The Whispering Depths

Adam crouched near the entrance of the cave, his senses stretched to their limit.

Something was wrong.

At first, he had ignored the feeling. He had chosen this cave precisely because it was uninhabited—or so he had thought. But now, with his spirituality unlocked, he felt it.

A presence. A deep, gnawing wrongness radiating from the depths of the cave.

The sensation wasn't just fear. It was something older, something that made the very air feel heavier the deeper he gazed into the darkness.

"I need to leave this place."

Adam gritted his teeth. He wasn't foolish enough to poke at something beyond his understanding. He was still just a half-mystic, a weakling compared to whatever lurked below.

Even his catalysts—one acting like a single-use item, the other like a spiritual assistant—weren't enough to justify investigating something this ominous.

"If I get too curious, I could die… or worse."

His hands clenched into fists.

"Damn it, I haven't even started thinking about getting back home yet!"

He exhaled sharply and forced himself to focus on survival.

The Hunt Begins

Adam moved cautiously through the forest, keeping a wide berth from the illusory tree he had spotted earlier.

His supplies were pitiful. The fruits he had gathered weren't enough to last him long, and he had no meat.

"Scavenging isn't working. I have to hunt."

But he had to be careful.

Adam didn't know the rules of this world yet, but he knew one thing—low-level mystic creatures were dangerous, and anything stronger was a death sentence.

The Horned Rabbit

An hour later, Adam crouched low behind a fallen log, staring at his target—a horned rabbit.

Its white fur was pristine, and a single sharp horn protruded from its forehead. Despite its innocent appearance, he had read about creatures like this in his grandfather's book.

This was no ordinary rabbit. It used its horn like a blade, relying on brute force to skewer predators.

But there was one flaw.

"Luckily, it's dumb."

Adam had watched its movements for a while now. It always charged in a straight line.

The moment it did, Adam sidestepped and swung his makeshift club. The rabbit collapsed instantly.

Panting slightly, he grabbed its carcass and began the trek back to his cave, mentally mapping his surroundings along the way.

"If I hunt enough, I should have a seven-day food supply before moving on."

He would gather, hunt, and prepare for a journey.

Then, he would leave this place for good.

Back at the cave, Adam placed the rabbit on a tree stump and went inside to retrieve a sharpened rock he had fashioned into a crude knife.

It was a clumsy job. He had never skinned an animal before, but after some struggling, he managed to cut a third of it into chunks, skewering them on a stick.

With the remainder set aside, he turned to start a fire.

Crunch.

Adam's body froze.

The sound wasn't far away.

Slowly, almost fearfully, he turned his head—

—and his blood ran cold.

It was a Silver Drake.

Two meters tall, with draconic features and bone-like spines running along its back, the creature exuded an aura of lethal danger.

Adam didn't even need to get a closer look—he knew exactly what it was.

"Why did it have to be this thing?"

Silver Drakes were categorized as low-level mystic creatures, but their venom was notorious. Even a small dose could kill a whale in minutes.

Without hesitation, Adam turned and ran.

He didn't even think about fighting.

His instincts screamed at him to get away.

But as he glanced back, something strange caught his eye.

The Drake had devoured the rabbit… but it wasn't chasing him.

Not immediately, at least.

It stood there, muscles tensed, watching him with something that almost looked like hesitation.

"Wait… is it scared?"

The realization made his pulse quicken.

It wasn't fear of him.

It was fear of the cave.

"That feeling I sensed earlier…"

Adam didn't have time to think. The Drake finally shook off its hesitation and charged.

His only option?

Run deeper into the cave.

The Ritual Chamber

Adam didn't know how far he ran, only that the air around him grew colder, heavier, wrong.

His feet stumbled as the tunnel abruptly widened into a massive underground cavern.

His breath caught in his throat.

The room was unnatural.

A towering ritual altar stood at the center, elevated above the cavern floor. Surrounding it were nine pillars, each inscribed with words in an unknown language.

The very presence of the chamber made his skin crawl.

And then he saw it.

A cross stood upon the altar, and chained to it was a humanoid figure.

It was completely naked, its gray skin stretched tight over a wiry frame. Long, white hair cascaded over its face, concealing its features, and from its back sprouted two pairs of pristine white wings.

"An angel?"

Adam wasn't religious, but something about the figure wasn't right.

It was mad.

It muttered to itself, words dripping with an unnatural rhythm. Its voice carried an eerie weight, sending a shiver down Adam's spine.

Then, the words became clear.

"Free the Clown,

Relinquish 'His' chains that stem from our reality…"

Adam's breath hitched.

The words felt… familiar. Like a half-forgotten nightmare.

The chained figure's head twitched, its movements jerky, unnatural.

Then, slowly, it turned toward him.

And smiled.