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And then, Darkness

  The peaceful quiet was disturbed by a loud shatter coming from Isaks room. A glass of water had been knocked down from its previously stable footing, littering the floor with its many shards.

  The room was filled with homey furniture you'd expect for a boy his age. There were various forms of painted scrolls and woven patterns hung on the walls, childhood trophies and medals placed peculiarly amongst his book-filled shelves, and a thick, locally made, fuzzy carpet, now ruined by the fragmented glass scattered across it.

  In the middle of the room laid a bed. A normal, cozy bed. It wasn't too big or too small, making it a perfect fit for those who might choose to sleep in it.

  A presumably 17 year-old boy lays there, paralyzed by whatever he may be experiencing.

  Why him?

  Why now?

  He feels weak, hopeless. He tries moving his body to no avail, pushed down by an invisible force of unimaginable weight.

  Every sense reaches new heights of excruciating pain, blood streaming down the sides of his face as his body shakes more and more violently.

  Is this the end?

  He is taken over by utter despair as he clings to life like a rabid dog, unsure if he would even live to see another day.

  He tries getting up, but his body doesn't answer. Instead, his fingers twitch uncontrollably, making him scream out in pain and dismay.

  He's slowly raised into the air. He feels the warmth and safety of his bed gradually fade as his back leaves the bed and his blanket steadily releases its cozy grip. He now hovers in thin air, lifted by an unseen entity, no, force?

  He genuinely had no idea. There were no indicators something like this would ever happen. Especially not now…

  His home, the city of water, had been shrouded in peace for the whole summer. The mana density was consistent, and their protector, the vessel-queen of the city, had stayed in great shape.

  Even the crime rate was at an all-time low.

  His vision suddenly shifts as the presence ravaging his body gets exponentially worse. Through his bloodstained eyes Isak now observed something he couldn’t even begin to describe

  His mouth steadily fills up with blood, Making him struggle to breathe, gurgling for air with the spiteful taste of blood overloading his taste buds.

  Centered in his line of vision an eye of extreme size stared back at him. Its shape steadily shifting, looking both chaotic, hypnotic and oddly soothing at the same time. Shape and color weren't consistent at all. Even the fleshy borders of the eye were constantly changing, thousands of tiny limbs scattered amongst its skin, wildly flailing and reaching out for Isak.

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  Even in between the relentless ringing noise in his ears he could hear their movements, their sharp crackling reaching him, reminiscent of bones breaking and dislocating.

  The veins on the border of the “eye” looked like extensive root systems growing and dying in the span of seconds. Others looked like throbbing parasitic worms crawling beneath the surface of the eye, splitting up and disappearing before reaching the center.

  Behind it laid countless pillars of transfigured flesh, rapidly moving, changing size and texture as they soared through the crimson sky. Their appearance varied, but they all looked similar to the borders of the eye, being littered with the same near-infinite amount of violently flailing limbs.

  They were writhing, twisting and turning as they pleased, like the otherworldly body of a divine serpent. A single pillar connected the eye with the rest of the system, leading Isak to think they all belonged to the same being; the one standing before him.

  He could hear them soar through the air, ripping the atmosphere apart, causing fast winds and the occasional sonic boom.

  Their movements only served to worsen the already crushing presence tenfold, the winds they created hurtling Isak’s limp body back and forth like a ragdoll.

  Sometimes he could even “feel” their presence as they whittled the air close to Isak.

  The air around them even seemed to “distort,” consisting of a constantly suppressive force, looking like a visual representation of the one grasping Isak so vividly.

  His brief moment of reprieve was pierced by the eyes gaze as he felt a sudden cold sensation flow through his bloodstream. The eye’s previously hypnotic eyeris now raging like an undying storm of fire and ash.

  His ringing ears are suddenly dominated by deafening noise. Its heavy, crushing nature washing out any other sound in the background.

  It consisted of mainly low frequencies, making its every vocalization feel like demands.

  His already terrible state worsened. Even thinking was beginning to get hard

  However, Isak noted one thing: the noises had a cohesive rhythm, similar to a human’s speech~

  …

  Was it trying to communicate with him?

  He wasn’t sure how to react. The noises were difficult to understand, some of them being hard to even comprehend.

  With every “word” the god spoke, the pressure worsened. Isak wasn’t sure if he could even manage to understand a single one before passing out.

  As the god spoke his rapid shaking worsened into an uncontrollable seizure, every heartbeat now feeling like an explosive detonating from his chest.

  The pressure was so bad he even struggled to keep his eyes open. To simply stay awake another second he needed incredible concentrations of willpower and determination.

  Try as he might he just couldn't stay awake much more, the serpent's divine presence tearing his mind and body to pieces

  The world seemed to slow down as his eyes slowly closed, worn out from the everlasting pain felt all over his body. Slowly he released himself from the grasps of his

  consciousness, falling into a deep sea of despair

  And then, darkness.

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