It's cold.
I can't breathe.
Endless murmurs echoed through the suffocating darkness, winding around his throat like invisible threads.
In his daze and disoriented thoughts, Yul felt the chill seep into his bones as if he were drowning ten feet below the surface.
It hurts! It's like thousands of needles piercing into his skin.
He struggled desperately, or at least tried to. But his limbs wouldn't move.
A dreadful slumber tugged at him, dragging him through this unknown, shifting passage of time.
Yul started to feel faint… like the world was trying to erase his very existence.
An overwhelming sense of loss swallowed him whole, clouding all his senses. He tried to lift his hand, reach out for something, anything—
Unfortunately, his body refused to obey.
Anyone…
The darkness only answered him with silence.
Then, a sharp, throbbing pain shot through him. It dragged his consciousness out of the oblivion as if responding to him.
A pulsing energy reverberated through the emptiness, crackling violently, threatening to split the void apart.
Just when he thought he'd fall completely into the abyss, the space around him shattered.
The darkness instantly faded from sight, and a searing white light pierced through his field of vision. It was slow and creeping, but inevitable.
Yul gathered what little strength he had left, forcing himself to wake up from this illusion.
Slowly, he opened his eyes.
At first, he squinted his eyes, struggling to adjust to the blinding light that felt like it belonged to a different lifetime.
Before he could see clearly, the horrific smell of rotten flesh and wet decay hit him. It slammed into his senses like a curse.
Yul paused for a moment.
Then, looking up, he saw it.
A creature standing inches away from him. Its stitched mouth tore open with a sickening rip, mucus and blood trailing down its chin as it peered directly into him.
Its upper body was vaguely humanoid, but stretched unnaturally like bones and skin grown over twisted branches.
"Hiss…"
Yul was stunned, mind completely frozen.
Wh—why am I seeing a creature that should only exist in some apocalyptic theatre in front of me?
Surely, I must still be dreaming. It's time to wake up already.
He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.
Yul quietly shut his eyes again. He waited before opening his eyes again.
Just in time for a violent gust of wind to slam into his face—
Bringing the stench back ten times worse. It was rancid enough to exorcise the living.
The creature's emaciated body shifted, stretched skin pulled tight over a ribcage that pulsed like a starving heart.
It arched backward, mouth stretching unnaturally wide, and released a silent cry.
A breathless scream that exploded into the wind, hurling outward like a sonic shock.
From the edge of the fog, the tips of its limbs dug into the earth, anchoring it like a beast preparing to lunge.
Yul instinctively reeled backward.
Hmm…
He had one option right now.
One. Run for my life!
Heck no, I'm not planning to end up in its stomach!
There was no time to think.
Yul shoved all thoughts aside and mustered every ounce of strength to escape just as the monster leaped forward.
Only now did he realize that he was trapped in a narrow passage. There was no way to run without passing through it.
It was a dead end. He only had one chance.
Yul ducked to the side, timing the movement with the beast's leap, hoping to slip past when he got the chance.
Truly, he'd underestimated the monster's ability.
But strangely for him, it ignored him.
Literally.
The creature barreled right past him as if he didn't exist, lurching toward a man hiding in the corner.
A low, inhuman growl rolled out from its throat as it grabbed the man effortlessly, lifting him.
The man flailed in the air, arms struggling to break free. His face twisted in horror, still shouting in disbelief, though the creature clearly didn't understand or care.
"No— how can you find me? Why, I obviously had a shield!"
His terrified scream filled the air.
"I don't want to die… Somebody save me! Hel—"
Though his cry for help was cut short.
It was gruesome.
Blood splattered across the cold stone floor. The man's pupil dilated in dread, locking onto Yul's in his final moments.His mouth moved, words barely forming.
"Why… you stole it."
"…"
Yul couldn't hear what he said, but he could feel the overwhelming hatred behind those dying eyes, aimed directly at him.
Stole… what? He didn't understand why.
All he could think of now was to run away. Now.
Without waiting for a second, he turned around and started sprinting like his life depended on it. Which, to be fair, it probably did.
He had so many questions in his mind right now, his thoughts constantly spinning like a top, looking for answers.
But nothing could beat the fact that he just watched a live-action of a man being mauled to death, alive, right in front of him.
What the fuck did I just witness?
Most importantly, where the hell am I?
Shouldn't he be… he—
Huh?
Wait. Why can't I remember such a simple thing?
And why are there so many of these damn creatures everywhere?!
Every corner he turned, every direction he ran, he just couldn't seem to get rid of them from his sight. They just kept on appearing.
And for some reason, these monsters didn't seem to attack him. Or more correctly, they can't seem to sense him at all.
He should be thankful, really.
Instead, he kept running like a mindless fly, wandering deeper into hell, unknowingly.
Yul's knees almost gave out when he stumbled into one of them, hunched over what appeared to be a bloodied limb.
Shit—
Don't look. Don't think.
At the same time, his mind quickly pieced together the image for him.
It was an arm. A baby's!
The torn remains were scattered around like abandoned meat. He didn't want to imagine the rest.
Yul's stomach turned.
He shook his head, trying to get rid of the afterimage in his mind as he sprinted again. He didn't know where he got the energy, but he was soon far away from it.
F*ck!
What the hell is happening?
And where the heck am I supposed to go?
He could barely feel his leg anymore. He was gasping for air, but he couldn't stop.