Marichi, the lone boy, floated through a seemingly endless abyss, surrounded by nothing but the obsidian blackness.
Huh… Where am I?
He opened his eyes, waking to a profound, mixed blackness that surprisingly conveyed a sense of life. His silky black hair flowed freely as he slowly descended.
Am I in water?
He sloshed his hands and feet, feeling a slight resistance, like moving through thick liquid.
How'd I get in water?
He gurgled, frantic for air, his body thrashing as he tried to swim upwards.
But was he truly swimming? What was he even in? Reaching his hand upwards, he instinctively inhaled, yet strangely, he neither suffocated nor drowned.
How am I breathing ?
He continued to flail, his mind racing to comprehend, a futile act. The place he was in, the darkness he had believed was water, now felt utterly weightless. He was simply there, adrift in the abyss.
What of Kacis? Acis? Even Blutsatchel?!
He spun around, still slowly descending.
No… I have to think for myself now. They aren't here, so they should be okay… I believe that they're okay!
{No, they're not.}
A voice, a chilling intrusion, chimed in his head.
Marichi tried to open his mouth to question the presence, but he couldn't, his mouth felt sealed. He couldn't even discern his own body, let alone anyone else's.
W-Who might be there?
He thought, his mental query echoing in the void.
{You're acting as if you don't know my voice anymore, Marichi? Oh, how I feel so pained, you not recognizing the voice of your own father.}
The voice wheezed, its tone dropping into a profound, suffocating sorrow.
Wait… Dad?
No!
He can't be here!
He's dead!
Memories, unwanted yet impossible to suppress, permeated his temples---visions he wished to forget, yet simultaneously, ones he clung to. There he was, a younger Marichi, sitting at a table with food on a wooden plate before him, while a man and a woman, holding a baby, smiled warmly at him.
{See? We're not dead---I'm not dead!}
The voice then shifted, becoming a stressed, feminine tone.
M-Mom…?
This… I remember this…
This is the day that----
Marichi's lower body suddenly felt a greater, inescapable pull, as if he were being dragged from the very fabric of his memories.
His descent intensified, a horrifying acceleration, as he felt his foot emerge from… somewhere. Soon after, his whole body plummeted, falling from the granite and dirt above.
Whatever liquid he had been in still latched onto him, resisting his fall, yet he still landed hard on his back, staring up into the oppressive gloom.
Now where am I?
Marichi groaned, attempting to rise. He dusted himself off, then felt something utterly absurd.
Wait… Wasn't I in a liquid just now?
Why am I not wet?
He patted himself down, his confusion deepening, even removing his mask and letting it fall to the ground. His silky black hair tumbled free as he instinctively licked the tiny scar on his upper lip.
He sat on the ground beside his discarded mask, shaking his head, gasping for air. Then, from the very earth, bubbles began to rise. Blobs of the ground itself ascended into the air, suspended, defying all logic.
Marichi saw this, and quickly stood, backing away, his hand instinctively reaching for a dagger at his lower back. He drew it, assuming a stance reminiscent of a predatory beast coiled to strike.
What are those… They seem like fluid but also circular.
He cautiously moved closer, hesitantly touching one with the tip of his dagger. The bubble didn't burst, instead, it reverberated from the point of contact, a silent hum of unseen energy. Marichi recoiled once more.
I have to get out of here! Fast!
He spun and ran in the opposite direction, his gaze sweeping the surroundings. The more he looked, the deeper his confusion.
I-Is this a cave?
His eyes picked out grotesque stalagmites and stalactites, their forms twisted, the very walls deformed.
Do I even know where I'm going?
He panted, nodding to himself as the bubbles continued their silent ascent from the ground.
How am I even seeing in a cave? Where is the source of light?!
He looked around frantically, finding no indication of any illumination. He slowed, then came to a complete halt.
I seriously need to know where I'm going…
Don't wanna get lost.
He pressed a hand to his head, gently stroking his hair, his head bowed.
Did I even stop hearing that voice?
What was it?
Better not even ask,I don't want to hear it ever again.
Marichi frowned, his feminine face firming with resolve.
He stepped forward, but before his foot could touch the ground, he was suddenly, violently lifted into the air, his back slamming against the ceiling.
Argh! What now?!
He grunted, trying to push himself down, but found himself relentlessly drawn back to the ceiling. Instinctively, he tried to stand on the ceiling, and to his astonishment, it worked.
He was standing on the ceiling as if naturally on the ground, his gaze darting around at his feet and the ceiling, utterly bewildered.
"…" His mind was devoid of words, leaving him no choice but to continue moving, even on this inverted plane. The stalactites he passed seemed to possess a twisted, almost malevolent, shape, some even fluttered like spectral flames.
This definitely isn't normal
But he ignored it, pushing onward.
He ran and ran until bubbles began to form, not just from the ground below, but also from the very ceiling he stood upon. This startled Marichi, forcing him to dodge every single one that veered into his path. One formed directly in front of him, bringing him to a complete halt.
You know what!
Out of sheer frustration, he slashed his dagger at the bubble, but it didn't burst. Instead, his blade passed right through it, as if nothing were there.
What?!
He continued to slash at the bubble, huffing, but each strike yielded nothing until his eye caught a glimpse of something inside the bubble during one of his slashes.
Hmm…
He slashed it multiple times again. This time, from the fleeting glimpses, he managed to piece together what it was.
Hollow spaces…
White parts…
What seemed like teeth.
Was… that a skull?!
He shuddered at the thought, quickly backing away, his body trembling.
Do all of them have skulls?!
He wondered, looking at all the floating bubbles, ruffling his hair in agitated disbelief. He then dodged all the bubbles, running straight ahead, to a destination known only to him.
Then, seemingly like unorganized clockwork, he lost balance while running, as if the ground beneath him had suddenly lost all friction. He grazed his hand against the ceiling, but it slipped off. He tried to stab his dagger through it. But the blade didn't even scratch the ceiling. His body was suddenly pulled by another force----Gravity!
"W-Wow!" He fell----sideways? He waved his hands frantically, like a helpless child plummeting from a great height. He tried to scream, but couldn't, he felt the air leave his lungs, yet no sound emerged. Soon after, his mouth and throat were filled with a vacuum the more he tried to scream, a silent, suffocating void.
He hit his dagger on the ceiling as he fell, but it didn't even scratch it, and no sound was heard. It was as if he had either gone deaf, or everything around him had lost its voice.
He continued to fall, even past the point where he had initially emerged from the liquid.
He saw his mask falling sideways with him as he neared a wall.
Oh what, am I going to pass through this one too?
Marichi braced himself for the inevitable, for the return to the liquid.
But he didn't pass through it. He simply hit the wall, flat like a bug, his back aching from the intensity of the impact. He was almost knocked out, but managed to pull himself back together, groaning.
He gritted his teeth, faced the wall, clanked his knife against it, and placed his hand on the surface. It didn't slip off,somehow, friction had returned.
Then, he finally dug his dagger into the wall, but his action was instantly interrupted as he passed through the wall, plunged through the liquid, and everything returned to the pervasive darkness.
{Welcome back, my little Marichiten.}
A feminine voice echoed. Marichi's eyes bulged, and he instinctively held his breath, even though he could breathe in this uncanny realm, as he passed through it at incredible speed.
He burst out the other end, falling onto the ground,not the ceiling, nor still sideways, but the solid earth itself. His body shuddered slightly as he breathed heavily, ragged gasps filling the silence.
His eyes darted around the place, still seeing the stalactites and stalagmites, but now they were not twisting, but turning, a slow, disorienting rotation, while the bubbles still rose. The ground was no longer slippery.
"Ha… Haha… I can walk on my own two feet again." He smiled tiredly, walking forward slowly, the hairs on his body still on edge, prickling with unease. As he walked, his dagger still gripped firmly in his hand, he saw a lone man standing.
"Hey… What are you doing here?"
"Are you stuck here as well?" Marichi asked, his voice unexpectedly gleeful. But the man didn't answer. Instead, he slowly turned around.
Marichi was horrified when the man bared his front at him. He couldn't move, only stare, his sole solace the tight grip on his dagger.
---The end of chapter 23---