The first step

Days passed, yet Orion remained seated, his gaze fixed upon Lisa's lifeless form. Three days of starvation had taken their toll: his figure grew pale, his vibrant eyes sunken, and his red hair disheveled and dirty.

During those three days, he had tried everything to turn off the barrier, so he could at least retrieve Lisa's body... So he could at least give her a proper goodbye.

But nothing worked, he didn't even find a single clue or anything that could give him hope. In the end, He guessed that the pendant held the key. So he even tried to break the necklace with brute force. But as if mocking his efforts, not even a single crack marred its surface.

The portal was his only way out. Despite the possibility that he could trap himself in this god foreshaken place, he waited for the barrier to run out of energy. He waited and waited, looking at his sisters remains, watching her body rot in front of his very eyes, yet unable to do anything but... wait.

Even after realizing that the barrier wasn't going to disappear on its own, he still stayed there, as if an invisible force held him prisoner of this place. Lisa was dead, he knew that much, but leaving her behind was a torment he couldn't bear to fathom.

He grappled with the maelstrom of emotions tearing at his soul. What hurt him the most? He thought as his eyes turned toward the shining portal : Was it the heart-wrenching sight of his sister's waning life? The bitter knowledge that she had sacrificed herself for him? Or perhaps the overwhelming helplessness that had left him powerless to save her?

Or was it's the cruel last words that he had said to her? Even the sole thought of it was causing sharp pain in his heart, as if being pierced by multiple thorns at once, slowly pushing forward, waiting for the pain to sink in.

Each thorn represented a moment of his regret and grief, piercing... more deeply, more painfully.

But even that pain couldn't make him turn his gaze away from lisa's face. Half of her charred face had already rotten now, showing the remains of her skull underneath. Her horrible image reflected in his blank red eyes, getting engraved in his mind, making sure that he never forgets it, so it can haunt him entire of his life.

Suddenly, he turned his gaze away from her as realization came to his mind. He had realized just what was preventing him from leaving this cursed place : It was the very fact that, after he would leave this place, he would never see his sister again. It was the very reality that his sister was now gone... forever.

The acceptance was the first step in overcoming the grief, And it was the hardest to take. As Orion grappled to take that step, knowing that to move forward meant confronting the unbearable reality of his sister's absence. So he finally rose, leaving the embrace of the cold-unforgiving ground, his hand instinctively going toward the hilt of his sword, a faithful companion throughout all his tribulations. He sheathed the blade at his side, his fingers tightening their grip around its hilt as if drawing strength from its presence.

The sword was all he had left now.

Finally, he walked toward the portal, his steps halting just inches away from its mysterious depth. He looked over his shoulder, to glance at Lisa for one last time. His eyes were solemn, his jaw clenched, His hands were trembling as if going against his very instincts. His hand gripped around the hilt of his sword, as if it had become an extension of his very being. He kept looking for a few more seconds before he finally turned back and entered the portal.

Emerging on the other side of the portal, his weakened form knelt, using his sheathed sword for support. Dizziness overwhelmed him as the experience of traversing the portal for the first timeleaving his form weakened and his mind reeling with dizziness.

"You seem to take it well; most people vomits on their first time," A mysterious voice, as ancient and withered as the portal itself, resonated through the chamber, wrapping him in its mysterious embrace, addressing him with a tone of bemusement.

The voice's origin, shrouded in shadows, obscured the speaker's identity. But the familiarity of the voice was enough to clear Orion's mind. In an instant, the weakness that had gripped him just moments ago was replaced by a surge of newfound anger, coursing through his veins like flooding.

With a swift, fluid motion, he drew his sword from its scabbard, its polished blade gleaming with an otherworldly intensity.

In an act of unbridled resolve, Orion lunged forward, his blade directed with precision at the shrouded figure hiding in the shadows. He was ready to be blocked or even countered, but not only his attack connected, there was no resistance at all... there was nothing, not even flesh. His sword just passed through the man himself.

As his sword passed effortlessly through the enigmatic figure, a voice echoed from the depths of the shadows. "Aiming for the jugular, are we? You seems truly pissed this time," it mused as the figure, or more like a projection of his grandfather, walked out from the shadows.

Emerging from the obscurity, the projection of his grandfather wore a wistful expression, as if reflecting on his own inner turmoil. "But alas, I'm merely a projection," he confessed, acknowledging the futility of Orion's attack. "Yet, there are moments when even I'm pissed at that damn gezzer," he added cryptically, revealing his dissatisfaction with his orignal self.