I Reincarnated and Ascended as a Skill Masterer in the Grandeur World of Azure

Chapter 3: The Skill Master

"Who's here!?" My voice echoed in the endless darkness I wasn't familiar with. The atmosphere was doubtlessly different.

"Shh" The whisper echoed out of nowhere, startling me in my spot.

"Shh" It repeated itself and echoed each time. The air got tense, and at a point it felt like the voice was in my head.

I closed off my ears with my hands, trying to force out the whispers. My eyes voluntarily squeezed in fear. I began to feel my skin burn from the inside as if set on fire. The excruciating pain made me open my eyes as quickly as I had shut them to see what was going on.

I was standing at the top of an active volcano. I glanced around like a lost cat, noticing that the environment was shrouded in ominous mist scattered everywhere. I couldn't see beyond where I was standing. I wasn't sure how I transitioned from the impenetrable darkness so fast, but somehow I was here. The chilling air found its way into my skin, raising every hair in my body.

"Shh," the whisper came again, but this time from inside the bubbling hot red tub. I moved closer and peered inside.

It rose by the minute, gurgling and bubbling like a pot of hot soup. The sight made me cower back in fear of falling over into it.

"It's coming. It's here... Run," the voice said again, barely above a tormenting whisper.

The volcano overflowed and swam down its slope freely. I couldn't make sense of anything; I had no idea what was coming, but I turned down the hill and ran as fast as my weak legs could carry me to avoid getting swallowed up in the furnace.

Occasionally, I glanced back to see how quickly it gained speed. Gradually, the mist cleared out, and I saw a giant globe carefully held in two large white palms. It was heavenly, to say the least. Tiny lights shone inside of it, creating a beautiful spectrum of light. The volcano washed down towards it, threatening it with its crackling fire.

I watched in horror as the fiery liquid consumed the globe and the palms, setting them on fire in a few seconds. The palms gave way, and the globe rolled out of it, falling into a ditch of endless darkness.

My feet didn't stop running as I saw what was revealed in front of me. I finally got to the end of the volcanic cliff and looked down into the darkness where the globe had fallen. There was no sight of it in the distance.

The palms didn't stop burning, and the volcano was relentlessly striving to cover up everything in sight, which was only its hill and the impenetrable darkness—there was nowhere to run.

This was the end of it all. I turned towards the fiery liquid, traveling down at great speed, waiting for my doom.

"Hey". I heard a voice call from below in the dark pit.

"Wake up," the voice said again. It sounded really distant, and it stunned me that someone was calling from inside the darkness that seems to go on forever.

"Wake up," it echoed again, filling up my head.

I glanced at the questionable darkness and back at the hot igneous lava coming at me. There was no time to weigh my chances. I made up my mind and took a great leap, falling into the darkness to be consumed by it. I had no idea what awaited me.

There were no feelings except a foreign motion that seemed to be pressing at my chest consequently. The feeling grew more present, and I felt my heart respond to the action.

I started becoming aware of my body functions once again and tried forcing my eyes open. A blinding light stung my orbs, and I squeezed them back shut.