Chapter 28: Welcome to Hell

The first day of training started exactly how Zik expected.

Horribly.

Reyes didn't believe in warm-ups. He believed in trauma.

By hour one, Zik was out of breath.

By hour two, he was questioning his life choices.

By hour three, he was seeing colors that didn't exist.

And that was just the first half of the day.

---

Aiden was faring slightly better, mostly because of his insane endurance. But even he had his limits. His legs were jelly, and his rubber body was bruised in places he didn't think could bruise.

Tobias, of course, was fine.

No, scratch that. He was thriving.

Reyes had dumped him into the middle of a poison-infested wasteland, thinking it might give him trouble. Instead?

Tobias had absorbed the poison, built up an immunity, and was now casually drinking toxic sludge from a nearby puddle like it was an energy drink.

Reyes just stared at him. "You're disgusting."

Tobias wiped his mouth. "You're weak if water is your only drink option."

Zik, crawling on the ground from exhaustion, groaned. "I hate both of you."

Reyes smirked. "You're gonna hate me even more in a second."

Then, without warning, he activated Hell Domain.

---

Day 2: The Breaking Point

By the second day, Reyes started noticing something weird.

Zik was adapting.

And not in the normal "getting better at something" way.

No. This was something else entirely.

Every time Reyes pushed him past his limits, Zik bounced back stronger.

His reflexes were faster.

His endurance lasted longer.

His attacks hit harder.

Reyes narrowed his eyes.

This wasn't just normal improvement.

This was something else.

Finally, he stopped the training session, arms crossed. "Alright, spill it."

Zik, gasping for air, looked up at him. "H-Huh?"

"You've got a growth skill, don't you?"

Aiden, who had been laying on the ground like a dead fish, suddenly perked up. "Wait, hold on, Zik has a growth skill?!"

Tobias raised a brow. "That explains a lot."

Zik froze.

Oh. Crap.

Reyes smirked. "Come on, kid. I've been training fighters for years. I know normal improvement, and I know whatever the hell you're doing isn't normal." He tilted his head. "You gonna tell me what's up, or am I gonna have to beat it out of you?"

Zik groaned, rubbing his face. "Alright, fine. I have this thing called the Hero System. It gives me quests, rewards, lets me level up skills, and yeah, I have a growth skill that makes me improve faster."

Reyes was quiet for a moment, processing.

Then he grinned.

"Good call keeping it a secret."

Zik blinked. "Wait… you're not mad?"

Reyes shook his head. "Nah. That's a hell of an advantage, kid. If the wrong people found out, they'd absolutely try to take advantage of it."

Zik let out a relieved sigh. "Yeah, that's why I kept it to myself."

Reyes nodded. "Smart. Trust me, I get it."

Then his smirk widened.

"But now that I do know, I can use my craziest training methods on you without worrying about killing you."

Zik's stomach dropped.

"Wait—wait, hold on—"

"You're saying you grow faster under extreme conditions, right?"

"N-NO, I take it back! I don't grow at all! I actually get worse!" Zik panicked, waving his hands in pure survival instinct.

But Reyes was already grinning like a maniac.

"Oh, this is fantastic. I wasn't going to use my real training methods because I didn't want to kill you, but now?" He clapped his hands together. "Now I really want to see what happens."

Zik visibly paled.

Aiden, still laying on the ground in exhaustion, suddenly sat up. "Wait—hold on—how did I forget that Zik has a Hero System?"

Tobias blinked, looking mildly confused. "Yeah… I already knew that."

Zik stared at them, eyes wide. "What?! How did you both forget?!"

Aiden looked around, dazed. "I dunno, man. I think the training is melting my brain."

Tobias tilted his head. "That, or Reyes broke our ability to think."

Reyes nodded sagely. "That's called mental conditioning."

Zik gasped in horror. "YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BREAK PEOPLE'S BRAINS, REYES!"

Reyes shrugged. "You'll be fine. Probably."

Aiden held up a hand. "Wait, wait, wait. Back to important things. Zik gets stronger faster under hard training?"

Tobias crossed his arms. "Makes sense. He was leveling up too fast."

Zik groaned. "DON'T ANALYZE ME LIKE I'M SOME GAME CHARACTER."

Aiden grinned. "Bro, that's exactly what you are."

Zik screamed internally.

Reyes cracked his knuckles. "Alright, good talk. Now, let's see what happens when I really put you through hell."

Zik's Hero System immediately pinged.

---

New Quest: Survive Reyes' Hell Domain

Objective: Stay conscious for 24 hours inside Hell Domain without tapping out.

Reward: ???

---

Zik read the quest. Then read it again.

Then he looked up at Reyes.

Then back down at the quest.

Then back at Reyes.

"...I'm going to die."

Reyes grinned. "Not if you adapt fast enough."

And with that, he activated Hell Domain.

The ground vanished beneath Zik's feet, and suddenly, he was falling straight into his personal nightmare.

Zik barely had time to scream before the world around him collapsed.

The moment Hell Domain activated, reality itself warped, twisting into something unnatural, something wrong. His stomach lurched, and his vision stretched and distorted, like he was being dragged through a tunnel of pure instability.

Then—silence.

The fall stopped.

And Zik found himself somewhere else.

---

The first thing he noticed was the air.

It was thick. Heavy. It clung to his skin like oil, suffocating, pushing into his lungs as if it didn't belong inside him. It wasn't just humid—it was wrong.

Then came the light—or lack of it.

Everything was dim, bathed in a sickly gray haze. There was no clear source of illumination; instead, the entire landscape seemed to be lit from nowhere and everywhere at once, casting shadows in directions that didn't make sense.

Zik took a step forward—

And his foot sank.

He looked down. The ground wasn't solid. It wasn't water, either. It was something in between, like stepping onto a half-dried swamp mixed with sinking sand. Each movement required twice the effort, his Super Speed feeling dampened, suffocated, slowed.

He tried to lift his leg, but the ground clung to him, as if something beneath it didn't want him to leave.

Zik's heart pounded.

"Nope. Nope, I don't like this."

---

He forced himself to move forward, each step an act of pure resistance. His body felt heavy, like gravity had tripled just for him.

Then the whispers started.

At first, it was just a faint noise, like wind moving through hollow spaces.

Then it became voices.

Soft.

Distant.

Just out of reach.

They didn't say anything, not really. But the tone was there. Disappointment. Judgment. Mockery.

A memory surfaced—old classmates laughing behind his back.

Another—the orphanage staff whispering about his future when they thought he couldn't hear.

Another—the sneers of students who told him he was nothing.

"This isn't real."

The whispers didn't stop.

Instead, the shadows shifted.

Something moved in the corner of his vision.

Zik turned his head—nothing.

Then again. A flicker of movement.

His breath hitched.

The air got heavier.

And the realization hit him like ice down his spine.

He wasn't alone.

---

"Reyes. Reyes, you son of a—"

Zik activated Telekinesis, trying to lift himself out of the sinking ground.

Nothing.

The ability was weakened, muffled, like trying to shout in a vacuum.

"Oh, fantastic. My abilities are nerfed."

He squinted, trying to focus, to see properly.

The more he looked into the distance, the more unnatural the landscape became—warping, shifting, twisting in ways that didn't follow the rules of reality.

And the worst part?

It was familiar.

Not because he'd been here before—but because it felt like a place his mind had created to haunt him.

Something moved again.

This time, Zik saw it.

A shape, just at the edge of his vision.

Tall. Stretching. Unfolding. Moving like it was both near and far at the same time.

Then he blinked—

And it was gone.

Zik swallowed. Hard.

"Okay. Okay, cool, so we're doing psychological horror now. Great. Love that for me."

---

He needed to focus. Think.

What were his weaknesses? What was this Domain attacking?

Speed. The terrain slowed him down.

Abilities. His powers were muffled.

Light. His vision was warped, unstable.

Mindset. His own fears and insecurities were being reflected back at him.

"Reyes tailored this place specifically to mess with me."

Zik exhaled sharply, rubbing his temples.

"Alright, think, idiot. How do you fight back against reality itself?"

Then, just as he steadied himself, something touched his shoulder.

Cold. Claw-like.

And way too real.

Zik froze.

A sharp, ragged breath sounded directly behind him.

The whispers grew louder.

The shadows moved.

Then—

Everything went silent.

Zik didn't move.

Didn't breathe.

Didn't dare.

The thing behind him wasn't just standing there.

It was waiting.

Not attacking. Not pulling him under. Just waiting.

Like it was letting him decide.

Like it wanted to see what he'd do next.

The whispers stopped, but somehow, the silence was worse.

The heavy air pressed against his back, his skin crawling as a new, horrifying realization sank in.

I can feel it breathing.

---

It was wrong.

Not the kind of wrong you could explain—like a bad feeling or an unsettling shape in the dark.

No.

This was a wrongness that shouldn't exist.

It was too tall.

Too thin and stretched.

Like something had tried to make a human shape but got the proportions all wrong.

And worst of all?

Zik could feel it leaning in closer.

The claw-like touch on his shoulder didn't tighten, didn't retreat—just lingered.

Watching.

Waiting.

Something in his brain screamed at him to run.

But his feet were sinking deeper into the ground, the sensation almost… pulling him in, like hands grasping at his ankles.

Every instinct told him: Don't look.

If he turned around, if he acknowledged it fully, something terrible would happen.

But he had to move.

Had to get out.

Had to—

The breath on his neck shifted.

And a voice—**not a whisper, but something heavier, thicker, more solid—**spoke.

"You shouldn't be here."

---

The words crawled into his ears, clinging like tar, sinking into his thoughts like they belonged there.

Zik's pulse pounded.

His fingers twitched.

Then, before he could react, the thing exhaled again.

And the ground gave out beneath him.

---

Zik fell.

No sound.

No sense of gravity.

Just an endless, stretching drop into nothing.

Then—

Splash.

---

Zik gasped, his entire body shocked by the freezing cold.

He flailed, kicking up thick, black water, the surface oily and unnatural.

It wasn't water.

Not really.

It was too heavy, too thick, like something between liquid and shadow.

Zik tried to tread, but the more he moved, the more it dragged him down, pulling him deeper.

"Reyes, I swear to everything, if I drown in your nightmare soup, I'm haunting you."

He activated Telekinesis, trying to push himself upward—but just like before, his powers were dampened.

Nothing.

His lungs started burning.

The surface above twisted, the distant gray light warping like a film reel catching fire.

Then, movement.

Something beneath him.

Something huge.

Zik's chest tightened.

"I hate this I hate this I hate this I hate this—"

Then, right as the shadows coiled around his legs, dragging him downward—

He forced himself still.

---

Panic.

That's what this place wanted.

It was attacking his mind as much as his body.

The whispers. The shifting ground. The hands grabbing at him. It was trying to make him lose control.

And if he kept fighting the wrong way—if he kept panicking—he'd never get out.

Zik forced his body to stop struggling.

Focused.

Breathed in slowly, despite his lungs screaming for air.

Then he activated Light Manipulation.

---

It was weak.

Barely a flicker.

A tiny pulse of light in the blackness.

But it was his.

The shadows around him hesitated.

Then, as he focused harder—the light expanded.

A flare.

Then a glow.

Then a flash.

The thing beneath him recoiled.

And Zik?

Zik kicked off the bottom and shot toward the surface.

---

The second he broke through, the world shifted again.

The black water vanished, replaced by solid ground.

Zik landed hard, gasping, shivering, his body aching from the strain.

His entire body felt like it had been wrung out and left to dry.

But he was alive.

He had pushed back.

And the domain?

It had reacted.

---

A slow clap echoed through the warped landscape.

Zik groggily lifted his head—

And Reyes was standing there, watching him.

Hands in his pockets.

Expression unreadable.

"You lasted longer than I thought."

Zik let out a weak, exhausted groan. "I hate you."

Reyes smirked. "Good. You're learning."

---

Zik's Hero System pinged.

---

Quest Update: Survive Reyes' Hell Domain

Time Remaining: 23 Hours, 12 Minutes

---

Zik stared at the screen.

Then he slammed his head back against the ground.

"This is going to be the longest day of my life."