The boulder came crashing down upon the flesh figure, flattening him against the ground like a pancake.
For a moment, everything fell silent.
The creature lay motionless beneath the enormous mass of stone.
Surely, that had been enough.
Surely, even something as monstrous as him couldn’t survive that.
The boy stumbled away, his legs trembling beneath him.
Every step felt like a small miracle, but a faint smile crept across his face nonetheless.
Finally.
It’s over.
Then the ground began to vibrate.
At first, the tremors were subtle.
Pebbles danced across the earth, and the roots beneath his feet shuddered.
But within seconds, the entire forest seemed to convulse, as though something enormous had awakened beneath it.
The boy stopped.
Slowly, he turned around.
His eyes widened.
A gigantic boulder was hurtling straight toward him.
BOOM!
Despair flooded his mind.
You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
He couldn’t keep stalling for time.
He couldn’t keep running away and hoping the creature would eventually tire.
There was only one way out of this nightmare.
He had to kill it.
The boy clenched his fist, forcing whatever strength remained in his battered body to answer his call.
As the boulder descended upon him, he stepped forward and threw a punch.
CRACK!
The enormous boulder shattered.
Fragments of stone exploded in every direction, scattering across the flesh-covered landscape.
And through the cloud of dust, the flesh figure emerged.
His fist was already flying toward the boy’s face.
The boy caught it.
Before he could react, the creature swung with his other hand.
The boy caught that one, too.
For a moment, neither moved.
Then both began to push.
Their arms trembled as they poured their strength into the struggle.
The earth beneath their feet splintered, cracks spreading outward in a widening web.
Stones rose from the ground as the pressure intensified, and the surrounding trees shuddered beneath the force of their contest.
Neither was willing to yield.
The flesh figure leaned forward, his voice dripping with aggression.
“All I wanted was answers, but you had to act all high and mighty!
Fine!
Throw everything you have at me!
I’ll keep coming after you!
That little body of yours will eventually give out, but…”
His voice deepened.
“…before I end this, I want you to understand one thing.”
The creature’s entire body tensed.
“I AM DESPAIR!”
He violently tore his hands free and drove a fist into the boy’s face.
The boy staggered, but the creature was already following up with an uppercut.
CRACK!
The blow launched him into the air.
Before the boy could regain his bearings, the flesh figure vanished.
A heartbeat later, he reappeared above him.
The creature slammed into the boy, tackling him in midair and sending them both rocketing higher into the sky.
Wind screamed past them.
The boy gritted his teeth, grabbed the creature by the neck, and began hammering his face with one punch after another.
He struck with everything he had left.
Once.
Twice.
Again.
The flesh figure barely seemed to care.
Instead, he let out a soul-shaking laugh.
Then he raised both feet and planted them against the boy’s chest.
His legs tensed.
And he unleashed his tyrannical strength.
BOOM!
The boy was launched downward like a meteor.
The world rushed past him.
The red canopy of the flesh forest blurred into a smear of color before the ground surged up to meet him.
KRAAASH!
He struck the earth with tremendous force.
The ground fractured beneath his body, sending a shockwave through the surrounding forest.
Dust and shattered stone erupted into the air.
For several seconds, the boy couldn’t move.
Then a shadow fell over him.
The flesh figure landed nearby.
He looked down at the boy and began speaking again, his voice irritatingly cheerful despite the violence that had just unfolded.
“You’ve seen it with your own two little eyes.
You can’t beat me.
Nothing can.”
He tilted his head.
“This struggle is pointless.
Your defiance is pointless.
It didn’t have to be this way, you know.”
His voice turned contemptuous.
“You’re fucking pathetic.”
The boy’s fingers dug into the fractured earth.
He tried to rise.
His arms shook.
His legs threatened to buckle.
Every instinct in his body screamed at him to stay down, but he refused to listen.
Slowly, painfully, he pushed himself upright.
The flesh figure watched with amusement.
“Hahahaha!
You can’t win!
Give it up, boy!”
He spread his arms as if welcoming the inevitable.
“I feel nothing!
But you?
You feel every single punch I throw at you, don’t you?
Every kick.
Every impact.
Every little bit of pain.”
He stepped closer.
“And yet you keep trying.”
The creature’s voice grew colder.
“I’m not my master.
If you’d just given me what I wanted, things really wouldn’t have ended this way.
But no…”
His mouth twisted into a grotesque grin.
“I’m going to enjoy killing you.”
The boy stared at him.
Something inside him had become painfully clear.
The end was coming.
His strength was nearly gone.
His body was approaching its limits, and the creature showed no signs of slowing down.
If he allowed the fight to continue, even for a little longer, he would lose.
There was no more room for hesitation.
No more room for clever tricks.
No more room for escape.
I have to kill him.
Now.
The boy lunged.
And the world erupted into violence.
Fists collided with flesh.
Feet slammed into ribs and torsos.
The two figures crashed through the forest, smashing into trees and tearing up the ground beneath them.
Neither gave an inch.
The flesh figure fought with relentless aggression, using his superior strength to batter the boy from every conceivable angle.
The boy answered with whatever he could muster—punches, kicks, tackles, and desperate attempts to force his opponent off balance.
When their fists couldn’t reach, they grappled.
When grappling wasn’t enough, they bit and clawed at one another, each desperate to gain even the smallest advantage.
There was no elegance left in their movements.
No technique worth naming.
Only two battered creatures locked in a struggle where the slightest mistake would decide everything.
The boy’s vision blurred.
His breathing became ragged.
His arms felt impossibly heavy.
Yet he continued fighting.
Because he had to.
Because somewhere beyond this horrible forest, beyond the red skies and the eldritch creatures, there was a world where he could finally live without something trying to tear him apart.
And he refused to let that world slip away.
Eventually, the boy managed to slam the flesh figure onto the ground.
They tumbled across the fractured earth, wrestling for control.
The creature bucked and twisted beneath him, trying to throw him off, but the boy clung to him with desperate determination.
Then, at last, an opening appeared.
The boy seized it.
He forced the creature onto his back and pinned him against the ground, planting his knees firmly to keep him from escaping.
The flesh figure thrashed beneath him.
The boy ignored it.
He placed both hands around the creature’s head.
He understood what he had to do.
The flesh figure’s expression changed.
For the first time, his amusement faltered.
He immediately reached up and seized the boy by the neck, squeezing with all his strength.
The boy’s breath caught.
His vision began to darken at the edges.
The creature’s grip tightened as he struggled beneath him, refusing to surrender even now.
The boy’s arms trembled.
His strength was fading.
His consciousness was slipping away.
Not yet.
He tightened his grip.
I’m not dying here.
With the last of his strength, the boy began to pull.
The creature fought desperately, but the boy refused to let go.
He gathered every remaining fragment of willpower and poured it into that final, desperate effort.
CRACK.
With a final, brutal wrench, the boy tore the creature’s head free.
The flesh figure’s body stiffened.
For a moment, it remained motionless, as though it couldn’t comprehend what had happened.
Then its limbs slackened.
Its grip loosened.
And the body collapsed against the earth.
The forest fell silent.
The boy stared at what remained of his opponent for a few seconds before his own strength finally abandoned him.
He toppled sideways and collapsed onto the ground.
For a while, he could do nothing but breathe.
Each breath came shallow and uneven.
His entire body ached so intensely that he could barely distinguish one injury from another.
It felt as though every bone in his body had been shattered, yet his unusually robust constitution continued to hold him together.
He had won.
Somehow, impossibly, he had won.
Then the familiar voice returned inside his mind.
“Good work, boy.
But there’s no time to rest.
You need to keep moving.”
The boy closed his eyes for a brief moment.
“The circle…” the voice continued.
“It’s nearby.
Just ahead.”
The boy let out a strained grunt and forced himself to sit up.
Then he struggled to his feet.
His legs wobbled beneath him, and he nearly collapsed again, but he managed to remain standing.
Suddenly, the forest began to change.
The enormous red trees shuddered before sinking into the earth.
Their grotesque branches withdrew, and the dense undergrowth receded as though an invisible hand were erasing the entire landscape.
One by one, the flesh-covered trees disappeared beneath the ground.
The abominable insects vanished with them.
Within moments, the forest was gone.
All that remained was the barren landscape, the motionless body of the flesh figure, and the lone boy standing among the ruins of their battle.
The boy clenched his teeth and began walking in the direction the voice had indicated.
Every step was agony.
But he kept moving.
Far beyond the horizon, shock waves rippled through space itself.
The air twisted beneath the force of distant clashes, and strange distortions spread across the crimson sky.
Even from this distance, the boy could sense the overwhelming power being unleashed elsewhere in the Abyss.
He glanced toward the horizon and let out a weak chuckle.
His robe had been torn almost completely apart across the upper half, leaving his slightly muscular frame exposed to the cold, unnatural air.
His body was exhausted, his clothes were ruined, and he could barely stand.
Yet somehow, he was still alive.
Then a plume of fire erupted in the distance.
The boy’s smile faded.
Another burst of light illuminated the horizon, followed by a distant shock wave that swept across the landscape.
His heart sank.
Whatever that old bastard is fighting… I really hope he stays busy.
He quickened his pace.
“Got to hurry up…”
A few more unsteady steps carried him forward.
Then he saw it.
A dim white light shimmered in the distance, roughly fifteen meters ahead.
The boy stopped and stared.
At the center of the light lay a circle inscribed with intricate runes.
Its pale radiance flickered against the surrounding darkness, like a tiny fragment of another world that had somehow survived within the Abyss.
The voice suddenly sounded far more cheerful.
“Yes!
Yes, that’s it, boy!
There it is!”
For the first time in what felt like an eternity, genuine excitement colored its words.
“All you have to do is step inside, and I’ll take care of the rest.”
The boy nodded weakly.
He started toward the circle.
One step.
Then another.
His body protested with every movement, and a cough forced its way out of his throat.
Blood touched his lips, but he wiped it away and continued forward.
He was so close.
So impossibly close.
After everything he had endured, after all the horrors that had hunted him through the Abyss, freedom was finally within reach.
The boy stepped into the circle.
Its runes flickered beneath his feet.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then the familiar voice spoke again, quieter this time.
“Thank you, boy.”
The boy blinked.
“This is goodbye.”
He paused.
“And… here’s a little gift.”
A gentle warmth spread across the right side of his face.
The boy stiffened.
Something stirred within the ruined socket where his right eye had once been.
A soft, white light enveloped the area, and the warmth gradually intensified before settling into something strangely comforting.
When the light faded, a new eye had formed.
The boy blinked several times, testing his restored vision.
Then he chuckled.
“Wait, why are you thanking me?
I should be the one thanking you.”
The circle beneath him began to glow.
Its dim white radiance swelled, illuminating the surrounding ground as the intricate runes awakened one after another.
The boy looked around, suddenly realizing that he had never truly understood who—or what—had been speaking to him all this time.
Before he could ask another question, the voice echoed through his mind one final time.
“You’ll find out soon.”
The light engulfed him.
And then—
He ceased to exist in that place.
For an infinitesimal instant, the boy felt as though the very structure of his being had come apart, each fragment of himself scattering into an incomprehensible expanse before being drawn together once more.
Space folded.
Reality twisted.
And the Abyss disappeared.
The Other Side
Snow.
That was the first thing the boy noticed.
Cold, white snow stretched across the mountainside, covering the jagged rocks and gathering upon the distant slopes.
The wind swept through the barren landscape, carrying with it the familiar bite of winter.
The boy blinked into existence upon the snowy mountainside.
He stood motionless.
For several seconds, he could do nothing but stare at his surroundings, his exhausted mind struggling to comprehend what his eyes were telling him.
The snow.
The mountains.
The sky.
No red horizon.
No flesh forest.
No monstrous creatures lurking beyond his field of vision.
He was no longer in the Abyss.
He was home—or at least, somewhere beyond that accursed realm.
His lower lip trembled.
Then tears began to roll down his face.
He had survived.
Against all reason, against every nightmare that had tried to claim him, against a world that seemed determined to crush him beneath its indifference, he had survived.
An ocean of relief washed over him, overwhelming the fear and exhaustion that had sustained him for so long.
The boy lowered his head.
For the first time in what felt like an eternity, he no longer needed to fight.
He no longer needed to run.
He was free.
Back in the Abyss
Deep within the first layer, a figure emerged from the darkness.
The old man stood upon the barren ground, his ivory tunic disheveled and his ancient presence noticeably diminished.
The exchanges with the mysterious creature of the second layer had taken their toll, leaving even him with the weight of a battle that had demanded more than he had anticipated.
He surveyed his surroundings.
His gaze moved across the desolate landscape, searching for something—or someone.
But the boy was nowhere to be found.
Only a motionless black flesh corpse remained upon the ground, its body abandoned amid the remnants of the vanished forest.
The old man stared at it for a moment.
Then he smiled.
A faint, knowing smile crept across his ancient face as he spoke in a low, almost affectionate tone.
“We shall meet again, boy.”
He turned away.
The shadows gathered around his figure, swallowing the ivory of his tunic and the pale strands of his hair.
His silhouette blurred, becoming indistinct, until he seemed less like a man walking into darkness and more like a nebulous deity dissolving back into the void.
And then he was gone.
The first layer fell silent once more.