[ Discovery ] : Inferno, FTO

29% || Pooling Red

⿴﹒music is applied to this chapter﹔🎧

'' song name ''artist

I stood there, staring down into the dark, viscous pool that lay at my feet. The dull afternoon sun attempted to penetrate the shroud of gloom that hung over me, but its light barely reached the ground.

It was as if the world itself was muted, wrapped in a shroud of monotony that paralleled my own thoughts. This place felt like an extension of my insides—bleak, lifeless, and heavy.

The surface of the pool was perfectly still, mirroring the drab surroundings. I didn't know what it was; in my numb state, it didn't really matter. Everything felt oddly dreamlike, as if I were viewing the scene from a distance, disconnected from the reality beneath me.

The deep crimson color seeped into the ground, a stark contrast to the grays and browns of the fading landscape, and I wondered if that meant something, though I could not begin to care what.

I found myself crouching down, entranced by the fluidity of the color as it seemed alive in some inexplicable way. There was a richness to it, a depth that drew me in. What a curious thing to behold, this pool that glistened under the cataclysmic weight of my despair.

It twisted my thoughts, challenging my mind, yet keeping them tethered to something tangible. Perhaps it was a metaphor for all the sorrow I harbored deep within—a representation of what had flowed out of me, leaving an empty shell behind.

The air was thick with a silence that pressed against my ears, almost deafening in its stillness. The world felt like a museum of the past, and I stood among the artifacts of life, ice-cold and unmoved.

As I gazed deeper, I couldn't help but trace the ripples that distorted my reflection. It was a fleeting glimpse of what once was—a man surrendered to the grind of monotony, a life reduced to fragments and shadows.

How long had I been staring into this abyss? Memories lay scattered like leaves across a forgotten autumn, each a reminder of a time when I felt something other than this solemn weight. But those days seemed as lost as the gentle breeze that used to dance through my hair. I closed my eyes, swallowing hard against the bitterness that threatened to rise in my throat.

What was this pool? I considered it, wondering if it held any significance beyond its visceral allure. I ran through possibilities and discarded them one by one—mud? Paint? A recent downpour that stained the earth?

Each option felt hollow, devoid of meaning, and still, I found my heart racing, drawing me closer to its edge. Just like all the things I'd once cared about, I felt on the verge of collapse, teetering between curiosity and apathy.

I reached out a trembling hand, hovering above the shimmering surface. Would it be cool, or would it draw me in, closer to whatever unknown it contained? My breath caught in my throat, and I let the moment linger, every heartbeat echoing in the stillness.

There was a strange comfort in that anticipation—a brief lull before the fall—until reality surged back, heavy with the weight of what I couldn't see.

As I stepped back, the pool shimmered beneath the faint light, quelling my curiosity for a moment longer. I looked around the desolation surrounding me, the silence embedding itself in my bones. There was no enlightenment to be found here, no revelations lurking in the depths.

Just a reflection, blurred and distorted—a man who had long since forgotten what it was to feel something other than this mundane sorrow.

I stared into myself, soaking it in for a hot minute while my breath hicked into my lungs, the ripped skin around my neck and chest. I could only stare, washed in red and ruined. My perfect skin, ruined. My neatly tended hair, ruined. My eyes even looked dull instead of their magnificent shine.

I looked horrendous.

Sister– is this how you felt every time you looked in the mirror? Like you were a freak without a place? Like you were a ruined masterpiece?

Suzume?

·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·

28%

Pooling Red

Shadows Cannot Lie

Date: November 7th, 2024

. . .ᵤ𝑛𝑡ᵢԼ 𝑛ₑₓ𝑡 𝑡ᵢ𝑚ₑ, ᵣₑₐ𝑑ₑᵣ. .

❝𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫❞

N/A

[ A / N ] : 

Hehehe, wait until one of the other "Other" POVs, I can't wait to see the reactions on those ones.