Heaven's Descent (IV)

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Zero slowly opened his eyes, wondering where he was. All he remembered was flying through the sky with the silver dragon. After that, it was all blank. The most curious part of the ordeal was now wondering where he was.

Looking around, he noticed that he was standing in a dimly lit hallway with broken glass on the floor. He felt like he was in an abandoned house in a horror movie. Everything around him was either old, broken, or chipped paint.

"Where am I?" Zero walked around trying to find clues to where he was at. Unfortunately, nothing gave him a hint of where he could be.

"Young dragon." The silver dragon's voice echoed around him.

"Where are you?" Zero shouted out, hoping he could find the silver dragon that was gone from his sight.

"Don't worry, young dragon. You are in good hands. However, I have a favor to ask of you."

"Yea, what is it?"

"This task will challenge your very mind, body, and soul. Do you think you could handle it?"

"Of course, I can. I will not back down on a challenge." Zero replied and whispered under his breath, "plus, this is a game. There is no death."

"Kuhuhuhu. Nice words coming from a young dragon. I will give you something that you will need. A special stone purifies the light, and a mask hides who you are."

A stone appeared out of thin air and floated down onto Zero's hands. A warm, tingling light encompassed his body, making him full of vigor and power. Nevertheless, he could not help but keep the glowing white stone closely in his palms.

A swirl of light appeared before him as a black and gold dragon's mask dropped in front of his hands. Zero quickly put it on, wondering what effect it would bring, but no new message appeared when he put on the mask.

"Remember, this world is more than it seems," the silver dragon's voice slowly began to fade away.

"What do you mean?"

"You will know."

All game abilities, armors, items, and weapons have been locked. Additionally, the origin form has been canceled.

"Hyuck," Zero said in outrage. He couldn't believe all his game abilities were gone. No more was he able to change forms; instead, he had to deal with whatever was coming his way, no matter how difficult it could be.

How would he fight a boss monster if all his weapons and abilities were locked away? Scanning the room for answers, he saw a broken metal pipe on the floor. Quickly he picked up the metal pipe off the ground and kept it in hand. But, unfortunately, he already missed his Katana and twin daggers.

A cold breeze blew in, making Zero shiver. Looking down, he noticed he didn't even have the usual light armor. Usually, he did not keep any heavy armor on his growing body. Instead, he would wait until his growth spurt finally allowed him to be an adult. This allowed him not to keep buying new heavy armor every time he had a growth spurt. Instead, he wore light leather armor that could be easily adjusted even though it did not compare to heavy armor.

Zero sighed. He clenched his pipe close in hand and began walking down the dark hallway. He wondered if, just like a horror game, any monsters would pop out from the darkness. Then, hoping that there wasn't any that would, he walked on ahead.

A soft voice echoed down through the hallway, making its way towards Zero's ears. It was a conversation between two unknown males.

"Is it true?" said the first male's voice.

"What do you mean is it true? Why do you not think it is?"

"Because it just sounds too unrealistic that the puppet of Cain could be easily bypassed."

"Easily? I think that human was just lucky."

"You think so?"

"Yea. How else would it have happened? The puppet is just a normal human."

"Tch. Humans. They make me want to snap their necks and feed them to the dogs."

"Kehehehe. I have actually done that. My hellhounds have grown pretty strong after eating the soul of a human. It has become its regular diet. I recommend feeding your pet such food next time you get the chance."

"I sure will."

Both malice-filled voices cackled out loud with laughter. Zero carefully slinked ahead, trying not to get caught. He didn't know how strong these beings were, nor did he know what they were. Then, peeking out from the door corner, he spotted them hovering around a small fire in metal bins.

Metal bins? I thought the game of Growth didn't have man-made metal trash bins yet. Zero thought, confused.

Two humanoid beings had the face of one of those traditional angry Japanese masks. Their lips were curled in an evil smile while tusk-like teeth protruded out of their mouths. One of them only had one eye. They seemed to be wearing modern clothes rather than the medieval-like clothes that he usually saw in the world of Growth. This confused him even more. Where in this world of Growth did monsters wear modern clothes?

"But still, even though that human was lucky, how was he able to pickpocket the stone? You know that was not something a normal human would be able to do."

"Could be a thief, maybe?"

"Kah-" The man spat with disgust into the fire, making the fire burn brighter. "If I get my hands on that human, I will slaughter him in seconds."

"But the stone. Without it, our plans are pushed back by a couple of years. How the hell did that rat know?"

"I don't know, but I bet the enemy has gotten wind of our plans."

"Keh."

A loud squeak was heard, and a clattering of rocks falling onto the ground was heard from his direction. The two turned their heads towards the sound and found Zero hidden behind the wall.

"We know you are there. Come out, rat!" The man with one eye spat with anger. He growled towards Zero. Pulling out a knife, they both waited quietly for Zero to come out.

Zero wasn't sure if he should rush out and surprise them or wait for them to come to him.

"Fine, if you're not coming, then we're going to you!" Both monsters rushed head first towards Zero. Compared to them, having a knife and him only having a pipe to fight would be a challenge.

Before they could overwhelm him, Zero struck like a snake. He aimed toward the closest one on the head using his metal pipe. With the fast momentum of the swing, the metal pipe hit the first man squarely on the chest. Winded, the man kneeled over, vomiting up black substances that Zero did not want to know.

The one-eyed man slashed sideways, making the Zero jump back before his stomach could have gotten wounded. Simultaneously, a quick three-handed strike was dealt towards Zero, each narrowly avoiding it.

Given the opportunity, Zero lunged forward and used the metal pipe like a fencing sword. Then, with a flick of his wrist, he hit both men's hands and both in the heart, disrupting their heartbeats flow one after the other.

Zero's breath quickened; with each punch and strike with the metal pipe, he let out his breath in synchronicity, allowing the power behind his strike to add up even if it was little. His mind zoned in on the battle, adrenaline-pumping the world around him felt like it was slowing down. Each hit, dodge, strike, and even his heartbeat felt like they were going in slow motion allowing him to dodge out of harm's way.

The fight between Zero and the two men shifted like a seesaw. Then, with a nasty swing to the side of one of the men, he could destroy the first one in under two minutes. Then, like a ghost, the man disappeared like smoke.

With only one left, the chance of survival has increased for Zero. The dropped dagger was also now in his possession. He had scooped up the dagger when the man disappeared like a puff of smoke.

"Why you!" The other creature took a stab at Zero's right eye. Ducking down, Zero whisked the dagger he had finally gotten upward, blocking the attack's momentum. Then, with his other hand, he twirled his body like a tornado and slammed the metal pipe into the creature's skull.

In a whisk of smoke, the second creature disappeared. A clatter of the dagger fell onto the cold stone floor. Exhaling out in his final pent-up breath, he breathed in relief. Glancing down, he noticed the other dagger on the floor, but there was no game money or monster parts he would usually collect. So each creature had only one weapon left behind.

"This is it?" Zero grumbled. "Cheap monsters."

He examined both the daggers.

"Identify dagger."

Nothing appeared before him.

"Identify dagger,"

Once again, no screen showing the dagger's properties appeared.

"Is the game broken?" Zero wondered, but then he realized that when he was roaming around the realm of the dead, something similar happened with his sword not appearing. All he could do was keep the daggers in both his hands. There was nothing to strap it on or a pouch in which he could stash them.

Dropping the metal pipe with a clang. Zero held onto both daggers in each hand. He searched around in the empty room, but nothing was found. Only a broken chair and the fire lit inside the metal bin. Everything around the room reminded him of the modern era. Nothing in the room and the hallway screamed of a fantasy world.

Finally, after carefully searching the room, Zero headed out the door and continued forward. On every winding pathway he took, the lights flickered on and off, making seeing difficult. He kept one eye closed and the other opened throughout the whole time. The reason was if he did come across a room where all the lights were turned off, he would be automatically adjusted to the darkness with his other eye.

Keeping one eye closed and the other eye open was not an easy task to do. He often wanted to keep both eyes open but knew better than to succumb to his urges.

Whenever he saw the creatures with creepy mask-like faces, he would sneak in and attack from behind. He would not fight them head-on when he could not use his skills or Origin form. He knew playing it safely and clearing out the rooms were the best way to go. One-by-one, the masked creatures dropped similar items like weapons. Most of the weapons disappeared on touch as if they were made out of thin air.

Weapons that did not disappear were very rare, but even then, he could not take all the weapons with him. He could only take the weapons in hand. With each kill, the fight became easier and easier. He did not know if his confidence or the simple attacks made him overcome them.

Continuing forward, he stopped as he heard voices talking once again. This time the voice he heard shocked him to the core.

"No way." Zero quietly mouthed. "How is this possible?"