"Why is it so dark?"
Aiden's voice echoed into the void around him, swallowed by a suffocating, endless black. An unbearable heaviness clung to every inch of his body, as if the air itself was pressing him down.
Why can't I move? What's going on...?
Panic began to gnaw at the edges of Aiden's mind. His limbs refused to respond. His chest felt tight—not from pain, but from pure, rising dread. The darkness wasn't just around him—it felt alive, oppressive, as though it watched him. And worst of all, his eyes were open. He was certain of that.
His breath grew ragged as claustrophobia clawed into his chest.
"Move... Move! Please, don't do this!" he begged aloud, desperation cracking his voice.
He screamed at his body to respond, to twitch, to blink—anything. But then, a flash tore across his vision.
A different scene erupted in his mind: a dim, crumbling apartment. Two figures huddled in a corner, trembling. A man loomed over a woman, doing something vile—something Aiden couldn't describe without his stomach turning.
Before he could process it, the vision shifted.
Now, a small child sat alone in a dark closet, calling out for their mother.
There was no answer.
"Move!" Aiden shouted, his voice suddenly thick with emotion—fear, anger, confusion. "For fuck's sake—MOVE!"
Creak.
A faint sound answered him.
"Huh... is that... light?"
A small, jagged crack appeared in the wall of darkness. A sliver of golden light pierced through, faint but undeniable. Aiden's heart leapt. Hope surged.
"Move! Again!" he cried, squirming with every ounce of strength he could summon. "Please... just this once. Do me this favor, you useless body...!"
Creak... creak... creak...
More cracks webbed outward, light pushing through them like dawn breaking a long night.
"My body... it's starting to loosen—"
But just as he began to feel freedom approaching, his strength gave out. His limbs went limp. His vision flickered.
"No—what? No, not now..." Sleep dragged at him.
Creak!
Suddenly, with a sound like shattering stone, his entire body lurched forward. The hard shell around him split apart.
THUMP.
"Ah—shit!" he groaned, landing face-first on cold stone.
"What... did I just fall?" he muttered, pushing himself up slowly.
As he rose to his knees, the world finally came into focus.
"Huh...? Where the hell am I?"
He stood inside an enormous, cathedral-like chamber. Pillars lined the walls like silent sentinels. The ceiling arched impossibly high above him, lost in shadows. At the far end loomed a massive stone door—sealed shut.
Everything felt ancient. Forgotten.
He stumbled to his feet, legs trembling. His head throbbed with questions.
"Where am I?"
On either side of the chamber, along the curved stone walls, were large alcoves—each one housing a massive stone statue.
"Statues?"
There were eight in total, their forms grand and imposing. Yet the longer he looked, the more uneasy he became. Each statue radiated a strange, ominous energy—like something slumbering inside them.
Aiden turned around—and froze.
There was another alcove behind him. Except this one was empty... the stone inside shattered.
"Was... was I trapped in stone?"
He stared at the fragments at his feet. The idea seemed insane, yet no other explanation made sense. Before he could dwell on it, a loud crack echoed beside him.
CRACK!
His head snapped to the left.
Another statue was breaking.
"What was that?!"
The cracks spread across its surface like lightning bolts. Then—with an explosion of dust and stone—a figure fell from it.
THUMP.
Just like Aiden, the figure landed flat on his face.
"So I'm not alone..." Aiden muttered, staring at the unmoving body. Questions swirled in his head, but before he could act, the man stirred.
He was pale, with long black hair and dressed in a dark outfit accented with red. Slowly, the man pushed himself up, groaning.
"Where... am I?" he mumbled.
His eyes found Aiden—the silver-haired man standing in white robes, pointed ears peeking through strands of hair.
"Who are you?" the black-haired man asked.
Aiden blinked. "I'm... me. Who else would I be?"
The black-haired man's gaze narrowed. He paced back and forth, muttering under his breath. "That outfit... those ears... That's an elf character model. And that face—I've seen it before..."
Aiden tilted his head in confusion. "What are you going on about?"
The man suddenly froze. His eyes widened with realization.
"I know where I've seen it—Aiden. You're one scary guy."
"What?"
"You!" he pointed dramatically. "Let me guess…"
"Huh?" Aiden raised an eyebrow.
"Your name is Zackary Vermillion, right?"
Aiden blinked again. "No? It's Aiden."
Silence.
The black-haired man looked like his brain had short-circuited. "What?"
"What do you mean, what? I just told you my name."
The man's expression twisted. "Aiden... Is that really you?!"
"Yeah. Who else would I be?"
"Cut the sarcasm, dumbass!" he shouted, his crimson eyes wide.
"What?" Aiden replied, still completely baffled.
"It's me! Ashiq, dumbass!"
Aiden's breath caught.
"Ashiq...? No way—"
"Is this what I think it is?" Ashiq asked, a grin forming on his lips.
"I think it is," Aiden replied, matching his grin.
Ashiq threw his arms up and laughed. "Never thought I'd get isekai'd."
The two of them stood in the silence of the cathedral, two friends reunited in the most surreal way possible, both now trapped in a world that defied reason.