A quagmire lay in front of him.
Blood splattered across the walls.
Bits of flesh scattered throughout the cavern.
Limbs hung apart from each other, motionless.
The dead eyes stared back at him.
There was no movement.
It truly was a quagmire of death.
The young boy could only look on. His mouth was dry as he desperately clung to his oversized swords.
"…you"
Those voices. They were cold and emotionless.
"N-no, I… I didn't…"
He tried to stutter out an excuse. He already knew what they meant.
"Your… fault"
A dozen of cold female voices echoed through his mind.
An amazon, half-elf, were-person, prum and a red-headed woman all stared at him. He shivered but he couldn't break their gaze. They held him prisoner.
"You… Killed… Us!"
"I-I-I…"
It was then a figure emerged from the shadows. The slow methodical tapping of boots bounced in the boy's slightly pointed ears.
He froze.
"P-p-please…"
The green robe swayed with each step the figure took towards the boy.
He saw the blonde hair. The pointy ears. The wooden sword. Behind the figure, the voices only got louder.
"You… killed us!"
The young boy took a step backwards. The robed figure took a step closer.
"You killed us!"
Another step back, resulted in the boy falling over, crashing to the ground. The blonde-haired elf didn't not care, continuing her advance.
"I'm so-so-so…"
"You killed us!"
"You killed us!"
"You killed us!"
The boy's cries were drowned out by the voices of the dead. Those voices had tormented him for over 5 years.
He tried to scramble backwards but his back met a wall. His breathing only heightened in pace with each step the vengeful woman took towards him. The voices of her dead comrades pushed her forward.
"YOU KILLED US!"
"YOU KILLED US!"
"YOU KILLED US!"
The boy could only look up in fear at the elf. The spark of a killer glinted in her blue eyes; her wooden sword sharpened perfectly to end his life. She had become this because of him.
The boy was on the verge of a panic attack, grasping his chest tightly, sword still in hand.
"VENGENCE!"
Half of the cold voices changed their tune.
"JUSTICE!"
The other half chanted another.
"VENGENCE!"
"JUSTICE!"
The boy was shaking as he looked up towards what was his vision of Justice as the Gale went to plunge her sword into his chest.
"VENGENCE!"
"JUSTICE!"
"VENGENCE!"
"JUSTICE!"
Just as the sword was about to open his chest open, the wall behind the boy crumbled, causing him to fall.
"DEATH!"
"DEATH!"
"Death!"
"death!"
"death!"
The voices followed him down the giant hole until he could no longer hear them.
After what felt like an eternity, he landed. What felt like a pool had cushioned his fall. Then he opened his eyes.
He surveyed the pool he had landed in. Once again, his throat tightened.
He slowly brought his hands up to his face, the liquid dripping from his hands.
The red droplets fell from his swords into the mass pile of a crimson-red lake.
*POP*
The sound came from behind.
*POP*
Another, again behind.
He slowly turned his head. His pupils shrank to mere dots at the sight.
*POP*
Another, this time to his left.
*POP*
*POP*
*POP*
They started appearing all around him.
His body wouldn't move, forcing him to watch as they surrounded him.
*POP*
*POP*
*POP*
He wanted to say something but no words would form.
It only took a minute but now what was once just an empty pool of blood was now filled to the brim with something else. Something he had been seeing for his entire stay in Orario.
The corpses were lying face down, blood tricking off their backs back into the lake from which they had emerged.
He knew what they were. Each one represented a life he took. Each drop of blood that filled the never-ending lake had been ones that he had spilt.
Some wore white robes. Others bore the distinct armour of adventurers. All ended up the same.
He couldn't move. The blood was so thick, it was impossible to wade through it.
He wanted this to end so badly but it never ended when he wanted. Never.
He saw a few bodies were faced up. They were the ones he recognised. He knew them before he took their life
But it was the one in the middle that frightened him the most. It was the only one that was standing straight.
"Eli...sha"
The young amazon gave no response, the dead look in her eyes staring right into the boy's blackened soul. Her once beautiful bronze skin was now a deathly blue. What were meant to be a calming azure purple were now a cold grey as blood spilled from her eyes.
Then he felt it.
His leg.
The bodies nearest to him had grabbed onto his leg. They began to pull.
The nameless boy tried to fight but his body wouldn't allow it. It forced him to experience everything else, this was no different.
More bodies slowly clawed through the blood, grabbing onto his clothes, arms and legs. Whatever their cold hands could grip.
He was slowly being submerged into the thick red liquid but his eyes never left the girl. They were being forced to endure a much more painful experience.
The amazon spoke in a hollow voice.
"Why did you let me die?"
The motionless legs remained like a statue as her torso was severed. She continued.
"Where were you?"
Her torso fell but the voice continued to haunt him.
"If I had never met you, I would still be alive."
The boy's voice had broken, he could no longer scream.
The dark figure that stood behind the now severed body of the girl grinned. Its long weapon had no blood on the blade as it wiped it down. Green eyes like a snake smiled at him as he was pulled beneath the surface.
The boy's vision was finally cut off as he was finally pulled under.
Before the corpses pulled him any further down. Before the voices shouted even louder. Finally, he was released.
The half-elf welcomed the black abyss that freed him from the nightmare; once again, he felt nothing. It was what he had wanted for so long. He welcomed it.