The sensation of falling never seemed to end. When Hill's vision had sputtered out, he felt his body crumple to the ground. Except he didn't hit the ground, he just continued to fall.
At first, no real thought went through his mind. But as the seconds turned into minutes, Hill slowly began to wonder what was happening.
Was he falling out of existence? That seemed to be a decent explanation for what was going on. After all, his physical body had died on the bridge, and now his soul seemed to be dying as well because of his failure to kill the incarnation.
Hill didn't really understand the concept of the soul. He believed that when death arrives at someone's doorstep, they just vanish.
Poof! Out of existence. That type of thing.
But when he materialized within the black sand domain, all those beliefs vanished unconsciously. Especially when the glowing letters appeared out of the ground. He immediately believed that there was some sort of supernatural entity or power at play, because deep down inside his mind, he believed that they existed.
The sight of the letters was just a confirmation. That realization led him to believe in concepts like the afterlife.
The black sand domain that he had inhabited for that short period of time must have been the inside of his soul. It made sense, though, because when his father arrived, he seemed to drag along his soul domain as well.
Wait, my father? That wasn't my father, that was just an incarnation. A representation of my greatest fear, which just so happened to be my father… right?
But his behavior was strange… he was calling me an incarnation as well. Why would he do that? What prompted him to call me so?
Hill had a bad feeling about all this.
But he couldn't focus on those thoughts right now. Something strange was happening to him.
From what he could tell, his hearing and touch were still intact, but his sense of smell, taste, and sight weren't. Instead, Hill felt like they were flickering back into existence.
If he had to describe it, it was like trying to ignite a low-fueled lighter and failing to produce anything but faint sparks.
His vision would come back occasionally, and he would see the darkness behind his eyelids be lit up by reddish glows that seemed to zoom past him at incomparable speeds. His smell would revive occasionally too, allowing him to pick up on the smell of rotten eggs and fire. His taste would also return in sporadic bursts, causing him to acknowledge the fading taste of his own blood with each return.
Why is it fading? What's happening to my body? And why does it smell so bad?
Am I really dying?
The falling continued, the wind buffeting his body grew more and more intense.
And then, it stopped.
Immediately, all of Hill's senses were restored.
His eyes snapped open, and what he saw was truly frightening.
He was standing on top of a cliff's edge overlooking a vast sea of lava. The fiery ocean stretched as far as his eye could see, a thick curtain of orangish smoke blocked his vision from seeing further. Around the sea was a wall of igneous rock that rose to unbelievable heights.
And above the sea of lava, Hill could see the pointed tips of stalactites, letting him know that there was an expansive ceiling to this chamber.
The air was smoldering, and he immediately felt like he was being cooked alive. The smell of rotten eggs was intense as well.
Turning around, he noticed a gaping mouth of a cave that was embedded into the igneous wall behind him. Quickly stepping inside, he jogged until he could feel the air cooling by a slight degree. But the tiny change was welcoming to his sweat drenched body.
Leaning against the side walls of the cave, he slid down to the floor, his head turned towards the light coming from the lava chamber.
"Such heat," Hill muttered to himself. "It felt like I was standing inside a brick ov—"
The sentence died softly on his lips, his head nodding forward as exhaustion overtook him. The overwhelming heat of the volcanic cavern seemed to sap away every shred of strength he had left, pulling him toward unconsciousness with irresistible weight. He tried briefly to fight it off, but it was no use; his body slid down the rough stone wall, collapsing gently onto the hot rock beneath.
Hill's eyelids flickered shut, and his breathing slowed.
When he opened them again, he saw something utterly impossible.
He was no longer within the molten hellscape of the volcanic cavern. Instead, the familiar emptiness of black sand stretched out endlessly before him, just as it had during his last conscious moments after death.
Heart hammering, he turned frantically, his eyes scanning every direction. This was unmistakably the same place where he had fought the incarnation of his father—Fletcher Benedetto. The same dark desert, the same gentle luminescent horizon, the same impossibly starry sky.
No… no, no. Why am I back here? Panic surged through his veins as a thousand questions rushed into his head. Had he died again in the cave? Or was the lava chamber just some sort of dream? Could it be this black sand place was his true existence now, the only reality left for him after death?
Before the panic overwhelmed him entirely, the ground in front of him shivered. Small motes of starlight coalesced from the sands, rising into lines of shimmering runic letters that hovered clearly and elegantly before him:
[Welcome to Igashia, Hill Benedetto!
Here, a broken world lies in wait for salvation. The skies are filled with the cries of chaos, and the lands are plagued by the harbingers of destruction. The age of heroes has long passed, and the age of darkness rages on.
But every darkness has its dawn, just as every night is followed by the rising sun. And so, your arrival heralds a new era of hope.
The path of heroes is no easy task. You shall endure suffering and experience pain. You shall witness death and bear the burden of life.
But should you succeed in fulfilling your divine mission, your greatest wish shall be granted.]
Hill read and reread the runes, disbelief etched on his face. "Igashia?" he muttered. "A broken world waiting for salvation? A divine mission?"
He took several slow, deep breaths, forcing his mind into rationality.
Think logically, Hill. This message means I'm somehow… alive again, at least in some form. But how could I possibly have ended up in another world altogether? How would this even work? Could this still be some afterlife hallucination?
He frowned deeply, biting his lip. But this feels real. Too real to dismiss as illusion. And this divine mission—it promises my greatest wish if I succeed. Could I really wish to return home, to before it all happened? Could I save my mother and Haida?
Yet the more he considered it, the more doubt gnawed at him. This seems too generous, too convenient. And why choose me, of all people? I'm no hero. How can I possibly save anyone, let alone an entire world? And what's the catch? Surely there must be something more sinister behind such an offer.
But before he could question it further, the runic message trembled and shifted once more.
[You will now be bestowed a blessing for successfully pass—]
The letters halted abruptly, as though struck by some unseen force. The glowing runes began violently twitching, breaking apart into incoherent static and distorted symbols.
[▼δ▯ERROR▯φ▲ — duel resolution: INCONCLUSIVE]
Sparks and flickering fragments scattered in all directions, sizzling as they struck the sand below. Hill raised his arms instinctively, shielding his face.
New runes jerked into view, their harsh crimson glow stark against the dark backdrop:
[PROTOCOL: COMPENSATORY PENALTY]
[BLESSING CHANNEL… INOPERABLE]
[CATEGORY SHIFT → MALEDICTION]
Dread sank its claws deep into Hill's chest. "Malediction? A curse?"
The runes exploded outward, reshaping once more into terrifying finality:
[CURSE BESTOWED: THE ENCHAINED HOLLOWS]
At that precise instant, every star in the sky ignited simultaneously, bursting into brilliant, dazzling white. Hill cried out, stumbling backwards as the entire realm shuddered violently. The sand rippled and quaked beneath his feet, tossing him to his knees.
A horrible cacophony of sounds tore through the air: deep, echoing roars, monstrous cries from beyond comprehension, and the distant thunderous cracks of stars shattering in cosmic fury. He pressed his hands to his ears, screaming helplessly against the overwhelming sensory assault.
Then, just as abruptly as it had begun, it all ceased. Silence flooded the domain, cold and infinite. The sky dimmed from blinding white back to darkness, yet it was no longer the same.
Hill opened his eyes slowly, trembling uncontrollably. Above him, dominating the night sky in surreal majesty, hung the vast, impossible shape of a strange solar system, so immense and vivid he felt tiny and insignificant beneath it. Stars still littered the void beyond, but now they appeared distant and faint, as if scattered far away from this unsettling cluster.
In the center of this distorted cosmic arrangement sat a colossal black hole, spinning endlessly, swallowing the starlight into oblivion. Around it orbited eight distinct worlds, each utterly alien:
The closest planet was a massive sphere with a mirror-smooth surface, reflecting the black hole's warped light like polished silver, shimmering eerily.
Another world resembled a vast, inverted umbrella shield, delicate strands radiating outward and downward, gently floating in orbit around the void.
The other six worlds were too far for Hill to judge their appearances, but he could see their outlines in the distance.
There was a moon too, that seemed to orbit the black sand domain that Hill was standing on. It was pale, ghostly white in color, and marked by chains etched deeply into its ashen surface—its glow softly illuminating the black sands beneath his feet.
The planets seemed to embody something deep and primal, something that Hill couldn't quite grasp. But as he stared at the hovering giants in the sky, he made a connection. An uncomfortable one at that.
The feeling that was best comparable to this unnerving electricity was the feeling of being watched. The second he made this realization, the feeling got ten times worse.
Hill staggered backward, clutching at his chest as he gasped for air. The cold, relentless glow of the moon above him seemed to stare directly into his soul. He couldn't look at it.
He fell to the sandy ground, trying to gather himself but failing at every attempt.
Panicked, he squeezed his eyes shut tightly.
Instantly, the volcanic heat returned, engulfing him once again in the tunnel near the cavern. He opened his eyes, breathing raggedly as he stared blankly at the light from the mouth of the cave.
He was back. But how?
Curiously, he closed his eyes and thought about the black sand domain. When he opened them, he found himself kneeling on the black sand again, that sinister pressure grinding against his conscience.
He willed himself back to reality. That experiment confirmed one thing, the black sand domain seemed to be an inner world of some sort.
Whenever he closed his eyes and thought of that place, he would return there. For what purpose? He didn't know. It didn't seem remotely useful and the pressure that he felt from the planets above him didn't help either.
In due time, He assured himself. In due time, I'll understand what is happening to me.
Hill raised a trembling hand to his chest, feeling his heartbeat thunder beneath his palm. The Enchained Hollows, he thought numbly. He could sense the curse deep within, tethered to him now, heavy as iron chains wrapped around his very soul.
But he didn't want to think about it. Instead, he turned towards the other side of the cave. In comparison to the brightness of the lava cavern, this area up ahead was engulfed in darkness.
I should head that way, he mused. It would be foolish to remain in this heat for much longer.
Pushing himself to his feet, he brushed the dust from his pants and began walking into the unknown.