Consequences Of The String

"That would've been me?" he thought in fear, resuming his race against time.

The barrage of attacks continued, with few misses and a majority of fatal blows. At the end, Akira fell to the ground, filled with dust and blood.

[Stats]

[HP: 19]

[Strength: 15]

[Fatigue: 79]

[Protection: None]

[Level: 2]

[Achievements: Shadow Realm Pass (Beginners), Ultimate Destruction, Shadow Realm Pass: Newbie, You can't do more than a dead body]

[Skill: Stats (Activated), Destroy (Activated), Sensory Attack (Activated)]

The man rushed towards Akira, grabbed and pulled him away from the room. He took him to a room, tightly secured. He was laid on a bed, and his wounds treated.

"This is just like Sota," he thought, slowly loosing consciousness.

A few hours later, his eyelids gradually opened. Fluids trickled down his cheeks from his eyes. He looked up, searching for anyone.

But, no one was present in the room.

His eyes immediately turned to its side, observing the thin metallic structure he lay inside. The bed, just like the one Sota lay on, except, this was more comfortable.

At a point, Akira's interest in the room wavered, and he decided to walk on his feet to see the man that had led him into the predicament.

He wanted to spring up from the bed, but his body wouldn't allow him. Aches and pangs resided and echoed in his head, and as well, his body.

"I didn't feel this pain before, life is just horror," he mumbled, while slowly stretching his feet across the bed.

His feet landed on the ground, and he gradually pulled his body out of the bed. It was as he stood, that he noticed an unusual change in his attire.

His normal casual clothes had turned into a white robe, similar to the attire of saints. The arms of the cloth stretched to the very tip of his arm and widened. The same applied to his legs.

It was a large clothing - bogus on his body - yet fitting. A long rope ran across his waist, fixing the extra pieces of clothing to his waist.

He proceeded to the door, and stretched his hands towards the door handle. The cloth was unusually comfortable, permitting free movement of his limbs.

"That must be why Sota dresses in a similar attire."

The door clicked and opened, exposing a path out of the room. He walked slowly outside the room, and suddenly, he felt a resounding pang in his head. He fell to the ground in shock and pain.

His eyes began playing tricks on him, things doubled and some disappeared. He was confused not knowing the cause, and to top of off was the immeasurable pain he was going through.

"My eyes!"

His eyes began bleeding an aching, as though they were being plucked right out of his socket. Blood flowed profusely from both eyeballs, flooding them.

His head didn't stop, both inflicted a massive amount of pain and suffering upon him.

He couldn't hold in the pain further, his eyes watered and mixed with the blood. His head felt like it was being bashed and compressed to a thin sheet.

"Aaaaaarrrrrggggghhhhh!!!!!!"

He screamed out, not minding that he would be caught. In fact, he wanted to be caught. At least he would be put to sleep, at least the pains will stop, and he will be set free.

He screamed louder and louder until personnel rushed to his aid. As the group of medical professionals rushed, Akira used his remaining strength to search for the old man.

He couldn't see him, not even a portion of his arm among the professionals that arrived. He wandered were he was, that he wouldn't attend to him after forcing him into such a state.

Amidst all his thoughts, he felt an arm slowly caressing his skin. He looked back to see a personnel injecting a weird substance into his body.

His mind spun around, and his upper eyelids descended open the lower eyelids. A second away from his total unconsciousness, he let out a grin and thought,

"Finally, I won't feel those pains."

***

This time, he heard the weird echos of voices and footsteps. He lifted his eyelids, and stared at the individuals. He searched the room, and saw a magnitude of personnel cramped in the tiny space.

"Oh, the old man's here," he thought, relieved.

A woman turned towards Akira, and saw his open eyes. She was the personnel who had injected him with the substance.

She ran towards him, and stood at his side, observing him as he lay on the bed. She called the attention of all others, and the followed her lead.

Their voices ceased, and silence overcame the area. Akira stood up, staring back at the personnel. He turned his head towards the old man, who looked sympathetic.

"You must rest," the woman spoke, persuading him to rest his head with a gentle push of her hand.

Akira refused to obey their instructions, and instead, questioned them. He was eager to know the cause of his aches.

"It isn't the beating the old guy gave me. I couldn't feel those pains after our battle," he thought.

He looked back up, shook his head, and squinted at the old man.

"It couldn't be him, could it?"

He was confused, lost in thoughts, but the only way he could comfort his thoughts, would be a simple interrogation.

He concluded his thought session, looking back at the female nurse beside him. His aches had disappeared, and the painful feeling of eye-plucking was gone.

Yet, he wanted to know it's cause.

"Hey, why did I feel those pains in my eyes and head?"

The intensity and anxiety that enveloped the room slowly faded as they all heaved a sigh of relief. Their faces loosened up, as the female personnel stood up and began speaking.

"Yes, what you felt was an aftermath of the power you used. If I'm not mistaken, you possess a sensory skill that lets you sense people's presence," she stated.

"It was that very skill that caused your aches. You overused it, inflicting damage upon the most stressed organs involved in it. Your eyes and your brain. You haven't developed the skill well, so you still rely more on your eyes, which also delays your reaction,"

"If you had developed it, you could spread out the stress of the skill to different sensory organs. But even with that, you could experience such pain. Evry skill comes with a consequence that you must unravel."