Genesis pushed against the wide and heavy door, the door was rotten, it's flesh an uncomfortable to look at green. He entered the room and prepared his sword. The gold gleamed as the eyes above acted as lights, for Genesis's eyes to see.
Genesis's eyes dashed around, searching. He looked into the shadows for an enemy, powerful enemy. What else would have such huge doors leading into an even bigger room?
Genesis's eyes were alerted when he saw a shadow dash in the dark. His ears perked when he heard a raspy croaking come from the dark. When he readied his sword and pointed it to the sound and he waited. It took a moment, but a decent sized creature came crawling out.
Its body was shaped like a bird, having a beak, withering talons, jet black feathers and wings that spanned across the room. Genesis looked at the monster and was not threatened because it was sick and rotting, literally. Its feathers were the same color as the door, its beak filled with phlegm and its talons were black and dissipating.
Its body was withering away like ashes but kept piecing it's self back together. It was constantly in pain, its eyes were bloodshot, without having any second of rest.
Genesis wondered what plague could have befallen the creature but kept his distance away from it until the creature raised its voice, which was dying but unyielding.
"You wonder what could have happened to myself, do you not? It was an act of revenge against the White Room as a whole. The Purposeless Wanderer killed off six of the seven hearts of the White Room before injecting it with a lethal virus. For years it ravaged through the body of the White Room leaving it all in agony, until it decided to betray me, it sent all of it's rotten flesh to me and I caught the infection of the virus, but because of the evolution I had undergone, I did not perish, but kept healing, over and over. "
Genesis looked at the monster in confusion before questioning.
"If that is truly what happened to you, why have you told me this?"
The bird responded in a way that only those who have undergone eternal pain and suffering would respond.
"You are hated by the White Room, so the enemy of enemy is my friend."
Genesis heard the words of the creature and processed what the bird was proposing. It was proposing an alliance.
"So then, are we allies?"
The bird looked down on Genesis before stating.
"Yes."
When Genesis accepted the birds proposal, he asked it a question, two actually.
"What is your name? Also, if you regenerate forever, could I use you for training?"
"My name is Debmaw, the previous liver of the White Room and since I already go through so much pain, a few sword strikes would not do any harm."
Genesis hid his smirk from Debmaw because he did not want to show the bird his rejoicing at the fact that he could become better with his sword while having no left eye. Then, he would be able to keep improving without a hindrance.
Stairs of flesh appeared methodically. One after another, they climbed up until they reached the entrance to the next layer. Genesis looked at the bird and its gesture for him to climb onto it, Genesis was hesitant and pressed Debmaw with another round of questions.
"How do I know your disease will not infect me? Why did you not fight against the White Room with someone else."
The bird sighed and titled its head towards the ground. He then answered all of Genesis's sceptical questions.
"The Purposeless Wanderer was reckless but not stupid. The plague that went on in the White Room could never infect humans. Second of all, yes, they were others before you, but none like you. You remind of the Purposeless Wanderer, beaten, bruised but with a look of determination and longing in your heart. Plus, both of you lost a body part."
Debmaw's last sentence was a low blow to Genesis as he really loved his eyes, they guided him and strengthened him in the White Room. Losing one of them was like losing a part of himself.
Genesis climbed onto the Debmaw's back and held tight as the bird ascended above the stairs and they both made their entrance.
Debmaw and Genesis exited the second layer of the White Room and entered the third, they made their way through a town of the advanced Agents, which were a light breeze, because Debmaw cleared them put by infecting the Agents with the virus. The virus wreaked havoc through the Agents armies and families. Genesis felt like he was on top of the world, in the center of the universe and that he was safe, for the first time in the White Room he was safe.
They reached an open plane, where Genesis suggested they should train.
Genesis readied his golden sword and tried to steady his balance, but without an eye it was more difficult than it seemed. Genesis counted down and they came to spar.
Genesis went on the offensive, charging at Debmaw, but the bird was ready. When he slashed the virus took apart Debmaw's body and he slashed at nothing but the ashes. Debmaw's body materialized and the bird used it talons to slash at Genesis's armor which left some marks on it, but it was already littered with countless scratches. Genesis slashed at the bird as it kept it's grip on his armor and the hit connected. The bird let go of Genesis then it proceeded to shroud Genesis's vision with its ashen feathers. It started to attack Genesis with its beak, while doing that it's talons turned to ash and approached Genesis. The ash made dents in Genesis's chestplate as the bird formed it's constantly decaying body into spikes.
Genesis was getting completely overpowered, he blamed this on his eye at first but realized if he were to fight the bird in his peak condition it would be a wash and he would take the loss. Now with the realization that Genesis could not beat Debmaw with both eyes still intact what would he do, with one. Genesis got his head back into battle as he wanted to win, but there was no winning against the Liver of the White Room. Genesis kept fighting anyway, willing to put his armor on the line he kept striking the solidified green ash, parrying, understanding it and overpowering it.
Once figured out that he could understand the ash he went for the main target. he attempted to strike at Debmaw but there were no results as the shifty bird was a tricky opponent, using its virus as a blessing in battle and not a curse. When the thought traveled through Genesis's mind he thought if he could do the same with his eyes. if he had lost one eye, he could only focus on the other eye and if he only focused on eye instead of two his reaction speed would reach its full potential, but it would take to put this revelation into fruition. Genesis kept his stamina against the countless strikes of Debmaw, evading most of the strikes he did with his beak.
Genesis saw an opening between the feathers of the bird, it was in between when they decayed and regenerated back together. He could dash through the decaying feathers and strike when they came back together. He did as his plan instructed but the bird was faster. When it regenerated it turned it's body doing a half spin before it's other wing of rotten feathers slammed Genesis to the ground, the attack was so powerful Genesis lost all the air in his lungs and was left waling and crying in pain.
The bird ordered that they stop the spar and Genesis should rest, until they battle again. Genesis wondered when they would advance and meet the next big monster in the White Room. Debmaw spoke his voice more clear than withering and his command more demanding than being rotten.
"Listen here Genesis and listen good. There are four major organs before you can defeat the last heart of the White Room. There is the bladder who has already been defeated I can only assume by your hand. There is the liver which is myself. There are the lungs above me and there is the brain. Your comrades are on the upper layers of the White Room, which is about where the lungs are, the last heart of the White Room is above the brain and if you can not defeat the me, then you cannot defeat the lungs, if you cannot defeat the lungs you can not defeat the lungs, then you have no chance of defeating the brain and if you can not defeat the brain, you can not pierce the heart and you can not escape the White Room's grasp on your life! Do you understand me Genesis?"
Genesis was taken aback by the raising of the bird's voice but responded anyway.
"First of all how do you know my name? Second of all if you said is true then what about the Grey Soul of the White Room?"
Debmaw looked calm when Genesis started to speak, when he finished speaking though Debmaw was on alert.
"Yo- You met the Grey and sole Soul of the White Room."
"Yes, I did and I escaped it."
"How did you escape it?"
"The same way the Purposeless Wanderer did."
"Oh no. That is not good."
"Wait, why is it not good?"
Debmaw gave Genesis a morbid look before replying.
"Because he is an absolute crashout, but he can't get of the sand so you don't have to worry about him anymore."
Genesis did a double take.
"So what was the suspense for?"
"The suspense... Mmm, I don't really know sometimes I just feel like doing that."
"As a repeatedly dying bird, you just feel like creating suspense for no reason?"
"Well there is a reason I'm just not sure what it is."
"Are you sure there is a reason?"
The bird's eyes activated then he spoke with conviction.
"It's because Hallowion hates getting tricked. The last time he got tricked by the Purposeless Wanderer he ravaged through the White Room like a beast."
"I thought you said it could not leave the sand where it resides!"
Genesis said, feeling scared.
"It can not but it can turn it's surroundings into the sand made out of scarlet bones. It was a nice trick he picked up when he viciously slaughtered his brothers, but do not fret, you can hear his burrowing from miles away."
"So it just kills everything that it considers an enemy, like a rampage, but with the worm that has teeth that can cut through steel and the same worm that is miles long. Funny how you forget things like that."
"I find it peculiar how you can not adapt to these low pressure situations."
Genesis said sarcastically.
"So do I."
Genesis wandered around the houses of the Agents they killed looking for something edible, yet everything was made out of the White Room, even food and the water was just blood. Genesis was repulsed by the way the Agents lived, he could not imagine himself, drinking blood for water and eating flesh for food. More reasons why he hated the Agents. Advanced or not, he still thought every Agent was the scum of the Earth and deserved to die, he grit his teethe together thinking about them.
Genesis then walked back over to the constantly decaying bird, who was now green. The bird was lying in rest, in the absolute middle of the street. How confident was it that it could just do that. Genesis wanted to have that type of confidence in his new life, but proved time and time again that it was hard to be confident.