Absolute Zero

Awaken

"Awaken…"

As a voice could be heard calling out to him faintly, Luke opened his eyes.

It's dark, is it night? That was the impression given by the man who had just opened his eyes. However, not too dark he saw a light from a candle. Not a light from a candle but a light from candles lined up like a circle. It was as if someone had lit the candles hanging on the walls that didn't seem to have ends. Where is this? Wasn't I in the 3rd division headquarters. He touched a hard and rough surface but rather a rock. The sensation he felt so real as if he really was here. If he is in the VR world, there is no way there is a VR game in this world that can make the players feel a real sensation like this. Could he be currently in a cave? If indeed this is a cave, why did he get here? Is there a cave in this city?

The candles that lined the wall were placed quite high above him, he reached his hand towards the candles and felt a hot sensation from his palm. He was in a state of confusion at the moment. What is this? Why would he be here? Where are the other 10 squad members?

Luke clenched his fists tightly against his chest, as if he wanted to tear something apart. He didn't understand. How long has he been here, how come he's here? When he thought about it all, he felt that there was a certain part of his brain that knew the answers to all these questions, but it vanished before he was able to recall them. He didn't know it made him very angry. He didn't understand what was going on right now.

"Shit, there's no use for me to stay here." Luke said that to encourage himself to know the reason why he was here.

The only way he could find out the reason was to follow the candles. Slowly he started to walk up the stairs. Rows of candles are still coiled in a row without stopping. He never knew when this row of candles would end. How far must he have to walk? Maybe he had to walk quite a distance. Or maybe the destination isn't too far away. Whatever it was he didn't know because he had lost his sense of time and space.

"A light?"

As soon as he saw a light on the other end, his legs slowly felt lighter. Even though he couldn't see anything, he had a feeling that he was heading in the right direction. His footsteps slowly quickened, and before long he could see a light brighter than these lined candles. The light was covered by something and Luke tried to reach the thing that covered the light. It was a door made of wood and he tried to open it.

"Shit, it's not open." He tried banging on the door a few times and it wouldn't open once more he tried banging on the door and now it opened by itself.

Luke slowly opened the door and the sound of the wind grew louder and louder and when he opened the wooden door he was surprised to see a stretch of desert without a single life as far as his eyes could see.

"Desert? Where is this?" He wondered why he could be in a place like this? After all, this world looked completely different from the world he knew.

Luke walked away from the wooden door and looked back and found himself waking up not in a cave but a tower made of stone. However, a tower like this is not a building that comes from modern civilization but seems like a medieval civilization. Once again he looked around and saw nothing but a vast desert.

"Door?" Many times he looked around and a door suddenly appeared in the middle of this desert. Luke started walking towards the door and slowly descended the hill formed from this sand.

He walked and kept walking towards the door but no matter how many times he stepped his foot he did not come close to the door. He paused for a moment and looked back and the stone tower was still where he left off. Neither changed the distance between himself and the stone tower nor approached the door as if he had not walked at all. However, he kept on walking continuously and several times he fell due to feeling tired but, the distance was still the same. What's going on here? He stood up with all his might and walked in a daze and after a few steps he fell again.

"Damn." His voice started hoarse he tried to reach the far door with his left hand but it seemed to be in vain and now his vision was getting blurry. Is this what death is? Is this where he will die? It's really not funny if I die in a place like this. Slowly his hands began to fall into the sand and part of his body had begun to be covered by sand and his eyes slowly began to close.

"Awake…"

Once again the voice called out to Luke who was slowly coming back to his senses. But this time it was different, he was now right in front of the door from earlier, or maybe more precisely from the days he had been walking in this desert. He walked step by step but there was no change in the distance between him and the stone tower as well as the pitch black door. He didn't know whose voice it was that woke him up and it sounded very similar to the voice he had heard from inside the tower. His body felt heavy, but slowly the lost energy began to return to his whole body even though he stood in a daze but this was not the time for him to give up in this world of nowhere. Quickly he opened and pushed the door and this time he was not in a desert but in a place of very dense snowy mountains. No matter how many times he commits suicide in this world he will only return to where he stood. No matter how many times he tried to give up it was useless because the more he was in this world the more he slowly began to lose his mind. The only way for him to get out of the world was through the door which this time was located at the end of the mountain peak.

This cold weather made him slowly begin to not feel his limbs but because of his strong will he was able to keep walking both feet towards where the door was. How long had he been in this world? One day? One month? Or one year? His memory began to fade he had forgotten how long he had been here even his hair grew longer and his face was also covered by a mustache that was starting to look thick. He kept on going and on and on sometimes he stepped into the wrong place and got himself killed but, he kept on walking. In fact, he had forgotten how many times he had died in this icy world? How many times had he fallen into the abyss? How many times had he frozen to death? He didn't know because his gaze only focused on one place, namely the top of the mountain where the door was located. He had to get there, he had to open the door. That's the suggestion he instilled in himself. Now he doesn't look back he doesn't look down he doesn't care anymore what happens to him as long as he can get there.

When he blinked his eyes suddenly he was right in front of the door once again he changed places right in front of the door. Once again he felt as if he was being toyed with by the figure who made up this world. What is this world. So many times he was toyed with, what does the creator of this world want from him? There is only one answer to the questions posed by himself. He felt that this door would lead him to meet the creator of this world. Luke turned the doorknob and started to push the pitch-black door and slowly began to be illuminated by the blinding light.

This time he was in the middle of a barren desert. The color of the sky that looked reddish and the ground cracked were all that was behind the door but, the most distinguishing and very conspicuous thing was a large throne and a purplish black shadow was sitting arrogantly.

"Welcome human." The voice of the shadow echoed as if the world was a small room and this barren expanse of desert was just a display.

"Come closer human." The shadow told Luke to come closer to his throne.

Luke walked towards the throne and the closer he got the bigger the throne became. The throne may be larger than the wall that mankind has built which is about 50 meters high and this throne is twice as tall as the wall. He looks very small maybe when compared to himself he will look like a human and an ant. The shadow didn't move an inch and didn't even turn to look at Luke. Is this the person who made fun of himself and also the one who created this world? The moment he looked up at such a huge figure made Luke tremble as the pressure exerted by the shadow stabbed straight into his heart and made him feel extremely frightened and this was the first time he had felt this way, even to the point that it made him spit out a lot. sweat from trying to fight that fear and intense pressure. He continued to endure the pressure and only a few minutes he tried to hold his right knee against the barren ground. The more he tried to stand up the stronger the pressure he felt. No, I can't lose just because of this, I have to stand up, I have to find Rena. Such thoughts kept recurring in him and slowly though he felt heavy he started to stand up. Luke stood up straight even though his body was shaking from the immense pressure.

"Good, human," His voice echoed again and this time the shadow looked down at Luke standing. "It's been a long time since a human has been able to stand before me."

"S-say, wh-what, y-you made this place?" With a stuttering tone Luke forced his voice out.

"Right, this is the world my great self created."

"H-how, h-how to get out of here?" The big shadow didn't respond to Luke's question.

"Tell me, how do I get out of here?" Luke kept repeating that question over and over again but the purplish black shadow just stood still as he looked at Luke.