Q
It was a vast, sloping tunnel stretching kilometers across. The walls curved inward with massive circular ridges spaced every few hundred meters, their reddish tone buried beneath a slick layer of brown residue with purple patches here and there.
Up this slope lay a large, field-like substance made of unknown material, coated in brown colors and yellowish residue. Acid poured from every part of it. This particular area was stuck inside the tunnel because of its sheer size, slowly dissolving under the unimaginable amount of acid beyond it.
Hanging from it was Kiyotaka, who was almost burned alive. Blood escaped from every part of his body, which had turned red and charred in some places. His eyes were barely open, and he stayed alive only because Cow and Crow were holding his legs.
Just beside them, Deer stood still while a glowing blue tether rested in the hand of Hawk. Hawk had his feet deep inside the acidic substance, while the other end of the tether was held by Parrot, sharing Hawk's stability with her.
Parrot's monotonous face broke into a smirk, and she began to run sideways. Her speed, powered by her boosted strength, could not be perceived by anyone present. To them, she had gone completely invisible. Yet, Parrot herself wasnt omnipotent.
She had only gained raw strength, not the physical body to keep up with it. Her vision remained normal, making this speed overwhelming even for an Awakened, yet she managed to control it. She had memorized the entire tunnel and the surface beneath them in this single second Now, it was a game of whether her mental mapping was correct.
Hawk, holding the rope, felt it pull tight and looked down. That was his only way to track Parrot's position.
The rope pulled to the right and began moving upward. Seeing this, he braced his stance even further.
Hawk's role was simple. He had to watch the rope, imagine where she was running, and assist whenever needed.
The rope went up and up.
These walls had acid pouring out of them, yet there seemed to be no damage to the rope. Parrot was moving too fast for the acid to melt it.
Parrot leaped past one of the ridges and stored air inside her mouth. Hup. As that sound escaped her lips, thick veins popped up across her entire body. With all her strength, she stabbed the wall using a sword that was currently the sharpest weapon in the Trapped Land. The blade sank deep inside, and she never stopped moving.
To Hawk, nothing was visible, but he kept his eyes locked on where Parrot had gone. It was kilometers away, yet as an Awakened, he could see just fine.
The rope went up, then straight in a curve, angled down, moved straight in another curve, and went up once more.
It took a moment for the wall to react, but it finally registered that it had been cut. In front of Hawk's eyes, a small slice appeared, marking the area between two ridges in a lens shape. The cut was almost imperceptible, yet it measured meters wide.
The rope dropped slightly before repeating the exact same pattern. This time, Hawk caught a glimpse of her. By the edge of the shape, a blur appeared before disappearing again.
Another cut appeared in the shape of a lens inside the previous outline, this time going deeper to reveal bright red.
Then came another cut, and another, until tens of them overlapped.
Each strike sank deeper and slightly lower, carving out a path.
Hawk's eyes glanced toward the barely conscious Kiyotaka.
'Terrifying motherfucker.'
The cuts stacked upon each other at terrifying speeds, each pass digging deeper into the wall. Lens-shaped slices overlapped until the core of the carved path sank far past the reach of vision, turning the center into an unseen abyss.
Then, the glowing blue rope went slack.
The sudden drop in tension meant only one thing. Parrot had finished her run. Her path was carved, signaling their turn to move as she prepared to anchor the line and pull them along.
Hawk braced his legs deeper into the acidic floor, getting ready to haul Kiyotaka and the others toward the opening. Before he could call out, a sound echoed through the entire passage.
It was not a scream of any kind. It was simply the sound of something digging.
A blur shot out from the trench.
It was Parrot. Her body slammed into the far side of the curved wall, the force of the impact cracking the stone-like ridge behind her. She bounced off and hit the ground, skidding across the slick surface. She barely caught her footing, but to her horror, she had to keep running in pain as acid caught her, melting away parts of her armor.
The deep cut she had carved began to twist. Massive chunks of the matching wall surged outward from inside the trench, sealing the gap back together in seconds. The deep hole filled up completely, leaving no trace of the path Parrot had created.
A horrifying scream rang out from the walls, the floor, and the ceiling all at once. The entire structure began to shake violently, throwing acid into the air as the tunnel started to contract around them.
Every part of the passage trembled, causing the surface the others stood on preparing to slide down.
Terror filled Hawk's eyes.
"RUN INSIDE"
He looked toward Kiyotaka, who had closed his eyes and asked for the rope. Hawk passed it over and ran inward across the surface, bracing for impact. He had no time to see what Kiyotaka was about to do.
Cow and Crow let go of the hanging boy and ran alongside Deer. Kiyotaka was now falling toward the acid with the rope gripped tightly in his hand. As he plummeted toward the burning pool, his thoughts raced.
'The worst-case scenario has come. The horror beyond comprehension still wishes to play with us and not allow us to skip past this labyrinth altogether.'
The walls of this downward tunnel began to vibrate and slowly break. White shapes with black veins started pushing through the cracks, but the gaps were too small, so they slammed harder to break through completely.
Now, they were bursting out from every corner of the tunnel.
Colossal pale tubes of swollen flesh writhed through the dark, coated in slick yellow slime. Thick black veins throbbed beneath their translucent skin and ran the full length of their segmented bodies. They lacked eyes, noses, and ears completely. Instead, their heads ended in massive circular maws that split wide into four fleshy flaps. Hundreds of needle-thin teeth lined the inside in continuous rings that ground together without stopping while greenish acid dripped from their jaws.
They surrounded the entire area, dropping down one by one and slamming into the ground. Acid splashed everywhere upon impact, yet the creatures remained completely unharmed by it.
One monster appeared directly beneath Kiyotaka, opening its mouth filled with rows of grinding teeth, with acidic saliva pouring down its throat. It aimed to swallow him whole.
Kiyotaka's vision was completely blurred. The rope he held suddenly pulled tight, yanking him away from the beast and pulling him toward Parrot.
However, he was still suspended in midair, and more monsters lunged toward him from all directions.
Kiyotaka's eyes were unfocused, yet his mind processed the situation instantly. The words he had saved earlier appeared all at once in his thoughts.
In his mind, a dark page appeared with words written across it.
'O you who accepted sacrifice as law...
Take my hearing.
Take my scent.
Take my taste.
Take my touch.
Strip the world from me, layer by layer, until nothing remains but sight.
But do not take my gaze.
Do not take the last thread of who I am.
In return, grant me power.'
His mouth opened just meters away from the monster, and weak words escaped his lips.
"I make the Vow to not use this Memory again until what it means to be Trapped is changed."
His ears fell off. His lips burned and melted into themselves, and his nose dissolved as well. He felt the agony until the sensation suddenly vanished.
His entire body began to bleed as raw scars formed across his flesh. Suddenly, eyes opened through every single wound. Countless eyes.
Those eyes were luminous, each glowing with a different color, and every single one carried deep pain.
They were all unique, yet they shared one single purpose.
All of those eyes turned in different directions, looking directly at every monster surrounding them.
***********
Well, the setup chapter has ended. Actually, originally I was going to continue even after the memory was activated and show the action, but the cliffhanger was too good to continue.
Well, in the next chapter, we're going to have the monthly pinch of action, so be ready.
That's it.
Peace.