The World in Dissonance (Volume 2)

Between the lines 1

Between the lines 1

“...”

Everything around her was pitch black, devoid fully of colors. The ground was perfectly flat. From where she stood to the horizon, the ground did not rise nor fall even by a micron.

“Where am I?”

Nothing natural could be seen. There were no buildings, no sky, no stars, no horizon, and no recognizable feature upon which the mind could anchor itself. Yet, paradoxically, there was nothing overtly unnatural either. The true horror lay in the absence of both.

Despite the use of the term ‘horizon’, it was unclear if such concept even applied. There was nothing to distinguish in that abyssal place.

It was a place so utterly detached from reality that even the idea of something being ‘unnatural’ no longer applied. One’s mind would desperately search for a frame of reference but would find none.

“Laurenciaaaaaa!!”

A familiar voiced echoed in the vast and horrific darkness.

(That was Big Sister’s voice!)

“Laurenciaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!”

The little girl’s eye widened. It was undoubtedly Dedicatus calling for her.

Yet no matter how hard Laurencia listened, she could not determine where the voice was coming from. Left, right, behind, above... In fact, the echo was coming from all directions. It reverberated endlessly throughout that abyssal place. There was no source to follow, no path to trace..

“Big Sister...?”

Laurencia called back timidly, but her own voice was immediately swallowed by the oppressive darkness surrounding her.

Only then did she realize how terrifying her situation truly was.

The darkness was absolute.

Not the darkness of a moonless night.

Not the darkness of a room with the lights extinguished.

This was something far deeper, far more complete.

Laurencia raised her trembling hand before her face.

Nothing... She could not even clearly distinguish the outline of her own fingers.

It was as though her body itself was being consumed by the endless blackness.

There was no sky above her, no ground beneath her feet, no horizon stretching into the distance and no sound beyond the distant echoes of Dedicatus's voice. The little girl felt as though she had been abandoned in a world where existence itself had ceased to have meaning.

And for the very first time since arriving in that dreadful place, fear began to creep into her heart.

.

..

...

Laurencia continued wandering through the endless darkness. At least, she ‘thought’ she was walking. The notion felt increasingly meaningless the longer she remained in that place. There was no ground beneath her feet that she could see, no destination toward which she was heading, no stars above and no horizon in the distance. The darkness stretched infinitely in every direction, swallowing every possible point of reference.

How long had she been wandering?

Minutes?

Hours?

Days?

Years?

The question itself felt absurd.

Time, much like distance and direction, seemed to have no place in that realm. There was no sunrise to mark the beginning of a day. Nor sunset to mark its end... No hunger, no fatigue, no bodily sensation capable of measuring the passage of time. Only the darkness remained.

And yet—something changed.

Far ahead of her, a faint glimmer appeared.

Hope started to take place in her heart as she saw a small ball of light. But then, Laurencia froze. For a moment she wondered if she was imagining it.

Then she saw it again, and this time, it was a tiny speck, small and distant but undeniably real.

There was no hesitation anymore. Hope immediately surged through her chest.

The darkness that had surrounded her for what felt like an eternity suddenly seemed less oppressive.

A light meant an exit. A light meant salvation. A light meant she would finally escape this dreadful place.

Without any further ado, the little girl began running toward it. The tiny glow grew larger with every step, just like a beacon calling out to a lost soul.

"Big Sister...", her voice trembled with relief. “I'm coming!"

The light expanded until it became impossible to look away from. It consumed her vision entirely while a brilliant radiance, as warm as the sun, filled the place .

And then—the world changed, the darkness vanished and the light disappeared.

The little girl found herself standing somewhere far worse. Laurencia’s breath caught in her throat.

Before her stretched a landscape that looked as though it had been ripped directly from the pages of a nightmare.

The air itself was heavy, not merely hot but oppressive and suffocating. Each breath felt like inhaling smoke from a furnace. The sky overhead was gone. In its place existed a ceiling of blackened stone so distant it could barely be seen through the crimson haze that filled the realm.

The ground beneath her feet was not soil, nor was it stone... Nor anything she could properly identify.

It resembled layers of burned flesh and cracked obsidian fused together into a grotesque surface that pulsed faintly, almost as though something alive slept beneath it.

The entire realm glowed with an infernal red illumination, but not from any visible sun nor from torches. It originated from countless rivers of molten fire flowing through enormous fissures that split the landscape apart.

Their orange-red glow illuminated the surroundings like veins carrying blood through the body of some colossal dying beast.

.

..

...

The screams came next. Laurencia froze. At first she thought it was the wind. Then she realized there was no wind. Only voices, dozens of voices coming from children remained... Crying, begging, sobbing and screaming as if they were tormented.

The sounds echoed endlessly throughout the realm.

The little girl's body began trembling. Slowly, she turned her head. And saw them.

Cages,

Dozens of them.

They stretched endlessly throughout the infernal landscape. More precisely, she saw many of a different kind... Rust-covered cages, iron cages, bone cages, thorn cages.

Some were hanging from chains while others were partially submerged within rivers of fire. And Many were suspended above seemingly bottomless chasms.

And inside every single one—the girl could see children. Some were her age while others were either younger or older. Boys, girls... Each one of them wore expressions that no child should ever possess, expressions devoid of innocence and born from endless fear.

Several of them immediately noticed Laurencia's arrival. Their eyes widened. Panic spread across their faces.

"No!", suddenly shouted one boy. "Run!"

"Hide!", a little girl screamed from another cage. "You have to hide!"

"Don't let it see you!"

"Run away!"

"Please run!"

Their desperate voices overlapped one another. Some pressed their faces against the bars. Others reached trembling hands through the gaps.

The terror in their eyes was genuinely absolute.

Laurencia instinctively stepped backward.

"W-What's happening?"

No one answered.

Or rather—no one could.

Most of the children were too frightened to speak. Their eyes continuously darted toward the darkness beyond the rivers of fire—toward something unseen, something they feared more than death itself.

Then one child finally spoke. Unlike the others, his voice carried no panic but only despair. A despair so profound that it chilled Laurencia far more than the infernal landscape ever could.

The boy sat motionless inside a cage forged from black iron. His face looked pale, exhausted and broken as though hope had abandoned him long ago.

"It's already too late."

Laurencia turned toward him.

"W-What?"

The boy slowly raised his head.

His hollow eyes met hers.

"You can't hide."

The words struck her like a hammer.

"You can't run."

His voice remained disturbingly calm.

"Because the moment you arrived here...", the boy glanced upward, toward the darkness looming above the infernal realm. "... It already knew."

A cold sensation crawled down Laurencia's spine.

"Knew...?"

The boy nodded.

"It always knows."

The surrounding children lowered their heads. Some began crying again while others simply closed their eyes.

It was as though they had already accepted their fate.

The little girl Laurencia thus opened her mouth to ask another question.

But then she heard it—a sound from far away yet impossibly close—it was the sound of a single footstep.

*THUD.*

The entire realm shook. The rivers of fire trembled. The cages rattled violently.

Several children immediately began sobbing.

Then, another footstep followed.

*THUD.*

This time Laurencia felt it within her chest, not merely hearing it but feeling it as though the sound itself had become a physical force.

Then came another,

And another,

And another.

Each one felt like it was drawing closer.

The air grew colder despite the infernal heat surrounding her. The children began shrinking away into the corners of their cages. Many covered their ears. Others whispered prayers. Some simply cried.

The boy before Laurencia lowered his gaze. A bitter smile appeared on his face.

"See?", the boys’s voice was barely above a whisper. "It found you."

Then, somewhere beyond the crimson haze and endless cages, a massive silhouette began to emerge.

It was not fully visible yet. Only fragments appeared. The shape was too large, too wrong. Its outline distorted by the fiery mist. At times it seemed vaguely human. At others, it appeared entirely monstrous. Its form shifted with every step as though reality itself struggled to comprehend what it was witnessing.

And despite the immense distance separating them—Laurencia felt it.

It was undeniably a gaze. Something was looking directly at her—not at the other children nor at the cages. The gaze was directed at her.

.

..

...

The little girl's blood ran cold.

For the first time since arriving in that dreadful place, she understood something with terrifying clarity. The darkness from before had never been the true nightmare. It had merely been the road leading to it.