Beneath the Surface

"Urk, my head hurts…" Aryan groaned, clutching his temples as a wave of dizziness overtook him.

His vision swirled before clearing just enough to reveal his surroundings.

It wasn't the infirmary but the same dark and hollow place he had seen before—the same place from his nightmare.

"Where... am I?" he muttered, his voice echoing in the black void around him.

No light, no walls—just an infinite stretch of nothingness. The sensation was suffocating, yet eerily familiar.

"Am I dreaming again? Or... did I die?"

Before he could fully comprehend his situation, a strange, haunting voice slithered into his mind, sending a deep chill through his bones.

"H-help... meeee…"

The voice was twisted—an unsettling mixture of whispers and groans that scraped against his consciousness. It wasn't simply heard; it was implanted into his thoughts, infecting his mind.

The sound sent waves of dread coursing through his veins, and his body tensed, instinctively recoiling.

"Aaaargh!"

Aryan cried, clutching his head as a searing pain exploded within his skull. It was as if something was trying to force its way inside, ripping open his mind.

His vision blurred, his thoughts unraveling as the excruciating pressure intensified.

"Ugh, who… who is it?!" Aryan gasped, his heart hammering in panic.

"Who the hell are you?! Show yourself!"

His voice trembled with fear, but his desperation edged it with anger. He scanned the void frantically, searching for the source.

The voice returned, even more distorted than before.

"P-please… h-help... me…"

The agony surged back, sharper and more unbearable. Aryan fell to his knees, gritting his teeth as the overwhelming pain threatened to consume him.

It felt like his mind was being torn apart, like his skull would crack open at any moment.

Suddenly, a soft, warm light bloomed in front of him, cutting through the oppressive darkness. The pain vanished, leaving Aryan gasping for air, his body trembling from the shock.

'H-huh…? My head... it doesn't hurt anymore… but why?'

Aryan panted, his hands still shaking as he wiped the sweat from his brow. Slowly, he looked up, confusion and fear swirling within him.

Before him floated a glowing orb, soft and radiant. It shimmered with a gentle light, warm and peaceful. The orb hovered in the air, its glow exuding a strange serenity.

Aryan squinted, his eyes adjusting to the light, and realized that the orb had an almost playful presence, bobbing and spinning in slow circles as if alive.

''What… is this?''

Aryan whispered, narrowing his eyes in disbelief. Hesitantly, he stepped closer, still wary after everything that had just happened. The orb spun around him, inspecting him as if he were the curious one.

"Did it do something to me?"

His brow furrowed in confusion, yet a part of him couldn't deny the odd sense of calm that came with its presence. Still, his instincts warned him to be cautious.

His serious expression softened into a slight smile.

"It's… cute."

He tentatively reached out, his fingers just inches away from touching the glowing orb.

But then the memory of the rabbit in the forest flashed across his mind—how harmless it had seemed, only to reveal its true danger.

"No!" Aryan recoiled, snatching his hand back.

"I won't fall for that again!" His pulse quickened, his gaze sharpening as he glared at the orb.

"Stay away from me! You won't fool me with that act!" His voice wavered between fear and defiance.

The orb paused in mid-air, as if considering his words. Then, without warning, it darted forward, piercing straight into Aryan's forehead.

"What—?!"

Aryan's eyes widened in shock. He stumbled back, slapping his hands over his forehead in panic.

"F-Fuck! It… it went in! It's inside my head!"

He looked around frantically, hoping for an explanation, but there was none.

"What do I do?!" he muttered in disbelief, his voice trembling with fear.

As soon as the glowing orb vanished into him, an overwhelming force surged through Aryan's mind. His vision blurred once again, but this time it felt different—a flood of knowledge, foreign and vast, came crashing into his consciousness, unrelenting in its intensity.

Ancient symbols, texts, and incomprehensible words spun through his thoughts like a maelstrom. They were not written in any language he had ever encountered, yet they branded themselves into his mind, as though etched into the core of his being. Each symbol carried a weight so profound it felt as if they were not just words but the very laws of reality itself.

"Urgh… Aaagh!"

Aryan clutched his head, feeling the immense pressure building inside, far worse than any pain he had ever felt. His skull throbbed violently, on the verge of shattering.

The storm of knowledge ripped through him, and his thoughts became jagged and broken, struggling to keep up with the flood crashing into his mind.

His body convulsed, his breath growing ragged. The knowledge wasn't entering him—it was forcing its way in, tearing through his mind with cruel intent, filling him with truths too heavy to bear.

"Aaaaaargh!" he screamed, his voice ragged and desperate as he collapsed under the unbearable weight of it all. Darkness overtook him.

Far from the darkness consuming Aryan's mind, his real body lay still within the depths of Shadowveil Forest.

The air around him grew thick, the forest eerily quiet as if nature itself was holding its breath. The ground beneath him began to stir, a faint tremor shaking the earth.

Slowly, the soil cracked open, and from those cracks emerged strange, ancient vines—twisting, pulsing with an unnatural energy. These vines, unlike any ordinary plants, shimmered with faint runes etched along their surface.

They slithered across the forest floor, their movements deliberate and sinister, snaking toward Aryan's unconscious form.

One by one, the vines coiled around him, wrapping tightly around his arms, legs, and torso. With unyielding strength, they hoisted him off the ground, their grip unrelenting. More vines appeared, weaving themselves together in a macabre dance until they had completely enveloped him.

Within moments, Aryan's body was suspended in mid-air, encased in a living cocoon of vines, glowing faintly with a foreboding light.

The forest fell into a deep, unnatural silence once more. The only sound was the faint pulse of the cocoon, a heartbeat that seemed to echo with an ominous promise. This was no ordinary occurrence—something far more significant had been set in motion. Something that could not be undone.

Deep within the Shrouded Abyss, a disturbance echoed through the darkness. Buried beneath the weight of time, an ancient entity stirred.

Bound by shackles, the figure's hands and feet were ensnared by vine-like restraints, runes glowing faintly along their length—the same vines that had now enveloped Aryan. These ancient bonds had held the entity for eons, sealing it within the Abyss, preventing its power from ever escaping.

But now, something had changed. The shackles, though still intact, trembled.

A low chuckle emerged from the figure's lips, growing into a deep, malevolent laugh that reverberated throughout the dark abyss. It was a sound full of centuries-old rage and triumph, the laughter of someone who had waited for this moment far too long.

"Finally…" the entity's voice dripped with malice, the words heavy with satisfaction. "I'm free…"

Though the shackles didn't break, the air around the entity shifted—foreboding, sinister, as if the world itself had just taken a dark turn.

Though the bonds remained, the being's malevolent presence had already begun to seep into the world, inch by inch, as though testing the limits of its confinement.

The Shrouded Abyss trembled with each passing moment, and Aryan, still unconscious within the cocoon of vines, was caught in its terrible wake.

A storm was coming.