An Illusion - Part 2

I took a deep breath as I looked out the window, admiring the view. "Well, well… what do we have here."

But as I continued to gaze outside, a sudden pain erupted in my head, as if a hammer had struck it. The agony was unbearable and caused me to instinctively step back, almost falling over a chair. I clutched my head in agony and grunted in pain.

"GAH!!"

I couldn't make sense of what was happening to me. All I wanted to do was stab my brain to stop the excruciating pain. Eventually, the pain started to ease a bit, but it still throbbed relentlessly. As I regained my balance, I leaned on the table for support and let out a deep breath.

"Huh..."

I was too scared to look back out of the window again. I couldn't figure out why looking at the view caused me such pain.

"..this can't be real," I muttered, my hand reaching up to scratch my neck.

It had been itchy since I started exploring the building, and the more I scratched, the more it seemed to worsen.

I decided to leave the room and explore the rest of the building. As I walked through the hallways, I checked every door I came across before moving on to the other buildings. However, despite my efforts, I couldn't find a single living creature in this place. It was eerie and unsettling, like the place was abandoned for ages even though it shouldn't be.

After walking for what seemed like an hour, I found myself scratching my neck more aggressively. It was driving me crazy, but no matter how much I scratched, the itch wouldn't go away.

The frustration built up, and I started to curse under my breath as I continued to scratch and walk through the empty hallways.

Fury boiled within me as I raged against nothing.

"Useless piece of shit..." I hissed venomously. "Where the hell did they all disappear to?" I continued to rant, all the while fiercely scratching my neck. "Kain...I'm going to wring your neck for this!"

All of a sudden, I halted my angry pacing. It was then that I realized my fingers were wet, and I felt a dampness on my shirt collar. Hesitantly, I moved my hand up to my face, only to find it covered in a thick layer of blood.

"Damn it!" I cursed aloud.

My fingers had been scraping so roughly against the back of my neck that I had drawn blood. But here's the thing: it didn't hurt. This was odd, to say the least.

What was happening to me?

I lifted my left arm, hesitated, then pulled the sleeve of my shirt up past my elbow. With my right hand, I dug my nails in and began scraping, not stopping until the skin was raw and bloody. It was then that the blood began to flow freely, making a macabre stream down my arm.

"That didn't hurt…"

I sat on the cold floor, the itch was unbearable but scratching only seemed to make it worse. I tried to resist the temptation to scratch, but my hand would move on its own, betraying my efforts.

The grand buildings were an endless maze, and I found myself lost in a hallway with no sense of direction. Suddenly, a glitchy sound caught my attention. I spun around to see a large amount of strange, multicolored cubes hurtling towards me, devouring everything in their path.

In a panic, I started to stand up and run, my feet pounding against the ground. The cubes chased after me, their insatiable hunger growing with each passing second. Despite the danger, I felt a strange sense of detachment. I wasn't afraid of dying, but I wasn't ready to go just yet.

I kept running, my breath growing heavier with each passing moment. The hallway stretched on and on, seemingly infinite. Just when I thought I couldn't go on any longer, the hall ahead of me transformed into the same strange cubes that had been chasing me.

"F-"

I barely had time to curse before the cubes collided with me, and everything went black.

......

"Are you sure he's not the hero?"

"Are you kidding me? Look at how he thinks. No hero would have such a bleak imagination with empty buildings and non-existent nature. It's a reflection of his emptiness inside."

"So, heroes would imagine lively buildings and beautiful nature?"

"I mean, it's possible, but who's that cheery all the time? Probably not many."

"Hey, he's coming out now-"

......

I gazed into nothingness, a void without a form or shape. It wasn't darkness, for darkness was simply the absence of light.

This was something else entirely, an emptiness that defies all comprehension.

I was beginning to think that I had died, for there was nothing here, no light, no darkness, no life. It was as if I had been erased from existence.

But then, the emptiness began to shift and change.

In an instant, the void was filled with light, blinding and intense. I was suddenly surrounded by the wreckage of a destroyed ground.

As I took in my surroundings, I noticed a familiar figure standing beside me. It was Haizer.

"What's wrong?" Haizer called me out.

My mind was a blank slate. The last thing I remembered was the emptiness that surrounded me. Yet here I was, alive and breathing, on a ground that looked like it had seen a war.

I surveyed my surroundings and saw the destroyed dormitory, and there stood the masked man, dressed in black armor, looking down at us.

I surveyed the scene once more, the same group of people from before are still here, their weapons raised as they cautiously approached the masked man. With bated breath, they maintained their aim, waiting for any sign of aggression from the dark figure.

As I watched, the man let out a deep, exasperated sigh, and lowered his long katana, which he had been holding at the ready. It clattered to the ground with a metallic ring that echoed through the desolate landscape.

Suddenly, the man's voice boomed out, commanding, "Activate, activate, activate, activate, activate, activate."

The words hung heavily in the air, and before I could even process their meaning, I saw the people around us collapse one by one, their bodies hitting the ground with sickening thuds.

Even Haizer, who had been standing at my side just moments before, crumpled to the rough terrain with a heavy crack, his body motionless.

I quickly tried to piece together what was happening.

The man said 'activate' six times, and then the six people here, including Haizer, fell unconscious. There must be some connection, but my mind drew a blank. I felt like I was forgetting something important.

Wasn't there something about 'activate' before? But I couldn't remember. Was I missing something obvious?

Could it be that everything that happened before was just an..

illusion?