Killer's Intent

《 Chapter 3 》

How long had he been falling for?

The fog had completely enveloped him, obscuring  his view and making everything around him pitch black. With his sight compromised, he had to rely on his other senses to determine his surroundings.

Wind rushed past him, eerily resembling anguished screams. They pierced through his ears as a numbing coldness crawled deep into his bones, as if wanting to possess him. A wave of helplessness descended upon him, a feeling he had never felt before.

Were all his efforts to destroy the Sun Organization for nothing?

No.

He wouldn't fall for these fake emotions. Not when he had spent all these years training his mental strength. Not when he could overcome this. Forcing himself to push down the feeling of helplessness, Kieran cleared his mind, focusing on the one thing that had kept him motivated through all the countless obstacles and dangers he had bested.

Revenge.

He was the one in control here, and he refused to let some stupid mind tricks get the better of him.

And then he was out.

All of the negative emotions he had just felt dispersed into thin air, as if it was all a hallucination.

It was unsettling, but he could think about it later. The most important thing was to find out where he was, and get the hell out as soon as possible.

Although the sky around him was still relatively dark, he was able to get a glimpse of his surroundings as he continued his rapid descent.

The area below him was tinted with red, harsh and unforgiving. Sharp, jagged spikes protruded out of the rocky terrain, slanting at unnatural angles. Deep, narrow valleys and lakes filled with a mysterious black liquid extended boundlessly through the landscape, expanding as far as the eye can see. Mountains of various sizes divided the topography into uneven fractions while cliffs loomed near the edge of the land, ones that seemed to lead to an even deeper, darker abyss.

If falling down so far brought him here, Kieran didn't want to know what would happen if he were to fall even farther.

A lake was located directly below him, one that was filled with the same black liquid. As if sensing his presence, the dark liquid started to swirl as small ripples appeared on the lake's once tranquil surface.

Holding his breath, Kieran braced himself for impact. But before he could hit the water, a giant wave suddenly surged, shooting into the sky like a hungry mouth awaiting its next meal. It wrapped its freezing jaws around him, swallowing him into the inky darkness below.

With no sense of direction, he knew that it would be easy for him to swim deeper into the water and end up drowning. Keeping calm, he covered his mouth with his hands and blew out an air bubble. Feeling for the bubble's direction, Kieran followed it and swam towards what he hoped was the surface.

The area above him brightened, and he was just about to break through the surface of the lake when a sinister chill erupted from below him. He felt something wrap around his ankle, and before he had a chance to defend himself, he was immediately dragged back down.

Kieran frantically slashed at whatever was holding him with his daggers, but as soon as he was free, more of those things began to wrap around him. They were hands, he realized. But they were longer, more claw-like, and... inhuman.

The hands wrapped around his neck and squeezed. He was losing air fast, and he knew that he would die here if he didn't find a way to break out.

Suddenly, he heard the screams again, the ones that he had heard when the crack first appeared. They were deafening, but this time, he was able to make out what they were saying.