Heart of Demise.

31

That wave. It was just etched into my mind. I hated it. God, I hated it. I tried to refrain from letting my brain even think about it, but now that I was falling into the depths of who knows where I couldn't find a more appropriate time.

This was unfair. Hell, all of this was unfair. Everyone's said it already; I shouldn't be here. I'm just some kid, I'm no mental. But still, here I am, the World Strain Complex, now falling, falling so far I doubt I would survive.

I cried. I sobbed. Death; death, man. I didn't want to die, but the world didn't care about what I wanted. Was this how it was always going to be? Was I always just forced to accept what happens to me? I didn't want to anymore. I didn't want to roll with the punches. I didn't want to die. But here I was, falling. Here I was, approaching death, so seamlessly, just because of some woman with a screw loose.

Unfair. This is unfair.

And yet, I just had to be fine with it. I just had to, because what other option did I have?

–

–

–

"...Huh?"

Somehow, my lungs took in air yet again. Relief washed over me. I'm so glad I was proven wrong.

I opened my eyes. Instead of pure darkness, I was seeing darkness with the occasional dot of light here and there. After a solid head rub, the smell came in, and holy shit, that smell... was amazing.

I don't know how, but it was amazing. And not only was the smell amazing, the place felt amazing. Quickly after, I realized I was in a body of water, one that reached the top of my ankles. My shoes were drenched– actually, I was drenched, but man, it felt great.

I got up, still rubbing my head, trying to figure out where I ended up. My eyes adjusted to the darkness, and the few dots of light here and there suddenly brightened up the area quite nicely.

"Where the hell did I end up this time?"

I had many first impressions. This place reminded me a bit of that cave before the pit, except there was no moss growing all over the place, nor dripping water. Vines did grow here, however, and as I approached one,  I noticed that the glow came from some berries that sprouted from them. 

Glowing berries. Go figure. I considered eating one but stopped myself when I realized where I truly was.

I was in a sewer.

Yes, somehow, I was in a sewer that smelled really good. At least, it looked like a sewer. The only difference was that there were no sidewalks by the water; it was only flooded ground. The ceiling was tall, but not too tall. If I had a better leg, I could've probably reached the roof with a big jump.

"Huh... wait, my cleaver."

Right, I wasn't the only thing that dropped into the abyss. Actually, hold on, where did I even enter from? There wasn't a hole in the ceiling, nor was there any obvious entrance point in the walls.

"This doesn't make sense. I can't even see it very well, but I'm sure– oh, there you are!"

Well would you look at that, I found my cleaver. The weapon was stuck in a hole in the wall, one with a small waterfall coming out of it.

"Maybe this is it...? No, I don't think I'd fit in there."

Besides, there's no way I'd come out of the hole without getting at least scratched. As I was right now, I felt totally fine. Even the wound on my shoulder was... as bearable as a cut that bad gets, I guess.

"Mmm, right. I need to find a way out of here."

I grabbed the cleaver out of the wall and– holy shit. Wait wait wait, it just dawned upon me.

I had to get out of here. A sewer. A place where I was nearly as blind as a bat. A place where plants were my only source of light.

"..."

I sighed. I'm not sure why it bothered me anymore. This whole experience wasn't new, was it? Sure, it was just me this time; no Rupert, no Rivver, nobody. But that was fine.

I could get out of here. It's not like I was running low on essential items. So, holstering the cleaver on my shoulder, I started my voyage through the sewers.

And not even ten seconds in, I've already come to a crossroads. I had the option of going either left or right. I just went left and didn't think much of it.

"The vegetation is all over the place. This is one weird garden– wait, that's it!"

I remember Teddy calling some place under the plaza the "Undergarden", and he had one heck of a sour attitude when doing so. I guess that this was the place, huh? But what was so bad about it? I mean, it was damp and dark, sure, but it didn't seem dangerous. It's not like there would be any Skellites down here, would there?

"Ha!"

I quickly turned around, seeing nothing out of the ordinary.

"...Hmm. So I didn't jinx it."

I was in the green. There were no Skellites here after all–

"H-Hello? Is anybody there?"

"Oh, god damn it!"