The young man hesitated, staying still for a while. It's not that he wasn't afraid or deeply troubled about the strange place he was in. He was just a bit more conflicted over the correct phrasing.
'Damn it! Was it go toward the light or not?'
But just as he pondered, the beam of light on the horizon vanished. Clenching his fist, he stamped hard on the ground.
"Just great. Now it doesn't even matter whether I head toward the light or not. There's no goddamn light!"
Even though the area had been mostly dark before, the beam gave off a faint glow, and it acted like a compass he could follow. Now, however, everything was pitch black. It was so dark that he couldn't even see his own hands when he raised them in front of his face.
'So what do I do now?'
Rico sighed as he took baby steps forward, feeling carefully before putting all his weight down on his feet. The last thing he needed was to fall off a cliff. Then, a strange sign appeared before him hovering with a faint hum. It glowed with pink runes that realigned themselves to display a message.
"Find the gate and keep moving forward, for darkness will appear as light".
Then, the sign vanished.
'Man... I have so many questions right now.'
The eerie wails he had heard earlier seemed louder now — clear enough that Rico could begin to make out fragments of what they were saying.
"Pleaseeee... Don't — don't eat the fruit!"
"Run! Run! Run! It's not real!"
"Their eyes! R-red… they're r-red!"
Rico stood in place for a moment. The first two wails unsettled him, but the third about red eyes sent a chill down his spine.
'Red eyes? Like the thing that killed my parents? Is it h-here?'
He turned frantically in all directions, searching for anything that matched the description. For a moment, he saw nothing and let out a breath of relief.
But then...
The darkness around him shifted. Pairs of small red orbs began to appear, glowing faintly at first, then multiplying — some brighter than others; some positioned higher than the rest. As they emerged, the wailing stopped abruptly, replaced by a heavy, suffocating silence. Then came the growls… and the screeches, echoing through the air.
"This shit just got real. Oh yeah... I'm running to where that light was. Fuck this!"
Rico dashed forward as fast as he could, refusing to look back. The crunch beneath his feet followed with every step, but he couldn't care less what he was stepping on. Then something strange started to happen.
His vision began to adjust to his surroundings. There was no light source, no reason for it, yet the darkness around him slowly gave way.
Shapes emerged. Faint silhouettes of mountain ranges stretched across the horizon, and the massive outlines of trees rose around him like shadows given form. But as he got lost in thought over what he was seeing, his foot caught on something in his path. He went down hard and received a few scratches from the branches.
After he fell, his first instinct was to look behind him, to see if anything was catching up. But there was nothing, so he let out a breath of relief.
With a grumpy tone, he murmured,
"Glad no one was around to see that..."
Rico shook his head and pushed himself up, pressing his hands against the ground for support. Suddenly he grimaced.
'That's strange… branches don't usually feel this smooth… and cold.'
Hesitating, he looked down, and what he saw made his breath catch.
"Are these bones…? Wait!... are these human bones?"
From the moment he had taken his first steps, Rico hadn't been walking on branches. No.
The poor soul had been stepping on bones - human bones. He clamped a hand over his mouth, gagging as he vomited; his eyes twitched as he scanned the area.
His vision sharpened further, just in time for the truth to become clear. He wasn't just surrounded by them... he was running along a path carved through a massive graveyard and the ground beneath him was paved entirely with bones.
And ahead…
The path continued the same way. Endless, scattered remains stretching into the distance.
'Okay… this is hell. Or at least the road that leads there.'
Rico was still trying to make sense of his situation when the ground suddenly began to tremble. Like a stampede approaching. He quickly turned to look.
"You have to be kidding me."
He sprinted forward, gasping as he tried to control his breathing. Behind him, a multitude of red eyes tore through the path in pursuit. Their growls and screeches grew louder, mixed with the heavy beat of wings and pounding hooves — forming a terrifying orchestra.
"Come on, come on, come on! What is this place? What's happening?!"
He ran nonstop for five minutes at full speed, almost clearing the path. Taking a quick glance over his shoulder, he saw that whatever was chasing him was starting to fall behind. For the most part, it seemed like they gave up chase once he pushed forward.
Rico smiled, then —
SLAM!
He ran straight into a large wooden gate.
Rico fell back onto the ground, letting out a soft groan. He rubbed his forehead, which had taken the brunt of the impact, a small swelling already forming.
"That's going to leave a mark."
He quickly regained his footing and looked behind him again. This time, the red glowing eyes remained far in the distance, as if an invisible barrier was holding them back. Not waiting around to find out why, Rico moved toward the gate, hoping to get through.
"Do not be afraid of the unknown — for only the unknown will become known."
The sign above the gate read. Rico paused for a few seconds as he took in the words.
Then he noticed the air behind him felt less oppressive… warmer. From his peripheral vision, he could also see a faint glow forming behind him. So, he turned... and froze. His mind filled with awe.
The graveyard was gone. In its place stretched rows of beautiful flowers. The path was no longer scattered with bones. Instead, it was lined with bright green grass. The red-eyed creatures off in the distance… were gone. In their place, cows and sheep grazed peacefully across the field.
"What sorcery is this…?"
Rico knelt slowly and touched the grass beneath his feet, running his hand through it like he was petting a dog.
'So soft… and real.'
Looking up, he noticed a small calf approaching him from ahead, and out of curiosity, he stepped forward to meet it halfway. The animal lifted its head toward him, tail swaying gently. For the first time since arriving, Rico felt a quiet sense of serene.
Hesitantly, he turned back toward the gate. In the distance, the consuming darkness still waited beyond it, and bright flashes of lightning streaked across its sky. He sighed as he lowered his shoulders.
Turning back to the field, he inhaled deeply. The air smelled like strawberries mixed with pineapple, and the breeze was gentle and cool against his face. The trees around him bore all kinds of fruit — bright, inviting. Some he had never seen before, not in person or even online.
"Who am I kidding…? Should I really leave this place and keep going? What would even be the point? I have no idea what kind of madness is waiting behind those gates."
Rico fell quiet, lost in thought.
He slowly reached out a hand to pet the animal brushing against his leg, smiling as his palm met the smooth surface of its head.
"I wish I could stay with you friend... but that sign... it said to find the gate and keep moving..."
The animal looked up at him for a moment, then brushed against his leg once more before returning to the herd a few meters away.
Rico slapped his cheeks a few times, steeling himself. Then he stepped toward the gate, placing a hand on each side, and pushed with all his strength. As it creaked open, the sweet aroma behind him faded, replaced by a metallic, rotting stench.
He quickly buried his nose in the crook of his arm.
'That smell… it's horrible. Like dead animals... being burned.'
Starting to have second thoughts, he slowly looked back once more as he thought the scent was coming from beyond the gate. His hand suddenly dropped from his nose, and his body froze.
The once beautiful scenery was gone. The garden of flowers lining the path had become gravestones, and the grass beneath his feet had turned to bones. The trees loomed tall and were bare, stripped of fruit and leaves.
As everything shifted before his eyes, a thought crept into his mind.
'...Don't tell me...'
He paused mid-thought, his gaze drifting toward the calf and its herd. They were staring back at him...
Crimson, glowing eyes that were void of warmth, filled with quiet malice. And the once adorable calf? It was now an imp gnashing its fangs at him. Rico shook his head and turned back toward the gate. Despite the hesitation, he dragged himself forward as it slammed shut behind him.
"… I wonder. What would have happened if I had stayed there?"
The question lingered, but his attention was quickly drawn to another sign to his right, glowing with soft pink runes, hovering quietly. As he stepped closer, the words formed:
"Many have remained behind. Unable to pass beyond this gate."
The runes shifted, rearranging themselves:
"Though they were warned to keep moving, they stopped and fell into a snare."
After reading the message, the sign vanished.
"Many… have remained behind?"
"What does that mean…? Is it saying there were others before me who stayed?"
'And if so… where are they?' he thought.
He paused, thinking, then a disturbing realization crept in. He remembered what the very first sign said about keep moving forward, and he shuddered in his boats.
"The bones… were they the one who stopped moving forward?"
While he was distracted, Rico failed to notice the ground around him beginning to shift. Protrusions rose in a circle — large, triangular shapes, pale and jagged. Finally, he noticed as they came into view.
"What are those?"
He asked, stepping closer for a better look. He narrowed his eyes on the object.
"…Is it me, or do they look like… teeth?"
A flicker of panic hit. He took a slow step back... but it was too late.
A low, monstrous hum rose from beneath the earth, like something ancient had heard him. The ground trembled violently, knocking Rico off his feet as the rows of teeth grew longer, sharper. Then, like a grinder, they began to spin, tearing through the earth beneath him in a perfect circle.
"Wait — hold up, don't do that!!" he shouted.
He watched helplessly as the rows of teeth formed an arch over him, and then —
The maw snapped shut.
"It's a fucking worm — with teeth!?" he yelled as he fell inside the creature.
It felt like he was falling into an endless abyss has he spun endlessly. Darkness swallowed everything around him, and the stench was almost unbearable. Then, out of nowhere — PLUNGE.
He fell into some kind of liquid. It was thick and slimy, clinging to his body, and smelled like… sewage. Rico struggled, trying to keep his head above the surface to avoid drowning.
'Am I in the belly of the beast?'
'Is this really how I was born to die… as worm food?'
Rico shook his head and looked around, but all he saw was darkness stretching endlessly. He exhaled slowly; a hopeless expression settled on his face. But then suddenly, a bright pink hue hovered above him. He looked up quickly, reading it.
"Welcome to your second trial. Stand by for regurgitation."
"Regurgita—what?"
The liquid beneath him began to spin. Rico's body followed, pulled into a vortex. The world twisted as he was dragged upward, shooting through what felt like a narrow tube before he was thrown out. He landed hard on his back.
Groaning, he pushed himself up, rubbing the back of his head. Around him, the area was illuminated by small glowing bugs emitting a soft blue light. They stretched across the space, revealing its shape little by little.
"Beautiful..."
The structure of the place he had landed resembled a cave, or a dungeon, and ahead of him, two tunnels split into separate paths. They vastly differed in contrast.
One was lined with beautiful gems that glowed like lights on a Christmas tree. The other was dark, and the smell coming from it was like standing behind a garbage truck. To add, Rico could hear the occasional screams coming from inside, like someone was being tortured.
Rico dropped to his ass and laughed, clutching his abdomen as he pointed at the tunnels. A real, full belly laugh.
'I'm guessing I should choose right? Give me a break… this is obviously a trap.'
He cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted, not sure who he was even speaking to.
"Do you think I'm stupid? I have like ten years' worth of video game experience under my belt. Ten!"
He pushed himself to his feet and immediately headed toward the tunnel on his left. The not-so-appealing one. His strides were overly confident. Suddenly, the sign with glowing runes burst from the ground in front of him. Rico stared at it.
"One tunnel shows the truth, while the other shows a lie."
The runes flickered, and then, it vanished.