Selina didn't looked back, to the source of the voice. She started to move forward ignoring the whisper that was calling out her name, every time she took a step forward the voice sound became more clear and stronger.
She started to move faster and the sound of the voice also followed her, ringing in her ears. Whenever she stopped, the voice would barge more aggressively in her ears, she grabbed her ears and moved faster, but the voice never seemed to leave her.
Selina stopped moving, she then opened her mouth to say something the word that escaped had however betrayed Selina pure and clean thoughts that she had about the voice.
'Ugh, this goddamn voice when the fuck will this thing shut up?'
Her words however were different from her thoughts, they were rather filled with pleas to leave her, Selina herself didn't understand what rubbish she was speaking.
"Please leave me alone, please. I don't want to die so soon, please leave me, please don't kill me, please Mr. Voice, don't kill me."
'Ah, so embarrassing. I want to die.'
Hearing her voice, the unknown voice went silent, Selina noticing the silence sighed in relief. She had gained some arrogance, for unknown reasons maybe it was because she believed she had drive away the voice, and was free from it.
She moved with her chest up in pride, her eyes was filled with little too much arrogance, but this arrogance was about to be broken soon, as Selina moved with joy, she turned around and said in a loud voice.
"I FEAR NOTHING."
As soon her eyes laid on her surroundings, the colour of her face drained, she stumbled on her feet and falled on her back. The surrounding that was lighted by the ghostly white flames, was replaced by a colour of blood red, and in that red there was menacing figure, it's whole self couldn't been seen but it's presence was unnerving. It was so overwhelming, that it's presence created a hallucination.
The hallucination, it was of a sinister, monstrous entity with an overwhelming aura of malevolence. The creature's most prominent features were its glowing red eyes, in which there was a halo of white. When Selina eyes met with it's eyes, the monstrous being revealed it's wide and sharp grin.
Selina was frozen in fear, the lack of defined physical form, aside from the mouth and eyes, further amplified the horror, making the creature a raw manifestation of terror itself. She then heard the sound of the steps, the figure was moving towards her, she could see the terrifying creature getting closer towards her.
The figure moved towards her, and Selina moved backwards by crawling, the creature was tormenting her mentally and finding fun in it, as Selina could see it's materialised form smiling with satisfaction.
Before anything could happen to Selina, something happened to the vile creature, as Selina was crawling backwards while the figure moved towards her with a wide grin, her eyes watched the materialised head of the creature with anticipation for a miracle to happen.
A miracle happened but in a strange way, Selina saw a hand, a very big pristine hand materialising behind the head of the creature. Selina stared at the hand with disbelief, the manifestation of the head of the creature, seemed to realise something the strangeness in Selina behaviour.
The mysterious entity felt the presence of the pristine hand, and what Selina saw in that being eyes was the reflection her previous feeling, it was primal fear. It closed it eyes, resigning to it's fate the hand moved at a blinding speed, and slapped it's way through the entity making it disappear.
The hand then pointed it's finger at Selina, making her crawl back due to her instinct, the unknown hand made a thumbs up, and then snapped it's finger and disappeared in nothingness. Selina eyes went blank for a second, and then it's vibrant violet colour returned to them, she stared at the air for a moment and then stood up.
"What the hell was I doing at the ground?"
She tried to remember why she was on the ground, and she found it. Selina was on the ground because she tripped on her own feets and fell on the ground hurting her nose, making it bleed once again.
"Once again? Ah probably nothing."
She moved without having any sense of direction, as she didn't know the real length of the wide hall and the region at the further end wasn't clearly visible because of the less level of brightness provided by the ghostly white flames.
She moved forward without looking at the back, as she had studied the murals completely, walking for few minutes the unexplored region of the hall was now visible to her, there was something unexpected for her, there were two statues they were big but not big enough for Selina to hurt her neck when looking upward.
One had only eyes, and even they were poorly described as if the builders of the statue couldn't get the clear view of the person, however the other statue Selina identified it, the other statue was more refined then the statue beside it.
"This is the statue of that unknown woman, then this statue should be of the original one. But how the heck did that civilization created these statues, ugh... I should leave it logic died the moment I entered this place. Those guys what is taking them so much time to come down, ah so annoying."
Kicking the air, Selina moved to around the statues observing them with keen interest, when she arrived at the statues back she accidentally stumbled upon something tall, and big. It was a mannequin or rather a poor version of it, and wrapped around it was cloak.
The cloak on the mannequin appeared to be made of a translucent, ethereal fabric that resembles the night sky. It had a deep, dark purple hue with sparkling stars scattered throughout, giving it a cosmic or galactic appearance.
The cloak would drape over the person's head, partially obscuring their face, and seems to shimmer with a celestial glow. The overall effect is otherworldly, as though the person is cloaked in a piece of the universe itself.
Selina, wiped the blood off her face and making it clear to a point till, there was no blood on her face at all, she was enthralled by it appearance and was hesitant to stain it with blood. Making sure that the blood is not on her hands or face, she took the cloak off the makeshift mannequin and wore it on herself.
The cloak fitted her very beautifully, it was enhancing her white hairs and the violet eyes of Selina was a perfect match to the purple hue of the littered night sky designed on the cloak. Selina moved back to the statue's front and compared it to unknown women's cloak, it was indeed the same cloak.
"This is so beautiful, if only this thing was not an ancient artifact of this civilization, I would have kept this with me. Hmm? Was there something like that before?"
Selina stared at the stand on which was kept something, walking near to it, she noticed a stone tablet resting on it, the tablet was however missing a part of it. Selina took out the piece of tablet she had kept with her, and surprisingly the piece of tablet she had was really the part of the incomplete stone tablet resting in front of her, Selina laughed with few tears escaping from her eyes.
"Dad and mom, I found it only if you guys were here to celebrate with me, why did you had to leave me alone."
Selina stared at the ceiling for few moments, wiping her tears and turning her attention to the complete stone tablet, she took out her notepad to copy all of the runes etched on the tablet.
"Strange, I don't know why but these words... I can understand them, but why? I couldn't even understand a speck of it but now I am able to read it?"
She touched the tablet carefully, not wanting to do any sort of damage to it, brushing her fingers on the inscriptions. She closed her eyes and then she sighed, opening them again now filled with determination, to understand the tablet.
After ten minutes of reading and understanding the tablet, and trying to remember the meanings of the runes using her brain, Selina finally arrived to the conclusion, taking the notepad in which she had noted the full meaning she read the words aloud.
"To the one that have come here
Seeking salvation in this darkness
Shall not fear anything that come
In their way as the Abyss will protect
You
May the abyss heed your deepest
Desires."
Selina sighed.
"So this is some sort of song? The Abyss heed my deepest desire, what a joke. Ah... It should be joke right, yeah this a joke. Okay then, dear Abyss my deepest desire is that I, transmigrate to my favorite novel called Shadow Slave, with the aspect ability to copy others Aspects, and my flaw should be that I cannot say truth."
Nothing happened, Selina sighed in defeat, pitying herself for believing in such foolishness. She turned around to walk and explore other areas, but behind her specks of light gathered, they gathered and gathered until they big humongous in size.
Selina felt the radiance of bright source, she looked over her shoulder which caused her eyes to widen, but before she could do anything the bright source of light exploded, swallowing her in an instant.
The whole place was left in darkness due to the sudden explosion, then the whole hall was lit up with the radiance of ghostly white flames, except one place was still cover in darkness it was the corner of the hall.
Then it was at that moment, a sound was ringing in the wide expanse of the hall, it was the sound of footsteps. Walking out of the pitch black darkness, was a beautiful lady, she was tall and her frame was lithe, she walked gracefully and her steps were calm and silent.
She was covered in a veil revealing only her rosy lips, it was same as the cloak that Selina had found and wore before disappearing in the brilliant light, the unknown lady stop in front of the statues and sighed.
"What a hassle, young lady does know how to trouble others but I like her, don't you agree dear? Ah you also took liking of her don't you, considering how you were having fun when you scared her."
Her voice was sweet like a nectar, the polite and sweet voice of the unknown lady echoed in the hall, no response came but the lady suddenly let out a melodious laugh.
"I know, it is awkward to see your own statues but it doesn't matter, you should come out now."
There was no response once again, the lady chimed in again however this time her voice was a little strange, it was sweet but in there was hidden some sort of secret.
"What? You don't want to reveal yourself? But who are you trying to not reveal yourself?"
The lady, waited for few moments to think, and then some sort of realization settled to her.
"Ah so that was it, he didn't want to reveal himself....."
Through her veil, a pair of golden eyes shined, looking through something beyond the fabric of reality, something that set her world and the other world off.
"To think it was you guys, the people who read."
***
In a vast desert, specks of light gathered and condensed then suddenly exploded, from that explosion a figure was thrown out, the person screamed in shock. They fell on the white sand, the impact was strong enough to break few bones and cause few bruises to the body of the person.
They laid on their back, staring aimlessly at the boundless azure sky as they were in state of trance, a minute later they raised their upper body, their vibrant violet eyes widened as the memories of everything came back to their mind.
"So the song was not true."
Selina, raised her brows in confusion and then she realized the gravity of her situation, her surroundings were already gnawing her heart, why wouldn't they after all she was thrown to the forsaken battlefield of the deads, the Nightmare Desert.
"I am Selina."
"I am not from another world."
Selina for five minutes tried everything she could to understand limitations of the leash, she had placed on herself willingly. She could do expressions, say basic things like introduction and normal sentences, can twist the information using words like maybe, it could be, etc. and can answer question using probability. She however cannot mention, a single word about the novel, whenever she tried no words escape from her mouth, even to herself.
'I am at the Nightmare Desert, Wow what a rotten luck.'
She stood up and looked at herself, she was wearing a white shirt and black jeans that fitted enough to not hinder her movement, fine black boots, and finally the cloak of the mysterious woman. Selina stood up and looked around, she had to traverse all the way from the vast white expanse of the Nightmare Desert, and then to the Forgotten Shore or maybe if her luck is much worse then she would have to go through the hollow mountains.
'I am immortal, ain't I?'
To confirm her doubts, she summoned her runes, a screen shimmered from thin air containing multiple threads of information for Selina. She stared at them, and read everything, and then she facepalmed herself.
'Who the hell is this... Abyss King?'
Few things didn't settled to Selina very well, and all of them were related to the Abyss. The first mention of the Abyss, was by the author of the novel, and he even mentioned about a higher up called the Abyss God, then she found another reference of it in the strange song of the past, and now she had a true name, which was surprising in it's own way and it was also related to this 'Abyss King'.
'There are many absurd things going on here, I am a dreamer but I have not gone through the first nightmare, and many things related to me are just disturbing, specially my Aspect description, my absence of soul core, this divine cloak of the unknown women etc. Well, I can't do anything about it so I should leave it for now and... I should really find a place to hide if I don't want to get caught in the battle of dead gods.'
Selina started to move, she was just beginning her journey without knowing what kind of truth is awaiting for her in the end.
***
Selina opened her eyes, it has been two months by far and she had been killed many times whenever she travelled, it was enough to kill the fear of death in her. The endless Nightmare Desert seemed to never end, as if she was thrown in the center of it from the beginning, she had been following the compass memory for a lot of time, but was still unable to find a way out.
'Another day to travel in this rotten place.'
She opened her runes, they read:
Name: Selina.
True Name: Apostle of the Abyss King.
Rank: Dreamer.
Void Heart: Dormant.
Void Fragments: [798/1000].
Attributes: [Fate from the Void], [Peerless Talent], [The Peak of Tranquility], [Transmigrator], [?].
Memories: [White Shirt], [Black Pants], [Black Boots], [Fragment of The Divine Sky], [A Gift].
Echoes: —
Aspect: [Heaven's Will].
Aspect Rank: [Divine].
Aspect Description: [You are a being that traversed a reality to enter another, achieving something that is impossible. While your constitution is that of a normal human, your soul hides something much more, something that is divine but loved by the beings of -Unknown- making you favoured by them, the God's however consider you a threat except the most ancient one. Your predecessor was under the protection and equal of the most ancient one of the -unknown-, in your era, you are bound to your protector and equal till his death.]
Innate Ability: [King's Equal]
Ability Description: [Your soul is bounded to your equal, the denser their soul becomes yours will too, each time they took a new step towards divinity you will be with them.]
Aspect Abilities: [The Hoarder].
Aspect Ability Description: [Your souls unlike others is a blank canvas, that can be painted in the colours of others soul, a true blessing in the colour of pristine white.]
Flaw: [The Fourth Wall]
Flaw Description: [You are still bounded to chains of your previous world, thus you can't reveal any truth about it, your betrayal has taken your ability for speaking truth forever.]
Selina stared at the string showing the fragments she had gained without killing anything, and they kept increasing, her innate ability was a truly blessing for her that helped her to escape the endless desert much faster.
"This unknown person has gain increase in Void Fragments in such fast rate."
Selina closed the runes and sighed, she stood up and walked out of the fissure, she was met by the bright light of sun and raised her hands to cover her eyes, waiting for her pupils to adjust. Finally finding the comfort in seeing her surroundings, Selina summoned a memory it was the memory with the name [A Gift].
A black compass with a single end golden needle materialised from the sparks of the light, the dormant memory was pointing toward a certain direction, she looked towards the direction only to find nothing, but she had no choice and moved in that direction.
Somewhere in the vast expanse of the Nightmare desert, a person was walking, on closer look it was a man in his late teens, he was wearing a rugged black cloak with purple lines intricated on them, inside was dark garments covering his body and soft leather soled boots.
The young man skin was milky in shade and he had neatly cutted white hair, in them was a hint of blonde at the tips. His grey eyes were dull as if he had faced to much adverasry in his journey, both of hands had a black bracelet made up of scales on the wrist, his face was stoic containing no emotion at all
Wren had reached the Nightmare Desert after a very long journey.
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Damn man, finally finished with this. I will be on break for 2-3 days my body is in so much pain due to work, so no chapter in tuesday and will upload a chapter of 3-4k on friday. As for Selina runes the thing it was quite unplanned so description is not well made, will update it when I get more proficient in writing. Ask question you want, I saw nobody commented on the previous chapter did my cooking go wrong? Well tell me, since my dumb ass has nothing to say anymore we will meet later. So bye bye.