Kael stepped through the door,his heavy footsteps echoing against the cold floor.He braced himself for whatever awaited him...but everything changed in an instant.As soon as his foot crossed the threshold —everything stopped.An absolute void.He froze.Adam, just a few steps behind,was gone.No sound.No light.No human presence.Even the air itself seemed to have vanished,as if the world had been erased around him.He turned his head frantically,desperately searching for any trace of what had once been there.But there was nothing.Nothing,except that strange,oppressive darkness.His body was paralyzed in a deafening silence.In his hand —the torch he had been gripping just seconds earlierhad vanished.So had the bag on his back.And the rope tied around his waist.Gone.He raised his hand in front of his eyes.But no light filtered through.No shape.No shadow.He tried to scream —but no sound escaped his mouth.The void around himseemed to devour even the faintest breath,as though the entire universe had abandoned him.His heart raced.Each beat thundered in that absolute silence,heavier than ever.Where was Adam?Where was everything he knew?Was he alone here?
Kael closed his eyes for a moment,hoping it was just an illusion...But the truth hit him — cold and unforgiving.He was alone.He opened his eyes again,his mind spiraling in a storm of confusion.He couldn't think straight.Every thought collided with a wall of uncertainty.A bad dream?Impossible...There was no dreamlike sensation here.No blur.No distortion.It was too real.Death, then?Maybe...Maybe he had already died.And this place was the shadow of another world.But no —there was no pain.No cold.Only emptiness.A suffocating silence.
If this was death,why did the void feel so heavy?No.He dismissed that idea.Madness...That, he now considered.Insanity.A fractured mind, maybe.The loss of all bearings.The collapse of his own perception.But how could he know?There were no signs.No distortion of reality...Just the impossible reality of his isolation.He tried to calm himself.To rationalize.But every thought dissolved into chaos.He shut his eyes again.Focused on his breathing.Tried to regain controlover his spiraling mind.He needed to think clearly.Reality...he was certain,was no longer what he once knew.But what was it now?Another dimension?A place where time and space had lost meaning?A warped space?He couldn't tell.Questions tangled.But beyond the uncertainty,something remained…A glimmer.Barely perceptible.In the distance.He squinted.Maybe fifty meters ahead:a silhouette against this sea of darkness.A faint flickering flame.Maybe bluish.Maybe blackened.He couldn't be sure.It was strange.Almost unreal.But it was there.A light,in this unfathomable void.
The only reference point he had.Without thinking,his trembling legs,driven by desperate impulse,began to move.He had to reach that glow.Maybe there...maybe he'd find answers.Or what he still hoped to find.Kael hesitated a moment,his steps uncertain in the darkness.He couldn't even see the ground beneath his feet.Everything was black.Abyssal.Every step felt like a leap into the void.A walk toward the unknown.His legs were heavy,as if the air itself tried to hold him back.And yet,he advanced.His mind, caught in a maelstrom of thoughtsand emotions he couldn't grasp.What was happening?He couldn't understand.Everything slipped away.No sound.No breath.Not the slightest clue.The strangeness overwhelmed him.He felt terribly alone.Lost in this endless void.Suddenly —a flickering light emerged from the darkness.He flinched.Torches.Blazing.Sparkling at his sides.He blinked.Eyes wide.It was... inconceivable.
How was this possible?He searched for answers with his eyes.Scanned all around.Where were they mounted?On walls?On pillars?There was nothing.Nothing at all.No structure.No support.Only darkness.All-encompassing.Absolute.And yet,it birthed these lights.— This is impossible...he thought,his heart pounding harder.
Who... or what...was doing this?The question burned on his lips.But no answer came.The torches floated.Suspended by an unseen force.A benevolent one, perhaps...But why?Why light his path,he who stood alone in this sea of black?Darkness surrounded him.Engulfed him.And yet...it offered him a path.These lights.This corridor.It made no sense.And yet,it was there.What did it mean?His thoughts spiraled.A storm of confusion.— Am I dreaming?An illusion?Or... some kind of test?No.It wasn't that.Everything was too real to be a mere nightmare.There was no distortion.No blur.Just... the void.But this void seemed...to guide him.A flicker of hope stirred in his chest.The darkness seemed to light up at his passage.As if it knew exactly where he needed to go.As if...it had been waiting for him.It's guiding me.He felt bound in a strange relationship with this space.The void was no longer mere absence.There was a will.An order hidden within chaos.— Why me...?Why now...?He closed his eyes.Tried to steady his frenzied heartbeat.A dizzy spell hit him,as if the ground slipped away.He opened his eyes.Just a few steps ahead —another torch lit up.Dim light.Flickering.He stopped.Petrified by the strangeness of it all.
With each step,a new torch came to life.Lighting a path he didn't understand.— The darkness...it's showing me the way...— But why me?A final torch flared to life.Larger than the others.And this time...it revealed not a wall.But a silhouette.Motionless.Waiting for him.