"Hey, you alright?"
The Soul Ferryman asked, his hollow gaze fixed on me — the poor bastard lying flat on a tiny wooden boat drifting down a glowing river.
"What the hell? Why am I—" I opened my eyes and stared straight at him, still trying to make sense of where I was.
He was rowing the boat, a dim lantern placed beside him, his translucent "arms" sliding through the air as he pushed the oar through the water.
"You fainted after I mentioned your Black Heaven's Core," his voice was calm — soft, yet disturbingly alluring.
"Huh… right… so, I passed out just to swallow my so-called Black Heaven's CoreCore?"
"...Almost. More precisely, you caught a glimpse of your True Core. But it wasn't the Dark Celestial Core… not yet."
"What do you mean, 'True Core'? Like… mana core? Whatever, where the hell are we going?"
I looked around. The river shimmered beneath us — a vast current of starlight, flowing in colors that twisted and melted together like liquid aurora.
It was mesmerizing, enchanting — the kind of beauty that makes you want to drown in it without realizing.
"We're looking for the Dark Heaven. The one that rules this place — the Abyssal Prison."
"..."
'Oh great. Another thing that wasn't in the novel. And I thought I'd written this place in detail.'
Silence fell. Only the rhythmic dip of the oar and the faint splash of water remained.
I leaned back, trying to piece together what the hell had just happened.
'So that was my core? But… strange. None of it made sense.'
My thoughts tangled — past and present, fiction and memory, reality and whatever nightmare this was.
Was this my story, or the original Ron Irus's? Hell if I knew.
…
The sky — or rather, the cave ceiling — loomed pitch black above us, while far below shone a sprawling city of light, stars scattered like dust over an endless kingdom of the dead.
This was the Realm of the Dead, where lost souls gathered.
A necropolis of spirits — the gateway I had accidentally crossed.
Now I had to reach the Abyssal Prison, where the "depths" of the soul were sealed — the place that held all vengeful spirits.
'Or at least, that's what that bastard told me,' I thought dryly, breaking the awkward silence that hung between us.
"So… about this Black Heaven's Core thing—"
'Your core? Don't ask me to explain that nonsense. I'm not even alive. I just ferry souls, not lecture them.'
'This place is called the Abyssal Prison. That's all you need to know.'
'...Still, since you're a special guest, I suppose I can explain a few things.'
"Mind if I smoke?" I muttered, pulling out a battered, half-rusted lighter.
"Do you think I'd mind?" he asked, holding the lantern up to his hooded face — where, of course, there was nothing.
"...Basic courtesy," I shot back flatly.
Puff.
A cloud of white smoke drifted right through his face — or where it should've been.
He didn't have eyes, but I could feel him glaring at me like a hungry dog.
Didn't matter. I'd seen worse. I wasn't about to be intimidated by a glorified ghost in a robe.
'Take that, you nosy corpse.'
…
"Do you want to see the Dark Heaven?" he asked suddenly, still rowing.
I frowned and slowly rubbed my temple.
I came here to fix my damn body — now there's some "Dark Heaven" to find?
Looking at my decaying, half-rotted arm, I exhaled through gritted teeth.
"Then tell me — what exactly is the Dark Heaven, and what does it do?"
"You'll understand when you meet it. I don't know. All I know is — someone like you needs it."
"And why the hell did you toss me into that so-called True Core without asking first?" I snapped, glaring into the empty hood.
Thud.
Something hit the wooden floor. I looked down — a tooth. My damn tooth.
"Shit!" I quickly touched my mouth — another tooth fell out. Then another.
Within seconds, I was nearly toothless. Fantastic.
"With your body rotting away like that," he said, almost lazily,
"it'd be best to find a Dark Heaven to merge your True Core into a Black Heaven's Core.
That's all I helped you with — finding your True Core. You'd have to, sooner or later. Better sooner."
I didn't even know what to say. He made it sound like a casual errand — "oh, go find your Dark Heaven, it'll fix your necrotic corpse."
'Wait… that's what I've been searching for? No, that can't be right. In the novel, there was only one method to stop my body from decaying—'
"To fix my body, I was supposed to meet a royal in a restricted zone, not chase some 'Dark Heaven.' Are you sure that's the same thing?" I asked skeptically.
"I have no reason to lie to you. I don't need to. I'm not human, after all. You're just a… guest."
My face twitched. "Some hospitality," I muttered.
'So either there's more than one cure for this decay… or something's seriously off. But that would contradict the novel's logic…'
In the story, the protagonist had to come here, searching for exactly what I was after — but there was never any mention of alternate solutions.
"...You sound awfully sure. Someone feeding you that line?" I prodded, hoping to pry out something — anything — but he said nothing.
'…'
"Haah…"
Whoosh.
My sigh stirred a sudden gust — cold, unnatural, sharp.
The ferryman looked up and chuckled, pointing at the darkness above.
"...hee…"
"What the hell…"
I looked up — and froze. The "sky" was glowing.
Above me hung a city — upside down.
Lights, buildings, an entire civilization suspended in the void above us.
"Welcome," he said, his voice echoing like laughter from the grave.
"To the Abyssal Prison — or, as some prefer to call it… Heaven's Inverted Isle.
Where the damned 'live'."
And there I was, craning my neck to witness something even more absurd.A colossal, ancient stone statue — standing upside down — was holding the entire city from beneath. Or maybe from above. Who could even tell anymore?
Chains coiled around its arms, wrapping so tightly they formed a sort of… outfit. A grotesque garment of restraint, forged from metal links.
"And that," the guard wheezed cheerfully, like some deranged tour guide, "that's the statue our great king commissioned."
I just stood there, staring until my neck hurt.And somewhere in the back of my mind, a quiet voice asked:"At what point did I start calling this place normal?"