Floating in emptiness, Raven breathed slowly with both his mind and eyes being as calm as a pond of crystal clear water.
Ever since he had jumped into the pillar of darkness, he had been trapped in there without any chance to either move or talk.
The feeling was weird, almost as if he was paralyzed, but in a way where he could still sense everything. He could feel the gentle breeze blowing against his skin, see the swirling and chaotic darkness around him, and smell the clear air.
As for the pain in his arms, abdomen, and body... well, it faded away a very long time ago.
And when Raven thought about "a very long time ago", he meant a really long time ago. As far as he could tell, he had been trapped in this eternal darkness for more than 3 months!
3 months trapped in nothing but complete darkness...
'Well, at least I am not starving nor do I become thirsty...'
Naturally, Raven has already thought about the possibility that perhaps in the end he really has died in the hands of Paloma and now was in the afterlife, but he quickly dismissed that possibility.
As for the reason?
It was just poor intuition.
It was like when one had a hunch about something and later on it turned out it was true.
'Sigh... But still, 3 months is still not a small amount of time...' Raven sighed inwardly, memories resurfaced in his mind.
Luna, Old Dan, Thomas... Everyone that he held dear and was close to him... What were they doing at the moment? Did they survive? After all, logically speaking, he didn't really die, meaning he didn't lose the challenge thus Earth must be safe, right?
...Right?
To be honest, Raven was not sure about it at all.
3 months was a very long time, through which many things could happen. Hell, even if he considered that Earth survived complete annihilation, there was still the possibility that humans faced another dire challenge in the second round of Worlds' Clash!
Thinking about that, Raven wished to shake his head in helplessness, but ironically, he couldn't.
'I have to get out of this place, but how? I have already tried everything I could think of.'
While spending over three months imprisoned in this cage of darkness, Raven didn't just... sit?... Floated around idly waiting for a miracle to happen.
No, not at all. In fact, he tried many things like meditating, forcing his body to move, trying to stop breathing, and many other ridiculous attempts he could come up with.
However, it was needless to say they were all futile.
'This just feels frustrating as hell!' Raven felt like crying before becoming nonchalant once again.
It seemed, at least through these 3 months of imprisonment in complete darkness he learned something very important; how to stay calm all the time and how to control his emotions.
After all, staying in complete darkness for several months was not something anyone could accomplish without going insane.
'I have to think... I have jumped because of a seal... a seal to break. But how do I break it?'
Raven has already guessed the key to his freedom was through breaking his seal, however, he couldn't come up with a way to break his seal. Hell, he didn't even know what or where this seal of his was!
It was a fucking joke! A joke which he sadly couldn't laugh at!
Sigh...
Time passed in utter silence as Raven kept thinking. Seconds turned into minutes which soon became hours that ended up in days.
And then, suddenly, Raven noticed something.
'Huh?'
While floating in the darkness, the only thing Raven could see was darkness. However, different from the usual darkness this one felt... alive.
Yes, alive!
Although it sounded weird, that is how Raven felt whenever he stared into it. This was the very first thing he had noticed at the very beginning of his imprisonment, yet, as he couldn't do anything about it he decided to just get used to it.
However, right now, unknown if because of an accident or through sheer luck, he discovered that within this swirling blackness, there moved something that was not darkness.
'Just now... What was that?'
Forcing himself to focus on the spot where he saw the unusual phenomenon, Raven stared intently at the same area for several minutes in silence.
Nevertheless, even after seemingly 15 minutes, nothing happened.
'...Nothing?'
Raven felt confused, wondering if what he saw was just a trick of his mind.
'Perhaps it really was?' Raven thought to himself and was ready to avert his gaze when suddenly he caught a glimpse of something from the corner of his eyes.
'There!'
And sure enough, once he shifted his gaze with lightning speed, there it was, the thing he previously noticed yet failed to see properly.
It was a thread, one that was not only thinner than a strand of hair but was also darker than the darkness around Raven, melting into the darkness almost completely!
'What is that thing?' Raven frowned inwardly as he examined the black thread, watching as it became almost entirely imperceptible whenever it stopped moving.
However, the next moment something that he wouldn't have expected to happen happened.
The thread, without any prior warning, flashed like a bolt of lightning and drilled itself into his eye!
Raven wished to scream but as he couldn't open his mouth he had to bear with it silently, something that made the pain several notches worse!
'F...uck...'
And unfortunately, it was only just the beginning.
Shortly after the first thread pierced itself into his eye, Raven watched with horror as another thread appeared in his line of sight out of nowhere and flashed, penetrating his other eye like a sharp needle!
Then another one.
And another one...
And another...
Almost as if starting an unstoppable avalanche by spotting that first thread, one by one Raven felt his eyes getting pierced, making him wish he could scream.
But he couldn't.
He could only helplessly mourn inwardly as hundreds of threads pierced his eyes, filling his whole body with nothing but merciless suffering and seemingly endless misery!
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