The silence was interrupted by a light breeze pushing against Isak’s groggy face. The crushing presence now long-gone, replaced by a comfortable and moist atmosphere.

  He could still feel his heart beating fast and his breathing being slightly irregular, as you’d expect after such an experience.

  Additionally, there were still some hints of the presence he’d felt before, but its potency was hundreds if not thousands of times weaker than during his “confrontation.”

  His mouth and lips also felt pretty dry. He could still sense the aftertaste of blood created by the divine serpent, but to Isak’s relief it appeared to be all gone by now, replaced by the stale taste of, well, air.

  He swiftly licked his dry lips, turning their flaky exterior back to their previous moist selves.

  As he regained feeling in his limp body, he slowly opened his eyes, praying to God that the nightmare of his had come to an end.

  He found himself in the center of a dark intersection, slightly illuminated by a faint, dark-blue light, coming from a strangely bright sky. He was surrounded by large buildings and various arrays of street furniture fitting a medieval Asian look, consisting of dark greyIsh wood and other traditional materials in similar colors, making Isak stand out with his rather saturated appearance.

  The ground’s texture wasn’t really remarkable. It had been felt thousands of times before, The black grass and dirt reminding Isak of the natural sensations he commonly felt at home.

  It looked like a liminal blend of his previous home and alien-like influence. Some buildings were normal, and some had various protrusions of dark flesh crashing out of them. Some even looked to be moving and restructuring themselves, giving them an eerie non-Euclidean feel.

  He couldn't really hear anything out of the ordinary either. There was of course the natural ambience; a light breeze of wind coupled with a constant hum of sorts, coupled with some hints of rivers and waterfalls, but they weren't really that prominent.

  Isak steadily pushed himself off the wet ground as his eyes curiously darted around, observing the obscure and intricate details of the intersection.

  Upon closer inspection it just looked off, like an inexperienced AI had tried to generate a city.

  The buildings weren’t consistent at all, their size varying tremendously, some points even defying laws of physics. Stairs and doors were leading to nowhere, all on the outside of the buildings, twisting and turning in inhuman ways.

  In Isak’s opinion, the weirdest part about it wasn’t its looks, though. Rather, it was the fact that, not counting the “protrusions of dark flesh” coming from the buildings, he couldn’t spot a single living being no matter how hard he looked. A big-ass biomechanical city populated by nothing but Isak himself? Yeah, that’s pretty creepy.

  There were no birds singing, and no insects buzzing. The houses looked empty, and he couldn't hear any talking, laughing, nor any other mundane everyday noises. He couldn't even hear monstrous sounds like growling or screaming.

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  Although he was thankful, it did get a bit more creepy knowing he was so isolated. The city's eerie silence was actually in some ways even more scary than if it had been filled with monsters.

  Actually, Isak didn't even consider the fact that he was alone.

  The city’s ever-changing nature made it feel like it was watching him, or connected to him in an eerie, almost “too” personal way.

  He couldn’t quite put a finger on it though.

  That, coupled with the eerie silence, made Isak quite a bit unnerved.

  At best he would describe the feeling as “hundreds of monsters, stalking and hunting me from the sidelines.”

  At worst?

  Well, he’d rather not think about it.

  Enough about that... What the hell was even going on?

  What about his family, were they okay?

  And wasn’t his body mangled by the divine serpent?

  Upon some reflection it did indeed sound pretty weird. Why hadn’t he just died back in his bed? Not that it was a bad thing, but still, it just felt so off.

  It didn't help that he’d never heard about anything similar to this before. Even vessels, the ones blessed with otherworldly divine powers by the gods, had never described nor mentioned anything remotely similar to this before. At least not to Isak.

  This whole situation also opened the doors for the imagination; was this the afterlife? the eye did feel and look like a kind of “god” to be fair. The absence of life was kind of wacky though, you’d think the countless deaths of the past would add up, wouldn't you?

  Or, what if he was transported to another plane of existence of sorts? Like he was isekai’d into some experimental new dimension, maybe even a gateway in between them.

  It could also be a dream of sorts. He was sleeping when the pressure started after all, but it felt too real to disregard it just like that.

  Another possibility is that he was chosen as the serpent’s vessel, although, like he said; something like this had never really happened before.

  Although every vessel had their own unique beginning, they still had their similarities.

  It normally just concluded with a short exchange between the god and their chosen. The biomechanical city, or even anything remotely similar to it, had, like Isak said, never really been mentioned before.

  His hopes were still up though, no need for staying negative.

  That said, it all just felt so fundamentally wrong to him. Nothing was explained, everything was just thrown onto him, as if hoping he’d solve the metaphorical riddle of this place.

  “Welp, just complaining won't do any good.”

  He swiftly looks up at the sky, trying to spot even the faintest traces of life. Still, there was just nothing to see. No sun, no moon. No stars littering the bright-blue sky and no living beings or mechanical wonders soaring through them. It was simply a sky of vast nothingness dotted with the occasional cloud or two.

  It didn't feel right. None of this did.

  A question did pop up though: Why was the sky and Isak so bright despite there being no sun or moon? you’d think it’d be engulfed in darkness by their absence. Apparently not.

  Rather, they glowed like a cause without a means. A light without a source. An eerily bright night-sky looming over the vast horizons of a forgotten city.

  He froze up for a moment before continuing, as if trying to comprehend whatever fuckery laid upon him.

  None of it added up-

  “Damn, a mental breakdown before taking my first step? Yeeah, Aurora is definitely gonna fuck me over because of this.”