Shadow of Death (SOD)

Chapter 53

"...."

"Huuuuu....!"

"Huh? Where am I?" Asher asked as he looked around him.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t see anything.

It was like he had been robbed of his vision entirely.

But that wasn’t right.

He could feel that he could see, so it wasn’t that his vision was gone.

Instead, it seemed like he was simply surrounded by darkness.

The whole place was shrouded in a suffocating blanket of darkness that swallowed everything around him. There was no light, no distinguishable shape, not even the faintest outline of anything that could give him an idea of where he was.

He couldn’t see a single thing.

But then again—

’Uh... Where’s the ground? Why do I feel like I’m suspended?’

He waited for several seconds, expecting something to happen.

Nothing.

No response.

No movement.

No sound.

He was essentially floating in the darkness like an aimless piece of paper being carried by an invisible wind.

Alas!

Even though he was floating, he remained completely stagnant.

There was no sensation of movement beneath him, nor was there any force carrying him in a particular direction.

His head turned left and right as he desperately searched his surroundings, hoping he might find something—anything—that could help him make sense of where he was.

Unfortunately, there was nothing.

The whole place was completely void.

No single person.

No single thing in sight.

’Is this the Nightmare? Am I supposed to remain here till I lose my mind? Is that it?’

His mind spun through possible explanations, desperately trying to make sense of the situation.

Yet there was nothing.

Nothing to confirm his suspicions.

Nothing to tell him what he was supposed to do.

Looking around cautiously, he waved his hands through the air several times, hoping that perhaps his fingers would brush against something hidden within the darkness.

Nothing.

His hand simply passed through empty air.

"Hello?! Is there anybody here? Uh.... you fucking Shadow God, is this my Nightmare? Come on, show yourself, bastard!"

"...."

There was no reply.

His voice echoed through the darkness, only to have the silence swallow it and throw it back at him.

The emptiness made his heart tighten.

His surroundings were too quiet.

Too empty.

It was the kind of silence that made him painfully aware of his own breathing and heartbeat.

Was this the afterlife?

Or some kind of punishment he knew nothing about?

Because this couldn’t be the Nightmare that had claimed the lives of Jack and Jesse.

For them to be turned into Shadows meant they had been killed inside their Nightmares.

Yet as far as Asher could see, there was nothing here.

Nothing that could even kill him.

So what was going on?

’Or was the Shadow God right? Was I free from the curse of the Nightmare and I’m in the afterlife?’

He thought for a few seconds before immediately shaking his head.

’... No! I recall hearing a mechanical voice in my head speaking about the Nightmare a moment ago. So what is this? My trial?’

The moment that thought crossed his mind, the void suddenly stirred.

It was subtle at first.

Almost as though the darkness itself had shifted.

As if something that had been sleeping for an immeasurable amount of time had suddenly been disturbed.

Asher’s expression changed.

He couldn’t see anything, but he could feel it.

A presence had appeared in the void with him.

It wasn’t in front of him.

It wasn’t behind him.

It seemed to be everywhere.

The presence bounced all around him, making it impossible for him to pinpoint its exact location.

Asher immediately began spinning around in fright.

His head turned and twisted in every direction as he desperately searched for whatever the hell had entered the world of darkness with him.

Alas!

He saw nothing.

Not even a shadow.

His heart pounded harder.

Whatever was with him was close.

He could feel it.

But he couldn’t see it.

A Shadow?

The Shadow God?

Or something far more dangerous?

He had no idea.

Not until a second later.

A voice suddenly echoed through the world.

It didn’t come from one particular direction.

Instead, it seemed to bounce throughout the entire void, surrounding Asher from every possible angle.

The voice sounded ancient.

Primal.

And completely out of this world.

It carried the weight of something that had existed for an unfathomably long period of time.

Like the voice of a thousand-year-old creature that had just been awakened after an eternity of slumber.

"Hm. A Dreamer? Yawn.... Man... it’s been how long since one entered this place? I can’t even remember how long I have been trapped in this void waiting to be broken free—"

The voice sounded almost amused.

Yet the casualness of its tone somehow made it even more terrifying.

Asher’s skin crawled.

He could feel as though whatever was with him was examining him.

Watching him.

Scanning him from head to toe despite having no visible body.

Cold sweat rolled down his back.

His instincts screamed at him that he was not alone.

And whatever was with him was not something he wanted to encounter.

"Who-Who is there? Wh-What are you?!"

"....."

The voice didn’t rush to reply.

It remained silent as it continued scanning Asher from the deep depths of the darkness, its unseen presence moving over him without revealing its location.

Refusing to show itself.

"...How long has it been since someone tried entering my trials? Hm. Can’t recall. All I know is that the five total people that have entered my trial all failed and got devoured by me, quenching my hunger a bit."

’Wh-What is it saying? Hunger? Trial? What have I been thrown into?’

Asher’s thoughts raced.

None of this made sense.

He had expected a Nightmare, but instead, he had been thrown into this strange void and was now being watched by something that spoke as though countless people had come before him.

And all of them had failed.

After a brief, dramatic pause of silence, the voice continued.

"Oh?! Seems you walked in voluntarily? Wow! Brave of you. I like that. Ha!"

Asher’s limbs immediately began trembling at the sudden, short burst of laughter from the strange voice.

The sound itself wasn’t loud.

Yet it made the darkness surrounding him feel even more oppressive.

What was going on?

And what was this thing rambling on about?

The boy didn’t know.

"Anyway, I hope you can last longer than those that came before you. So best of luck. Survive, break free, and escape if you can."

Before Asher could say anything else, the voice added something more.

Silently.

Coldly.

Almost like a whisper that sent shivers running down Asher’s spine.

"Your Nightmare begins."

And with that, the presence vanished.

The oppressive sensation of being watched disappeared without warning, leaving Asher alone in the suffocating darkness once again.

Then—

A small dot of light appeared in the distance.

Hundreds of metres away from Asher.

It looked like a star hanging in the night sky.

The moment the boy made eye contact with the light, he suddenly felt a force like never before yank him forward.

"Wha—?!"

His body flew forward with lightning speed.

Dozens of metres vanished in mere seconds as the darkness around him became nothing more than a blur.

His brain and mind were a mushy mess as he wasn’t given even a moment to make sense of what was happening.

He didn’t even have the opportunity to put together everything the strange presence had said.

The trial.

The five people.

The hunger.

Escape.

All of it disappeared beneath the overwhelming force dragging him forward.

Because within a minute, Asher was facing a brilliant light as wide and huge as the sun.

But white in colour.

"Wa-Wai—"

His voice faded as Asher was slammed directly into the white brilliance.

His senses immediately went on high alert.

His vision, hearing, and sense of smell became a complete mess.

His eyes flashed white several times as he felt every hair on his body rise in response to being swallowed into the white sun.

To his surprise, he wasn’t being burned alive like he had feared.

Instead, he was simply moving deeper and deeper into the brilliance.

Deeper.

And deeper.

Until his memories began becoming a mess.

The past.

The present.

Everything that had happened.

They all began colliding.

Crashing into one another and fighting inside his mind for dominance.

Faces, moments, and memories blurred together as his consciousness struggled to process everything at once.

A wave of pain suddenly smashed into his skull.

A terrible headache spread through his head, leaving his thoughts fragmented and chaotic.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t even let out a scream.

His voice was drowned out.

Gone.

And then—

Asher was gone.

His form became nonexistent within the depths of the white brilliance.

His Nightmare beginning.

Would he survive?

Or would he become a Shadow like the members of his family?

No one knew.

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