(2 years later)
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
Each strike echoed violently through the narrow tunnel, the sound rebounding against the rough stone walls like thunder trapped underground.
SCATTER....
Socrates finally broke the boulder after using all his body to thrash it with full force, fragments of rock exploding outward and scattering across the tunnel floor like shattered glass..
He couldn't even move as he collapsed on the floor, his body limp and trembling from exhaustion... He had spent a total of 8 years in this world without eating or drinking..
He had died close to 900 times, and he wondered how he even managed to survive till now as everything was just mysterious.. The laws of this world seemed different, unnatural, yet unforgiving.
But if there's something Socrates had noticed, it is that his strength had increased drastically.. His muscles felt denser, heavier, and filled with explosive power despite the exhaustion.
He dragged his body forward as his both hands got locked in a trap....
Before he could move, his legs also got trapped..
Cold metallic sounds rang sharply as hidden mechanisms snapped shut around him.
Socrates exerted his energy to the very limit before he was able to free himself from the trap, veins bulging across his neck and arms, but then he couldn't get the lock off his hands..
Metallic cuffs that tightened around his two wrists separately and his two shins... They were so heavy that Socrates felt his weight increased drastically, as if invisible chains were dragging him toward the ground..
He tried to get up but couldn't and didn't have a choice other than to drag himself out of the tunnel, leaving faint streaks of blood and dust behind him.
Socrates brought his head out of the tunnel as a hot wind swept all over his face.. The scorching air carried grains of sand that scratched against his skin like needles.
He propelled himself upward as he threw himself to the summit of the mountain...
The sky above was vast and dim, the summit stretching endlessly beneath a heavy silence.
He was dying... But then he couldn't die... He can't die. At least not now, not until he makes sure Mr. Jaggers is okay...
He raised his body up as he saw Mr. Jaggers nailed to the cross with nails all over his body from head to toe...
The sight was horrifying—dark blood trails running down the wooden cross, staining it deep crimson.
And then there was a silhouette whose figure was blurry, but she was holding a nail... A nail which she wanted to drive into the head of Mr. Jaggers....
"DON'T YOU DARE.." Socrates cried out venomously...
His voice caused the silhouette to turn around as it looked at Socrates and then Mr. Jaggers..
"The fool finally makes it to the summit.." the voice of the silhouette tore through the sky as it pierced into Socrates' ears like sharp glass..
It was a sweet female voice.. Calm, yet terrifying.
"Boy... I'm glad you made it here but you should go back home... You've already done well and I'm proud of you." Mr. Jaggers' voice also drifted into Socrates' ears..
And at that moment, Socrates' heart softened as tears welled up in his mind...
This is Mr. Jaggers.. It was really him.. The manner of speech and everything....
"No.. I can't go back.. I've to save you.. Even if I want to, I don't know how to go back..." Socrates sobbed, his voice trembling with desperation.
"It's simple. Kill yourself here and you'll wake up in the real world. This void world is the remnant of the consciousness of the Goddess of Death... I recall telling you to cultivate it, you're really lucky to be able to establish a connection with it... Now quickly cut the connection before you'll be trapped here forever.. " Mr. Jaggers explained to him...
"No.. I can't go.. I've to save you... I've to bring you back with me.." Socrates cried as he tried to stand up but he couldn't... The cuffs on his limbs had weakened him significantly...
"You're just a sitting duck boy.. How can you save him?" The female silhouette chuckled before driving the nail straight into Mr. Jaggers' forehead...
"AAAH.." the man cried out in pain....
"No..." Socrates cried out in horror as he did all his best to stand up but he couldn't...
"DON'T.." He kept crying profusely like a kid as he tried to get up but he still couldn't....
Due to the mental exhaustion he had accumulated over the years... He passed out there at the summit and slept for a full year before waking up..
[Total Death 892/1000]
Socrates slept for one full year as all his body recovered to peak condition... His mind that was exhausted finally cleared, and when he woke up, he found out that the terrain had changed..
The air around the summit felt colder and heavier than before, and the once-chaotic surroundings had turned eerily silent.
There was no longer Mr. Jaggers nor the cross...
"They were no Mr. Jaggers.. It was an illusion." Socrates said, getting up slowly..
He felt his body heavy, but it was still manageable as he rose up on his feet at the summit of the mountain....
The ground beneath him was dark and smooth like polished stone, stretching endlessly in every direction.
"Who told you to rise..."
He turned around, and at that moment, he saw a female silhouette seated cross-legged on a throne...
A female silhouette which he couldn't describe her looks... He couldn't even see her face clearly, as shadows veiled her features, but she was seated on a large black throne that was twice her size...
The throne itself looked ancient, carved with unfamiliar symbols that glowed faintly like dying embers.
Beneath the throne were 9 steps which climbed down from where he stood...
Each step seemed heavier than the last, radiating an invisible pressure that weighed down on the air.
"KNEEL..."
Her voice came softly, yet it carried terrifying authority, and at that moment, a pressure slammed into Socrates instantly as he fell on his knees without hesitation..
"So what if you know it's an illusion? It doesn't change the fact that you're the reason for his death.. You trash..."
Her words slammed into Socrates harder than ever, echoing within his mind like thunder.
'No... She's trying to get into my head.. Don't let her...'
"Why will I get into your head? I can kill you with just a snap of my finger.." The lady said to him..
'She can read my mind.. Even if she kill me, I still have more than 100 lives left.'
"I gave you those lives, I can take it back..."
The lady said, shocking Socrates even more..
"Who are you?" Socrates asked, trying hard to rise up but he couldn't..
"Why don't you come up and find out?"
"Do you think I can't get up there?" Socrates was tired of her antics... He knew for sure that if it wasn't because of these metal cuffs weighing him down.. He wouldn't be this down....
"It's not about what I think...."
"Then you know nothing about me.... I'll prove to you why Mr. Jaggers sacrifice his life for me..."
"Well. Don't disappoint me boy... Let me see how far the fool that was able to establish a connection with me will be able to reach."
"Establish a connection with you?" Socrates then recalled when Mr. Jaggers said something like the 'Goddess of Death...'
"You're the sculpture that I cultivated under for more than 3 months..."
"Yes.. I saved your trashy soul from the real world and dragged you into the world of my consciousness where I made sure you got your foundation stable... And this is how you talk to me.." The Lady fumbled as Socrates' expression suddenly took a 360° turn..
Shock quickly shifted into realization.
"APOLOGIES... OH THE GREAT GODDESS OF DEATH.. THE MOTHER OF THE GLADIATORS.. THE FIRST AND THE LAST MOTHER GLADIATOR WHO REIGN TERRORS TO OTHER GLADIATORS... THE GREAT ACHILLIA.. ALL HAIL." Socrates bowed down instantly as he praised the Goddess of Death with great sincerity.
Lady Achillia stared at him for a while before retracting back her pressure..
The suffocating force around Socrates eased slightly, allowing him to breathe more freely.
"Seems like you've some sense after all." Lady Achillia snorted from her throne..
"Forgive me Senior.. This junior is truly ignorant..."
"Of course. Of course... It's been long since someone establish a connection with me... Sit down and tell me all you know about me... I want to know what history still remember me as in the World of Gladiator." Lady Achillia blurted out, her voice carrying a strange mixture of authority and curiosity.
Socrates quickly assumed a lotus position as he sat in front of the Ancient Gladiator, lowering his gaze respectfully while narrating her own tales for her...
The air around them grew still, as if even time itself had paused to listen.