged and began to move around the area, stopping at each hole for a few minutes and making a strange sound. Then it moved to the next hole. From the holes where the rat was, rats of different kinds and sizes began to crawl out, many of which were injured, without legs or heads, but all followed the white rat.

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Song start: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VagES3pxttQ

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Opening his eyes, the main character saw the night sky and a faintly glowing moon. Getting up, he did not see the small burrow. In its place was a graveyard full of graves.

Stunned, he couldn't understand how he got here. He began to replay his memories with his index finger, of what he was doing before he ended up here.

"I was in the burrow...found a book...started looking for the key to the book... But why can't I hear my voice?"

"Oh...what song is this? It seems familiar. But more importantly, why can't I make any sound?"

Only now did he realize that he couldn't make any sound, and against this background, the graveyard sang some kind of melody.

Not knowing what to do, he approached the nearest grave and began to look at the board next to it. Unintelligible letters were written on the board. But intuitively he understood what was written there.

King Eric Mariton. Year -

Reaching for the board, he suddenly fell into a stupor. In the next second, he woke up in a castle, where he saw the king lying on the throne. His lips were blue from blood, and his eyes were cold and glassy, yet still moving.

Next to him was a girl, naked, with a heart in her hand. Her skin had a faint bluish tint, and an icy coldness surrounded her.

"Blah...Blah, Blah?" the king began to speak something in Isakai, but I didn't understand the language he spoke. He said something in an unknown language to me, but I could understand the country. He said, "Daughter... Why?" and died.

Meanwhile, the hand holding the heart rose to the succulent lips. How do I know? She just turned to me, and then the girl ate her father's heart. Her eyes were fixed on me, and she suddenly rushed towards me, expressing clear hatred. But before she reached me, everything around me turned to dust.

He woke up next to a familiar board. He was surprised, scared, but at the same time excited. Yes, he was afraid of dying, and he was afraid now too. But he...how to put it? Liked it. Not only did he see a naked and sexy princess, but also this, of course. But if he was right, she was undead. No, not a zombie infected with some virus, but revived through magic. Very familiar magic...NECROMANCY. How he would have been happy if he had a chance to learn these dark arts. He would even be happy if the book he found in the den was about necromancy. After all, the cover hinted at it... Or maybe even the skull came to life?

***

At the same time, as the skull prepared for its next moves, it sneezed. But it was just a delusion. He imagined it. Even he himself thought so.

***

Having calmed down, he began to think calmly and rationally again. However, the melody did not stop.

He saw another grave next to the king's grave and a board next to it. Approaching the board, he began to read: "Ana Rong *****-*****. A..." - he read silently. Not because he wanted to, but because there were no other sounds in this world except for this song.

Touching the board, he finally came to his senses. The sky was a clear blue, like he hadn't seen in a long time. He started to remember, but quickly got distracted by screams. A child was screaming hellishly.

Turning to the source of the sound, he saw a woman, 30-40 years old, eating her 6-year-old daughter, who was still alive. Again, unfamiliar words. But, like before, he understood their meaning.

The daughter screamed again in Japanese, luckily he understood everything: "It hurts, mom... please stop, it hurts." In the next moment, she died of pain. Or perhaps because she was eaten alive?

The mother got up, her mouth full of meat, blood, and saliva. She looked at him, continuing to chew the meat in her mouth.

And, like before, she attacked him, and everything around turned to ash. This time it was terrible - to eat one's own child alive - it was terrible. If he had seen this when he was alive on earth, he would have been sick. But now it only gave him goosebumps. Nothing more.

Looking at the board, he continued on. He didn't even know what to do next. For him, this was no longer a game. For the first time, he saw the daughter kill her father.

But it wasn't something terrible. After all, she was already dead. The idea that he could find something valuable, like the first steps to becoming a necromancer, crossed his mind.

But now, after seeing his mother torture her daughter, he didn't know what to say. He was now afraid not of death, but of what he might see.

Struggling with himself, he went on to the next tomb. He decided to continue. Was he trapped in this world or was he hypnotized and all of this was unreal? But he had to hurry to avoid losing his senses. Besides, this music was making him wary.

Looking at the board, he saw the same thing that was written there last Monday.

"Victor Tarofon *****-*****"

At the same time, in the previous tombs where he had been before, if you looked closely, you could see the earth moving.

Touching the board, he woke up in a huge bedroom. A naked man sat on the bed with a woman between his legs.

"Blah... Blah," "Yes... like that." Well, it was obvious they were having fun. But in the next moment, a scream was heard.

The woman bit off and tore off his manhood with her mouth. Where she bit, blood started to flow. Swallowing, she turned to him.

And like before, after a few seconds, she ran towards him and then everything turned to ashes. Waking up next to the board, he began to approach each one of them.

He saw someone's death every time. But with every touched board, the grave nearby began to move. So he watched the deaths of more than a hundred people for over half an hour. Approaching the next board, he saw only emptiness. There wasn't even a grave, just a hole, as if someone was preparing to bury someone.

At the same time, something wet fell on his head. Touching the spot, he felt that it wasn't water but something sticky and somewhat familiar. Looking at his hand, he saw that it was red. Putting his finger in his mouth, he tasted blood, but it was as if it had gone bad. In the next moment, it began raining blood. The sky was red, and the moon seemed crimson, like an eye in blood.

His instinct awakened, making him scream in danger. Turning around, he saw a hand coming out of the first grave he was in. It was a woman's hand, and her fingers and nails were black.

The same thing started happening with the other graves. After the first hand, the second came out, and then the head and body.

The first dead person. And he was definitely dead. Because he came out of the grave. And yes, it was the girl, the first sexy princess. But now she was in a very expensive black dress. She looked at him first with interest, then with greed. After her came the same mother, also in an expensive black dress. And behind her, a zombie who loves to suck and then eat the brains of men.

And behind them came everyone else. The women were dressed in expensive black dresses, and the men - some in suits, some in magician's robes, but all were in black. And only now did he remember the name of the music - "Sociopath."

***

The skull that was meditating opened its eyes. Two bright dots emerged from them. It looked at the face of the creature. Opening its mouth, dark tentacles tinged with blue began to enter all the orifices - mouth, nose, eyes, and ears. But nothing entered its behind.