The beeping of the heart monitor quickened, growing more frantic as Loid's body trembled on the operating table. The surgeons paused, confusion evident on their faces. They searched for the cause of the anomaly. A nurse, realizing the issue, sprinted to adjust the dosage of the anesthesia, but it was far too late.
A mask pressed over his face. Cold metal instruments dug into his flesh. The voices around him became a blur, words fading into a hum. He tried to move, to speak, to scream—anything—but his body refused to obey.
Then the pain came.
Not the sharp sting of incisions, nor the burning sensation of the sterile tools—no. This pain was deeper. Consuming. It didn't just exist within the body—it reached into the very essence of his being, twisting, tearing, and suffocating his soul.
Then, the world fractured.
The beeping slowed, distorted, then cut out entirely. The voices of the surgeons, now tainted with panic, morphed into whispers—then silence. The light above stretched, twisted, and shattered like glass.
Loid fell.
He plunged into a void where no air existed, where no warmth could reach. The remnants of the world faded, devoured by an absolute darkness. The weight of his body vanished, but something much heavier settled into his mind.
A presence. Watching. Waiting.
Darkness swallowed him whole.
A silence so deep it crushed the mind—a void where nothing could exist. He didn't remember how he got here. His body was weightless yet sinking, as if pulled into an abyss that had no bottom. His limbs flailed, but there was nothing to grasp, nothing to hold onto. Only the suffocating pressure of emptiness gnawing at his very being.
Then, the pain came.
A searing, unrelenting agony that burned through his soul, like being torn apart from the inside out. He tried to scream, but there was no air to carry his voice. His mind fractured, splintering under the torment of his existence unraveling.
And just when he thought he would be consumed entirely, the void shattered.
Loid gasped, lungs burning as he inhaled sharply. The sensation of solid ground beneath him felt so foreign that, for a moment, he felt disoriented. His fingers clawed into the damp soil and dead leaves, as if to confirm it was real.
Light filtered through the towering trees. The forest was ancient, its twisted trunks gnarled and warped, as if it had been here long before time began to tick forward. Gold rays penetrated the thick canopy, casting dappled shadows on the forest floor. The air was thick with the scent of decay—acrid, putrid, and something… wrong.
A chill ran down Loid's spine, like needles piercing every part of him. His instincts screamed at him to run, before his rational mind could process why. Slowly, he turned his head.
At first, there was nothing—just the towering, bone-like trees stretching up into a sky. The air was heavy with an oppressive silence, as though the very world itself was holding its breath, waiting.
Nothing moved. Not a leaf rustled, not a breath of wind disturbed the air. The stillness clung to everything, a suffocating weight pressing down on the earth. A foreboding silence hung like a shroud, amplifying every breath.
But then, there was a tremor. A ripple of movement.
From the depths of the trees, something stirred—a low growl, reverberating through the ground beneath Loid's feet. It was faint at first, the faintest vibration in the air, but it grew louder. Closer. The very earth trembled in response, a deep, unsettling rumble that reverberated through his bones.
A shape emerged from the darkness—massive, like a mountain come to life. Its skin was an iridescent black, like polished obsidian, reflecting the dim light that filtered through the canopy. Its body was monstrous, limbs thick with sinewy muscle, claws like curved daggers, scraping the earth as it moved. Its head was a grotesque, nightmarish mass, eyes gleaming with a golden, predatory light. They locked onto Loid with an intensity that made his blood run cold.
The creature's presence alone distorted the air, creating ripples like waves across a lake. The stench of decay and rot wafted through the air, and with it, the sense of an ancient, unspeakable hunger.
Loid's instincts screamed at him to run, to hide. A single tear slid down his cheek, then more followed, each one a silent testament to the overwhelming despair he felt. The tears fell faster, until they rushed down his face like a river of anguish.
In that moment, Loid screamed—a cry of suffering and sadness, a sound that carried the weight of his torment. Memories of his life flooded his mind—his loneliness, his mother's face, the endless ache of emptiness that had always haunted him.
It all came rushing back, too fast for him to process. But the beast didn't care. It had already locked its predatory gaze on him, and to it, Loid was nothing more than prey. With a ferocity that defied reason, the creature pounced.
Loid's final thoughts were filled with sorrow, the weight of everything he'd endured—and then…
Everything went black.