What Lies Beyond The Final Line

A forest full of cherry blossoms surrounds me as I lay down next to the lake and listen to the calming noises around me however there was something different from before.

I looked at the sky and like always the sun was blocked by the clouds making the area cool but that wasn't the problem, the sky now looked like it was cracked like how a mirror shatters. It was there for as long as I could remember but I waved it off since I thought it might just be the sky but now it was more visible.

I stood up and looked more closely, and then...a shard of memory? comes to my mind.

My legs began to feel weaker before I collapsed back into the comfortable grass and I looked blankly at the sky for a second. What that shard contained was just a simple image of a man sitting while he hugged his legs, the background was like the grass wall in that maze.

And then everything began disappearing, the forest, the lake, the sky, and even that shard of memory.

I opened my eyes, it was wet for some reason, and without speaking any idea of what was happening I muttered these words.

"Looks like my loneliness is getting on to me now, I guess I really need to go back," I said for some reason. Was it my second voice who always mocked me but then again probably not since it felt like it was talking about my well-being?

"They were the only people who showed any attention to me and now I'm getting attached because of it." I talked about a group of people but I didn't know who but it was probably my party.

Then I speak again. "But this is another step to making myself better, a feeling of longing for some company but not gonna lie, I'd rather not have that feeling become such an important necessity in my life," I said to myself before snapping back.

𝗛𝗶𝗺𝘂𝗿𝗮 𝗦𝗮𝘁ō

"Huh?" I found myself sitting up for some reason, then without any reason, I was wiping my tears off for some reason.

My mind tries to remember what was happening but I could recall waking up and talking.

'I was probably talking out loud again.' I thought to myself as I rested my back on the grass wall and grabbed my last ration from my small pack. It contained the same thing as always, cheese, bread, and jerky.

It was food that took quite some time to spoil so then I went back to the used campfire and lit it up then I cut a stick and added a pointed tip where I stuck the hard cheese on.

I put it over the fire and slowly melted it and put it on the bread which has been cut in half before laying down the five meat jerky over the cheese and creating a meat jerky sandwich.

My stomach growled loudly and I took a bite at the sandwich, the taste was exactly how I expected it, the cheese was the only notable taste in it while the bread tasted like cardboard and the meat jerky felt like I was chewing on a cheese flavored leather but it was still food and I was starving so I ate it like it was my last meal.

"I should probably go back soon before they presumed me dead," I said whilst eating then I finally drank water to help digest the meat jerky.

There was still meat stuck between my teeth so while I was making my way to the circular arena, I removed the stuck meat with my finger.

Upon arriving, my eyes wandered around the arena before looking at what was beyond this arena. There was a remnant wall there which has been burned off by some circular fire, a laser perhaps?

I breathed out and readied my sword, my left hand was still gone and my overall physical strength has lowered but there was no doubt that I can win this. It's just another enemy, either way, this battle is just another obstacle so, like a man who was going into a tedious job, I went in just wanting to finish this day already. This kind of mindset seemed very wrong in a life and death situation but it could perhaps also show how powerful I have become.

As I think of that, doubts came forward. 'I am not powerful and my missing limb is evidence for that.' I said to myself.

I stopped thinking about it soon enough as the final monster emerged or more like spawned in the middle of the arena.

The first thing that I saw was a tail with a pattern of spikes in the four directions, and then, one of the spikes began to conjure a small bright blue sphere right in front of it before...a sense of death went off in my head then a moment later, I dodged to the left trying to avoid whatever it was.

My mind caught up immediately as I look to my right, there was a remnant of a blue laser that was slowly disappearing before even a second passed and I also felt a lot of pain near my ear then at that moment, I knew well that with a small amount of hair, half of my ear was melted and cauterized by the same blue laser.

I look at the monster's tail again then another two blue spheres appear in front of the spikes that were pointed at the west and south respectively to dodge them, I ran as fast as I could then they fired at me and then after about three seconds, they all home in on me.

The lasers were on my head, neck, and leg while I ran however, I was barely fast enough to outran them but layers of my skin on my neck and leg were grazed by the laser burning it and cauterizing it almost instantly.

I could hear my skin sizzle from it but like with my ear, my mind didn't waver although my body thinks so otherwise as my legs start to feel a bit weak from it forcing me to roll so that I could dash another four lasers.

I looked at the tail, its grotesque body was still slowly materializing but it was slow, forcing me to play this cat and mouse game with its tail since I can't deal a fatal blow by cutting its tail and I can't even reach it in the first place since the tail was so high.

Currently, its body was still 1/5 on the way to finishing what I could gather from it was that it was going to be a grotesque monster and it was not from Megu as it would not match this maze's theme of insect monsters.

The first layer was understandable since some failed experiments of various sizes would by some chance, stumble their way into a portal looking for food but the second layer had its monsters, and it would probably either not recognize them as living creatures or be overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of insects after reaching a certain point.

It was clear that the monster in front of me was put here by an outside force like those so-called demons.

I heard multiple sounds of lasers firing and looking at the tail five lasers were homing on to me now so in response, I watched the lasers carefully. The first one was dodged by turning my body to the side then I jumped to the left and then to the right to dodge the second and third laser.

I jumped back and the fourth laser hit the spot where I was before then finally, I tilted my body while also readying my longsword then I raised it to my left side and slash the laser. Unexpectedly, there was some resistance to the laser but in the end, I managed to curve the laser to the right and hit the grass wall resulting in another wall in the arena.

Then I realized the stupidity of that action.

"Fuck, what if that melted my longsword," I said to myself, although I still had other weapons, this longsword was my best weapon as of now so losing it will cause my eventual death.

Thankfully, the monster was still materializing and the intervals of attacks from its tail were quite slow, seems it was only stalling as it tried to materialize. 2/3 of its body has successfully materialized and soon the real battle would start.

During that time, I ran, dodged, and parried the lasers, the wall of the area had multiple holes which was very bad for me since if I was knocked out of the arena into one of the holes, it could lead to the insects spawning on me.

The tail stopped firing its lasers and its body finally materializes, the body starts to release a large fog covering the entire arena and making me lose sight of it, and then there was only a tingle.

There was slight noise passing then I looked down then I kneel.

My right thigh was hit by something cylindrical since that was the shape that it left on the middle of my thigh; small tears came out of my eyes but no voice of pain came out.

Like always, my mind remained calm and took this pain silently however my body was uncooperative as a natural response to getting hit by something very painful.

My death perception signals death to my left so I force my body to dodge back but I was slow and I was hit by a claw slightly on my chest causing me to bleed.

I fall on my back as the fog retreats to the body of the monster and then I hear a very loud roar then another claw slashes the fog away revealing a terrible monster behind the fog.