The Mysterious Old Man

Upon entering the portal, Eclipse felt a sensation similar to that of his body being stretched and squashed as if he were playdough being manhandled by a kindergartner with anger issues. This feeling only lasted for a few moments before he started to free fall through a void of pitch black emptiness.

The feeling of free falling through the endless void continued for longer than a few moments compared to the earlier sensation. Eclipse continued in this borderline state of limbo as if stuck in an endless loop, never reaching the bottom that he began to believe didn't exist.

"System what's going on, why won't I stop falling?" Eclipse thought to himself, asking the system for clarification. To his horror there was no response. Starting to panic Eclipse thought that maybe the system was retaliating against him once again like it did earlier. But this thought was quickly dismissed when Eclipse tried to sense the presence of the system within him and felt nothing. Originally he could feel the system's presence as if there was a second person living in the back corner of his mind, but now that feeling was gone.

Starting to truly panic, Eclipse tried to activate his newly acquired skill 'Flight' to stop this never ending feeling of falling even if it was for just half a second. It was to no avail sadly as the skill didn't activate. But it didn't activate because Eclipse hadn't regained all his mana yet, he had recovered most of it while swimming to the island and the rest under the elder plum blossom tree. No, it didn't activate because it felt like he didn't even have the flight skill to begin with.

Truly feeling despair now, Eclipse tried to activate his only other skill that could possibly help him out of this situation now, gravity magic. However, just like the Flight skill, he couldn't even feel his gravity magic skill as if it didn't exist.

By now Eclipse was starting to panic, his heart sounding like a drum beat at a rock band concert, sweat covering his forehead. "Calm down and breathe." Eclipse mumbled to himself with his eyes closed. "In… and out. In… and out." He continued this until he calmed back down and had a clear head. "Ok let's think about the predicament I'm in."

"This kind of reminds me of a game I used to play a few years back where you could create two portals to solve puzzles. This sensation feels similar to when I created one portal above another to infinitely fall…" Eclipse mumbled to himself while remembering the good old days. There was just one issue he had whenever he thought about that memory and then compared it to the sensation he was experiencing right now as he fell through the unchanging void. "Why is my speed not increasing?" Eclipse thought.

If a person were to fall, their velocity should increase the longer they fall. This law was so basic that even the game Eclipse played had the avatar increase in velocity as they fell. But for some reason he wasn't falling at an ever increasing pace, in fact Eclipse could've sworn his speed never changed at all from the very beginning. Thinking on this, a thought began to build inside Eclipse's mind.

"What if I'm not falling and I'm still in the middle of being transported between reality and the pocket dimension…" He thought to himself. "But then why haven't I entered the pocket dimension yet?"

Thinking he was onto something, Eclipse then began to ponder about why he hadn't arrived at his destination yet until it hit him. "What if I don't have a destination, that would explain why I haven't arrived there yet." Thinking along this line Eclipse thought back on why he wouldn't have a destination when he obviously just created his Abyss which is essentially a mutated version of a demon's dungeon. It should obviously teleport him to the first floor like any entrance would.

"WAIT A MINUTE, I NEVER CREATED A FIRST FLOOR TO TELEPORT TO!!!" Eclipse screamed, pulling on his intertwining golden, purple, and black hair. "Which skill creates a dungeon floor?!"

Realizing the stupidity of his mistake, Eclipse quickly opened up his status window for the first time, trying to find which skill he needed to use to get out of this situation.

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Name- {Eclipse}

Title- {#%>@$&'s Emissary}

Species- {%$d&Q@< Hatchling}

Level/Rank- {1, G-}

Potential- unknown

Health- {155/155}

Mana- {145/145}

Endurance- {31}

Magic- {29}

Strength- {28}

Intelligence- {32}

Agility- {21}

Defense- {30}

Skills- Abyssal Magic (Primordial), Abyssal Creation (Primordial), Fragmented Lottery (Primordial), Abyssal Summoning (Primordial), Gravity Magic (Legendary), Flight (Rare), Water Magic (Common)

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While quickly skimming through his status window, Eclipse briefly glanced at his stats wondering whether they were good or not for a level 1 of this world. But he didn't give it much thought as the skills section at the bottom of the status window caught his attention. Each of the skills was grayed out from their usually glowing blue color with crimson colored chains ensnaring them. Only one skill was left untouched, shining in ghostly blue colored words.

"Activate Fragmented Lottery" Eclipse said, reading off the name of the only skill usable inside the endless dark void.

All of a sudden a man appeared out of thin air in front of Eclipse. He was around six feet tall with a moderate build wearing midnight black shoes and pants. He had a white suit on top that had a red vest over it that was sleeveless, and a red bow tie around his neck. He had wrinkles on his hands and had grayish silver hair indicating that the man was on the older side, but the most striking thing about him was his mask.

He wore a blank white mask that had no features except for two eye holes and a smiling mouth carved into it. Eclipse should've been able to see part of the old man's face through either the eyes or the mouth, but instead all he saw was darkness.

While Eclipse was trying to look past the darkness that covered the holes in the mask, two golden orbs of light glowed out from the holes in the mask where the eyes would be.

"Welcome dear customer to the Fragmented Lottery, also known as the Dimensional Fragmented Roulette!" He said in a voice full of vitality and excitement. As he said the second name of the skill, a giant roulette that you would see at casinos appeared in front of the old man.

The roulette had a diameter of ten feet and was made out of polished oak wood and gold. Inside the roulette towards the center there were countless other rings on different segments of wood making it possible for them to be rotated. On each ring various colored boxes were indented enough into the wood and gold for a small marble to fit inside them.

At the very center of the roulette inside all of the rings stood a golden turret. It rose above the other rings like a golden tower. The top had a circular design like that of a steering wheel on an old fashioned boat. In the center of the steering wheel-like top of the turret there was a small indent where a glass marble sat, half its clear glass body sticking out above the gold.

"If you don't mind me asking, what exactly is this Dimensional Fragmented Roulette you speak of? Because I thought this was a skill that would allow me to create the first floor of my Abyss so I could travel there and escape this hell." Eclipse asked, hoping the mysterious old man would have the answers he seeks.

"You are both correct and incorrect at the same time, young man. This is the skill that will help you escape your current predicament, but you misunderstand one key thing. You won't be creating a floor for your Abyss, you'll be gambling for it!" The old man said, trying to sound mysterious but failing as he was unable to hold back the excitement in his voice.

"What do you mean by gambling for it? Does that mean I have a chance of not getting a floor and being stuck here for all eternity?!" Eclipse asked, starting to panic once again.

"I suppose gambling FOR a floor isn't the correct term. This is because you will get a floor, that is without a doubt. Rather the gamble refers to what type of floor you get. This means you could get a floor that is big like a country or small like a bathroom. It could be a volcanic terrain full of raging infernos, or a field full of daisies and bunnies. The terrain could have no living creatures or vegetation, or it could come with it's own plant life and creatures of varying strength that would defend your Abyss from intruders." The man said, changing his voice to different octaves when telling of the different possibilities to emphasize the true aspect of the gamble part of the skill.

"Oh, and there is one more piece of information that I will add free of charge since I like you so much dear customer of mine." The old man said, his enthusiastic tone from earlier changing to a more serious tone for the first time.

"This skill of yours, and the lottery function of your Abyssal Summoning skill are all based on things you've seen before when you were a spirit forced to travel the infinite universe. The pieces of fragmented dimensions that will be used as floors for your abyss will be based on locations you've been to. The subordinates you will soon summon will come from the wide range of creatures and beings you've seen while on the horrible journey that you were forced to travel on by it." The man said. His last few words, barely more than a whisper. But nonetheless, Eclipse picked up on them.

"Wait a second, do you mean someone forced me to-." Eclipse began to say.

"Let us begin the roulette since there are no more questions!" The old man shouted in an energetic voice, interrupting Eclipse in the process. He reached down to the turret of the roulette and picked up the glass marble in his right hand. With his left hand he turned the roulette with a great force that sent all of the rings on the inside turning in opposite directions from one another at different speeds.

"Let the game begin!" The old man said as he rolled the clear glass marble along the outer edge of the roulette.