Hill woke up screaming, clutching at his temples as he tried to fight away the phantom agony that was pulsing through his nervous system. The pain of the monster's teeth penetrating his skull was still there, albeit fading away as if it was a figment of his imagination.
Looking around with wide eyes, he saw that he was sitting in a vast expanse of black sand that stood beneath a brilliant starry sky. It was empty and the air was unusually still; the only sound he could hear was his own breathing.
What? Where am I? He thought to himself as he looked in every direction. North, south, east, and west. It was all black sand, stretching as far out as the eye could see. The only thing separating the blackness from the night sky was the luminescent blue horizon, which seemed to shine as brightly as the stars.
He grabbed the hem of his right pant leg, pulling it up to see if he was still bleeding out. He wasn't. The skin was unblemished.
"What is the meaning of this?" He asked himself shakily. "Am I dead?"
He pressed his trembling palms against his face, trying to gather himself but failing miserably. The images simply wouldn't stop flashing through his mind. The sounds of the crowd's screaming, the roars of the beasts, his father's stare, and Haida's outstretched arm. They all kept flickering within his consciousness with an unnerving sporadicity.
He hunched over, squeezing his knees to his chest as his throat tightened. "No, no, no…" The words came out of his mouth sounding hoarse and weak.
This can't be happening. I'm dead, aren't I? I must be dead. There's no way I could survive that. The memories flashed again. But if this is death, where is everyone else? Where is my family? Why am I alone? Is this how the end is supposed to be like? All alone?
Tears began pouring freely from his eyes. "Please…" He whispered. "Please let this be a dream."
But he knew deep down that this wasn't a dream. The sand felt too real, it was stuck to his mouth and the tear streaks on his face. In fact, he couldn't feel less awake at the current moment.
He continued to cry, letting the grief take him as he mourned over his own death. He had no idea how long he stayed that way. Whether it was by the minutes or hours, time didn't really matter here.
When his tears finally slowed, Hill lifted his head. His swollen eyes widened as they noticed a strange phenomena in front of him.
The black sand that sat just a few feet in front of him began to shimmer, faintly at first, before lighting up like the stars above. Lines of light began to rise from the ground, bending and twisting in the air until they formed various symbols, all of which Hill couldn't understand. They were strange, arranged vertically instead of horizontally, and they pulsed with a blue light.
Hill wiped his tears away, blinking to reorient his vision as he struggled to comprehend what was happening in front of him. "What in the world is this?" He asked, mostly to himself. He didn't expect a response.
But he got one.
The runes hung in the air for a moment. Then, as if some unseen hand was moving through each symbol one by one, they began to change. Soon enough, he was staring at familiar words. Words that he could read.
[This is an opportunity.]
Someone's here… someone's watching me, Hill realized, chills shooting through his spine. The runes changed again, assorting themselves into another sentence.
[Do you wish to live?]
Hill stared at the glowing letters in front of him, his chest beginning to heave. His mind was scrambled, completely broken due to the combination of deathly sorrow and an encounter with an otherworldly unknown. Nothing was making sense, and trying to make sense of it seemed to scramble his thoughts even further.
But after calming his breathing and slapping himself out of his trance, he eyed the letters again.
Do I wish to live?
He didn't know. Not because he had accepted his death already, but because he was unsure how he would live his 'new' life, if granted one of course.
Firstly, the world as he knew it was being devoured by horrific monsters. Did he really want to enter such a place again?
But then he thought of his family. If they were still alive, he needed to be by their side. Not to defend them, he wasn't capable of doing so, but to be of worth to them.
He wanted to honor the work his mother had put into him all his life. He also wanted to honor his sister's care for him. A life cut too short did them no justice.
And if he were to die again, he wouldn't die in vain like that. He would lay down his life, putting it all on the line in order to ensure that whoever he was protecting would be safe from harm.
His father, though. Hill didn't need to prove anything to him. If anything, that old man needed to die, preferably by his hands.
The letters pulsed again.
[Do you wish to live? Yes or no.]
Whoever was behind this wall of text, whether it was some kind of supernatural entity or something he couldn't even comprehend, Hill knew that they were eager for an answer.
And if he were to say no, there was no guarantee for what would follow next. Would he be forced to walk through this desert till the end of time? Or would he fade away from existence?
There was only one correct answer here.
Feeling his conviction rising, Hill pushed himself to his feet, standing tall as he faced the shimmering letters before him. He cleared his throat, wiping his eyes once more. And then, with a heavy heart, he gave his answer:
"Y—yes. I want to live."
For a moment, nothing happened. The letters remained in the air, flickering slightly. Then, they faded away like dust in the wind before more runic markings replaced them, congealing into something new.
[Your wish has been granted.]
The second Hill read those words, the ground beneath him began to shake violently. The black sand began to move like the waves of the ocean. The sky above him began to tear in half, an unmatched darkness dividing the night sky like the edge of a blade. As Hill continued to stare upwards, he could have sworn that he could see colossal fingers finding their way through the crack in the sky, forcing it wider and wider.
And then, a brilliant flash of light engulfed the world around him, followed by a terrible low-pitched howl that seemed to come from all around him. Hill kept his eyes closed, he didn't want to see what was happening despite the curiosity surging within him.
When he opened his eyes, he saw that he was still standing within the black sand. But across from where he stood was a vast forest of barren grey trees that stood defiantly underneath an overcast sky.
Within the forest, a grey-haired old man cloaked in a grey duster coat sat on the ground with his head in his hands. Hill's blood ran cold.
The old man stood up, staring at the black sand domain that stood juxtaposed to his and smiled, staring into the overcast skies with madness in his eyes.
"Well, what's this?" He yelled at the sky. "You said you'd let me live, right? Get on with it then!"
Hill couldn't believe his eyes, and he felt a burning anger growing within his heart.
What is my father doing here?
As if answering his question, runic markings emerged from the sand around his feet and congealed into a message.
[Kill the incarnation of your greatest fear,
[If you succeed, you shall live again.]
Hill's eyes widened. So… the man in front of me is just an incarnation… he isn't real!
He looked around the shimmering letters and saw that a similar set of letters were positioned in front of his father's face, or rather, the incarnation of his greatest fear. The old man looked around those letters and when he saw Hill, a strange expression fixed itself on the old man's face.
Not that of concern, of relief, of worry, or anything of that sort.
Instead, it was a predatory gaze full of malice and ill will.
And then…the letters in front of Hill's face changed.
[Your time starts now.]
The old man stepped forward. Hill stepped backward.
And all hell broke loose.