Titan's Dread

'What the hell?!' My heart began to pound rapidly as I strained the sixth sense that I had recently acquired to try and find whatever was left of the magical trail but of no use.

The labyrinth was a prison and I had just walked inside.

"No..no.. this can't be happening." I was supposed to go in, follow the trail, get a cool sword, or something. Not…this. My fingers clenched into fists, "I'm not turning back. I'll find a way out. I have to."

As I shuddered, I forced my legs to move. As if the labyrinth was responding to me as if it were alive, it began to relish in the fact I was in the palm of its hands. The shadows whispered tugging away at what confidence and sanity I had left.

With my palms profusely sweating, I wiped them as I reminded myself:

'Focus, damn it.'

My hands trembled with sweat replacing whatever I had wiped away. The fear was consuming me just like the darkness was. All I wanted to do was just run away and leave but I couldn't. Not yet at least. I forced my feet to move. One step at a time.

Windows tinted black somehow only reflected me. I stared at the black-tinted window and my reflection stared back warped, as if space was separated from there as well. My gray hair that hung over my eyes seemed normally dull and unremarkable shimmered closely to silver through the black-tinted window. My blue eyes which were steady but upon closer look, looked more hollow consumed by the unnatural shade of my reflection. 

The tint stole some of my warmth causing me to not look like a boy but a shadow of one. A ghost in someone else's skin.

That face wasn't mine.

It was Alric's.

I wasn't sure when that name had slipped from me, but it had. The weight of the body I possessed felt foreign. I was in someone else's flesh, someone else's bones. I stood there, fingers trembling to understand what he saw in the reflection.

No...I wasn't Alric. I was someone else instead. The body felt alien, the true possessor of the body lay dead on the Forgotten Plains. I had no memories of Alric, no ties to him, no claim to his past. Alric's body was lifeless, forgotten. And me?

I was Kalen.

"I'm…Kalen." The name tasted so foreign on my lips, yet it was my name. My identity felt more real than Alric's. The boy who died. The boy who no longer existed.

I snapped out of my daze, parting away from the reflection of the black-tinted glass window. The cold air was infused with the thick scent of dust and decay. 

My steps quickened. Then- 

Snap

A bone snapped underneath my foot. 

I froze as my eyes darted downwards as I witnessed the ground littered with remains broken, some scattered or some even too big to even be a human's. My stomach felt queasy.

Then I saw it.

They weren't just bones. They were marked. Runic symbols that looked burnt on their bodies even after death, were carved onto them. They glowed slightly, and those words were somehow translated for me.

[Skara, an adventurer wrongfully killed by the Tyrant.]

The words stared back at me from the ribcage, carved in a jagged script. It was a silent testament to their cruel fate.

I clenched my jaw. How many had died, ridiculed, and marked? Was this how they had died, or their past lives?

My eyes landed on a sword, buried at the hip of a fallen soldier. Yanking it from its sheath, revealed a sword that had been dulled by time but still intact. I wrapped my fingers around the sword with the weight sending chills down my arm. As I turned it over in my hand, my gaze fell upon the markings along the blade. Runic symbols were etched into the steel. 

"Lucian."

The name seemed to call out to me. I couldn't tell if it was because I was in the labyrinth or if the sword truly held significance but right now, it didn't matter. I marveled at the opportunity that had been sent down to me. 

'A weapon. A chance to survive.'

The door creaked open, revealing a shadowed chamber beyond. As I entered, silence swallowed me whole. Before I could react, the door slammed shut, sealing me inside.

And that's when I heard it.

Slam

"Shit."

A low, metallic rumble echoed through the chamber.

My breath hitched. My grip on the sword tightened, my knuckles turning white. From the depths of darkness, a towering figure emerged. About three meters tall, clad in dark armor that seemed to drink the light, its presence was suffocating. A true predator. The plates of armor groaned as they moved, each step sending a dull thud through the stone floor. A crimson light flickered under its visor revealing embers that lighted even in the darkest of places. 

In its hand, it wielded an enormous obsidian axe, twice the size of my body. Embedded at the base of the axe's head was a single ruby, pulsating like a dying heart.

I swallowed hard. Every instinct, every fiber of being told me to run. But there was no escape. The chamber had sealed me in. This wasn't an opponent. It was a judge, an executioner.

A Titan.

"What…the..hell?"

My strength was draining with each second, my knees almost buckling, and then I hit me—

The realization had struck like ice in my veins.

'Wait… this wasn't just weight. It was magic. It's pressing down on me.' My finger tightened on the sword. "Oh, that's just great. Of course, I get stuck with a gravity-wielding nightmare."

The Titan had not just been stalking me. It was pressing down on me, smothering me under the invisible yet tangible force. It moved deliberately slow and relaxed with its eyes gleaming with a deep, sinister light. It... it was controlling the space. The pressure was real. It was manipulating the space around me, forcing me down. 

'Just how did he do that..? I have to move. If I stop moving now, I will die.'

"So, this is the one who dares face me?" the Titan's voice rumbled, the sound vibrating through the ground causing the air to grow even heavier. 

I struggled to stay upright, his knees trembling as if the Titan's weight pressing was directly on his legs. But something...something was off. Sure, I could feel it everywhere but the density was more focused on my upper body. It was a small detail, but one that could change the tide of this situation if used properly.

'That's it..'

My mind raced, the Titan's weight oppressing me even further, clouding my thoughts. 'I have to move. I can't just sit and wait for this chunk of metal to move.' 

Before I could react, the Titan threw away his axe as if deeming me unworthy, and reached a hand out in the air, pulling me off his feet, and yanking me into the air. The world spun, and my body was getting closer to the Titan's large frame. 

"H-huh?!!!!! W-what's happeni-"

Then, it happened. The Titan's fist collided with my stomach with bone-shattering force. The impact drove away the air from my lungs, and before I could react, my body betrayed me.

My stomach burned as I vomited, the bile searing as it surged up, splattering against the ground. My vision spun and blurred as my knees buckled, with the Titan's pressure threatening to crush me. 

The Titan took a step back to avoid being splattered with the vomit mixed with blood. "Pathetic," he sneered, his voice thick with mockery. "I've crushed those much stronger than you."

The pressure from the Titan was suffocating, but it wasn't as much as before. Then I felt it, a faint release of pressure on my legs. The weight was still there, but not as heavy. 

'I can't face him head-on. I can't go for his chest either, but if I go low...'

I wiped my mouth, gripping Lucian by the hilt again. I forced myself to my feet, my mind focused. 

The Titan smiling cruelly, leaned down, his shadow swallowing me. "Pick up your sword. This trial won't end until you dare to defeat me."

 But I didn't care about the Titan's words. With what little strength I had, I charged at the Titan. The Titan stepped back, the pressure decreasing around my chest weakened just enough. I rushed to the Titan's legs, sword low. 

The Titan's eyes flared wide as Lucian met flesh. The sword bit deep into the Titan's leg with a sharp crack resounding in the chamber. Blood spurted out from the wound, a few drops going onto my cheek. For the first time, I saw a flicker of uncertainty show itself in the Titan's eyes. 

The Titan swung his fist down, but I was already moving. I ducked, rolling under the Titan's attack, barely dodging the fatal blow. 

The titan growled, frustrated, not as tall as before. "You think this changes anything?" 

Ignoring the Titan and swiping its black blood away from my face, I gasped for air, muscles aching but I wasn't finished. Not yet. 

The tides have shifted. 

Now the hunter had become the hunted. 

I gritted my teeth as I tightened his grip on the hilt of the sword. With inky blood falling onto my arms, my muscles screamed yet I stood firm brimming with resolve. 

This time I wouldn't run.

I grinned, bloodied sword in hand.

"Your move."