Scar hurled himself through the narrow crevice just as the world behind him erupted into chaos. A cyclone of sand and shattered rock roared through the air, driven by the monstrous worm that had been hunting him since dawn. Its shriek—a guttural screech that sounded like steel grinding on steel—shook the canyon walls and drilled into his bones. The blast of heat and pressure slammed into his back like a sledgehammer, but he kept moving.
Inside, darkness swallowed him whole.
This was not the kind of dark one grew used to. It was oppressive, suffocating, the kind that pressed in from all sides like a second skin. Each breath felt like inhaling ash and silence. The air was thick with stillness, damp with old rot, and chilled by something far older than mere stone.
He pressed forward.
The path narrowed until he had to turn sideways, shoulders scraping jagged rock. Sweat clung to his skin, cooling as the sweltering heat of the Null Graveyard behind him gave way to a creeping, unnatural cold. The walls of the passage were rough, claw-marked in places, and damp with a thin sheen of something that was not water.
His footsteps echoed in muted thuds. His breathing—shallow, cautious—was the only sound.
Until he heard the voice.
"Hurry... come closer..."
It was soft. Feminine. Almost human.
He stopped cold.
Scar narrowed his eyes and rested a hand over his chest, where his Aura stirred like a living flame. That voice didn't belong here. It felt wrong. Too gentle. Too soothing. Like velvet covering something sharp.
"You think i would fall for the oldest trick in the book?" Scar murmured. He already knew that this calling was a trap and a monster of some kind was lurking instead.
He stepped forward once. Then again. He had to.
The tunnel opened into a cavern—vast, domed, and cold as a tomb. The walls pulsed with veins of blue crystal embedded in stone, glowing faintly like the last embers of a dying fire. The light shimmered just enough to reveal the detritus of those who had come before: bones bleached and shattered, rusted weapons long since broken, armor flaking to dust. Some of the bodies were curled up in fetal positions. Others looked like they'd died crawling toward the exit.
The voice returned.
"This way... you're safe now..."
Scar's boots crunched across grit and bone dust. He stopped at the edge of the cavern.
A ripple passed across the far wall.
Not movement.
A distortion.
A warping of shadow.
He didn't move closer.
Then he saw it.
A skeleton slumped against the wall, arms reaching toward the passage he'd just emerged from. Fingers curled in agony. And just before it, written in flaking blood across the stone:
'RUNnn...'
Scar's breath hitched. He crouched to touch the message. The blood was real. Dry. Cracked. Old.
Who are those people who died in here? How did they end up here? Did they fail the tutorial like him? or was there another way? Scar had many questions, but no answers.
Then the voice shifted.
"Help me... please..."
The tone twisted mid-sentence, descending into something guttural. Something wet. It gurgled, broke apart.
"N-nooo..."
It was no longer human.
A low vibration hummed through the cavern walls.
Scar drew a deep breath and reached inward—not for spells or incantations, but for the raw force of his will, the burning core of his existence: his Aura. It ignited around him in a faint shimmer.
From the far side of the cavern, a mass slithered forward. At first, it seemed like an oily shadow—until the glow of the crystals revealed its true form.
A creature of fused flesh and bone, shaped by nightmares. Dozens of faces—some human, others animalistic—twisted and screamed silently across its surface. Limbs jutted at unnatural angles. Teeth sprouted in places where skin should have been. Mismatched eyes blinked across its bloated body.
One pair of eyes looked exactly like Scar's.
He staggered back, bile burning his throat.
"Help...Me...Please...AAaaa"
It was mimicking the last words of those who died.
Scar got furious. Those words were like the words of his fallen people. Those words were filled with pain and despair.
"You monster!" he screamed. His aura evolved him like fire. He lunged at the monster with his blade.
Steel met resistance—not bone, not flesh. Something denser. Like striking a slab of iron.
Clang!
The recoil jarred his arms. The creature's limb blurred—faster than any beast that size should be—and slammed into Scar's chest, sending him crashing into stone.
Pain ignited down his spine. Blood sprayed from his mouth. He was already hurt, now it became worse.
"Ugh!" he gasped, hitting the ground hard.
The creature surged.
Scar rolled aside, narrowly dodging a spike-tipped appendage that shattered the floor where he'd been. He gritted his teeth. Focused.
The pain didn't matter. Not now.
The Aura around him pulsed—weak but growing. It responded to his will, his instinct to survive, to fight, to endure.
Scar vanished into shadow, slipping behind a broken pillar. His heart thundered, not from fear—but from clarity. His Aura shielded him now, thin but protective.
The creature sniffed. Turned. Snarled.
Then—
KEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!
Scar dropped from above like a hammer. His sword struck one of the beast's largest eyes.
Schlik!
Black ichor sprayed. The creature screamed.
"You wretched, lowborn vermin!"
It twisted, red light burning from its wounds.
It moved faster.
Scar darted back, boots sliding over broken crystal. He studied it. Patterns. Rage made it sloppy.
He struck again—gouging another eye.
And another.
His Aura grew with every attack. Like a fire stoked by battle.
The cavern pulsed with power now—his power.
The creature slammed its bulk into the wall, collapsing stone. It shrieked in fury.
"Go to hell!" Scar roared, leaping high.
He brought his sword down—
But the beast dodged.
A massive limb hammered into his ribs. Bone snapped. He flew, crashing hard.
Groaning, Scar reached for his chest. Blood spilled between his fingers.
The creature loomed.
It gripped him by the throat, lifting him like a doll.
Scar's eyes narrowed.
"You are not killing me here bitch!"
His Aura surged—brighter, stronger, wild.
A flash of light erupted around him. A shockwave blasted the creature back.
BOOM!
He landed on his feet. Aura flickering like a blazing inferno.
The red light danced along his skin, forming arcs around his arms and legs. His blade shimmered with it.
He moved fast.
One strike—severed a limb.
Another—pierced the beast's side.
The creature shrieked, its mouths contorting in horror.
Scar didn't stop. He roared, slamming blow after blow.
Each cut burned the creature. Each scream fueled his fire.
With a final cry, Scar plunged his sword into the creature's core.
Lightning—red and violent—tore through it.
The mass convulsed.
It shrieked.
It melted.
Steam hissed. Flesh boiled. The ground blackened beneath it.
Then—silence.
Scar stood, chest heaving.
Blood dripped from his wounds. His sword trembled in his grip. His Aura still flickered—dim, but alive.
He fell to one knee, panting.
He looked up at the ceiling of the cavern. The air was still. But it no longer felt oppressive.
Just quiet.
And waiting.