Everything went dark, it's just a question of time for "return by death" to activate. Slowly but surely I started feeling my body again, and a goddamn headache.
"U-Ugh, what happened? Where am I?" The young man thought to himself, his head felt like it was going to explode because of the fall.
Subaru got up, looking around for any sign of life. An ominous wind was blowing weakly, enough to give him chills.
"What is this place?" He questioned, he was on a small platform with only one way to go, any other direction would lead to a deep darkness. He didn't have another option, so he went through the small path.
In the distance he could see something peculiar, a smaller platform with a white four-pointed star spinning…
Subaru got close to it, still wondering about everything, he reached out towards the little star, he was about to touch it when…
At times, you see it flickering. The light can only be seen by who needs it. *By second nature, you reach out, and…
Subaru fell back, terrified, there was a voice in his head speaking at the moment of the event. In front of him was a text box:
[Empty] LV 0 0:00
– – –
Save Return
The boy was so confused, the events that happened to them in such a small amount of time was too much for him, but he needed to get out of there. Recomposing himself he analyzes the same text box that scared him moments ago.
At first, Subaru moved his hand to the "Return" option and the box simply disappeared. Now curious, he reached out for the star again, the same voice returned, repeating the same thing again. When the options appeared he chose the "Save", pressing it the panel suddenly changed:
Subaru LV 1 32:56
??????
Progress saved.
And once again it disappears, Subaru quickly remembered the usual "checkpoints" in the games he used to play on earth. Just for a last check before leaving he opened it, his name and his "LV" didn't change and both Save and Return options were available.
"Let's get out of this strange place now" Subaru noted to himself. Now he had to continue his journey, staying there wouldn't have any sense,
With a bit of walking, making a few turns here and there, it could be seen some other platforms outside the path, they are square shaped, with some… strange structure on them. It looked like a "i", having a base, a supporting column and a sphere at the top.
passing by it, those things made some, although quite goofy, strange sounds and moving from side to side.
"What are these things?" The boy questioned, he wanted to touch it, but it was too far away to do.
Subaru was starting to doubt that following the path would lead him anywhere, but it wasn't like he had a choice, he needed to continue.
Just ahead was high ground, definitely physical, with those things on top. On a larger portion of the top terrain, a small silhouette was seen on it and quickly vanished, this already alarmed Subaru and now made him cautious with every move he made.
Going further, he saw a small cliff which he would have to go down there, sliding down it he ends up in a branching path. The east one had two eye figures and a hole leaking out some kind of black liquid.
The down path seemed more safe and so he went on it, but it led to a dead-end. In a hole in that wall there was a small shiny thing. He tried to grab it, obtaining something called "Glowshard".
He put it in his pocket and went to the east path, once again he found those wobbly things, but they were different now, they were black and had a red outline.
He hesitated a bit, unsure if he should proceed or not in continuing. As he bypasses them, the wobbly things shoot three spherical projectiles at Subaru who barely dodges.
A red heart appears at Subaru's Chest, which he doesn't pay attention to since he was occupied with those bullets. There were more of them ahead, so he needed to be careful to not get hit.
He starts running to dodge those ahead, but unfortunately the young man gets hit by one and a quick but sharp pain is felt by his entire body.
Following the only thing he had, this only path, he ends up in front of that star he found on the beginning, Subaru decides to save his progress and by the time he reaches out for the light, the pain magically melted away.
Next to him was a sigh:
"In this land, only eyes blinded by darkness can see the way…" Subaru thought for a while and associated the text to the next obstacle.
A small puzzle, there were three eyes on the wall, each one with three small circles under them, some filled and others empty and each one had a hole with a switch to activate and deactivate them.
The first eye had the first and the last circles filled, with the second one empty; the second eye had the first two filled and the last empty; The third eye had only the last circles filled.
Farther on was the end of the path, which was separated by a gap too big to jump over, it would be stupid to try.
"Better safe than dead" Subaru was sweating while looking at the abyss that separated both part.
To better understand the puzzle, Subaru activates the first switch; by doing that, the first and third eye turns black, as the circle underneath it represents. He already knew the answer, just pressing the second and third switch should solve this puzzle.
but just to clear his conscience, he pressed the second switch, with this, the second one turned black as the last ones, but the first, which was already black, turned back to normal.
"Interesting, this puzzle could be difficult if it was more complex" He said thinking out loud
He deactivate both switches, turning the puzzle back to what it was originally, then proceeds to press the second and last switch, turning all the three eyes black
The gap that separated the road was filled with huge blocks, apparently tempered glass or something similar to that. Creating a passage to continue his adventure
Continuing he found another cliff, this time bigger than the last, this made Subaru question the depth of this place. He slides down once. At the bottom, they enter an area filled with some type of puffy mound entities
Subaru tried to touch one, but at the moment his hand made contact with the entity it suddenly burst, surprising him.
Going to his left was more of those things, But something caught the boy's attention, a shadow sneaking from mound to mound.
It went to the last mound, the only one in the way, Subaru didn't have any choice other than face whatever was there.
He's slowly approaching, eyes focused in the place, guard up, if anything goes wrong he can try pushing it to the black abyss. He went to touch it, the puffy mount burst…
"Y'better to fuck off pal, I'm expert in fightin'!" A blonde tiger warned, but he did not expected that the man in front of him was his captain
Subaru immediately noticed his clothes, instead of the usual clothes he uses, he was instead using a shining black heavy armor and on his back there was a big shield. With Subaru's level of nerd, he associated Garfiel with the Tank class in RPG.
"Wait, Cap'n? Where have y'been? Me and Brotto were worried about ya" Garfiel looked relieved, knowing he wouldn't have to beat the crap out of someone, especially one of his closest friends.
"W-Wait Garfiel, you can't just leave me behind!" A panting Otto arrives, tired of chasing his partner, when he gets up he sees his best friend Subaru safe and sound.
Unlike Garfiel, Otto didn't had any major changes, his iconic green based look, except they look more fancy that the usual
"Natsuki-San! I'm so glad you're fine, when we fell we got separated, me and Garfiel were looking for you everywhere" Otto, almost dying, said to the boy.
The trio was finally reunited and ready for any situation, Subaru asked if any of them knew this or if it was new, both boys replied denying the knowledge of this place.
He kept going forward, sliding down another cliff, making occasional turns due to terrain until they found themselves in a very long straight line, one thing stood out, a single pillar across this length.
"Hey Cap'n, what's up with that shadow wavin' to us? Garfiel asked while pointing to the top of the pillar.
Suddenly, it raised its arm and with that summoned projectiles in the shape of playing card spades. In the heat of the moment, Subaru could only say one thing:
"RUN!" He screamed his lungs out
Once again that red heart was visible on Subaru's chest, although he didn't notice because of the rain of projectiles in their direction
Otto and Garfiel hid under his shield, but it was too small for the three of them, so Subaru chose to stay outside of it.
The bankrupt merchant and the buffed cat manages to go at full speed, Subaru in the other hand was having trouble with all the spades coming at him
He got past the straight path, only to find himself on the end with the only option of sliding down a cliff so deep that he couldn't even see the bottom
Was this or death, he decided to gamble and went down, the previously rain turned into a bunch of bullets coming from both sides. Subaru had to speed up the fall and slow down to dodge all those.
As the end was near, he felt like he was going to pass out and so he did. Some minutes later he wakes up, successfully managing to survive that hell.
Another headache hit him, it felt like he fell face-first to the floor, slowly getting up he didn't find both his brothers. He gets worried, however there was an entrance close to where he was and maybe they took refuge inside.
Because of his pain, he has to go at a slower pace, otherwise it gets worse. As he passes through the entrance he meets his brothers, feeling relief in his heart.
"Garfiel, Otto" he said weakly, fighting to remain stable on the ground. Subaru was sore from that chase. His bros helped him, making him lean on Otto.
But his eyes gleamed with hope when he saw a familiar star further north. He asked if they could see that star, Otto and Garfiel says that yes, although not very well, for them it was only a small light
Subaru asked them to help him get there, they didn't know exactly why but they agreed, and the trio came closer to the source of light. He reaches out for the white shiny star as the voice that previously scared Subaru returned
In front of you, a castle looms beneath the empty town. *A black geyser emerges from it, piercing endlessly into the sky *The power of this place shines within you.
A light surrounds the trio, it makes them feel refreshed, like a breeze when waking up in the morning. Otto and Garfiel looked shocked, any pain magically disappeared making them good as new.
[???: Welcome, heroes…!