《Steps Towards A Dark Abyss》


 Part 1 - Jo: The Human Entity

    Late last night he received a message. The sender knew it was pointless, the ultimatum set would never be accepted. While they both believed in autonomy, only one believed in possibility.


    He thinks life¡¯s an anime. He should just try to enjoy it while it lasts. It¡¯s not my fault the side he chose lost; it¡¯s not like I went against him. Our society doesn¡¯t need extra protections when most of it isn¡¯t doing anything. It¡¯s just not worth being consumed by it.


    ¡°I guess this time will be the last time I mention him to her.¡±


    A decade later, few words had gone between them. From teenagers, to soon entering their thirties, both had moved forward towards their own goals.


    For Jo, he was looking forward to an addition to the family between him and his betrothed. Over the years the pair was continuously interlinked. Their careers, family, and much more, all going in a favorable direction. They had recently moved into their barndominium that they had saved for since graduating university together.


    The state of the world, whatever it was, was inconsequential to him, but that would forever change.


    Walking from the elongated steps to the pavement, reaching into his truck to grab a parcel. Looking back at what life had given him, a fine reality to cherish, a stutter was felt in his heart. With a flash opaquing his sight, his access to that world had been revoked.


    The life that he had loved, the path where he was a part of it, had ceased.


    His body thrown into combobulation, the disorientating view of everything around him going in and out. He imagined his lover approaching him, but with everything being taken out from under him, including the air around him, he woke up.


    Forcibly stunted onto his arms and knees, only able to focus on gathering air that no longer existed. The air, just like his world, had been ensnared by obscurity.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    The surroundings once his neighborhood, now just wades of grey waters coursing around him. Beneath him, grey matter expunging, clutched to his body.


    "I''m sorry, Jo."


    A figure descending from the once blue sky, now transparent. It¡¯s inflamed eyes twitching at the ground, hands in the pockets of clothes morphed with stained sections of blood.


    "I''m suspending our world¡­ indefinitely."


    Touching down onto the ground next to him, placing his hand onto Jo''s back, then rising upward.


    ¡°If only I hadn¡¯t consider you a liability back then. Maybe this could have gone differently.¡±


    Sprawling out on the starchy muck, Jo finally had air bound back to him. Coughing, beginning to scrunch his eyes open, trying and failing to push himself up. A relative force kept him down, only able to stare up at the sky to see nothing but a grey speck in the empty sky.


    "I''ll give you the chance to set it back. So either take me down right here, or do it yourself when you''re stronger."


    Jo thinking to himself if he had just died, but then hearing the figure''s voice the whole time would be impossible. Just listening to it echo around pissed him off more. Still edging himself upwards, "What is happening?!"


    "Just as I expected, you have no hope in beating me now."


    The figure extended his arm, in tangent pointing two fingers downward in the direction of Jo.


    "Still, since I got strong in about three seconds, you could probably do it in five."


    Contemplating, not even partially able to put all of the pressure onto one of his knees, forced his sight upwards, seethingly glaring towards the being, ¡°I, will, kill you for this!¡±


    As the figure''s clothes began morphing further, the figure looked away from Jo.


    "I''m not holding back. Take it all in."


    Jo still fighting against the pressure, trying to get more words out, "Sugen! Don''t, ignore m-!"


    In less than a second, Jo was snuffed out of the environment, spat out into a new-found space. Surrounded by darkness on his backside, in front an all encompassing grey mass. All while being being flung around in a spiral.


    With his dismissal, the grey void began imploding. Though only taking seconds to disappear, for him the implosion took an eternity.


    Was it the air put into him by Sugen, or the resuscitation process in itself? Possibly, the empty vessel filled with something meant for someone else. Regardless, the entity moving slower and slower through time. Thinking of his past, and what must become his future.


    With the end of the fifth second, he himself had become unbound to humanity, a true being.

 Part 2 - Iso Jo: Savior Of The Spire

    He was sort of a comedian at times, but he could also get snarky at times.


    He must have known he was wrong somewhere down the line. Or more likely there was probably no solution good enough for him. He was trying to minimize inevitable failures, but with the route he chose there would be too many. It probably was a godless world. And I let other¡¯s create a god for me, while he chose to become one himself.


    ¡°Sugen, will it be worth it?¡±


    Shrouded in light, polar to the existence he found himself in, the voyager headed to his last destination. While other forms of transportation were available to him, he knew walking would take the least amount of effort. It would after all be good to have one final walk.


    For the most part, the realm was filled with dust from the past. Rubble from failed and washed societies of past wars. Some of them he had waged himself. Over the hundred or so years, he barley saw any time where peace could have been tangible between just two realms on the sheet. If Rieza had participated, would any conflict have lasted in the first place?


    Stepping forward the man let out a breath, looking upwards. In his sight an opposing spectator had been peering down at him.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    ¡°Keeper of Xetlum, there is currently a contract in place that forbids you from entering Lehro.¡±


    Draped in black, the man in the sky put his hand on the broadsword residing on his back.


    ¡°So, why are you in my Lord¡¯s domain?¡±


    ¡°Shkk,¡± a duplicated broadsword set into the drafty ground as if teleported, directly in front of the traveler.


    ¡°I won¡¯t ask again.¡±


    His sword fully drawn, connecting a shadow from the sword clamped in the ground to the sword in hand.


    The grounded man¡¯s eyes glinting from the downwards sword, back up to the other one, ¡°I am a traveler. Is it not in my right to roam?¡±


    ¡°Traveler? Lone travelers are the weakest type of entity to ever exist,¡± gripping both hands to his sword, ¡°You say traveler, yet you mean a transcendent being above any rules.¡±


    The disputed traveler began to stretch awaiting the first attack, ¡°Fair enough, I was only looking for my niece. She must be somewhere?¡±


    Behind the traveler, a second sword impeded from the air towards his backside, turning to dust before it could reach him. Below him, the sword once in the ground was swatted away, turning to shattered pieces collecting in the dirt.


    Stepping forward once more, utilizing the leverage of the ground, his position overtook the knightsman. Extending his hand towards his foe, blasting the once onlooker into the ground unconscious.


    ¡°I really, just wanted to continue my walk.¡±


    Though an evolved being, to say that he was actually Iso Jo was incorrect. While called that by those within the Spire, he knew he hadn¡¯t attained that role yet. For the moment he would become truly set in the light, he would be forced to kill himself.