The rumbling grew until the sound of it was a never ending crescendo of crashing. It wasn’t just the sound of earth grinding against concrete or ceiling tiles crashing to the ground, it was the sound of thousands of wires being pulled apart with sinews of muscle while the facility ripped itself apart.

  The first time Jinyoung encountered death, he was taken aback by how quiet it seemed. His mother’s face was still and calm. If he hadn’t seen the monster throw her against the side of the bus, he could’ve mistaken her for being asleep. But, at the time, there was no doubt in his mind that she was dead.

  Just as there was no doubt in his mind that this rumbling was his death.

  Jinyoung pressed his feet against the ground and launched himself forward, feeling [dash] push him the distance of 15 feet in less than a second. When his feet made contact, he ran just a few steps before repeating the process.

  It reminded him of when he rode in the car with his parents and he would blink rapidly while looking out the window. Like old movies his dad had shown him in the garage.

  Jinyoung exited a [dash] and his feet landed on bits of rubble. Before he knew it, he was skidding along the ground before sliding to standstill.

  Not good, he thought wearily. I have to keep moving.

  His muscles felt like rubber as he pushed himself up and [dashed] again. This time, his vision went white for a moment, even after he exited the [dash].

  Jinyoung, where are you?! Willow’s voice was so loud he thought he could hear her echo in his head.

  I’m nearly out, he responded weakly.

  A lie.

  He was still at the bottom of the silo. Pumping his legs as quickly as they would move, trying to get up to the upper levels.

  A screeching roar made him twist his head around in alarm. What he mistook as a monster was the bottom floor of the silo falling away and collapsing into the black. The steel beams and cement foundations rumbled and screamed as they bent and broke in a thousand ways.

  Where exactly, Jinyoung?!

  Jinyoung didn’t want to, but he [dashed] again. He aimed at the floor above him and barely caught a hold of the handle bars before gravity took hold of him. For a moment, he dangled over the abyss before hoisting himself up on the catwalks.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  My arms are numb, he said ruefully.

  He ignored Willow’s protests and pulled himself back on his feet and kept moving.

  I’m moving, Willow. As fast as I can.

  A boulder chunked down on the catwalk beside him as he ran past. It tore a piece of the railing loose and sent it spinning at Jinyoung. Before he could react, he felt the bar hit him in the ribs. The pain shot through his side and nearly felled him.

  For a moment, his vision went blurry but Jinyoung held on. If he passed out now he was surely dead.

  Jinyoung, I need you to tell me exactly where you are.

  The shaking had grown so strong that Jinyoung was reduced to walking quickly with one hand on the handrails to keep himself from being thrown off.

  I-I’m on the third level down from the top. There was too much collapsing debris to continue up the silo so Jinyoung ducked into a corridor. He had to hope this one would have an exit leading out rather than looping back around like the one he, Youngho, and Hana had taken earlier.

  I’m taking a side tunnel here.

  The tunnel was dark, but there was enough light for Jinyoung to make his way through.

  …young, we’re… one! Stay… are!!

  Jinyoung tried to focus on Willow’s voice, but he was at his limit. The pain from his ribs was excruciating and his body was well past his limits.

  He could feel his vision getting darker and his body was shaking uncontrollably.

  [Dash].

  Jinyoung blinked. The light was blindingly bright, not at all what he was expecting after the cave.

  But he wasn’t in the cave. The expanse was wide open without any walls or mountains in the distance. The horizon went on for an eternity with blue skies and clouds overhead. He recognized the view. Until now, he’d almost forgotten it. Or maybe he had tried successfully to forget it. Successfully until now, of course.

  It was the endless expanse.

  Jinyoung stared at the clouds overhead and waited. But they didn’t move, and they would never move. Nothing here did. Except for the man who walked in the distance. Jinyoung took a deep breath and then took a soundless step. He quietly walked towards the man who limped forward.

  As he got closer, he could hear it. The sound of feet dragging along the surface of the ground. A gritty sand laid over a hard surface (rock, perhaps). It reminded him of sidewalks that had been freshly retiled with brick back home.

  Home? The man’s mind struggled to remember the connection to the word. A brief glimpse at memories that had been bleached by the endless sun. There was no heat. There was no cold. There was no hunger. There was no thirst. There just... was.

  It was the longest he had ever gone without touching the shrine. After his last battle, he had decided to walk until he was tired. Then turn around and walk back.

  He was teetering on the brink of madness before he turned back. Before he realized this was a place without exhaustion. The only source of pain was the golem itself. The only exhaustion came from battle. Outside of battle and beyond the golem, there was no danger of pain, exhaustion or death. And therein lies madness.

  Jinyoung watched himself mindlessly limp towards the horizon line.

  He had done this multiple times in the Black Shrine. It started as the only way to keep his sanity, but later it became an obsession. A form of insanity itself.

  When he realized where he was and what this was, Jinyoung stopped. He let the man walk away until he was, himself, a spec on the horizon.

  Then, he waited.