13 Where am I?

Lucas was staring absent-mindedly into a dimension where darkness only existed. Accompanied by the absence of life except him, Lucas felt isolated… and lonely. Lucas was no stranger to being alone, but this time was different.

Overwhelmed by overflowing emotions, the traumatic event kept revolving in his mind. The Goddess's rejection and his childhood friend's attempt to kill him… He should have known that she was not the Natalia he knew.

For her to be so ruthless trying to kill him with only her nails…

But thankfully, it was precise and should have ended his life that way.

Finally regaining his consciousness of the outside world, only now he perceived his surroundings.

"Why is it so dark? Is this the netherworld?"

Lucas thought as he continued to sit and wondered:

'Where am I?'

After those wonders, he suddenly heaved a sigh of relief. What happened earlier, he wanted to run away from it. It was so traumatic that he couldn't even force the tears to come out, as though something was stuck and prevented him from expressing his emotions.

Right now, he wanted to sob and cry, considering that earlier, the tears overflowing on his face came out subconsciously, and the urge to question the Goddess clouded his mind. He couldn't even think straight and only let his emotions do the action for him.

Suddenly, he smiled bitterly.

"Some say If I let my anger express itself, I will regret it. How come I don't?"

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Lucas was startled by the sudden noise of someone clapping and quickly turned towards the direction with a palpitating heart. His mind turned blank for a split-second, and when he finally caught a glimpse of the source.

He could only perceive his silhouette.

Lucas hastily stood up, acting weary from the stranger. As for now, he was aware the clap was directed at him, and the footsteps accompanied by the clapping noise were heading towards him.

"Who are you?"

It escaped in his mouth, and he gulped afterward. He must be Death, he thought. But then again, until he receives confirmation, he would not conclude without solid evidence.

Unknowingly for Lucas, he had developed a distrust against humans, and if Death was the latter, he would naturally be skeptical towards him. Who knows? Maybe it wasn't Death after all, and just another evil existence who appeared to take his soul?

Such questions appeared ceaselessly in his thoughts, causing him to become a paranoid person.

"Awh, you are treating me like a stranger, Lucas. That hurts, you know."

'That voice.'

Lucas was no stranger to that voice, and it was unsettling. After all, that voice, he could not be more familiar than it, since he knew… his voice very well.

Lucas pondered quickly and concluded there were no records of Death appearing with a similar appearance of the dead. The iconic Death usually had a scythe in his hand, yet this man appeared carefree as he finally put his hands down.

But when he recalled what he said… he was instantly shaken.

'Don't tell me?'

"Are you the one who possessed me?"

The silhouette, which the body structure was familiar to him… because he perceived it was his body, halted in front of him. He still couldn't see through his face, as it was clouded by a black mist. It was so disturbing to examine his whole body because he appeared vague… no, it was blurry.

He even thought something must have gone wrong with his perception and thought it was only bleary eyes, but it was unlikely. It appeared that this man, who looked like a reflection of himself, was created like that.

"You still can't see my whole appearance?"

Lucas could hear him "Hmm" It should convey he was in deep thinking. Of course, when he processed his question, he was slightly shocked, but when he finally recalled his scrutinizing was so conspicuous, he didn't find it strange.

"Forget about that."

The silhouette man shook his head and continued:

"I must say, what do you feel now?"

"What do I feel?"

Stunned by the question, Lucas quickly tried to determine what he meant before concluding that he must have been talking about the traumatic event. He didn't find it strange, though, since this man could possess him, he could access his perception, right?

But what he found strange was how the man could not sense his emotions. Since he was inside him, he could have an answer to his question, right?

But driven by the content of the question, he answered subconsciously:

"I don't know."

He really didn't know what he should feel. Should he feel angry because he felt he was forsaken? Sad because his childhood friend attempted to kill him? Happy, now that he had escaped from it? Resentment because of the Goddess's rejection?

He actually didn't know.

But what he was aware of was that… the desire for revenge was sleeping inside him like a wild beast. Only it didn't awaken because he didn't have the power to accomplish its desire.

But right now, he couldn't say he wanted revenge because of his incapability. He would be like a cute-little rabbit wanting revenge against a pack of wolves who massacred his entire tribe when he was away.

Lucas was aware of his limit completely well, and it was the beginning of being pessimistic. If he was still being optimistic, he would have boosted about executing with revenge… but he was aware of how weak he was.

"Why are you feeling hopeless? Despite the desire for revenge?"

Stunned, Lucas quickly stared at him. Even with his face murky, he could perceive his mouth widened into a smile. He did not reply and continued to stare at him, not even feeling unease from his smile.

"It seems I need to show you how capable you are. So sit back, relax, and enjoy."

The murky silhouette suddenly moved his hand and halted before Lucas. Suddenly, Lucas was startled by a noise coming from the murky silhouette fingers when he flicked it.

Afterward, his surroundings changed as though they moved after the murky man snapped his finger.

It still remained dark, though, but he was now sitting on a comfortable sofa from who knows where it came from. There was even a small table in front of him with different snacks placed atop. He didn't even know if they could eat them, so he remained still in his position.

It did not end, when a vast square object, appearing like an enormous screen, hovered right in front of him and the back of the murky man. For an instant, Lucas quickly thought he was watching a movie marathon.

"Well, you are not watching a movie, but I guess you can think of it that way. After all, what the image will project there… is your perception."

The murky man didn't give him some time to process what he said and disappeared, but his voice still entered Lucas's ears before it faded.

"So once again, sit, relax, and enjoy the show!"