Book 2
The outsider
Chapter Two
.the Nothing
It was his father's funeral. The boy was heartbroken—he had loved his father deeply. But in his final days, the man had been called a madman. Whispers spread that he suffered nightmares, raving about alien invasions, wearing tattered scarecrow clothes while standing in his field with a sickle, claiming it "warded off cosmic entities."
Then, one day, Riski was found dead—stabbed in the neck with an ancient pirate sword. The case baffled investigators. Some said his own wife did it, just to end his madness.
That night, after the funeral, everyone left—except Mikhail, alone with his father's hated grave in the dark.
Then, a group of teenagers appeared—three boys and two girls. They had been camping nearby In the dark woods and knew the stories about Mikhail's father. And Mikhail himself had earned their hatred—after all, he once burned a child alive, believing it wasn't human.
One of the boys sneered:
"Ooooh, look who we have here—the son of the crazy killer!"
A girl with them added coldly:
"You know, Mikhail, we brought these torches just for you. To burn you like your father. That girl he killed? She was my cousin."
The third chimed in:
"Yeah. You deserve this, son of a madman."
Then, in unison, they began chanting:
"Son of the psychopath !"
"Son of the psychopath !"
"Son of the psychopath !"
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Mikhail sat on the ground, hugging himself, his eyes welling with tears—until the unknown occurred. The pupils of his eyes began to swirl, transforming into dark green flames. His irises had become terrifying emerald fire. Then, he began to float in the air, his hands turning to bone.
He spoke a single word, but his voice was no longer that of a child. It was guttural, monstrous, impossibly deep—as if a being from beyond this universe had spoken:
"Stop."
Then, the ocean, the graveyard, the trees, the forests—everything began to dissolve into an all-consuming void, as if reality itself had been erased.
The children were thrown onto the dark, formless ground, trembling, some convulsing as if death itself had seized them. Mikhail, floating in the emptiness, continued in that otherworldly voice:
*"I've learned much from you. Thank you, my teachers. And now... for your specialization ."*
The green fire in his eyes expanded violently, its reflection burning across the void. The darkness around them became an ocean of dark green flames—not burning them physically, but drowning them in terror. Their vocal cords locked in fear.
Mikhail spoke again, his voice even more distorted:
"Before there was time...
Before there was anything...
There was Nothing.
And before there was Nothing...
There were a Monsters."
Then the darkness shattered.
The teenagers found themselves floating in a nameless realm—the Land of Endings. Shadows writhed, the void convulsed as if the universe were gasping its last breath. And from this abyss, nightmares took form, one after another, invading the children's crumbling sanity.
The First Horror: A pale entity floated in the nothingness, its head stretching unnaturally wide. Its skin resembled torn fabric, revealing pulsating black tissue beneath. From its skeletal skull, twisted horns extended like poisoned roots, bleeding viscous darkness. But worst of all was its mouth—a chaotic tangle of thousands of jagged teeth, designed to rend souls before flesh. Black drool oozed between them, dripping into the void where no ground existed to catch it.
**The Second Horror:** A serpentine abomination, its skin the color of swollen veins, throbbing with malformed life. It had no single head, but dozens—some screaming soundlessly, others packed with circular eyes that stared with unbearable focus, as if peeling apart the minds of those who dared look. Its massive body slithered through the void, unbound by any world's laws.
**The Third Horror:** A shapeless mass of tangled flesh, sprouting hungry mouths and madly glinting eyes. Its form shifted every second, never settling. At its core, eldritch symbols pulsed with sickly yellow light, surrounded by miniature planets—as if its body were a distorted universe, devoid of all reason. The mouths whispered in tongues not of this world, laughing with a sound that shook the children's very souls.
Fear was no longer an emotion here. It was the law of this void.
And Mikhail was its new king.
Then, Mikhail stepped forward—now a towering figure, his skin melting away to reveal a skeletal frame. His skull bore twisted, goat-like horns. A crimson mist poured from his jaws as he spoke:
*"Here is your mark in full."*
The children awoke from the nightmare—back to "reality." But their fates were worse than death:
- One had his brain exploded from within, his skull now an empty husk of skin and bone.
- Another dug hysterically into the earth, laughing manically until he buried himself alive.
- The last was seen devouring gravestones until he choked on the rocks.
As for Mikhail?
He slept peacefully beside his father's grave.
Like a lamb.
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