"Huh?"
That was the first word to escape Eliot's mouth the moment consciousness returned to him. Though calling it consciousness might have been generous, considering all he could see around him was darkness. Not just ordinary darkness, but the kind that swallowed everything whole.
"Did I die?" he asked the void without much reaction to his own words. Perhaps that lack of fear said something about him, or maybe his emotions had not returned yet after whatever had happened.
He looked around slowly, trying to make sense of his surroundings. Black. Pitch black. The darkness was so complete and absolute that he could barely make out anything beyond his own existence.
SPLASH!
"Huh?" The sound made him look down immediately, and that was when he realized what he was standing on. "I must be going insane or something. What the heck is this?" he muttered, squinting at the strange surface beneath his feet. It appeared to be liquid yet remained solid enough for him to stand on without sinking completely.
Blood. A sea of blood stretched out in every direction.
"This can't be real," he said with a frown and looked up, hoping for something different above him. There was nothing except more pitch blackness.
His mind began working through the logic of his situation. "I reinforced my body with mana for the final fall. I shouldn't have lost consciousness unless—" A memory surfaced. "That attack." He remembered the massive lightning strike at the final moment of his fall. That strike must have broken through his mana reinforcement and killed him on impact.
However, if death was the case, then why was he here? What was this location, and what was with all the blood?
Squelch.
He took a step forward. The liquid swallowed his leg up to the knee, but then, as though pressing against slime, his leg resurfaced on its own. The problem was that it returned drenched in blood that clung to his skin.
"I am naked," he realized, looking down at his body to discover the complete absence of clothing. The thought reinforced the idea that he must have died. Why else would he be stripped bare in this bizarre place?
"What's that?" Something caught his attention in the distance. A faint light far away. He squinted to make it out, but the distance was too great. Moving closer seemed to be the only option.
The further he walked through the blood sea, the more it coated his skin, layering his body in red liquid that felt wrong in ways he could not explain. But he kept going because the light was the only sign of answers. Eventually, he stood before it.
It was white and faintly glowing. Humanoid in shape. It lay bound by red strings extending from the sea of blood itself, holding the figure in place like a puppet. The figure struggled, reaching desperately for something, frozen in that moment.
"This is... me, as Eren," Eliot muttered, studying the face carefully. He could never mistake it. This was his face from before the incident with Anna changed everything.
But what was this doing here? What did it mean?
"Wait, it's... drowning?" He knelt to inspect the figure. The body had sunk slightly deeper than his own stance, the blood strings pulling it further down slowly but steadily.
His frown deepened. The blood was corroding the figure's glow, eating away at the white luminescence like acid. "I don't get it. Is this supposed to be me? What does this even mean?" Nothing logical came to mind.
He stood with a heavy sigh, staring at the figure, examining every detail. Its expression was horrified, eyes wide with terror at some unseen threat. Its hands reached out, held back by the blood strings that ensnared even its outstretched fingers. The slow sink into the blood sea added another layer of horror.
"First off, where is this place? Who brought me here? Why?" he asked, scanning the endless darkness for answers.
"Hello?" His voice echoed strangely, making him wonder if this vast space was enclosed.
"Is anyone here!" He shouted, louder this time. There was no response, no presence at all.
He decided there was only one action left. He would pull the Eren figure out of the blood and see what happened. He reached toward the figure's hand.
The moment his fingers touched—
"HUH?!"
The hand moved on its own, grabbing his wrist with an iron grip.
"What the heck? Let go!" he struggled, but the grip did not release. The figure sank faster, the strings tightening.
"ARGH!" Eliot fought with all his strength, thrashing and pulling, but it was useless.
The figure's expression changed. Its mouth widened unnaturally, stretching in a twisted laugh. Its teeth elongated into sharp fangs. The blood consumed the body faster, the glow corroded, the eyes turned black.
The mouth opened wider, a horrifying sight.
"Fraa'tek mi, fraa'tek mi zhul'nar! Fraa'tek mi zhul'nar! zhul! ZHUL! ZHUL'RAA!"
The words were alien, but the desperation was clear.
"AHHH!" Eliot screamed as pain exploded through his body. Blood flowed from every pore and opening. He was pulled deeper into the sea of blood, unable to resist.
Finally, darkness claimed him completely.