Ruins

'Where the hell am I? Didn't I manage to escape, and I've either died or gone into a coma, and this is one of the dreams that people who have awakened from comas claim to have? Or maybe this is just an extremely lucid dream, where you know it's not real?'

Kayden stood before an endless desolate wasteland of reddish earth that contracted with the monotonous black sky.

Although neither the sun nor the moon could be seen, Kayden's sight was as clear as if it were daytime. The ground itself seemed to be illuminating the infinite darkness with reddish hues.

'Well, there's no sense of standing still, whatever is happening.'

Driven by his curiosity and following the only thing that could be called a path, Kayden began to walk.

He continued walking for what seemed like months without stopping.

Somehow he felt no fatigue as he continued to move along the trails and navigated the cracked hills. Finally, after an infinitely long period, there was a change.

As he rounded the longest hill until now, there appeared before him the most striking sight he had ever seen in his life.

A ruined palace, where traces of a glorious past still remained, stood imposing against the dark sky as if it was defying nature itself.

Kayden began to approach the ruins, still fascinated by the awe-inspiring sight, "The seven wonders of the world as a whole could only bow before this palace." He muttered to himself.

Although he seemed to be close due to the massive proportions of the palace, Kayden still walked for what felt like days until finally reaching what appeared to be the entrance to the palace.

Thump thump. Thump thump.

Cold sweat ran down Kayden's back, and his heart threatened to burst out of his chest as he looked closely at the ruined palace.

The palace, constructed using an enigmatic blend of three colors crafted from unknown materials that seamlessly merged together, produced a mesmerizing effect.

It had golden hues that even in ruins seemed to glow, white tones that not even the most perfect marble could imitate, and dark obsidian-like tones.

'Honestly, this is starting to feel a little too realistic to be a mere dream. I can't understand what the hell is going on.'

Ignoring the menacing feeling the palace gave him, Kayden approached until he reached the main gate, which was still standing.

Made of some kind of strange black metal, it gave the impression of being impenetrable.

'This whole place seems to be built with materials I've never seen, which isn't entirely impossible for a dream, but it's definitely strange considering my subconscious has nothing to rely on to create them.'

As he got closer, he noticed strange symbols etched into some areas of the door, while in others, the wear and tear of time seemed to have erased them.

"Argh!" A stabbing pain appeared in Kayden's head as if a needle had pierced it.

He quickly looked away from the symbols as he gasped in shock. 'What just happened?! I thought my head was being shattered into pieces!'

He thought about running away, but the curiosity to open the mysterious door overcame him, so he grabbed the knob and pulled, but the door didn't budge.

Determined to open it, he walked over, avoiding noticing the symbols on the door, braced his feet on the floor, and grabbed the doorknob with both hands.

"Here we go." He encouraged himself as he psyched himself up to make as much force as possible.

He pulled on the doorknob using all his weight, careful not to move his feet. Veins began to appear on Kayden's neck and temple from the effort, but he didn't stop.

After several unsuccessful seconds, his feet shifted across the ground, and the loss of balance caused him to fall exhausted to the ground, with the horrible luck that his gaze ended up pointing towards the symbols on the door.

Tired as he was, it took him too long to realize which way he was looking until it was too late, and the atrocious pain came, much stronger than the first time.

"Arghhhhh!!!" Kayden screamed as he had never done before as his body began to convulse.

A pain he didn't know was possible began to shake his body like a wave of destruction, making him cough blood uncontrollably as blood fell from his eyes.

After a while that seemed like an eternity, the pain began to subside, and Kayden breathed a sigh of relief as he looked at the floor stained with his blood.

'What the hell was that?!!! How can looking at a door hurt me more than all the pain I've ever felt in my life combined?!!! I refuse to believe this is a mere dream, coma or not!'

Still recovering from the pain, he remembered how he had decided to help that harpy and that, because of that little delay, he had probably failed to make it to the exit in time and had ended up having an accident.

And to make the situation even worse, he didn't know what injuries he had or if he was even alive.

Coupled with this was first the conversation he had had with Mr. Williams after the trial and several similar situations he had had throughout his life, from even before he left the orphanage to his years working in the office.

Seething with anger at everything that was trying to control his life, Kayden made a promise to himself as he clenched his fists, drawing blood with his fingernails.

'I swear that if I ever leave this place, I'll never again let them threaten or blackmail me. I'm done with following orders, which always end up benefiting anyone but me.'

'From this moment on, I will do everything in my hand to achieve my goals, regardless of morals or ethics. After all, life doesn't play fair. Why should I?'

As Kayden cleared his thoughts and strengthened his resolve, a small line formed by the blood falling from his eyes slowly snaked toward the giant door.

After about a minute, the line of blood finally made contact with the door.

Bang!

A thunderous sound reminiscent of a gunshot echoed across the desolate wasteland, and a shocking change appeared in the door, immediately snapping Kayden out of his stupor.

As he stared in amazement at the changes, careful not to focus on the symbols, his gaze repaired on the line of blood that had reached the door and deduced that, for some unknown reason, this was the reason for the change.

Upon contact with the blood, the door had changed to a crimson color, and to Kayden's surprise, it was slowly opening.

Not daring to enter, he waited until the door was fully open, confused about why there was such darkness inside that nothing could be seen. Mustering the courage he had left, Kayden slowly advanced until he finally entered the insides of the palace.

'Now, let's see the reason why I went through so much pain.'

Then... There was no then.

Just after entering the palace, Kayden's head began to spin, and his mind went as black as the darkness around him.