The Underground

I Know Everything!

I heard Akari's voice echoing through the house as she yelled my name.

"Levian!"

I scrambled to my feet from the floor below and dashed up the stairs. But with each step, it felt like the staircase stretched infinitely, taunting my efforts to reach her. Gravity seemed to play tricks as if the world itself conspired against me. Suddenly, the air inside the house lost its hold on me, and I found myself suspended weightlessly.

In that surreal moment, I activated my rocket boots, the sleek metal gleaming as they propelled me upward, defying the whims of physics. The cacophony of intense sounds grew louder with every inch gained, a symphony of chaos drawing me closer to Akari. The clang of metal meeting metal, the thunderous pounding of footsteps, and the crackle of arcane energy filled the air, signaling a confrontation that awaited at the top.

The house seemed to defy all logic, stretching endlessly upward into an abyss of confusion. My mind reeled, struggling to make sense of the surreal spectacle unfolding before me. It felt like I was caught in the throes of a drug-induced hallucination, a bizarre trip through the unknown.

As I grappled with the bewildering reality, the walls themselves seemed to come alive, monstrous eyeballs emerging from their surfaces. Initially, I brushed them off as harmless oddities, but my perception shattered as their crimson glow intensified, lasers erupting from their sockets with deadly intent.

Reacting swiftly, I summoned the protective shield bestowed upon me by Rick's advanced nanotechnology. The shimmering barrier absorbed the onslaught of fiery beams, sparing me from their lethal embrace.

"Thank you, Rick," I muttered under my breath, a wave of gratitude washing over me amidst the chaos.

With newfound determination, I surged upward, the whirring propulsion of my boots propelling me through the onslaught of laser fire. Dodging and weaving with practiced precision, I ascended further, driven by the urgency to reach Akari.

But just as I thought I had gained the upper hand, a gaping maw materialized before me, swallowing me whole. I tumbled into darkness, only to emerge in a corridor that stretched endlessly before me, its myriad doors whispering secrets of untold mysteries.

Confusion swirled within me like a tempest as I found myself standing in the eerie silence of the hallway. The events that led me to this surreal place remained a hazy blur, a jumble of fragmented memories dancing at the edge of my consciousness. It was as if reality itself had been bent and twisted, casting me adrift in this strange new realm.

"I have no idea how I got here," I muttered to myself, the words echoing softly in the empty corridor. "But if I had to guess, I'd say I was teleported."

The very notion seemed absurd, yet somehow it was the only explanation that made any semblance of sense in this topsy-turvy world. With a wary glance at the myriad doors lining the hallway, each one a tantalizing portal to the unknown, I braced myself for whatever lay ahead, knowing that answers awaited me on the other side.

Cannonballs hurtled toward me, their trajectory promising destruction. But in a surreal twist of fate, they morphed into delicate butterflies, their fragile wings fluttering past me in a mesmerizing display of transformation.

Yet, even as the threat dissipated, a new menace emerged, more formidable than any I had faced before. The walls that had once enclosed me now crumbled into dust, leaving me suspended in the vast expanse of outer space. Surrounded by an endless sea of stars, with no planets to anchor me, I found myself adrift in the void, a solitary figure facing the blinding brilliance of the sun.

A sense of profound isolation washed over me, suffusing the emptiness with a palpable silence that seemed to echo for eternity. The cold grip of loneliness tightened around my heart, each beat echoing like a thunderous drum in the vast expanse of nothingness. Paralyzed by the weight of my solitude, I could do naught but watch as the void consumed me, its darkness seeping into every fiber of my being.

And then, like a harbinger of oblivion, a black hole materialized in the distance, its inexorable pull drawing everything into its swirling depths. With mounting dread, I watched as it crept ever closer, its gravitational embrace growing stronger with each passing moment. Resistance was futile as I was inexorably pulled into its voracious maw, swallowed whole by the abyss.

In the suffocating embrace of the void, where senses failed and existence blurred into an indistinct haze, I found myself immersed in a torrent of knowledge. Though my physical form remained inert, my mind ignited with a kaleidoscope of images, a whirlwind of insights cascading through the depths of my consciousness. Time seemed to warp and bend, compressing eons of history, the present moment, and the infinite possibilities of the future into a single fleeting instant.

As the flood of information surged within me, a profound transformation overtook my very being. Strands of my once-dark hair turned ashen white, a physical manifestation of the monumental burden I now bore. With each passing second, the weight of knowledge pressed down upon me, threatening to engulf me in its all-encompassing embrace.

In that transcendent state, I glimpsed the enigma of the Great End, a cataclysmic event shrouded in mystery and fear. Countless minds had grappled with its implications, seeking answers that remained elusive. Yet, amidst the chaos of my enlightenment, I alone held the key to unlocking its secrets.

But with that knowledge came a devastating realization. The only path to escape this abyss lay in sacrifice, a sacrifice that would cost me everything I had learned. To break free, I would have to relinquish the very essence of my being, consigning my memories to oblivion.

In a moment of clarity amid the chaos, a singular thought pierced through the tumult of my thoughts. With steady hands, I retrieved my laser gun, its sleek contours a stark contrast to the swirling void around me. Adjusting the settings with precision, I etched a simple command onto my skin, a testament to my resolve.

"Protect her," the words blazed forth in fiery script upon my forearm, a solemn vow inscribed in the annals of my being. Though I knew not when or where, I trusted that when the time came, those words would guide me truly, a beacon of hope in the darkness of uncertainty.

With a heavy heart and trembling hands, I raised the gun to my temple, steeling myself for the final act. In that harrowing moment, I uttered my farewells to the Levian I once knew, resigned to whatever fate awaited beyond the veil of illusion.

"Goodbye, Levian, I hope you prepare for what is coming later on," the words hung heavy in the air, a whispered epitaph to a life on the brink of oblivion.

In one swift motion, I pulled the trigger.

The deafening roar of the gunshot shattered the silence, reverberating through the confines of my mind. Yet, instead of darkness and finality, I was abruptly wrenched from the depths of the illusion, the tendrils of falsehood unraveled by the force of my will. As I blinked away the lingering haze of the illusion, a surge of disbelief coursed through me. How had I broken free from the house's sinister grasp?

Blinking away the remnants of the illusion, I turned to find Akari, her form still ensnared by the deception. With a mixture of relief and concern, I reached out and removed her helmet, the echo of my hand meeting her cheek resounding in the sudden stillness.

"Snap out of it, Akari," I urged, my voice tinged with urgency.

Akari's fingers grazed the tender skin where my palm had left its mark, her gaze reflecting a mix of concern and curiosity.

"I'm sorry," I murmured, a pang of guilt gnawing at my insides. "We were ensnared in a powerful illusion."

Her brow furrowed in confusion. "But how did you manage to break free?"

I shook my head, grappling for an explanation that eluded me. "I wish I knew," I confessed, frustration seeping into my words.

Her attention shifted to my forearm, where the cryptic command gleamed in stark contrast against my skin. "What's that writing?" she inquired, her voice tinged with uncertainty.

I followed her gaze, my eyes settling on the words etched into my flesh. "Protect her," I repeated, the meaning behind those two simple words shrouded in mystery.

With a sense of urgency, I redirected our focus. "We need to retrieve the eye and leave this place," I asserted.

To be continued...

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What the hell is a maw?