Nightmare Mythos

Whoosh—!

With no direction in mind but merely trying to survive, Cesar remained at the same pace of dropping down. It had been a few minutes when he killed the corrupted human that had become his companion on his way down to the bottomless abyss.

"Sigh…"

Cesar let out a tired sigh.

As if losing an eye wasn't enough, Cesar felt his entire body aching, especially at his back and front. Now, he was getting rest but he wasn't sure whether he'd survive another barrage of attacks if he suffered another kind of damage like that.

Curiously looking at the corrupted human, Cesar was half expectant that he'd grab something from the corpse like the Black Tooth from the previous corrupted and half not expecting anything since his thinking regarding the drop artifacts wasn't concrete yet.

Does any Nightmare or Corrupted constantly drop items each time?

Hovering near the corpse, Cesar began to check the revolting creature and to see if he was lucky enough to find yet another shining object, like what the Black Tooth had given him even though it wasn't really shining but merely calling upon someone to pick it up.

Its shine eventually diminished when he put essence at it and merely stayed black, its grey components slowly dimmed.

'I swear if I found another Black Tooth, I'd be thinking it came from an unknown entity that somehow got in the hands of both the corrupted human,'

Cesar mused inwardly as he continued checking the corpse with indifference. Almost puking because of how revolting these creatures were, he stretched his hand inside its dead body that felt wriggly, different, and sickening.

"Where are you…?"

Something must've manifested somewhere as Cesar remembered it only took a few minutes before the Black Tooth revealed itself. If that was the case, he had enough waiting, and searching its entire body, whether inside or outside, was the only choice he had.

He was just learning this now after all, which is why he had no prior knowledge about anything else.

Everything that felt like a filthy organ inside the body of the corrupted was felt in Cesar's hand. Not until he felt a solid object once he touched it which made him smirk in glee.

Splash—!

Pulling out the object from the body, Cesar observed the object on his hand that looked like a… stick made of bone.

As usual, this Bone Stick that came from the corrupted human emanated a dangerous aura scent. It wasn't really a sickening type of dangerousness but more like a risky type of sensation.

'What does it do though…'

Cesar channeled his essence inside his body and transferred it to the Bone Stick to see its usage.

The information went through his head.

It had one ability, a weird one at that.

It had the ability to trick an opponent by merely throwing it somewhere, like fetching a dog with a twig. Cesar wasn't sure what that truly meant but he understood what fetching a dog meant using a stick.

'So it's some sort of bait?'

Cesar mused inwardly, feeling he was closer to the answer than it looked. With him being done speculating and observing, he put the bone in its pocket, right alongside the tooth.

Then, he continued falling down.

The descent didn't feel any special at all.

By merely dropping, Cesar didn't need to worry about almost anything aside from the fact that he had to watch any threat coming to him such as another corrupted human trying to take away his life.

So far, there is no presence he considered such a thing.

"Hey,"

Not until he heard a voice inside his head.

"…"

Instead of answering the voice inside his head, Cesar remained unresponsive. He had to make sure that whatever or whoever was talking wasn't just a manifestation of him being totally crazy, an alter ego that born because of his madness.

Forget about getting out of here, he'll lose control right on the spot if he isn't able to control his mental state and becomes deranged.

'I have not become crazy, aren't I? Nah, no way…'

Cesar couldn't help but shiver due to how eerie that voice sounded. He still didn't remove the fact that it was just him talking to himself after what he just went through.

But only crazy people would start thinking that way.

After a while of ignoring the detail that the voice wasn't his and merely just 'something', Cesar heard the voice once again. This time, he was sure that it didn't belong to him.

"I think you can hear me,"

Cesar violently shifted his head from everywhere. From top to bottom, left to right, and in every direction because this eerie voice sounded more horrifying than the corrupted human he had fought himself.

Probably much more so than the Void itself.

Cesar nervously gulped before he answered in a hushed tone, "Who are you?"

The eerie voice didn't talk for a moment before finally answering, its tone had a mix of jubilation once it heard Cesar's voice.

"My name's Cedeit. I'm a poor soul that was trapped in this wretched place like you. At this point, all I could do was plea for help because I couldn't move in the place I was in. From time to time, I search for people to help me to get out,"

The words 'get out' sounded alluring to Cesar's ears but he knew appearing excited to an unknown voice might become a downside which would result in him being used. Hence, he needed to appear not interested and tried to probe even further.

"Your name is very unique. Cedeit, it's my first time hearing it actually," Cesar paused, "You said you're trapped in this place. What does that even mean?"

"There are no tricks or deception in those words, my friend. When I said I'm trapped, that's really it," The voice retorted evenly, "Like you, we're being caged inside its power. The power that you just escaped a few hours ago. The Purplish Emptiness, The Void,"

Having already suspicions that the Void was a sentient being, Cesar was even more surprised as to why Cedeit knew about it.

"Do you know the reason why?" Cesar asked.

The voice which disappeared for a while, suddenly answered him in a whisper, "From what I knew, it loathed someone inside this vast hallways. And me, I was just yet another victim of its ploys,"