Hiroko grabbed a sharp rock, hoisted himself and jumped into the steep embankment, sliding down with sparks spewing behind him.
He calculated the depth of that creator to be about a kilometer deep, and the width to be about two kilometers wide. At this point, his body still covered in golem armor, it'd take him a dozen minutes to reach the center, compared to if his mission was to walk around it.
The journey to the impact site took about three and a half weeks, even with Rocky assisting him. Half of that time, Hiroko was asleep, only to wake up to the sight of his golem treading through a solar glare. He'd perked up when remembered Rocky was sunburn proof.
Maybe that's why the environment around was obsidian.
He reached the center, digging his fingers into a crack in the crater to stop himself from plummeting into a crack that was shaped like a sharp toothed snarl. He took a cautious peek into the dark abyss before a cold dread ran up his spine.
"Whoa! Hiroko, you're growing a pair recently."
He leaned back and watched as the shadows around him stirred, crawling to him.
"Please don't mock me."
He inhaled the writhing black tendrils and sighed after the last vanished, Rocky Golem's flaming eyes flickering brighter. He chuckled wryly.
"Utter fear. Fitting."
He took another less guarded peek into the crack and sighed. He came this far. Might as well shout Geronimo! as he dived in.
He stood up, the rocky exterior of his golem armor slightly grinding.
He dived in!
"Dumbest thing ever!!"
His onyx figure vanished like a drop in the ocean.
Inside, he was swallowed by darkness, not the kind that creeps in when the sun sets. The kind of darkness that swallows everything else to conquer. The kind of darkness that swallows the sun.
Hiroko swore he was falling into the pit of oblivion as his body numbed. He couldn't even feel the wind against his armor. He more or less felt like he was jumping into non-existence.
One thing a person would do in this situation would be either to put on a brave face or straight up panic.
Hiroko panicked with a straight face.
"This is what you get for bearing a feminine name!"
He roared out loud, clutching onto his neck as pieces of Rocky Golem armor started to peel off him.
The armor peeled off of him at terrifying speed and he covered his face with his still armored hand, probably regretting every decision in his life.
"There's only ONE person to blame!"
His thoughts rang as he continued to plunge deeper or otherwise, into oblivion.
He didn't notice the purple glow beneath him that outlined the purple smoke down below. When he removed his hand, and the last of Rocky got snatched away from his body by whatever force, he pierced through, his eyes wide open as voices filled his head.
Screams of terror and dying screams echoed throughout the smoke. People were shouting in Japanese, some in English and some in barbaric languages he knew didn't exist.
He rolled over in the air—still falling—and witnessed smokey figures of humanoid creatures and other things battling in slow motion. Someone got beheaded.
"That's the Elven King…" he thought, his voice slowly fading away.
He saw a figure slowly morphing into a great blade and sweeping across a field of horned creatures.
"Demi… god of… st…"
Hiroko's voice vanished completely from his head, his eyes stinging with tears.
He recognized all of the figures in the smoke. They were so familiar yet unknown to him. He was seeing them. He was having some sort of… advanced… spiritual peek into the fabric of space or something equally ludicrous.
He raised his hand, not wanting to fall into oblivion anymore.
And as if to grant his heartfelt request, Hiroko felt the solid ground with his back as he crashed to the actual bottom of the crater.
His body lay perfectly still as his eyes turned red with blood and then cleared instantly. Hiroko felt it… as his body broke all the bones in his body in a split second and all the bones in his body cracked back together, fixing themselves. He stared up at the purple smoke hovering about twenty or so meters above him as all of Rocky's stone pieces dropped and plunged into his chest all at once in a split second.
His mouth trembled open.
"FUCK!!!"
The primal roar of harrowing agony tore through his throat as he finally reacted, mortal pain kneading every piece of him.
"Argh!" He sat up quickly, his longsword stabbing the ground next to him and he fell back down to the ground on his knees in a coughing fit.
That was a million times worse than when he fell out of the vortex the first time he arrived in Modest.
The shadowy tendrils around him rippled as he grabbed onto the longsword, gritting his teeth and pulling himself up.
And burst.
"クレーター,一体何なんだよ!? 拷問したいならそう言えよ!"
He kicked a random rock, shattering it against a wall.
"マジで最悪なやり方じゃねえか!最低だ!"
He slouched over, pulling the sword out of the ground, roaring some more.
*My, my, such venom…* The atmosphere suddenly shifted as a soft voice sighed around Hiroko.
He held the sword in a defensive stance, sweat beading on his forehead as he whisked his eyes around, his knuckles almost cracking as he clenched around the sword handle.
"Who's there?!" He swallowed uncomfortably as his voice pushed out of his throat, still raw with anger.
A low, feminine and inhuman chuckle echoed around the cave all around Hiroko.
*What pretty purple eyes you have. Let me see…*
Hiroko's eyes bulged as a glowing orb of purple smoke rushed at him.
"Crap!"
He shut his eyes impossibly tight and swung the sword wildly.
"Stay back!"
He swung the longsword several times before feeling an imposing presence right next to him.
*Aww, no, no, no! You closed your eyes before I could see…* The voice echoed around him.
Hiroko involuntarily shrunk into himself, feeling a devastating weight suddenly press down on him from every direction.
"What… the hell…" he clutched his throat that was on fire. He hadn't used that thing in… so long - but that was of no consequence compared to—
*Hey, hey! Why are you not looking at me?* The eerie and spine chilling voice of the thing that was obviously not a woman continued to whine as Hiroko slowly melted to the ground, his knuckles whitening around the sword handle.
"Father, you sadistic psychopath, I hope you're enjoying the show…" Hiroko hissed through his teeth, covering his eyes with his free hand.
The cave went deathly silent after that.
Hiroko didn't dare open his eyes, his ears picking up the faintest sound. He could still feel the otherworldly presence around him, his form kneeling on the peculiarly warm ground.
*あの…裕子,目を開けて.* The voice softly said.
Hiroko trembled in horror and nausea.
"神様,俺の名前だ…! That's my friggin' name…"
*私のために,目を開けてね,小さな子.* The voice cooed. *Just open your eyes for a moment.*
Hiroko covered his eyes with the inside of his elbows.
"I rebuke you…" he trembled.
The voice whined all around him.
*Awww! But I just want to see your eyes. They look like my husband's.*
Hiroko froze. An imperceptible force pried his arms away from his face. His eyes snapped open.
He looked.
He screamed.
*Ah…* The purple smokey female figure kneeling next to him smiled a big crescent moon. *Pretty…*
Hiroko scrambled away but she was stuck on him, smiling up at him.
*I like your eyes…* she poked her whole hands into her eye sockets and literally plucked out the glowing orbs on her face. *You can have mine and I'll have yours.*
Hiroko roared in terror as the eyeballs fell onto his lap, all jiggly and slimy.
He backed up against the wall, now unable to close his eyes or even remember he had a sword.
The eyeless smoke figure lady tilted her head.
*No good? How about these then?* She smiled that crescent moon and melted the purple stuff off her body, transforming into something else.
Then voila! April's face was grinning at him.
Hiroko hit that opera lady high note, ululating it tlike he'll never do again.
The April figure in front of him smiled another crescent moon.
*Yip!* She leapt into his open mouth.
Hiroko swallowed.
He sprung to his feet, groaning gruffly and clawing at his throat. He staggered around the dim cave, his groans turning into beastly growls as Rocky's stone pieces shot out of his chest, slowly covering him.
He continued to transform, his rocky figure growing taller and taller, black veins sprouting from his cheeks and black ink covering his whites, leaving only the purple iris.
The armor covered him completely. Out of his golem mouth came a deafening primal roar of savegery. He stumbled back and as he did, the panicking shadows around him collected themselves behind him and formed a shadow portal.
The agitated monster tripped on one of his big dumb feet and fell through.
It closed.
On the other side, the monster was spat out and fell to the ground.
The willows around him were swaying gently, whispering like phantoms who knew the universe's secret.