On Thursday afternoon, during a boring math class, I casually browsed Amazon and made a purchase.
"Check this out, Dul: A Ritual to Another World. Gotta buy this!"
"Pfft, what is this, Mat? Buying nonsense books? You should buy FF diamonds. Let's play together later."
"Whatever. I'm going to check this out."
On Saturday afternoon, the book arrived. I carefully opened the package.
"Whoa! Damn! This book is so cool! It looks like a legendary book."
I opened the book, page by page. The paper was thick but poor quality. Some of the edges had holes in them as if termites had eaten them.
"Here it is! How to go to another world. The ingredients are chalk, a red candle, salt, and my own blood. Easy enough!"
I read it word by word, though the writing was somewhat faded. "It says here to draw the pattern, place the candle, and then... whatever. Time to experiment!"
I didn't read the rest of the book because I was too lazy. I didn't realize that this would become my biggest regret.
I drew the pattern and placed all the ingredients according to the instructions.
"Okay, the last step is just my blood."
I dropped my blood right in the center of the pattern.
"Hah! Nothing happened. Stupid scam book..."
Before I could finish speaking, I lost consciousness. No light appeared. No phenomenon occurred. I just saw myself lying on the floor.
"What.... what! Is that me? But why can I..."
I wondered until I realized that my consciousness had left my body. I became a little scared. What if I couldn't return?
In my confusion, I was sucked into a hole. I knew I shouldn't be pulled into it. But I couldn't resist, and my non-physical body was finally sucked into the hole.
I lost sensation. I couldn't see or hear anything. All I knew was darkness and silence. There was only a point of light at the end. I tried to reach it with all my might. Finally, I reached it and began to see something besides darkness—a glare.
Immortal World, year 6359.
"Ah, so bright. But what is this?"
I started to feel my senses return. My body began to perceive sound. But what's this smell?
"Hey, you! Wake up! Don't pretend to be faint."
A voice accompanied by a whip struck me.
I thought it was a dream. But it felt too real. When I opened my eyes, a terrifying scene appeared before me. A dark cave lit only by oil torches created a gloomy and uncomfortable atmosphere.
But that wasn't the most terrifying part. A group of masked adults with swords at their waists were whipping underage children. It made my hair stand on end. Reflexively, I spoke up. "Hey, what are you doing? This is clearly against the law!"
"Shut up! I never told you to speak," said a man with a body as big as a gorilla, swinging his whip right at my chest.
"Argh!" I grimaced in pain. The pain felt so real. It was impossible for this to be a dream. But I felt somewhat unfamiliar with this body. Wasn't it too thin? I thought to myself, comparing it to my usual body.
"You! Useless brat! Trash who can't use qi! Don't make trouble!" The man continued to whip, kick, and stomp on me until I almost lost consciousness.
The beating didn't stop until my body could no longer endure it. Then, a world message appeared.
Name: Karman Sutejo.
Status: Injured (recovering).
Qi: Undetectable (cannot use Qi).
Mission: Become a true human.
I was very confused. Everything happened so fast. My brain was too overwhelmed to understand what was happening. I was completely speechless.
"I like this defective child. Other children would probably be dead by now." Haha!" the gorilla-bodied man said loudly.
"Take that useless child, lock him up, and don't let him escape," he continued. "Maybe in a few days, we'll see something interesting. Haha!"
Nothing special. Except for the dark prison cell, the damp soil was blackened by dried blood. Insects covered the walls, and a pungent smell filled the room.
One by one, the children who had been with me earlier were imprisoned. Now, I was in the prison with several children who had just arrived.
"What are you looking at? Want to mock us?! You're such a special kid," said a child with a slightly larger body.
"I—I—I mean, sorry. If I may ask, where are we?" I said.
"You! Don't pretend to be stupid just because you're special," said the boy with the large body.
"We're at the Blood Cult headquarters," said a child in the corner whose body was smaller than mine. "And we will become their experimental subjects," he continued.
"What do you mean?"
I mean, we're going to die here," the child concluded, turning his body to lie down on the floor and sweeping away insects with his hand.
Days passed with repetitive routines. Our bodies were pushed to their limits. Ruthless training. One by one, the children fell, becoming fertilizer for the Blood Cult's grand ambitions.
Initially, I was a weak child. Slowly, after several months or even years had passed, my body began to adapt. In fact, the training no longer seemed tiring.
A voice accompanied by laughter. "Kekekek... Is this the boy you were talking about?"
A middle-aged man with snake-like eyes stood in the darkness, staring sharply at me, piercing through my soul. My intuition told me that something bad would happen.
"Take that child to my room."
A cold aura immediately penetrated the marrow of my bones.
It seemed that the small thing I did was a step that brought death to me. There was no turning back. I was helpless. All I felt was despair, powerlessness, and regret.
Would I die? Mom, help me.