Requiem Of A Failed Hero

"You can sleep here"

The old man said preparing his bed for Raith, all of his composure and even his way of speaking suddenly became formal.

Raith found it uncomfortable but how could the young man refuse such humble and warm hospitality, not with the torrent of the cold outside that got worse as the night strayed into its darkest moment?

"Thank you so much but where will you stay?"

"Ha, you don't have to worry about me."

The man said with a confident smile and a proud expression.

"I am a man of the night, I don't need sleep."

He said confidently as he hurried Raith to his bed with a radiant glare that was looking to please its liege.

Uncomfortably, Raith laid. The man stood beside him with the same radiant face.

"Uhmm... are you going to be there all night?"

Raith asked, like a nine-year-old that doesn't want to get watched while he sleeps.

"If it displeased you, I shall turn around"

The man immediately turned his back to Raith.

'Ah, why did he suddenly change...'

Raith sighed softly as he closed his eyes.

'I wonder what he is, a demon? He looks pretty human though...how do demons even look?'

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He strayed through a few patterns of thoughts for more minutes before sleep began to set in and just as it was getting sweeter and more interesting.

[Congratulations]

[You have entered Felfhiem]

[The abyss greets you]

Again, Raith found himself standing on the top of a mountain so tall that its height was amidst the clouds, it was cold, very cold. He looked down at his body, he was only putting on the black shirt and tattered socks which he wore to bed.

He stared down at the message with sorrow and frustration.

"Why? Why? Why? Why does it have to be now?!!"

He cried out in discontent with his voice echoing distance into the clouds.

'This is a different abyss though.'

He thought as he looked around, then remembered the old man's words.

'The abyss can take on different forms huh... it is going to take on the form of a mountain today.'

The intensity of the cold got stronger making him break out of his thoughts. He hugged himself and walked around the mountain top which was around ten diameters. And the journey down wasn't going to guarantee his safety.

"I will wake up if I die right?"

Raith thought.

[You will commence the second trial of death]

[Jump down the mountain courageously and survive the crash]

[Title effect of 'One Who Overcomes Death' has been locked]

[You will not resurrect if you die]

"Eh? What do you mean I will not resurrect if I die, how am I supposed to jump down if I will not resurrect?"

Raith looked at the message with a face full of malevolence and as if it was antagonizing the poor man.

[The longer you take the higher the mountain will grow]

"Eh?!"

He became flustered, confused, and not composed due to the new message. But the trial did not wait for him.

[The Second Death Trial has started]

The clouds that were high before suddenly reached his level and paused.

"Huh?"

He was shocked to see it happen but as the message had told him, the longer he stayed the higher the mountain would grow. He had to jump down the mountain but if he jumped down the mountain he would die and wouldn't wake up.

'Ha damn it!'

Raith ran down the edge of the mountain and was about to leap up but tilted backward as the enormous and tremendous journey downwards through the clusters of cloud and farther than even his eyes could see unveiled before him.

~thump~

~thump~

~thump~

~thump~

Even his heart began to fail him.

He couldn't even if he wanted to, except he was crazy and unfortunately Raith was one of the sanest people to exist the only insanity in his life is the death archon and its awful trials.

He slowly climbed down, carefully finding stones to step his foot on as he descended, it was easy at first and he was progressing but all of a sudden, the cloud he had just passed suddenly descended lower than he was.

"Shit! It grew!"

Raith's expression was bitter and full of fear but he held on tight and began to climb down, carefully finding places to step on as he descended, one of the actions that cost him so much and the mountain kept growing, he had to pass the same cloud three times before finally not seeing it again there even when the mountain grew higher but then he was faced with the dilemma of having to pass another cloud until one foot misplaced and he slipped down the mountain, ruthlessly scratching his legs and palms but before he could fall off totally one protruded stone saved him and he held tightly on it with one arm.

He was there for a while even as the mountain grew, he didn't mind... he just appreciated the fact that he is still alive and dreaded the fact that he still had to reach the bottom of the mountain.

He was there until his hands were finding it hard to hold on and his shoulders were hurting so much–as if they wanted to tear apart.

Then he began to turn his head around to search for more stones like this one, there were a few of them around but were as protruding as this one but were enough to accommodate his fingers.

He looked up and discovered that even though the mountain grew higher the clouds were still far off.

'The fall must have been much...'

He thought as he looked at the clouds, his heart leaped with hope as he had crossed a hard hurdle that seeing the clouds gave him.

The injury on his head stung as he began to go down again.

...

Meanwhile.

The old man stood dumbfounded as he turned back to find Raith's body missing from the bed he had just laid on minutes ago.

"How?"

His voice shook and his eyes were trapped in a dazed state for more minutes before he felt a small trace of black smoke that blew away from the bed.

His eyes widened immediately.

'There is no way, I won't recognize that'

Some call it a god, some call it a primordial that isn't a personification but is the strongest of the primordials, stronger than even the primordial of light who heralded cosmology.

Many call it hell and the birthplace of demons although it spat them out and created a world for them—that world is known to be Felfhiem. But these demons have never stopped seeking a way to get back into it, and have never been able to.

Few know it to be a chaotic universe unto itself with uncountable layers of infinite variety connected haphazardly. A mobile universe that can shift anyway and contain itself anyway, it could be in a room or be in a person, it could be in a fireplace or be in a beggar's pouch but the nature of its plane remained fairly constant: a violent, malevolent place where only the strong-willed could survive and the landscape itself tortured the mind and body of all who dared to pass.

The abyss that had existed even before the dawn of primordials and celestials who are the gods of cosmology was currently leaving its presence in the room of a lowly retired general of archduke Shax's legion of lesser demons.

Overwhelmed by the faint presence and irresistible demonic pressure. The old man; Volmak kowtowed beneath his bed, he had no idea what he was unto but the world that demon lords, demon princes, and even archdemons seek is right here in his bedroom.