(1st person POV: Zero)
That sweet smile…
The gentle touch…
That perfume she put on herself to hide the rott growing within her…
The hidden pain in her eyes when she looked at "me", trying to tell me that everything was alright…
Where did it all go wrong?
Am "I" just destined to live like this, devoid of affection ?
Is everyone "I" love destined to die or backstab "me" ?
What did "I" do to deserve this !?
Its "me"," I" did it. It's because of "me"that she died. Its " my" fault, "I" should die.
As "I" looked at the bottomless void hidden deep within "myself", only one thought devoured every other mercilessly.
Suddenly, thousands of person appeared. People of all races, skin colors, or age.
the thousands transformed into millions, and filled the space so much that only they existed in "my" field of vision.
They looked at "me" with pure hatred in their eyes, and I felt the weight of my sins crawling down my back.
They didn't talk, yet "I" knew what they were saying.
'Do you know what you took from us?'
'Its your fault.'
'Murderer'
'Monster'
'Please die.'
'I hate you.'
'We hate you'
As I looked at the bottomless ocean of hatred that seemed to swallow me, some thoughts seemed to want to destroy my mind.
"I hate you more. I hate all of this !! ITS NOT MY FAULT! I WAS FORCED INTO ALL OF THIS !"
Another voice quitely followed.
"Don't worry, I hate myself more."
"I'm so sorry, please forgive me, kill me…Kill me… I'm so sorry…please…"
The voices quitly faded into the background, leaving only emptiness in "me"
Yet that emptiness felt even worse than all the guilt.
Who am I ?
The abyss churned, and morphed into the familliar form of a small, pure, yet voiceless Vessel.
Am I the Vessel created by the Lord of Shades to be used in his agenda ?
Am I the merciless destroyer of a world ?
No, I'm not. I'm neither.
If so, then who am "I" ?
"I" woke up, but "I" didn't notice the cocoons of multiple colors forming discretly in my mind, whispering sweet promises of Power.
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(back to normal 3rd person narration, sry wanted to try something else)
Zero's "eyes" opened(?) as he woke up.
'It was a dream, huh?'
He thought quitly to himself.
It had been a while since he had dreamt, maybe even an eternity.
Looking around, it seemed he was in the camp that Grimm set up after his battle, and. After the battle, he felt an indescribable urge to sleep.
He felt stronger.
'As the ancient said, Metal is forged through the heat of battle'
Yawning, he woke up to see Pilgy… Interacting with Grimm?
"BY THE ABYSS, YOU'RE SO HANDSOME!!! WHAT'S YOUR SHELL CARE ROUTINE? Oh… you don't have a shell… YOU'RE AN ARACHNEA??? OH BY THE ABYSS I HEARD THAT THEY'RE SUPER RARE AND EVEN HAVING ARACHNEAN ANCESTRY QUALIFIES YOU FOR NOBLE POSITION.
By the king… I wish I had fur like you did, its so soft and silky…I'm so jealous…
SO WHATS YOUR FUR CARE ROUTINE THEN? DO YOU EVEN HAVE ONE? PLEASSEEE TELLL MEEEEEE"
Yeah, it seemed Pilgy was back again with his antics, and Grimm was visibly flustered.
Getting up, Zero didn't even need to call out to Grimm, he willingly came to kneel, probably to escape the Pilgrim's antics.
"My lord, no anomalies happened during the night or morning. Now, please excuse this pitiful servent for his needs to rest"
Without even Zero's permission, Grimm transformed into a ball of red light and bolted toward Zero's chest.
'Damn. He must've dealt with the brat for a while for him to be so tired.'
Suddenly, Zero's gaze focused. Then, He appeared right next to Pilgy, pinning him to the ground.
Zero looked at Pilgy straight in the eyes, and asked:
"Who ar—No scratch that, what are you ?!"
Pilgy seemed to look guilty for a moment, before he replied.
"Well, you see… Far, far up the north, there lies a monastery. The church of Void, its members call it. There, I grew up, and I was, not to bragg, quite talented. In fact, I was the talent of the century ! Umph, see?! People other than you can also be exeptiona—"
He was cut off by Zero, who was approaching his nail toward his neck(?).
"Get to the damn point"
Pilgy sighed, and resumed his story.
"Gosh, can you have some patience ? Anyway, whe I reached adulthood, I was told by my seniors that I needed to undergo a pilgrimage. During it, I travelled the world, in search of my "Abyss", whatever that even means. And I found you, and you're the bizzare one by the way ! Which bug like you, so frail and feeble, could survive in the Great Moor for more than half an hour ? Now that I think about it, you're really weird, Zero."
As Zero listened to his explanaition, he felt more and more enraged.
Since he entered the nightmare, he had felt that something sketchy was going on.
Too many coincidences, it felt as if he was just a pawn on a large, unseen board.
'Damn it all, not again, I swore to never be controlled like this ever again.'
The more he thought about it, the more outragered he felt.
Why did everyone and everything look at him like an object.
Suddenly, a nostalgic feeling welled up in his chest.
'These two… maybe they were the only one who truly treated me like a friend.'
Two laughing faces appearing in his mind, both eating a rib bone from some nightmare creature.
All three of them were around a campfire, eating and laughing at each other's stories.
But he didn't have enough time for those nostalgic thoughts.
Zero used more strenght on pilgy, just a wee bit more, not enough to cause any harm. Then, he said:
"What's that second soul in you ?"
Pilgy immediatly looked extremely confused, and replied
"What are you talking about ? I don't have such a thing as a second soul ? I ain't some bullshit protagonist from some random garbage story !"
Looking in Pilgy's eyes, Zero saw no trace of falsehood. Then, he asked:
"About the trials, when are they starting ?"
Pilgy looked at him, puzzled, and replied in a playful tone.
"They've already started, and we're in."
Zero's eyes widened.
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End of chapter. Sorry for being so late, I'm dealing with some personal shit.
anyway, PS goal is still there.
30 PS= 1 bonus, extra long chapers (2.5k to 3k words).
bye gng