Alex wanted nothing more than to stop and catch his breath; he had been running for so long that his lungs were slowly giving up, but the entire land behind him was being sucked away into whatever that accursed black hole was, and with every passing second, it kept drawing nearer.
He had already exited the cave and was running through the forest, passing massive trunks that were much wider than his waist, and nearly tangled his leg in the roots of the trees. He leapt as he saw a huge puddle of water in front of him.
The forest was as dark as night, for the sun was already setting, and its rays could not penetrate the woods, blocked by leaves and branches that seemed to pierce the very heavens. The trees were immense, so tall and vast that he had to crane his neck upward until it nearly ached.
His eyes were, surprisingly, able to see in the deep darkness where light was so minimal that he almost regretted having been so cautious and wished he had left the cave sooner.
He regretted staying inside the cave, hiding there for the entire day and waiting patiently to see if the weapons placed along the path to the exit were traps.
Alex looked behind him, and his heart, already beating hard under his ribcage, began to pound even more frantically, because the trees were completely being swallowed by the hole, their roots and the very soil holding them jutting out of the ground, as though the earth itself was being sucked in.
Behind the black hole, there was nothing, only a wall of darkness that seemed to be the very boundary of the domain he was running through.
"Aaah!" Alex screamed in pain as he fell to the ground, his leg caught in the roots, and he crashed to the forest floor, his face tasting the mud and the grass that grew at knee level.
Alex felt a force trying to pull him back. The air whipped and howled around his feet as it tried to drag him back into the hole, so he crawled forward through the darkness, his eyes stinging with dirt so badly that he could barely see.
He crawled forward on all fours, pushing his body ahead, and before long, the very tree that had tripped him was torn from the ground, root and trunk jutting upward before being sucked into the earth.
Alex felt his chest tightening at the sight of the whole tree flowing back into the black space like a sheet.
Alex pulled himself up with whatever strength he could muster, but before he could take a step, he found himself slipping, being sucked back toward the hole. The black hole had already reached him, and he grabbed onto the grass, his body now floating in the air, the grass somehow still holding him, though he knew he was only a second away from disaster.
He immediately summoned his sword from the dimensional space and gripped it tightly in his right hand, his body swaying in the air as the black hole drew closer with every passing second. He plunged the sword deep into the ground and grabbed its hilt with both hands as his left hand slipped away from the slick grass.
Alex tried to plant his leg on the ground, and after much struggle, he managed to set his left foot down and place his right foot against the trunk of a tree, trying to shove his body behind it to avoid the sucking force of the hole.
But before he could put any weight on his right leg and push himself, the very tree his foot was braced against was torn from the earth and floated away like a feather.
Alex found the black space behind him was pulling him back with such force that he felt almost weightless, his vision still clouded by the dirt that had gotten into his eyes, the pain sharp and persistent. His left leg, which had found some footing, was lifted away, and he felt himself swept along like a wave, his hands slowly slipping from the sword's hilt, and he knew his sword would not be able to hold him for long.
He struggled desperately, but before long, the black hole had already engulfed him from behind, his legs up to the knee swallowed by it, and he felt a chilling cold below his knees, the numbness slowly creeping toward his waist.
"I think this is where I get eliminated," Alex muttered sadly, his eyes drifting to the back of his right hand, where, below the white wings, there was still a zero—he had not managed to kill anyone, and he would be eliminated before earning even a single point. He hoped his written exam rank would secure him a place in the academy; otherwise, he knew he would never make it in with his meager level one and zero kills.
He had also failed to last until the end.
His fingers slowly began to lose their strength, and his left hand slipped completely from the sword's handle, and soon his right hand would lose its grip on the sword as well. The black sucking space had already reached his waist, making his whole body feel a dangerously chilling coldness he had never known.
"Sorry, Mom and Dad, that I am such a disgrace," Alex whispered in a voice barely audible, and finally let go of his grip on the sword.
Alex closed his eyes, expecting to be completely swallowed by the darkness and teleported out of the space. Instead, he felt a strong grip on his right hand, pulling him out of the black, sucking void.
He opened his eyes in disbelief and felt a warm hand tightly gripping his right hand. Looking ahead, he saw a girl who appeared to be about his age and of similar height, but her ears were slightly pointed, like an elf's, but not entirely so. Her purple hair fluttered wildly in front of her face, her green eyes shone brightly in the darkness, and her lips were raised in a smile.
She seemed to be enjoying herself, her clothes fluttering around her body, and although the black sucking void tried to pull her in, the very air around her was making the trees and grass sway back in an arc; she remained firmly rooted where she stood.
"Found you," she said as she smiled brightly and pulled him out of the void with a force that was impossible to believe from her small frame, her tiny body holding more strength than he could have imagined.
***
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