A majestic silence, not like the stillness of graves or the quiet of the deepest forests, but an absolute silence that overwhelmed everything existential and abstract. A dense, profound stillness, so thick that its weight could be felt on the chest, like an insulating wall separating the noisy world of the living from the dark existence that swallowed him.
Theo slowly opened his heavy eyelids, every movement seemed to take ages, like someone waking from a deep coma that lasted for centuries instead of hours.
He wasn't greeted by the familiar light of a room whose simple details he was accustomed to, nor even the darkness of a cave that had become familiar to him after his repeated visits that nearly cost him his life. What he found was a black void, without color or form, extending endlessly, swallowing him in its cold, desolate embrace that welcomed no visitors.
No walls bounded his exhausted gaze, no ceiling above him to protect him from an imaginary sky, and no solid ground whose existence and stability he could feel beneath his tired feet, just absolute darkness, pure and unadulterated in its blackness, as if it were the very essence of night, or perhaps absolute nothingness, embodied in this placeless place.
For a few fleeting moments, those first moments immediately following his awakening that seemed to freeze in the stillness of this void, Theo was suspended in a state of utter bewilderment, a state of absolute disbelief at what his eyes saw and what his body felt. Was this death? Or had his consciousness completely betrayed him, and had his mind, exhausted from fighting and fear, begun to imagine things that existed only in its dark corners?
But he was conscious, painfully and sharply so. He felt with all his senses, felt a strange coldness, unlike any coldness he had known before, seeping into the depths of his bones, penetrating his marrow, freezing his blood in his veins.
It wasn't like the sticky dampness of the cave he was used to, nor did it resemble the biting chill of winter winds in Etherfell that froze limbs.
It was a voidal coldness, devoid of any heat source, as if it were the breath of outer space itself, or the coldness of nothingness that held no life.
And stranger and more puzzling, amidst this infinite expanse of blackness that revealed nothing, Theo could see the details of his body with perfect clarity, as if his body were the only thing with physical existence in this non-existence. His hands, bearing the marks of old wounds left by Kyle's harsh training and new wounds caused by the cave's traps and monsters, his slender arms that had gained some firmness and strength from Kyle's relentless, merciless training, his torn clothes that had become a silent witness to his recent battles inside the cursed cave – all these details were visible to him, as if his body were the only illuminated spot in this dark universe that showed nothing else, or perhaps it was the only thing this arrogant darkness allowed to exist within it, like a rare artifact displayed in a museum of nothingness, evidence of a prior existence of life.
'Where... where in hell am I? What is this place? Is this death?' The question echoed deep within his terrified mind, crashing against imaginary, non-existent walls, but his inner voice seemed muffled, lost in this infinite void, like a desperate scream in a bottomless valley with no echo, heard by no one but himself.
He tried to move his limbs slowly and hesitantly, to extend his hand with extreme caution to feel around him, to find any point of leverage in this void that held nothing. But there was only more and more darkness, the same blackness that swallowed him. No noticeable resistance to his movement, no discernible texture between the void and his body, just a cold and terrifying emptiness that absorbed every movement he made, every desperate attempt to connect with a tangible physical reality, with anything that could confirm to him that he was still alive. He felt like an eternal prisoner in an abstract painting by a mad artist, a painting containing only one color, absolute black, a blackness that reflected no light, a blackness that swallowed everything.
Shards of memories began to dance before his inner eyes, foggy and blurred at first as if they were distant dreams, then they began to coalesce and become painfully clear, like broken glass reflecting sharp and realistic images from the recent past he couldn't escape.
He remembered the cave, that place that had become a real nightmare for him in waking life as in dreams.
'This is it! This is it!'
He remembered how its walls had suddenly changed strangely, and how those mysterious drawings had appeared that weren't there before, drawings depicting giant fighters with immense power and shadowy ghostly beings with glowing red eyes, as if they were creatures from another hell.
And that voice... the voice that pierced the wall of silence in the cave, the deep and mysterious voice that called his name, the voice that repeated that ominous phrase that had begun to haunt him even in his waking hours, haunting him in his dreams and in his worst nightmares "You are the future, you are the sacrifice." Simple words, but they carried an immense weight of unknown meaning.
Then, the image of the dark entity materialized in his mind with terrifying clarity, as if it stood before him now in this void. His distorted copy, that shadow that emerged from the depths of the cave, or perhaps, and this was the most terrifying and painful possibility, did it emerge from the depths of his own self? The entity he faced with fatal coldness, which read his deepest fears and buried secrets, his weaknesses that he hid even from himself, as if it were reading an open book with no secrets. He remembered its biting sarcasm, its words that were like whips lashing his soul, harsh words etched in his memory. And that disgusting smile that widened to devour the features of its face, similar to his own face, a demonic smile.
"Perhaps I am the part of you that feels bothered or neglected by your mother?"
Theo's slender body involuntarily trembled at the recall of these wicked words, the words of the dark entity that struck a very sensitive chord.
'Wh-who is he? What is this thing?' He was terrified and crushed now, he felt shock, sadness, fear. 'Did I really feel that way?'
It had touched a deep wound in the depths of his soul, a wound resulting from his guilt towards his mother, a feeling he never dared to admit the existence of even to himself in his sincerest moments.
Then he remembered his desperate last attempt to use his magical powers, the element of darkness that was an integral part of him, how it rebelled against him with incomprehensible violence, how it refused to respond to his commands that he had mastered. And fire, that volatile, wild element that he had exerted great effort to learn and control, how it almost burned him from the inside, melting his hands that tried to summon it. And finally, the moment when darkness completely swallowed him, the terrifying feeling of drowning in a bottomless blackness, as if the whole world was collapsing around him, then his complete loss of consciousness, drifting towards this dark place.
'Damn it... it really swallowed me.' Theo finally realized the horrific truth in its full cruel dimensions.
This place, this infinite darkness that now surrounded him, was a direct result of that catastrophic confrontation, a result of his temporary weakness or the dark entity's absolute power.
Was he really dead now? Was this the other world some talked about in old stories and forgotten legends? A world of spirits or perhaps hell? Or was he merely a prisoner in the mind of that demonic entity that resembled him? Or perhaps, and this was the most terrifying and insane possibility, was he trapped in a dark and forgotten part of his own mind? Was this darkness a reflection of his dark soul?
His small heart began to beat with increasing violence, not from the effect of physical exertion, but from the overwhelming wave of fear that swept his entire being. Fear of the unknown that surrounded him on all sides, fear of this darkness that seemed eternal and endless, as if it would extend forever.
Fear of being completely alone here, in this nothingness, forever, without companions, without any other living being.
Time. Ah, time. How could it be measured here in this place? How much time had passed since he lost consciousness in the cave? A few minutes? Long and painful hours? Or had full days passed while he was immersed in this deep, dark slumber?
There was no indicator, no sign of the passage of time in this absolute void. No sunrise announcing the start of a bright new day, no sunset marking the end of another day. No moon illuminating the darkness of the night, and no stars twinkling in an imaginary sky.
Just constant darkness, unchanging, unvarying, carrying no promise of change. This complete absence of any temporal measure, this feeling that time had completely stopped, began to exert immense pressure on his fragile mind, sowing in it the seeds of frantic anxiety and fatal despair that threatened to overwhelm him.
'Mother... Rayn...' Their images suddenly appeared in the focus of his consciousness, clear and vivid as if they were standing before him now in this darkness, shining like two points of light in a sea of blackness.
His mother, Elena, with her face etched by worries and anxieties, and her eyes bearing a deep sadness that only her boundless love for him could extinguish, a love that served as his anchor in this world. Was she okay now? Was she worried about him to the point of madness? Surely she was.
He remembered the last time he saw her clearly, her gazes filled with worry and hope, her worry she had desperately tried to hide behind a faint smile that didn't deceive him. He felt a sharp pang of guilt pierce his heart, like a cold knife. He had let her down again, left her to face the unknown on her own, left her to suffer alone.
And Rayn. His loyal, foolish friend, who had always been by his side no matter what. What happened to him after darkness swallowed me? Was he able to escape the cursed cave when that strange rock wall suddenly sealed the entrance behind me? Was he now facing his mother Elena's wrath alone, desperately trying to explain to her what couldn't be explained, what couldn't be believed about the cave and about Theo himself?
"I pity you, Rayn," he scoffed now, his burden lightened a little.
Would he really take care of his weak mother?
Theo hoped so intensely, from the depths of his exhausted heart, despite all the harshness he sometimes treated him with, a harshness that was in reality a reflection of his inner weakness.
The longer he remained in this desolate, unending darkness, the more the weight of these painful thoughts increased on his exhausted soul.
Psychological torture began to take its toll slowly but with terrible steadfastness. The absolute loneliness that consumed him, the absence of any external sensory stimuli except his body which he saw with strange and disturbing clarity, and the increasing anxiety that gnawed at his heart for his loved ones, his fear for them from the unknown that surrounded them as it surrounded him – all these factors conspired to slowly crush him, to strip him of any hope of salvation, to make him feel as if he were drowning in a sea of despair.
He felt his mind beginning to erode from within, as if undergoing a slow and painful corrosion, that his thoughts had become tangled and spun in an endless vicious circle of fear, regret, and unanswered questions, questions that increased his confusion and despair.
'Is this my inevitable fate? To remain here, lost and wandering in this eternal darkness forever? Is this what the sacrifice the voice spoke of means? Will I be just a faint memory in the minds of those I loved?'
The question screamed in the depths of his tormented soul, a muffled scream heard by no one. But there was no one to hear his scream, no one to answer his urgent questions. Silence was the only reply, a dense silence that amplified the echo of his despair and despondency, making him feel completely alone in this dark universe.
He remembered his trainer's words etched in his memory, words about pain as the greatest teacher, about failure as a step to the top. Was what he was going through now another type of pain? The pain of absolute isolation, the pain of merciless despair, the pain of being lost in nothingness?
What was he supposed to learn from this harsh experience that surpassed any physical or magical training? And he also remembered his aunt Celia's words about the necessity of seeking his own understanding of the essence of darkness, that darkness was not just a destructive force.
Was this darkness in its purest and most essential state? An absolute void, a force that swallowed everything in its path, even the last glimmer of hope he clung to?
He felt an overwhelming wave of anger suddenly sweep over him, anger at that cursed dark entity that threw him into this black hell without warning, anger at his weakness that allowed all this to happen, at his inability to resist, anger at this darkness that imprisoned him, bound him, and prevented him from returning to those he loved.
But the wave of anger quickly receded and vanished, replaced by a deep and crushing feeling of absolute helplessness.
What could he do in the face of this vast nothingness? He was just a boy, lacking sufficient physical or magical strength to confront such an existence, trapped in a place he didn't understand, with no magic he could use, and no clear way out or salvation.
What felt like an entire epoch of exhausting thought and ruthless, fatal despair passed. He was on the verge of surrendering to this overwhelming darkness, on the verge of letting himself drift without resistance in this infinite void, to float aimlessly in this ocean of nothingness, to completely lose consciousness and surrender to his dark fate, when a sudden thought flashed in his exhausted mind, a faint but stubborn glimmer of hope, like a spark in the deepest night, in this turbulent sea of despair that threatened to swallow him.
'If I... if I can see my body clearly in this dense darkness... if my body still exists here, in this place where there is nothing... then that means I still truly exist. I'm not just a consciousness lost in space, I'm not just a wandering ghost without a body. There's something I can do. There must be something. This can't be the end so simply.'
Theo didn't know where this saving idea came from, this spark that illuminated his mind in his darkest moments.
Perhaps it sprang from the remnants of his strong will forged by Kyle, that will that taught him never to give up. Or perhaps it sprang from his deep love for his mother Elena and his strong desire to return to her, to see her again, to reassure her. Or perhaps it sprang from the challenge inherent in his soul, the challenge that drove him to face difficulties instead of running from them. Whatever the true source of this idea, it was enough to awaken something that had been sleeping deep within him, something of defiance and desperate resistance against this darkness that was trying to swallow him.
'I'm very tired already, but I must try to escape from this place.'
He made his final and decisive decision in that pivotal moment between surrender and resistance. Even if this place was just infinite darkness, even if there was no clear direction to follow, even if every step he took was just a blind leap into the absolute unknown, he would no longer remain still. Stillness here, in this lifeless void, meant the slow death of the soul.
He looked at the details of his body again, at his hands and feet, as if confirming their existence. Then, with a slow and hesitant movement at first, as if testing the reaction of this darkness that surrounded him, his movement became more firm and determined, he began to lift his right foot off the non-ground. It didn't matter where this first step would take him.
What mattered was the movement itself. What mattered was not surrendering to this darkness that was trying to swallow him and turn him into a part of it.
'I'll walk. I'll keep walking until I find something... anything. An exit, an edge, a faint light... any sign that this hell has an end, that this darkness is not eternal.'
It was a decision as desperate as it was courageous, a decision that might seem insane to some in the face of absolute nothingness, but it was his only decision, his last choice in the face of this non-existence that threatened to obliterate him.
He cautiously placed his foot on what he assumed was ground, although he felt no firmness or texture beneath it. Then, with greater courage stemming from the depths of his soul, he moved the other foot forward. A first step into the absolute unknown. Then another step followed, more confident and determined, then another, and another.
Theo began to walk in the darkness, in a random direction guided only by his intuition.
He walked in this desolate void, clinging to that thin thread of hope that still pulsed in his exhausted heart.