Chapter 5: "A World Known As Agony"

Divine Calendar Year 5568

The Faceless Realm

Main World: Traidella

***

At the edge of a world of eternal agony known as Traidella, on a cliff, a dozen, grey-armored soldiers glared menacingly at the kneeling ragged people whose faces were the vivid pictures of fear and pain. The pitch-black night sky above resembled a starless vortex that would suck everything into eternal darkness. Beyond the cliff was a mysterious, misty swamp that was infamous for the many corpses that would wash up on the other shoreside. Hence the bog's infamous name: 'Corpse Swamp.'

"Please, sir! Please have mercy on us!" the raggedly-clothed men and women clasped their chained hands together as they begged for mercy. Their faces touched the cold mud, tears streaking their pathetic features. Their flaxen hair was scraggly and they were bleeding from gaping crevices in their body. A young girl was weeping as she clung to the frayed ends of her mother's rags.

The armored men coldly snorted. One of the soldiers stamped his iron-clad foot against the trembling hand of the quiet woman at the front. 

"You should blame this foolish wench for daring to carry the mark of the Apostle of Life's Seed in our glorious Empire," he said icily, continuously stamping his foot against the delicate hand of the quiet woman until it was deformed and bloody. Still, he impressed his foot harder. The blonde-haired woman kept her cool, blue eyes on the mud, her face devoid of emotions. The storm that had once raged in her eyes, thirsting to destroy her cruel foes, was now hidden behind numbness.

The soldier smirked. "For incurring the wrath of the Empire of Light, she shall meet her destiny and you, her family, will follow her into the pits of this daunting marshland. They say that beneath the dense marsh is a gate to the mythical 'Forsaken World'...a world of endless pain. Hopefully, all of you will arrive there," the man uttered and chuckled churlishly. The other soldiers united in fiendish laughter as they violently forced the people further towards the edge.

The first person, a blond, burly man, descended, their faces distorted by fear as they were swallowed by the darkness beneath the cliff. The sky above was dark and cold. The wind blew violently. Another, this time a young girl with short, golden hair and dark eyes, fell and was engulfed by the swamp.

"Aah! My child! My child!" the mother screamed helplessly, clawing the grassless earth, her blue eyes widening with wild indignation. She soon followed, into the depths of darkness below. Her screams dissipated with the distance, never to be heard again.

"It's finally your turn, 'Apostle of Life'," one of the soldiers remarked facetiously to the remaining person—the blonde woman who had retained ghastly silence in the face of the death of her family. The cold wind slapped her cheeks. Her dark eyes focused on the darkness before her, rimming the ends of the cliff. An inescapable chasm.

In her heart, she swore that she would crawl from the pits of hell and return to drink the blood of the Empire's citizens, if she had to. And she would start with the repugnant blood of the imperial family! Nothing would stand in her way. Not even death itself.

Suddenly, there was a violent push on her back, and she was falling. Her body was being swallowed by the darkness. The wind was gentler. The surroundings were imperceptible, and there was no life. Only death.

.

.

.

.

Divine Calendar Year 5568

The Faceless Realm

Outer World: The Forsaken World

***

[26 Hours Later]

On a deserted island of golden sand and compressed trees, a young girl gathered a bunch of mangled and distorted monster corpses while humming peacefully. Her white blouse and white shorts were soused in blood as she sat by the bonfire she had made and continued frying the dismantled wyvern. 

The delicious aroma of wyvern meat surrounded her beneath the cloudless blue skies, as she also fired some chunks of ogre meat and goblin meat beneath.

"Mmm, this is good!" Nova commented, licking her oily lips in satisfaction as she savored the unsalted ogre meat in her mouth. "It's already this good. It'll be even better with salt," she said and sprinkled some salt on the chunk of ogre meat she had impaled on a stick. 

"Yes, this is phenomenal!" she reviewed her salted ogre meat. Around an hour ago, after maniacally compressing everything on the island, she had separated salt from seawater using [Gravitokinesis]. She could therefore now be gleeful at the joys of flavors mixing on her tongue.

< Congratulations! You have achieved a feat that has never been done before! You have completed the conditions necessary to be released from this hidden floor of the [Labyrinth of Nightmares]! >

< For this accomplishment, you have received 50 Stat Points! You are beckoned by the [Master of Nightmares] to choose two out of the four following rewards...>

"They're going to reward me after forcing me onto this island? They make it sound as though I entered this place willingly," Nova said to herself a bit exasperatedly, as she continued munching on her ogre meat.

"At least we can get out of here. I think you'll become the full-fledged female version of Tarzan if you stay here any longer than this," Nyx remarked, sounding too concerned to be joking. "Also, I'm hoping that one of the rewards is soap because..."

"Because I stink?" Nova asked and arched a brow.

"Yeah, I don't have a nose or even a physical form, but I can tell from your appearance..." Nyx said earnestly, and Nova shrugged. "You're right. I'll also be needing a change of clothes then," she agreed. "And maybe also a katana..."

"Why would you want a katana when you already have me?" Nyx asked in amusement.

Nova nodded and caressed her chin thoughtfully. "You're right. I'll need two katanas," she corrected herself, making Nyx cough and retort, "Anyways, the most important thing is soap."

As they were still discussing their hygiene goals, the mechanical voice resounded in Nova's mind. Nyx, however, could not hear it.

<The four rewards from which you are expected to choose two, as follows:< em>

- [Pocket Dimension Creation](average) - Consumes 10 MP every 10 minutes -> Allows the user to create a small, personal space which is separate from the original world.

- [Defensive Black Gear](A Grade) - Consumes zero MP -> Reduces the damage from physical attacks by +50 HP

- [Enhanced Stealth](average) - Consumes zero MP -> The user goes almost entirely undetectable when under the influence of this ability.

- [A once-in-a-blue-moon chance to meet the creator and lord of this labyrinth, the [Master of Nightmares]].

Please choose two rewards. >

Nova read the list on the jet-black panel and sighed deeply at the end. She then told Nyx about the options. "What? You mean there's no soap?" Nyx asked carefully.

"That can be handled, I think, I once read somewhere that ash is an alternative, in the absence of soap," she said, her features tiring every moment, "More importantly, do you think 'Master of Nightmares' could be a hot guy's name?"

There was a moment of graveyard-silence as Nyx questioned if they had heard the question correctly. Nyx cleared their imaginary throat before answering, "Um... No. That sounds more evil than dashing. Like the username of a 12-year-old gamer."

Nova nodded. "I also used to use such names way back when," she admitted and chose [Pocket Dimension Creation] and [Defensive Black Gear]. She clearly needed some new clothes and a place to put all the meat(corpses). Instantly, her slim and somewhat dehydrated figure was enfolded by a pleated, black skirt, a black, collared shirt and a matching black coat of which its edges fluttered at her calves. And, finally, she had boots.

< You will be released from this hidden floor in 3 hours. >

Nova swerved round in her black raiment, contrasting to the colorful background of golden sands and blue skies behind her. "How do I look?"

"Black. You look black, clearly," Nyx said.

"Well...if you were a hot guy, would you find me appealing?" Nova rephrased her question, eagerly awaiting the answer. 

Nyx: "..."

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," Nova apologized and opened her status.

***

Status

Name: Nova Young

Age: 19 years

Species: Dark Witch

***

Level: 3

Title: [None]

Seed: [Apostle of Time's Seed]

[As the last dark witch in this strange dimension, the <god of space and time> has deemed you worthy of receiving this powerful seed. You can prove yourself worthy of the seed by demystifying the events behind the disappearance of the <goddess of nature> 1000 years ago.]

STATS:

Strength: 5

Agility: 13

Endurance: 10

Stamina: 13

HP: 200/200

MP: 300/300

Stat Points: 250

[HP and MP increase with each level-up.]

[Each stat increases by 1 with each level-up.]

***

Blessings: 

[god of space and time] (MAIN)

[god of life] (secondary)

[god of death] (secondary)

Abilities:

[Soul Connection](sage-level) - consumes zero MP -> You are capable of sharing abilities and experiences with the metamorph <Nyx > as well as communicating telepathically. 

[77 Lives](sage-level) - consumes zero MP -> The gods of life and death have granted you a skill akin to immortality. You are beseeched to use it wisely.

[Gyrokinesis](intermediary) - consumes 20 MP every 10 minutes -> You can offset the effects of gravity of any object within a 10-meter radius.

[Pocket Dimension Creation](average) - consumes 10 MP every 10 minutes -> The user can create a personal space separate from the original world.

[Spatial Perception](sage) - consumes 10 MP -> Your vision and awareness of your surroundings are greatly enhanced.

[Mana Sense](sage) - consumes 10 MP every 30 minutes -> You can perceive the magical energy with life force within a 100-metre radius. 

***

[2 Hours And 36 Minutes Remaining Until Your Discharge...]

"So much time yet so little to do," Nova commented as she absorbed all the corpses around her into her pocket dimension. She needed to quickly understand the limits of that space. It was...quite large...around half an acre, she felt instinctively. It was also glaringly white. Nova rubbed her chin as an interesting thought came to her. Since this space somewhat originated from her subconscious, everything about it except size were founded by her imagination.

"How splendid," she muttered with a quirky smile plastered on her lips.

"You do look a bit gothic now," Nyx suddenly said, "I was wondering if you had forgotten the 250 stat points you got after compressing this place."

Nova's eyes lit up. "You're right. I actually wanted to try transferring 100 of them to you," she said, having noted that [Soul Connection] allowed Nyx and her to share 'experience'. That was quite a broad term that baffled her, hence she wanted to test how restrictive this term could be.

"Okay. But just 50 would be okay," Nyx said, a bit curious about what would happen.

"Okay, here we go..." [Soul Connection] was, at its very essence, just as its title suggested. An invisible link between two entities. Nova had never considered Nyx to be less of a soul, as they were the closest person to her, but Nyx wasn't precisely a soul. They were her <idea >. As strange as it sounded, Nova had come to terms with the fact that she was, indeed, Nyx's creator. But, more than that, Nyx was her companion.

Nova discerned the vague silver strand in her dark and empty mindspace, after closing her eyes and allowing herself to recede into her subconscious. There wasn't much to be seen in that lonely place. Only vulnerability. 

"50 stat points, huh? I guess I will have to refer to them as experience while I'm here," Nova muttered inwardly, and allowed something shapeless and incorrigible to flow out of her and through the silver strand. It was crimson.

"Uh, Nova?" Nyx's voice echoed abruptly in that space, sounding flustered and anxious.

"Yeah? Is something wrong?" Nova asked, looking around but seeing no signs of Nyx.

"I'm not sure. I feel tingly...and...and...everything's suddenly bright..." Nyx's voice grew more and more tremulous. The mindspace was vibrating as Nyx's disconcerted feelings were transferred to her. It was strange though, that their emotions could become so vivid. Initially, Nyx had been more reserved and diffident with their emotions and perspectives...

< The metamorph [Nyx] is about to evolve...>

The cyborg-like voice echoed from a distant place. Nova's grey eyes glistened with exhilaration in the darkness. She could feel it now. It was akin to a cool breeze massaging every sinew in her body. This sensation became warmer and warmer.