The Faceless

The monster charges at him. Immediately Kael looks back checking if he can escape where he came from, but to his horror, the door had vanished.

Looking back at the oncoming threat he does his best to time it perfectly, as th Eel monster draws closer and closer, moving erratically. At the very last moment he barrel rolls to the side, narrowly dodging the monster.

Quickly he rushes to the nearest broken building and hides behind it. The Eel monster quickly recovers and slams itself right into the building, going right through it.

Again Kael narrowly dodges by ducking out of the way. He flies away as fast as he can while the monster is disoriented. He goes to another broken building and goes inside of it. Breathing heavily he does his best to calm himself, because he doesn't know if he'll go to 'that place', which gives him even more chills. The faceless Eel monster restlessly searches for him and as it draws closer to his hiding spot, it suddenly flies away frantically.

Kael, confused by this lifts his head to see what it was running away from, and immediately puts his head back down, desperately holding onto the wall as a gigantic faceless humanoid with an irregular set of arms and legs walking awkwardly in unnatural positions, each step pointing to a different direction. The monster walks right past him and keeps walking to an unknown location.

Kael didn't move until he was certain it had left the vicinity. "The murmurs don't sound so bad right now." He sighs in relief and continues on, not discouraged in the slightest.

After flying past many strange and irregular objects, not encountering any more dangerous beings, he reaches a giant silver gate with some dark symbols on it. He can only describe it to be the size of a mountain, even though he's never seen one before in real life, only going off of what he heard the death worshippers described.

He pauses for a moment, and after filling himself with resolve he attempts to open it, reaching out his hand.

Suddenly he hears a soft voice speak to him, "If you go in there, you will die."

Kael instantly stops, his hands begin to shake and he breaks out into a cold sweat. He turns around and sees no one there.

The voice was soft and calm but its words sent a chill down his spine. He began panicking, he knows someone is watching him, but for how long? Have they always been there? Who is it? Are they helping me? Many questions filled his head when suddenly another giant faceless humanoid shrieked from afar. How did it scream, I dunno?

The space between them trembles and it runs at him with blinding speed, so fast Kael could barely react. It covers a far distance in mere moments, even with its irregular movements.

Kael only has time to scream before he disappears and finds himself in a dark void. His mind begins to scatter as indescribable ramblings and murmurs fill his mind. He clutches at his head, after all the mental stress the pain was just too great for him to handle. He tears at his own body, hoping to claw out the pain somehow.

"Kael, Kael!" Layla and Rio justle and shake Kael, trying to wake him up.

He opens his eyes, gasping for air and clutching at his chest. "Breathe, it's all over." Rio tries to comfort him. Kael slowly gets his bearings and notices he was lying in a pool of sweat, his clothes completely drenched. Although he couldn't see himself, if he could he would see he looked almost as pale as his sister, Lira.

"Are you okay." Layla asks concerned about his condition. Kael responds weakly, "I think so." "What happened in there, what did you see?" Rio asked him. Kael places his hand on Rio's shoulder and looks him straight in the eye, "Buddy..." Then recounts his experience in detail, not even leaving out exactly how terrified he was, as well as the voice he heard and him ending up in the Murmuring Void. After he was done speaking, Layla says, "Well at least now you know how everyone else sleeps." "Layla!" Rio interjects. Kael laughs and says, "Yeah, but I already knew what it's like."

Layla rolls her eyes then asks worriedly, "So what now, you're not gonna to keep going there right?" Kael just looks at her with a straight face which worries her even more. "Do you even know what you look like right now?! You know people die of shock right? What you did just now is way too dangerous!"

Kael counters, "Says the girls practicing witchcraft. Doesn't your grimoire require you to get the blessing of a god or an unknown existence? Have you picked one yet?" Layla now mad yells, "You know that's not what I meant! This is clearly more dangerous-" Kael cuts her off, "But if I don't do this then who will?!" He points at his sister, "Am I supposed to just let her die, or let everyone else suffer when I can do something about it?!" He calms down and tells her softly, "I truly believe I have the power to change things, isn't that worth a little pain?" Layla can't argue with him anymore, "Fine, I'll go along with whatever you think is best. Just don't back there without telling us first." Kael smiles and agrees, "Deal."

Rio then carries Kael like a baby while Layla covers up Lira's coffin. All three of them sneak down the stairs. They reach Kael's parents room to confirm they were asleep.

Kael's mother, Mara, lay fast asleep while his father, Garren, sat next to the bed, staring blankly at her. The trio walk past the room and go to Kael's room.

Rio placed Kael on his bed, "Thanks guys." Rio responds with a soft smile, "No problem." He then leaves the room, waiting for Layla outside. Layla goes up to Kael, "Don't go searching for stuff while we're gone." "I won't, I promise." Kael assures her. She smiles then leaves the room. Kael then slowly falls asleep.

The next day, Kael wakes up to an aching body, feeling weak all over but manages to get up and out of bed.

Before the sun fully rises he goes to harvest plants from their garden and cooks breakfast. By the time the sun fully rises, he finishes cooking as well as doing all the house chores.

His body still aches but he goes to his parents room and calls them for breakfast.

"Mom! Get up! Oh hey Dad. Mom, mom, mom, mom-" "Alright I'm coming." Mara responds. "Great." "Hey Kael, have you-" "Done pretty much everything that can be done? Obviously, hah, I mean it is me we're talking about." Kael flexes his muscles, painfully, although he doesn't show any form of pained expression. "Let's go to the dining, you too dad, come on, cooooome on." He helps his father up and guides them to the dining.

"Eat." Kael says with the happiest expression. His mother eats but just barely, while his father doesn't touch his food at all.

Kael tries to feed him, "Open up Pap-pap, you've got to get big and strong." Moving the spoon like a fish. "Stop." Garren says plainly. Kael stops immediately, "I'm sorry." He quickly apologizes, finishes his food and wraps the rest in a cloth bag and begins to leave. "I'm going to hang out with Layla and Rio, I'll be back later." "Alright take care." Mara replies with a smile. A smile that quickly disappears once he leaves. She then sits in silence with Garren.