The Null

"I'll deal with you later, boy. But first, I have to finish what I came here to do."

The masked man turned his attention to Sarah. A blade measuring about 30cm suddenly manifested in his right hand. I took the opportunity and opened [Inventory] once again. The masked man probably didn't know what my ability is. I grabbed a healing potion and drank it.

(Good thing I still have a spare left)

Although I still have visible wounds on me, the healing potion managed to heal my many of my wounds. I grab my dagger and launch myself towards the masked man.

"....!"

"Haaaah!"

"Wooops! You're too slow, boy!"

"Kuaaah!"

Dodging my attack, the masked man fixed his posture which was lost by the surprise attack and then did a roundhouse kick which hit my waist, blowing me away several meters towards Sarah.

"Arthur!"

"Ugh..."

His attacks are no joke, it's really powerful. I tried standing up but because I still did not recover from the attack, it took me several seconds to recover before standing. I glared at the man who seems to be quite elated with the current situation we're in.

(I can't beat this man. Not now)

I need to find a way to get us out of here. At the same moment, the masked man reduced the distance between us. Then a familiar voice popped on my head

"....!"

"KUHAHAHAHA! Impressive! Your senses seems to have sharpened!"

"Tch..."

"What?"

~~~~~~~

POV: Mysterious Entity

When I opened my eyes, all I could see was darkness. I don't know how where I am, what my name is, and most importantly, what I am. However, a single message appeared on my head. No... rather, it wasn't a message but more like an order.

Many seconds... no, minutes... hours... days... months... years... decades... centuries... my perception of time has been lost ever since I opened my eyes. I can see my body, my limbs. But apart from my own, everything around me is nothing more than darkness. Whispers in my head appear from time to time that it made me crazy but at the same time, it calmed me.

I don't know. Maybe because I am alone, the whispers of one made me feel like I am not alone. However, all around me are nothing but endless darkness, an abyss.

As time goes by, my mind began to calm itself. As more time goes by, the voice became louder and louder. Then, at some point of once I thought would be an eternal prison in this world, or dimension, the voice that kept whispering inaudible words became clear. And at that moment, my purpose, my entirety, my reason for existing became clear.

I close my eyes once again, and my scenery changed from darkness to somewhere where I can finally see where I am. As I breathe, fresh air fills my nostrils down to my lungs.

(It's certainly fresh)

Now, I can sense smell. Then I hear water dripping from the ceiling. I look up and see icicles slowly melting away. I see rocks, lots of rocks around me. From the ground, walls, and up to the ceiling.

(A cave)

Was my first thought. I can feel a slight chill on my hands.

(Cold)

I looked around to see if there are any way to get out of this cave.

Hours must have passed ever since I started exploring the cave. After a few more hours of exploring, I could see light from above the stairs I coincidentally found. Excited, I jumped. Skipping a lot of steps to be taken, the stairs is really long.

(Wow)

In my eyes was filled with nothing but nature. Grass, trees, and some critters passing by and running away whenever they see me, I could tell that I have finally gotten out of that cave.

(A lake)

My gaze shifted to a lake and went to it. The lake's water was crystal clear. No impurities and you could see fishes happily swimming.

I walk closer and closer at the edge of the lake. I could see my reflection because of the clear water.

"....."

What was reflected was my very own self. A tuxedo, a white mask, a fedora and clear black shoes. I touch my face and could feel the roughness of the mask. However, I didn't have the intention nor the urge to remove the mask because I know that it's actually my real face -- it is a part of me.

I just stood and never even moved an inch from the spot. Day, night, day, night, day, night, day, night, day, night, day --- many months have passed ever since.

"Huh? Who's that guy over there?"

"Where? Oh... his clothes are weird."

"Mommy, who is that person over there?"

"...."

My attention shifted to the man who appeared behind the group of trees that were lumping together, following along a female and a small female child.

~~~~~~

POV: A man in the woods

"Dear, are you sure this is a good idea?"

"It's not like we had any choice, Maria. Winter is coming and we need to get as much firewood as we can as well as fruits and meat."

"Mommy! There are butterflies!"

"Please don't stray away from me, Mary!"

"Come on, we need to hurry. It's getting dark soon and we're almost done with our quota."

My name's Hilbert. I have a wife named Maria, and we are both commoners. Our child, Mary will soon turn 8 years old in December. We live a very poor life which is quite normal for commoners in general. Our village, Riversvale, is located just a few kilometers away from our current location. Since we don't have anything like a map or a compass, we navigate ourselves using the direction of the sun when we head home.

Winter is coming so we need to get firewood, fruits and meat to survive through the month of December. We could've gotten firewood near our village but the problem is that few months before winter, the temperature goes down and it gets harder to dry the woods we use. I usually hunt further away from the village and I built a location where I store firewood for winter. I decided to go there with Maria and Mary, our child, usually stay with her aunt when we went out but today, she wanted to come with us so I agreed. Although it's dangerous to let her come along since there are monsters but monsters near our village are weak so I could deal with them should any monsters come for us.

"Come on, it's here. Looks like I need to clear out the bushes the next ti... Mary! Stop! Maria!"

"Mary!"

"Huh?"

Mary almost picked the bug called Death Bug. The Death Bug is very beautiful to look at because its shell contains the color of rainbows. It switches to seven different colors at an interval time so anyone who saw these bugs usually gets fascinated. It was also first called a Rainbow Bug due to its nature. However, the bug itself contains an extremely dangerous venom in its two front legs that would kill a Devil Bear within 10 seconds and has razor sharp blades that could slice and dice titanium armor. This was proven when a group of adventurers encountered one of these beautiful bugs. One of them decided to take one with him so he could sell it, but Death Bugs are known to be extremely hostile to big creatures. The adventurer tried to pick it up using his bare hands and ended up getting scratched by the bug and died within a second. Following after that incident, many adventurers got killed by this venomous bug which later earned its name, Death Bug. The person who proved that death bugs can slice through titanium armor was a researcher who captured one using a 20 millimeter-thick orange titanium container. When he managed to capture one, he put it inside the container and hurriedly head back to his lab only to find out that the bug had created a hole on the container which was made with orange titanium, a stronger variation of titanium.

I look at Mary angrily. Seeing me, Mary looks down with tears in her eyes.

"Your mother told you to stick with her at all times, and you promised us that you won't do anything unless we tell you."

"Uuuu..."

"Dear...."

"Sigh.... We need to hurry up. Mary, stick to your mother, okay?"

We continue to walk deeper into the forest, reaching a crystal-clear lake. The lake itself is very clear and you can see the bottom. There are few rare species of fish that can rarely be seen in any other places other than this lake.

We go around the trees lumping together, and after going around, we see a man standing on the side of the lake.

"Huh? Who's that guy over there?"