"Just how long have I been falling?" Time was slipping through his fingers, stretching and twisting like dying embers in the wind. He reached out, but there was nothing. No ground, no walls, no sky. Only the abyss, seemingly swallowing him whole. But one thing kept him anchored, grounding him to reality—his heartbeat. A steady thump that grew weaker with each passing moment. The cold wasn’t just physical; it gnawed at something deeper, something beyond flesh. Like the kind of cold that seeps into the cracks of the soul and hollows it out from within. Not the quiet of solitude he had felt in the forest, but the absence of his own existence itself. Even his own breathing refused to echo in it. But just when his consciousness began fading, devoured continuously by the abyss— —he sighted something. A sensation at the edge of his mind. And immediately, he awakened, realizing a truth he wasn’t sure whether to be happy or sad about. His thoughts betrayed him, but he had no time to dwell on them. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" A scream so raw it scraped against his soul, yet somehow, it ignited a flame within his dying heart. His heartbeat instantly sped up, his hair standing on end. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Just as bone-chilling as the first—if not worse. The chorus of agony grew, twisting through the vast emptiness and gnawing into his soul like claws. The screams weren’t distant. They were everywhere. Inside his very being. Retching through his soul. He gasped, but his breath came out hacked and wrong, as if the abyss was trying to steal it away from him. His hand clawed at his hair— —but then, he stopped. The abyss had brightened up a bit. He focused his dazed mind and legs, but that wasn’t the only thing. Suspended in the void. Entangled in rusted, monstrous chains that dug deep into their flesh. They weren’t just hundreds. And as Ryuk soared onward— He was falling through an abyssal pit. And adorning its circular walls were these unnatural forms— —eyes turned into hollow pustules of decay. They did not struggle. But their mouths hung open in eternal wails— Carved from their throats in an agony that would seemingly never end. Some were whole, their faces frozen in the moment of their final scream. Others were mangled beyond recognition— —skin peeled back in strips. —their flesh weeping a darkness thicker than blood. One of the bodies caught Ryuk’s attention. A wail louder than most. Her body hung, her hair floating weightlessly. Her face twisted in something that was neither life nor death. Her lips trembled as if she was about to speak to him— But the chain around her throat tightened, dragging her deeper into the abyss’s walls. Twisting. Turning. Bending in impossible ways. They all turned their faces to Ryuk. A wave of cold so absolute crashed over Ryuk that his mind almost snapped. His pulse hammered within him, his vision blurring. His very soul recoiled from the sheer wrongness of what he was witnessing. An ominous feeling of danger, whose mere presence whispered death itself. Like awakening serpents. Rattling with a sound that ripped through reality itself. Slick with something darker than blood. Like writhing roots, they shot downward— The horrific creatures had been freed from their shackles. The chains that held them were flying toward him with terrifying speed. Like an avalanche, they surged for Ryuk. Swiftly shifting his weight, dodging them— —but the true horror came when they reached for his neck, his wrists, and his ankles. The creatures—now freed from their silence— —fell toward him, their decayed hands outstretched, seeking his body. Realization dawned upon Ryuk. He looked into their wailing faces. And beneath their expressions of agony— —he finally saw what lurked beneath. A mask of intense stillness and unchanging emptiness. "They... they don’t just seek to bind me..." Ryuk’s eyes widened in horror as the creatures closed in. He could finally see beyond their twisted, screaming faces. Beneath those wailing mouths was another face. One carved with only sinisterness and maddening desire. "They... they want to make me one of them!" Today, after countless years in the abyss— The Forsaken Chains had finally found their next victim. —his voice filled with disgust and rage as his fist slammed into the face of a creature. His hand pierced through like a knife through butter. Rotten brain matter splattered as the creature released its final gasp, granting Ryuk a breath of space. And he inhaled deeply. "I might have lost all my abilities... but I still have my physical strength!" Ryuk’s eyes shined with sudden realization. They were still coming. More and more, soaring after him, their grotesque figures twisting and writhing as they hunted him. He knew he had to act. Immediately, Ryuk moved. Throwing down his arms, he folded his body inward— —tucking himself into a natural point before suddenly— His body snapped outward with force. The hands that were holding onto him were ripped from their owners. Detached from their sockets, they spiraled into the abyss, severed. If you’re enjoying the novel, consider voting the novel with Golden Tickets and Power stones. It helps I, the author, with visibility on the NovelHub app. In and Out_SnowySmoos